[IxDA Discuss] Progress bar best practices

[Alexander Baxevanis]

I think the algorithm used to estimate the remaining time is at least
as important as the user interface for presenting progress. This
largely depends on the tasks, and there can be some tasks (especially
those that involve network activity or have multiple stages) that do
not progress linearly. If I had to design such an algorithm, I would
err on the side of caution: if you provide a time that is a bit longer
than accurate, the risk is that the system may be initially perceived
as slow but you can let the user go and they will be happy when they
come back. Whereas if the system looks frozen and it says "1 minute
remaining" for 5 minutes :) I think it will be perceived as more slow
& frustrating.

By the way, the progress bar that Mac OS X shows while booting (just
before the log-in window) is totally fake. It does not measure
anything, it just keeps record of how long the booting process took
last time & rolls completely linearly for the same amount of time. I
doubt many people know this or would have suspected it. If you can
find a reliable way to estimate the duration of your task, maybe you
can do something like this.

Regards,
Alex

On Nov 26, 2007 8:34 PM, Julie Stanford <julie at slicedbreaddesign.com> wrote:
> Hello,
>
> I was wondering if people had thoughts on the best practices for a progress
> bar for file upload. I'm having a discussion with a client and don't have a
> strong position on this issue as yet. I think the most important question to
> answer is "How much time is remaining?" (i.e. should I hang out and wait or
> go get a coffee?)
>
> After that, I am wondering which of the following should be displayed --
> here's a list of options on the table and there could be more:
>
> Visual info:
> - Animation showing things being copied
> - Progress bar showing visually how much is done
>
> Text info:
> - X min remaining
> - X of Y KB
> - X% complete
> - X of Y min complete
>
> - Other stuff I missed?
>
> What do you think should be shown?
>
> Julie
>
> ________________________________
> Julie Stanford
> Principal, Sliced Bread Design
> 650-969-0400 / 800-969-0434  x706
>
>
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