ARCHIVEDExperimental
Ripple
A latency study: what an interface feels like when every interaction responds in under eight milliseconds.
Problem
Modern apps are fast on paper and sluggish in the hand. Nobody measures the gap.
Idea
Build the same editor three times at three latency budgets and let people feel the difference.
What we built
A WASM text surface with a frame budget monitor and side-by-side latency simulation.
How it works
Input events bypass the framework layer and paint directly to canvas, with an artificial delay dial for comparison.
Learnings
- Below ~20ms people stop describing an app as software and start describing it as a material.
- Perceived speed is mostly the first paint after input, not the total work.
Future direction
Folded into an internal performance checklist rather than continued as a project.
More from the lab
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