The standard pattern for the use of progress bars/status is usually divided into two different types:
- Determinate progress where the amount of time/tasks is known, and the user interface reflects/updates as it progresses towards completion
- Indeterminate progress where the amount of time/tasks is unknown, and the user interface is just a loop that continues until completion
We have seen how the file manager in Windows 8+ deals with file operations and some downloading managers that dynamically adjusts the progress where the user expectation is difficult to manage because there can be large fluctuations in the time and tasks.
Is there an emerging or alternative design pattern for progress status that is more suited to meeting these types of operations? Should there be different patterns when a determinate process changes to an indeterminate process as opposed to when it changes from an indeterminate process to a determinate process?