Fishing for Feedback

User Experience February 11, 2008

It's really important to continually let your users know what's happening as they use your application. There shouldn't be any point in their user experience where they are confused as to what's going on. When you're in an elevator, the lights and 'dings' tell you as you move from floor to floor (regardless of whether or not they're actually correct). Imagine having to ride an elevator 30 floors and never knowing how much you've progressed... that would suck.

Progress bars, ajax loading icons, status displays, animations, etc. are all great ways to give the user feedback as your system processes some information. If you submit a form that takes a long time to read, make sure you display something to the user (like Expedia displaying a page to inform the user it is searching for flights). Additionally, if the user is filling out a multi-step form in many pages, it really helps to include in the interface design some graphic element to let them know what step they're on. Most Web 2.0 sites do this as part of their "easy to use", "simple to sign up" site interaction designs.

When it comes to displaying error messages, the more precise the better. Tell the user exactly what's wrong - which fields are blank, which entries are incorrect, etc. Don't make them guess. Additionally you can provide suggestions to commonly made mistakes (such as "did you mean..." or "try this...").

Separate foreground and background processes. Let the foreground display the pretty, usable interface to the user to present information and progress and let the background do all the behind-the-scenes work. Ensure, however, that any communication with the user is done through the foreground interface.

As the interaction designer, your job is to guide your users through the interaction process of your site or application. Don't turn your back on them for too long or walk ahead - they can get stuck or turn down the wrong path if they're not careful. Keep an eye out, be helpful, answer questions and keep them on track by always providing feedback.

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