Re: Word-a-Day: progress bar, progress indicator

[Matthew Paul Thomas <mpt myrealbox com>]

On Apr 25, 2008, at 6:23 PM, Shaun McCance wrote:
> ============================================================
> progress bar
> A control that shows the progress of a task being carried out by an 
> application.  Only use the word "progress bar" for vertical or 
> horizontal bars that fill linearly.  Do not use "progress bar" for any 
> control that does not show the progress of a task, even if the control 
> looks like a progress bar; use "progress indicator" instead.

As written, that could be misinterpreted as saying you should use 
"progress indicator" to refer to bars representing quantities other 
than progress, such as search relevance or disk fullness.

> ...
> Interestingly, both Apple and Microsoft recommend using only "progress 
> indicator".  But I don't think "progress bar" is likely to confuse 
> users, and changing our current usage would be difficult.  Honestly, 
> before looking at their recommendations, I wouldn't have ever thought 
> to avoid the word "progress bar".  Thoughts?

Agreed, but it should be *extremely* rare for help text to even mention 
progress bars, so this is mostly moot.

> Note that I've explicitly allowed vertical progress bars, whereas 
> Apple explicitly mentions filling left to right. I was mostly thinking 
> of the thing used as the window icon on Nautilus progress windows.  If 
> I were writing about it, I think I would write something like:
>
>   The progress window uses a progress bar as its window
>   icon, so you can easily see the progress by glancing
>   at your task bar.
>
> Maybe I'd throw in the word "vertical" for good measure.

That window icon is square. I don't think a bar can be square.

> I'd like to solicit ideas on two related types of controls.
>
> First, what about pie-filling progress indicators?  They clearly show 
> actual progress, but they aren't bars.  Do we have a word for these 
> things?

"Indicator" or "disc" would be sufficient, I think. For example: "If 
there is a disc to the right of an e-mail account, it shows Evolution's 
progress in downloading or synchronizing messages in that account."

> Second, what about countdown controls?  They basically look like 
> progress bars (or sometimes "progress pies"), but the control moves 
> backward.  They aren't showing progress.  Usually, they're showing a 
> timeout.
> ...

I think the appropriate term for those is "utter crack".

Cheers
--
Matthew Paul Thomas
http://mpt.net.nz/