Fragment 39 of 72 · drawer 04
Determinate and indeterminate twins
An original comparison based on the web platform's explicit distinction between known and unknown progress.
- Accession
- MW-F-039
- Representative period
- Interface comparison plate, 1985–present
- Drawer
- Diagrams & specimens
- Certainty
- high
Determinate and indeterminate twins
Interface comparison plate, 1985–present
Observed surface
A — [██████░░░░] 60 of 100 countable units complete.
B — [ moving interval ] task exists; total extent unknown.
Both indicators can be truthful, but they make different promises.
Implied procedure
A proportion requires a known maximum and meaningful completed value.
When either is unavailable, animation can report activity without manufacturing a fraction.
Interpretive residue
The familiar bar is not one object but two ethical positions.
One states where work is; the other states only that abandonment has not yet occurred.
Accountability record
Evidence beneath the reconstruction.
These institutional sources support the mechanism or historical practice interpreted above. They do not contain this reconstructed record, its wording, or its invented values.
- ACM · 1985 The importance of percent-done progress indicators for computer-human interfaces Brad A. Myers' 48-participant experiment: 86.1% preferred the percent-done condition, a result reported with p = .0006. The paper studied rather than invented the progress bar. Open institutional record ↗
- WHATWG HTML Standard · living standard The progress element The modern web platform's distinction between determinate progress and a task whose duration is unknown. Open institutional record ↗