Friday, June 12, 2015

connection - Web App is offline: show [Reconnecting in…] countdown?


I'm trying to figure out what elements to in an alert show when a web application is offline.


Gmail shows all three elements I'm considering: the Status, a Reconnect Countdown, and a Manual Reconnect option.


Gmail message: not connected


Trello has a Status message and reconnects quickly (a few seconds), skipping the Countdown and Manual Reconnect.


Trello message: Attempting to restore connection.


Toggl has the best implementation I've seen. Their alert displays the Status and a Manual Reconnect link.


Toggl message: you are offline


And next to unsynced additions they show an alert icon. Hovering on the icon shows a message explaining that the item is unsynced, and clicking the icon attempts to sync the item.


Toggl unsynced item



I like the idea of having a Manual Reconnect option: it gives the user a sense of agency if they are back online and don't want to wait for the automatic reconnect attempt. This is my current alert:


Offline message


What I'm trying to figure out is whether the Reconnect Countdown (in my alert, the "Checking in…" line) is useful or whether it's unnecessary clutter? The alert is responsive and I hide the countdown on mobile. I'm trying to squeeze the 'Reconnect now' link onto mobile though.




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