There are an increasing number of human "rage syndromes" out there related to the computer industry. First we had the more generic "Software Rage," described as "recurrent bouts of anger and frustration (the main symptoms, which go away only after the errant software does)," by one expert at ZDNet. This condition can become chronic.
Now we have a more specific problem, this time related to websites: "Mouse Rage."
It is hard not to poke fun at these names, but the conditions are very real. Mouse Rage apparently caused significant physiological changes in a controlled experiment in the UK.
The study combined results from a poll of 2,500 internet users with a separate sample of internet users who were asked to find information from a number of different websites and were submitted to physiological tests while doing these tasks. The tests measured the physical and physiological reactions to website experiences, looking at brainwaves, heart-rate fluctuations, muscle tension and skin conductivity.
The results indicated that badly designed and hosted websites can cause surprisingly strong stress and anger reactions, leading to the term "Mouse Rage Syndrome" or MRS being coined.
The Top 5 website failures that lead to Mouse Rage
- Slow to load pages
- Confusing / difficult to navigate layouts
- Excessive pop-ups
- Unnecessary advertising
- Site unavailability
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