Understanding progress indicators: from UI design to societal metrics

Notes

Before 1985, you’d have had no idea how long it would take to install a program on your computer—or to save a file, or to complete an online form. (To be fair, there were no online forms.) Consider the history of the progress bar, then discuss with your team: what other activities and interactions in life would benefit from a progress bar? Bars are not the only way to pass time. Explore the following alternatives to the standard progress bar, then discuss with your team: what are the advantages and disadvantages of each approach? indeterminate progress bar | splash screen | console output | skeleton screen | throbber Some progress bars continue to inch along even when a process is actually stuck; the idea is to encourage people not to give up. Explore the idea of placebo buttons—such as the “close door” buttons on elevators that almost never close the doors, or pedestrian crossing buttons that don’t have any impact on traffic lights—then discuss with your team: when, if ever, is it okay to mislead people so that they feel better about a process? Some schemes can be quite elaborate. For instance, one airport discovered that, if planes parked further away so that people had to walk l...