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Ask Slashdot: Why Is It So Hard To Make An Accurate Progress Bar?

Posted by Soulskill on from the this-post-is-98%-complete dept.

hyperorbiter writes "How come after 25 years in the tech industry, someone hasn't worked out how to make accurate progress bars? This migration I'm doing has sat on 'less than a minute' for over 30 minutes. I'm not an engineer; is it really that hard?"

3 of 736 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Can't Go Backwards by citizenr · · Score: 5, Informative

    This is why you put two progress bars. One general and one for sub processes.
    http://www.codeproject.com/KB/progress/SplitProgressBar/SplitProgressBar.gif

    --
    Who logs in to gdm? Not I, said the duck.
  2. Re:sometimes by PlusFiveTroll · · Score: 5, Informative

    The Windows8/Server 2012 dialog is much better in this case.

    http://encosia.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/windows-8-file-copy-dialog.png

    It draws a graph showing you the current rate, in which you can see the average over time.

  3. Re:Crappy software by Jiro · · Score: 5, Informative

    The progress bar on the HTTP download doesn't show the amount of remaining time in the bar. It shows the number of bytes remaining in the bar; the number of bytes remaining can't go into reverse. The time remaining is showed as a numeric value for how long it would take assuming the speed is the same as the speed so far; if the transfer suddenly slows down, this value can go into reverse.