Some exploration from a while back into how we might notify users of upcoming and current downtime for a given service.
https://designnotes.blog.gov.uk/2013/11/14/transaction-status-messages/
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2 comments
Comment by John Beale posted on
Brilliant ot see design thinking posted up like this, really interesting.
Couple of thoughts: for some transactions, such as this one, I wonder what the likelihood is that you'd visit before you actually want to complete the task? If it's unlikely, then would a message about a future downtime be useful/relevant enough to warrant such a prominent position?
To me, the icon is a bit puzzling - red suggests 'Stop!', but it aso seems to be a tick (rather than a cross) suggesting 'OK''.
The message is clear and helpful, but would be nice if it said 'sorry' perhaps?
Comment by Guy Moorhouse posted on
Hi John,
Thanks for your comment.
Good point about whether users would actually visit a transaction before they'd want to complete a task. There are scenarios where this would be useful I think though.
For example if the service were due to be offline in five or ten minutes time, it would be a good indicator that it is not wise to start now.
Completely agree with the icon/s. This is all a bit rough at his stage and would definitely need work if we used this pattern — the graphic is meant to represent a clock face, but that's not very clear at the moment.