What is the point...

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What is the point...

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Barefoot Andrew
Downsizer Moderator

Joined: 21 Mar 2007
Posts: 22780
Location: In the 17th century

Posted: Wed Aug 29, 12 4:38 pm Post subject: What is the point...
...of a progress bar that remains empty for a lengthy period, and then goes to 100% at the last moment? A.

12Bore

Joined: 15 Jun 2008
Posts: 9089
Location: Paddling in the Mersey

Posted: Wed Aug 29, 12 4:54 pm Post subject:
Keeps you guessing?

jema
Downsizer Moderator

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 28235
Location: escaped from Swindon

Posted: Wed Aug 29, 12 5:21 pm Post subject:
progress bars are generally very poorly coded, they are actually a very complicated area to do well for a lot of things.

Went

Joined: 19 Mar 2006
Posts: 6968

Posted: Wed Aug 29, 12 5:22 pm Post subject: Re: What is the point...

Barefoot Andrew wrote:

...of a progress bar that remains empty for a lengthy period, and then goes to 100% at the last moment?

Sounds like a post office queue...get me a book of stamps whilst you're there

oldish chris

Joined: 14 Jun 2006
Posts: 4148
Location: Comfortably Wet Southport

Posted: Wed Aug 29, 12 5:38 pm Post subject:

jema wrote:

progress bars are generally very poorly coded, they are actually a very complicated area to do well for a lot of things.

re-use of code out of fashion? Can't someone create a parameter driven utility any more?

He asked innocently.

Barefoot Andrew
Downsizer Moderator

Joined: 21 Mar 2007
Posts: 22780
Location: In the 17th century

Posted: Wed Aug 29, 12 7:41 pm Post subject:

As jema says they're notoriously difficult to do - and the factors that render a progress bar accurate/inaccurate depend heavily on what the task at hand is trying to achieve. So a general re-usable module is easier said than done...

In one bit of my own software I'm required to give an estimation of the remaining time of a task. This is influenced by several factors beyond my immediate control, so I deliberately slow down the process slightly. This gives behind-the-scenes mechanisms the opportunity to speed up and slow down as they see fit, whilst the time-to-completion I give to the user remains consistent. It's a slightly annoying workaround, but less annoying that useless information.
A.

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