Information technology progress indicators: Research employing psychological frameworks

Users of information technology often encounter "progress indicators" during their interactions. These graphics (e.g., progress bars) appear on computing screens as users wait for a task to complete to inform them of the progress being made toward completing the task. This study employed theoretical models from psychological research on human waiting to develop specific hypotheses related to the design of progress indicators. Three experiments tested these hypotheses. Experiment 1 revealed that participants preferred a linear progress bar to a cycling progress bar. Experiment 2 revealed that participants preferred a video progress indicator to a cycling progress bar, and they judged process duration to be shorter with the video progress indicator. Experiment 3 revealed that the video progress indicator yielded the best user experience. Systems designers can use these results to develop more effective user interfaces.