Feedback and Help (1)
General feedback and help should be provide users with information allowing them to control the dialogue, recognise and recover from errors, and determine their next course of action.
Command processing completion - the system should indicate that the command processing has been completed by displaying the output resulting from the command and/or prompt for the next command. [NOTE the feedback should be provide within 2 seconds] intermediate feedback - if the command processing is expected to continue for a longer period (more than 5 seconds), visual feedback indicating that the process is continuing should be provided to the user. [EXAMPLE hourglass with and (time) running out; repeatedly displaying a message “working”] [NOTE it may be appropriate to provide such information earlier] processing status - if appropriate to the task and system constrains allow, user should be provided with feedback concerning the relative amount of time remaining to complete the process. [EXAMPLE a status bar is shown indicating the amount of processing completed]
Error feedback timing - error feedback should be provided after the full command (including associated parameters) has been entered rather than as soon as the error is discovered by the system. [EXAMPLE the user misspells the command print by pressing the t key rather than r key and the system indicates the mistake after the entire command has been entered (and not before)] highlighting - the unacceptable portion of the command should be highlighted (in the context of the full command or a logical part thereof). [EXAMPLE the error portion might be highlighted by using reverse video or different colour]