Progress bars are a necessary evil.

1Non-linear Progression

A progress bar looks like a representation of a straight line.

It’s like you’re looking at a 2D representation of a 3D process.

iPhone 16e with iPhone 16 Plus and iPhone 16 Pro in hand against grey wall.

This is why the progress bar doesn’t, well,progressat a steady pace.

That’s easy enough if the bar is moving visibly, but this isn’t always the case.

So some progress bars have a little animation built into them.

Laptop on the Windows 11 settings screen coming out of a toggle button.

In particular, if the animation is smooth and fast.

Some developers break a process up into separate phases, each with their own progress bar.

After all, the job complexity tends to grow in step with computer performance.

A progress bar for a video editing program.

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A virtual maze projected above a laptop computer.

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An athlete launching himself off the starting block.

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Soft focus image Android phone installing system update in progress.

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