[BNM] 99% of progress bars are useless

[Danny Hope]

On 5/23/06, delarge <delargerock at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> I spend a lot of time gazing at progress bars... and it struck me the
> other
> day...
>
> The point of a progress bar is to show distance and time, right? How long
> it
> is taking to get from point A (nothing loaded) to B (fully loaded).
>
> So, the moment a progress bar stops or pauses or does something resembling
> this:
> http://www.napyfab.com/ajax-indicators/images/progressbar_green.gif
> ...it becomes an loading indicator, not a progress bar
>
> For example if I'm installing a new app and the installation stops on 62%
> for a while - the concept of going from point A to B is rendered
> useless...
> unless it tells me how long it will take to install that part then I am
> left
> guessing... the fact an install has paused on 62% is really irrelevent - I
> want to know how far off 100% it is. It could sit on 62% for the next 5
> mins.
>
> Therefore I decree - 99% of progress bars are useless...
>
> OR
>
> 99% of progress bars are not progress bars.
>
> (99% because a small swf file down a fast connection can 'progress bar'
> well)


I agree with everything above but I'm not sure that a small file down a fast
connection really needs a progress bar.

-- 

Regards,
Danny Hope

Hobo Internet

+44 (0)845 230 3760
http://www.hobointernet.com

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