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Progress bars do not give the user any time data—as others have illustrated, they are usually a horizontal bar that fills up as the operations are completed, and not necessarily even at a fixed rate. Countdowns have a fixed rate and a fixed number of units from which to calculate the required time to complete the operation. The other answers give some great ...

One of the key points of the pomodoro technique is that it asks you to pay full attention to the task at hand, if possible without distractions. A timer for this purpose shouldn't be more intrusive than strictly necessary, but still enable you to see at glance how much time you still have left. Looking at your suggestions: 1) A window, even if small, can ...

I like 3, and I think people would get used to it. In the days before W95, we used to have animated icons, and it was not a problem. The downside - with both of these - is that some people - like me - have the taskbar to autohide. This would mean it was not visible. I would suggest there might have to be another option of making it a small task-bar-like ...

If I understand your concept correctly, I would suggest a hybrid of 1 & 3, where: first the window appears before starting the countdown -- clock static @ 25:00. This will also have a button with the message "Minimize to System Tray" for the user to do the minimizing himself. This will make him aware of its presence and location thereafter. The clock ...

Countdowns can be great. But only if the amount of time it counts down from is fixed. Example: In my city more and more traffic lights get countdowns. They are great, so long as the time to green light is fixed. However, some traffic lights adapt to the flow of traffic. Which means that while you are waiting, a countdown may suddenly speed up or slow down. ...

My instinct is that countdowns work better, because they allow a user to feel more progress is being made at the earlier stages, whereas with a progress bar, they see only meagre gains. This is important, because it's at these earlier stages that users are more likely to back out. Users who have already committed time are less likely to quit, because of the ...

Good question! Countdowns are definitely good, since they start with a very optimal denominator say 100 seconds or 2 minutes, whereas progress bars really shows progression with a count or no count next to it. (What if the time span is more? Anti-pattern rather!) The beauty of countdowns are - It really scales in descending order (humans are much more ...

As @giraff mentioned in the comments, this is a question of context and purpose. If your countdown shows the time till the next Olympics, then of course you'll be using days (also months and years if necessary). Your goal is just to display the time in the clearest way, so it's best to use the same units the user usually uses. But in a social buying ...