| Abstract: |
In this paper we report the results of an
investigation designed to determine the effects of
Internet delays on users perceptions of ease of locating
information, organization of information, quality of
information, and navigation problems. The results
demonstrated user sensitivity to delays. As expected, for
text-and-graphics documents, shorter delays provoked more
favorable responses. However, for text-only documents,
the shorter the delay, the less favorably a document was
viewed. The results indicated that users may prefer
multi-media web sites but are unwilling to tolerate the
substantial network delays often associated with
delivering graphics, video, animation, and audio. |