Timeline for Best Representation of Countdown Timers like "Deal Expires in MM SS"
Current License: CC BY-SA 4.0
9 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jul 1, 2018 at 7:04 | comment | added | Ideogram | Agree: spell it out: 35 minutes and 25 seconds. This is how real people think and talk about time, indeed. | |
| Jun 7, 2018 at 17:42 | comment | added | Llewellyn | Using "59 min 59 sec" would also be consistent with how all other times are displayed, and consistency makes UI more readable. | |
| Jun 7, 2018 at 14:57 | comment | added | Nye | I would definitely steer clear of 59:59 mins. At that exact moment it seems fairly unambiguous because it's very unlikely that 59 could mean hours, but if I saw 04:59 mins I think I would be at least as likely to interpret that as 04h 59m, rather than 04m 59s - probably more likely, actually. In general, it seems like a bad idea to separate a number from its unit, with another number in the middle that has no unit specified. | |
| Jun 7, 2018 at 13:28 | comment | added | David Richerby | "59:59 mins" is still unclear, because the colon functions a lot like a decimal point. Some people will interpret that in the same idiom as they'd interpret "59.59 metres", i.e., 59 units (minutes) and 59 sub-units (seconds). Other people will think "Well, I think it means this thing, but what does the programmer think it means?" | |
| Jun 7, 2018 at 13:23 | comment | added | maxathousand | "59:59 mins" doesn't make sense. You have two units here—minutes and seconds. Labeling only one of these units gives the user two equally valid ways to parse this value. Forcing the user to resort to watching for the value to change a couple times means they have to spend at least 1-2 seconds just trying to figure out what the units are, as you mention. | |
| Jun 7, 2018 at 9:51 | comment | added | Jaroslav M | I did a quick google image search and most timers contain Hours, Minutes, Seconds written in full, such as this one: goo.gl/images/ioebQk . When you enter "countdown timer", google provides you with a timer in format 59m 59s. | |
| Jun 7, 2018 at 9:23 | comment | added | Kish | But it would be great if we could find something where 59:59 mins is used. With atleast 1000 users right? | |
| Jun 7, 2018 at 9:22 | comment | added | Kish | Great. Now I have one more person thinking just like me. | |
| Jun 7, 2018 at 8:46 | history | answered | Jaroslav M | CC BY-SA 4.0 |