'Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards.' - Søren Kierkegaard
In an ecommerce order tracker, where there are a list of 'events' (for example, order placed, out for delivery, delivered) - should the top event be the event furthest in the past, or the event furthest in the future?
I am leaning towards chronological order, so:
order placed
order out for delivery
[delivery failed]
[order rescheduled]
order delivered
This goes against most websites which update the most recent event at the top - like Facebook, Twitter etc.
Is there a compelling reason why I should or shouldn't match that pattern?
Answer
Forward chronological order lends itself well to finite amount of data that tells a story. Reverse chronological order lends itself well to (potentially) infinite amount of data that loses usefulness over time.
For example, in Facebook, each post is listed in reverse chronological order, so you scroll back through history, but within each post the comments run in forward chronological order so you can easily follow the conversation.
Therefore, your order tracker should probably present the list of orders in reverse chronological order, so users can easily find the newest orders first, while the events of that order may be presented in forward chronological order, so users can easily understand and follow the progress of their order. If you also wanted to present useful information first, you might consider a top-level element before the list of events that provides the most recent status.
Current Status [ Delivered ]
Order History
Placed
Out for Delivery
Returned
Out for Delivery
Delivered
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