[IxDA Discuss] Performance vs Intuitition

[Nicolas Cohen]

Hi,

I have recently found my self in a situation that has already  
happened to me in other occations and always finds me without a good  
reason to choose either way.
While designing a web application i have a file upload that -in  
rather few occations- might be used to upload up to 1-2 gb of text  
(yes text). As 2 gb of files is way too much for a regural http post,  
the app uses a java applet. The java applet compresses the file to  
300 mb or less making it much easier to upload and, also uses ftp  
which is less error prone. Most people upload less than 10 megs. When  
uploading 10 megs, the compression nevertheless makes it 3mb and is  
still useful. The thing is that the java applet takes some 10-30  
seconds to show up and in that time, the computer might seem  
unresponsive. Also a dialog asking if the user trusts the applet to  
be installed also shows up. Previous versions of the app used two  
upload options, one for small files and one for big files. There  
seems to be a lot of confussion on when to use which so we though to  
remove the choice and keep just the java upload, which makes the  
whole process faster.

So, what would you choose: better overall performance or a more  
intuitive initial screen?

thanks


Nicolas Cohen
RANLOGIC
BA +(54 11) 4855 9371