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Why some apps use fake progress bars (2017)

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Re: Why some apps use fake progress bars (2017)

#111

Post by ubernostrum »

JoshMnem wrote: post #97
diplomatpuppy wrote: post #11

I had a report in Microsoft Access that took about five minutes to run - and the users hated it. I had the application throw up a fake dialog with fake messages about "Collating data, Cross checking, Sorting" and other such nonsense. The report now took eight minutes to run because I had to abuse the "On Timer" event for it to work. The users were delighted with the improvement.

That is one thing I dislike about sites that show no loading bar. On a slow connection it's impossible to tell if the page is still loading or already failed. It's also one of the irritating things about "Material Design" websites, where responses to clicks are artificially delayed before speeding out with unnatural acceleration. "Nothing is happening. JUST KIDDING!" I'm not sure if that is to mask the slowness of mo…

That is one thing I dislike about sites that show no loading bar. On a slow connection it's impossible to tell if the page is still loading or already failed.

Web browsers have progress bars.

I think your complaint is with "sites" that just serve a JS payload and then load "the real site" entirely from requests made by JS. Turns out if you generate and serve actual HTML, you get a progress bar for free!

Re: Why some apps use fake progress bars (2017)

#113

Post by vanillaboy »

ubernostrum wrote: post #111
JoshMnem wrote: post #97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That is one thing I dislike about sites that show no loading bar. On a slow connection it's impossible to tell if the page is still loading or already failed. It's also one of the irritating things about "Material Design" websites, where responses to clicks are artificially delayed before speeding out with unnatural acceleration. "Nothing is happening. JUST KIDDING!" I'm not sure if that is to mask the slowness of mo…

That is one thing I dislike about sites that show no loading bar. On a slow connection it's impossible to tell if the page is still loading or already failed. Web browsers have progress bars. I think your complaint is with "sites" that just serve a JS payload and then load "the real site" entirely from requests made by JS. Turns out if you generate and serve actual HTML, you get a progress bar for free!

JS lets you easily implement bars that do reflect progress.

Turn on the animation => start an async action (e.g. a database call) => end the animation. An error occured? Show the error. Here, simple and informative to the user - and much better than raw html.

Re: Why some apps use fake progress bars (2017)

#114

Post by presspot »

simcop2387 wrote: post #50
52-6F-62 wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Reminds me of the loading screen for The Sims (an obvious parody of the above mentioned tactic) (You might want to mute it. The loading messages are at the bottom) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PpMiI2QooKQ

Reticulating splines actually comes from SimCity 2000 and they then used the idea in The Sims later http://sims.wikia.com/wiki/Reticulating_splines

Actually, we used that phrase in a deceptive 'loading' progress box in PC/GEOS in 1989

Re: Why some apps use fake progress bars (2017)

#116

Post by c3534l »

ateesdalejr wrote: post #96
scarface74 wrote: post #83

I learned that on my first programming job in 1996. They said the job was taking too long and I was printing periods every 100 transactions. I started printing periods every 50 transactions and they complemented me on how I sped up the program.

If that's not a psychology hack; I don't know what is.

Dr. Phil?

Re: Why some apps use fake progress bars (2017)

#117

Post by paulcole »

tomc1985 wrote: post #14
codycraven wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why wouldn't you instead show a timestamp of the last save, giving confirmation that the save really went through?

Or a quick tooltip that flashes "Document saved" before disappearing? Or disable the button for a second after saved? Or show a cute little "save complete" icon? Or autosave on change and disregard the save button entirely?

Or just give a save button because that’s what people expect and want?

Re: Why some apps use fake progress bars (2017)

#118

Post by Larrikin »

digi_owl wrote: post #93
tyingq wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Visual confirmation that it isn't hung, I'd be happy too.

I am reminded of a webcomic, that i fail to locate at this moment, that reminded me of the practice of placing something next to a progress bar, like say during a Windows 95 install, to check if anything is actually happening.

This is the comic you're thinking of. http://www.commitstrip.com/en/2015/02/19/when-i-install-a-so... This was one of the comics that convinced me to add them to my RSS feed. I have not been disappointed since.

Re: Why some apps use fake progress bars (2017)

#120

Post by [deleted] »

ubernostrum wrote: post #111
JoshMnem wrote: post #97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That is one thing I dislike about sites that show no loading bar. On a slow connection it's impossible to tell if the page is still loading or already failed. It's also one of the irritating things about "Material Design" websites, where responses to clicks are artificially delayed before speeding out with unnatural acceleration. "Nothing is happening. JUST KIDDING!" I'm not sure if that is to mask the slowness of mo…

That is one thing I dislike about sites that show no loading bar. On a slow connection it's impossible to tell if the page is still loading or already failed. Web browsers have progress bars. I think your complaint is with "sites" that just serve a JS payload and then load "the real site" entirely from requests made by JS. Turns out if you generate and serve actual HTML, you get a progress bar for free!

[deleted]
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