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It used to be the case (or at least it certainly seemed to be the case) that there was a 'considerate' delay between keypress and action when clicking GUI buttons (play/pause et c.), or using hotkeys, on digital video players such as Youtube, or VLC, for example.

As a physical product designer myself I am convinced that such a delay used to be intentionally-included in software/webpages/browsers so as to avoid making the user feel overwhelmed/irritated/shocked by the suddenness of an action produced by a microprocessor that could produce instantaneous results in response to a keypress or mouse-button click.

Such is known as an 'ergonomic' consideration or design feature in the field of physical product design and I am sure the same holds true in software design.

Nowadays there is a unilateral 0ms delay between keypress and resultant action in video players, whether online or downloadable and there seems to be no way to remedy it!

The same problem exists in web browsers whereby web pages load INSTANTANEOUSLY and the effect is jarring. One might argue that that is probably due to internet speed but any designer of any product whether physical or digital/software would be sorely remiss for overlooking such a consideration - and internet speed cannot be the cause when using downloaded software.

It seems to me that the 'push' for speed in all things digital has created this wanton disregard for what I will term 'considerate' or 'ergonomic' delay between keypress and action in UI design and I regard it as ridiculous, certainly irritating and even harmful.

'Over-fast' things can easily annoy a user making them feel that they are out of control of the thing they are using, and the fact that I can't get that delay, which allowed me to retrieve my fingertip from the button and 'compose' myself slightly before the action I sought was produced, back is a really big problem.

It makes using any video player a nightmare to use. Surely someone on this forum knows what I am talking about.

I want to inform the wider 'software-/web- developing' industry that their disregard for this issue is a big problem. I want to be able to at least toggle such a delay back into existence, even if just for myself, but I am sure that including of such a toggle as a generally-added function to such user interfaces would be advantageous to millions of other users too.

Who do I consult about such a widespread problem? Can I produce a delay even on my own computer somehow? I've tried every toggle related to such things in windows regedit but NONE of them produces the desired result.

I can find no other reference to this problem online - it seems that everyone is wrapped up in a mindless quest for 'speeeeed'...

Thank you in advance for your help people!

James :)

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    Sources please. Commented Nov 25, 2024 at 4:50
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    Every second of loading delay leads to user frustration and significantly less conversion. Earlier we were limited by touch screen technology which was not sensitive enough or bluetooth which wasn't fast enough. Even if we had the technology, they were not portable enough or economically viable. However, currently we are not limited by the tech speed but human limitations. Commented Nov 25, 2024 at 5:00

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Sorry to be blunt, James, but I agree with @Ren here: Do you have any usability research to back up your assertion?

As for that delay, it actually contradicts one key behavior of our brains: If two events happen within 100 ms of each other, we perceive them as cause and effect.

Simple example: If a billiards ball hits another billiards ball, and that "target" starts moving within ~ 100 ms of getting it, we'll say, "That ball moved because the other one hit it."

We'd be very confused if it would take a noticeable delay for that target ball to start rolling… The exact same principle applies to toggling a light switch (let's ignore the start delay of LED bulbs here 😏), clapping your hands (and seeing the hands connect, and hearing the sound).

Most importantly for interaction design, this also applies to clicking any UI control: if you'd perceive a noticeable delay when clicking a button in a dialog box, you'd likely wonder what the heck is wrong with the system.

So why should this be any different with video controls?

I don't know why these delays exist(ed), but can only guess that it due to technical reasons and not due to intentional design decisions.

But I wouldn't mind at all to be proved wrong. Always interesting to learn how others approach design decisions.

So - and, again, sorry for the potential curtness of this request — do you have any research articles that shed more light on whether this was, actually, done with intent? 🤔

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