Progress indicator
A progress indicator (also progress bar , loading bar , the status bar English progress bar is) a control , which indicates how far the processing of a job has progressed, or that the processing is in progress (for. Example, the progress of an installation or charging). It is the computer equivalent of the bar graph display . In current Microsoft terminology, this element is called Status Indicator .
Certain progress bar
Mostly designed as a progress bar with percentage information. The progress indicator usually consists of a colored bar that visually shows the progress of a process by increasing from 0% to 100%, and usually a percentage display that shows how far the process has already been completed. This gives (roughly) the remaining duration of the process. Progress bars are also often found in download programs or when installing software packages.
Indefinite progress indicator
One variant is a display that cannot show a progress indicator with a specific end of the process, because it is not known how long it is necessary to wait for the action to be completed, but where it should still be made clear that the computer is still actively working and has not got stuck is. This display can be implemented as an indefinite progress bar, which instead of a bar graph uses a partial bar without a percentage, which continuously moves in one direction and is immediately reset and expires at the end of the display.
Alternatives to this are elements such as throbbers 
or mouse pointers in waiting form (e.g. hourglass), or in text mode, for example, escape sequences without the cursor moving.
Text-based progress display
In devices, especially in earlier times, when the graphic capabilities were not yet so developed, progress bars were also often formed in text representation from a growing number of (similar) characters, such as XXXXXX....
The text-based forerunner of the throbber is the recurring sequence of characters | / - \ , which were output at the same cursor position. These text-based animations were already found in early versions of UNIX and DR DOS in the 1980s.
resources
The display of the progress indicator also consumes resources and can thus possibly increase the overall duration of the process, but in practice this is currently hardly in the relevant area. In addition, it can be used to show the user in a simplified manner that the program is still working and working.
Trivial patent
Thomas Poslinski and Kim Annon Ryal applied for a patent on the development of the progress bar via the Sony company , which is considered a trivial patent .
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Progress Bar . Enterprise-Gamification.com. Retrieved on February 22, 2014. ( Page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Patent US7290698B2 : Progress bar with multiple portions. Published on November 6, 2007 , Inventors: Thomas Poslinski, Kim Annon Ryal.
