> We combed through the source code powering TurboTax’s website, and soon confirmed my suspicion.
I am pretty sure just opening the network tab will show the loading gif.
Why some apps use fake progress bars (2017)
181–190 of 200 posts
Re: Why some apps use fake progress bars (2017)
#182Don Norman (The Design of Everyday Things) discussed this at the Business of Software Confence almost a decade ago: https://vimeo.com/96714148
He specifically talks about the case of benevolently deceptive progress bars vis-à-vis tax software @ 52:30.
Basically, UI/UX is theater, and just as Puck observed in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, humans come to theater because they want to be fooled.
So, good UX is the magician that is upfront about the fact that everything is a trick, but evil UX is the charlatan that hides the fact that a trick is being done in the first place (credit to Jaron Lanier).
Re: Why some apps use fake progress bars (2017)
#183Earlier quoted context omitted.
>when the progress bar is still getting asymptotically closer to the end That, my friend, is an impressive command of the English language. Thank you for teaching me the word asymptotically! [0] http://www.dictionary.com/browse/asymptotically
I think most people that have done a CS degree would at least know the word. My cs101 class talked about asymptotic notation.
And that must be why I have yet to hear it, as I never took CS.
Re: Why some apps use fake progress bars (2017)
#184This article lumps a lot of techniques together that are fundamentally different. The ones that are actual deception are not benevolent, and the ones that are benevolent are not actually deception. Deception is leading someone to believe something that isn't true. If a deliberate delay is added to a UI to make it clear to the user that actual work is being done, this is not deception. You are leading the user to beli…
I think you've just redefined 'deception' as things you don't like. How is it not deceptive to make a user wait longer than the task takes? (Perceived benefit aside) How is it not benevolent to make the progress bar smooth even if the underlying process is not? Most users don't and shouldn't need to understand a process that may not progress linearly. The article is pretty clearly operating on a definition of 'decept…
Can you rephrase your questions so that it's clear what answer you're looking for? As written their answers appear to be verbatim what I wrote in the comment you're replying to.
Re: Why some apps use fake progress bars (2017)
#185I do this all the time with loading spinners...if it's "too fast" then psychologically it just feels like nothing happened...so instead I just setTimeout() for 3 seconds.
Have you considered how much accumulated lifetime is wasted by all those 3 seconds again and again?
How much time would be wasted by users trying again because they think that first time didn't work?
Re: Why some apps use fake progress bars (2017)
#186Re: Why some apps use fake progress bars (2017)
#187Earlier 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!
Try to load an AMP page with JavaScript turned off. It can take many seconds, and there is no loading indicator.
Re: Why some apps use fake progress bars (2017)
#188"The security theater appeared to work." (referring to a fake progress bar in a game) That's not what security theater means.
Stupidity theater maybe? This article was seriously one of the most depressing things I've ever read on HN.
Sorry about that, it was sad but still felt it was interesting enough so I shared it here.
Re: Why some apps use fake progress bars (2017)
#189> "[Intuit] regularly lobbies to keep the complicated U.S. tax code in place, and opposes proposals that would radically simplify it."
Nice.
Re: Why some apps use fake progress bars (2017)
#190I 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…
Clicks have a 200ms (IIRC) delay on Android to give a chance to recognize other gestures. There are hacks to get ride of it, though. It may have to do with that.