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Should we always show to the user that the progress bar reach the 100%? Should we always fill the whole bar?

Or just jump to the end message, and say something like 'finished'.

I'm asking this because I heard an occasion that the process jumps to the end message when the progress bar was in 20%. Saying to the user: END. And not showing the 100% and then END.

Some user that is not used to technology (I think) complained that what they are doing, finish only with 20% and not 100%.

Weird or natural?

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  • A side note, but to me the word "Finish" means "go do it", e.g. in fighting video games "Finish him!". I would expect the past tense version of the word. e.g. "Finished" when telling the user that the task is complete.
    – scunliffe
    Commented Oct 6, 2014 at 13:52
  • @scunliffe my mistake, the word should be "END". will edit.
    – Ricardo Binns
    Commented Oct 6, 2014 at 14:17

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The filled in bar will give the user a sense of accomplishment. Games, software installation, etc all those use that language.

You can show a filled in bar and the word 'finished"/"completed". The filled in bar will make the user understand that 100% has been completed.

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    Very nice answer!
    – William
    Commented Oct 6, 2014 at 14:19
  • I thought the same thing, so, we can not blame the user for that.
    – Ricardo Binns
    Commented Oct 6, 2014 at 14:21
  • Note: the election system from my country did this, and a lot of people complained.
    – Ricardo Binns
    Commented Oct 6, 2014 at 14:23
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I wouldn't worry about it. The user's not there to keep track of progress. They're there to accomplish something. Just get them into the app.

Why the progress bar doesn't show the correct progress is another question.

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  • I think I misunderstood the question. I thought you were asking about something that shows progress of the application loading. But it seems you're talking about progress indicators on a multi-step process. Right?
    – Ken Mohnkern
    Commented Oct 6, 2014 at 19:04
  • No, actually when i finish the vote system in my country, the progress bar appear and start to loading. When she reaches the 20%, a END message appear, and not show the 100% and then END. For me its normal, i understand that is all ok, but others complained, thinking that the job done only with 20% and not 100%.
    – Ricardo Binns
    Commented Oct 6, 2014 at 20:10
  • I see. So it's important for people to know that the vote-submission process has completed successfully. In that case, my answer is flat wrong. :)
    – Ken Mohnkern
    Commented Oct 6, 2014 at 20:32

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