When comparing a front-end jquery slider widget against a list of links that filter by price range, within the context of faceted searches that reduce the number of items in a catalogue, which of the two aforementioned interface elements is best when considering the speed at which a user can restrict the catalogue products to the range that represents the amount they want to spend?
Answer
Slider has more cognitive load for a user. Also interaction implementation using slider could lead to some time losses.
In a scenario when user keep in mind the intended price range for a product, possible issues are:
- User should constantly map the intended number and slider position. Even if the intended number is displayed in the slider, some users still will no just click but will slide there. The need of constant feedback loop leads to high cognitive load.
- Take into account space requirements for usable slider.
- Lack of visibility
- Immediate content loading on slider change will lead to content flickering and network load. So it's better to convince if the slider position is final. Add this waiting time to resources' loading time. So it could be time-critical for a user.
Having the set of price ranges as hyperlinks, user interaction consists of just two steps:
- Recognize needed link.
- Click it.
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