Progress bars that lie are seldom better than spinners. I suppose what is needed... | Hacker News

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canadian_tired on Nov 24, 2020 | parent | context | favorite | on: Progress bars still lie

Progress bars that lie are seldom better than spinners. I suppose what is needed is an informed spinner. It would have to be visually different than a bog-standard spinner. I have seen many cases where the numbers on the bar were entirely made up...but they seem to keep people happy. The illusion of progress maybe?

theamk on Nov 25, 2020 [–]

sure, but even the wrong numbers can be useful because they provide some information.

like the "75% max" example from the post. Does it lie? yes. Can it be useful? very much, it is pretty easy to compensate.

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