Question

I am developing an app under Adobe Air. The app will allow the user to save a project to the server. I have three options to do it.

• periodically save (every 5 or 10 mins)
• press button to save
• constantly save with every action.

Btw the data range 1KB – 200KB

Which method would normally to be implements performance and usability point of view.

Cheers
Bill

Answer 1

There really isn’t a general answer to this. All three methods can work for your app (even though “constantly” saving 200KB might be a little steep depending on what “constantly” really means), it really all depends on what kind of project you need to save and how often you really need it to be saved.

For example, the mobile app I’m currently developing works with workspaces what the user can configure. Those are loaded from and saved to the server. Although constantly saving the workspace changes after every change the user made would be possible, it would block the pipe for data transfers. Pressing a button to save would work as well, but personally I think users might forget to save and I really think that a save button is very desktop like. User don’t expect something like that on a tablet, they expect it to just work. So what I do is save the workspace only if the user switches it and when the app suspends or exits.

Again, only an example from my app, your solution really depends on your needs. For a game, I’d save on key points, i.e. level changes, and periodically every other minute so that when the app crashes, game process isn’t lost. Might apply to your app as well.