New progress graph - what do you think?

[Zenju]

The current synchronization progress graph gives an indication on how smooth sync is running over time, but it makes it harder to grasp how much work is left and where sync is right now. The last two figures can be seen by two horizontal lines which consume only very little screen space. Additionally, the concept of progress moving from the ground up to a line somewhere in the upper half of the window feels a bit uncommon.

Therefore I'm testing the following approach: The graph is stretched fully onto a traditional progress bar moving from left to right. Consequently I have to get rid of the x and y-axis description, but I think that's not a big loss. Here are two screenshots and the link to the new beta version:

[404, Invalid URL: http://freefilesync.sourceforge.net/FreeFileSync_6.2_beta_Windows_Setup.exe]

[bbawt]

looks good, I think it makes more sense going to the more traditional progress bar approach.

[svobodniy]

The previous version of the graph is more visual. New version is not understandable...

[lejared]

I think, the new one does not make sense (or I don't understand it). I think it shows the same value on the x- and on the y-axis. Both axis seem to show progress in %, right?

I prefer the old way, where both graphs go in sync on the time axis and show progress only on the y-axis. I also miss axis-labels.

New color scheme is nice though.

[Zenju]

Yes, both axis show %. I think one major advantage is that the new graph resembles a regular progress indicator and as such gives a clearer indication on how far sync is at the moment. Also there's no rescaling of the axes involved like in the old graph, which some users didn't like.
The drawback is of course, since the axes are not labeled it may not be clear what they stand for: y-axis is percentage, x-axis is percentage/time. In other words, it's the old graph but fully stretched onto a growing progress bar. The question is, is this a real drawback? What is the goal of the progres graph? To inform or to entertain? In order to ascertain if sync went smooth it's sufficient to see the shape of the graph, a grid with labels indicating absolute time and bytes like in the old graph, are not really needed for this purpose.

[lejared]

"What is the goal of the progres graph? To inform or to entertain?"
-> Information for sure! But the current graph doesn't deliver any useful information at all to me, it's just entertaining. And your arguments for the new graph are weak: People don like axis-rescaling? Do they want information or to they want nice drawing?

As you stated above: it simply shows progress now, on both axes. If you want to keep it like this, than you should simply strip it down to a plain progressbar, as it does not hold any more or less information but consumes much less space in the dialogbox.

If you want to keep the charts, than give them any meaning: Axis-labeling and scaling, synchronized progress between both charts, so one can see how many MB oder files have been written so far and still have to be written.

Also let me see, when performance issues occurred (on an Time-Scale, not on a progress Scale), to compare with other time based logs. On the old Graphs I also could see, if copy performance drop was due to external HDD utilization or due to copying a huge amount of very small files. I can't see this anymore, because the two graphs are not in sync anymore. THIS was kind of useful information to me, especially n very large syncs.

[Zenju]

What about using total time for both graphs x-axis instead of percentage of bytes copied? The result would be that the two graphs are vertically aligned again and the progress from left to right would run smoothly since it considers the remaining time estimate. One drawback could be that if the remaining time fluctuates a lot, so would both graphs widths. But I'll know for sure only after a test.
For a mockup see the graph v3 picture above.

[lejared]

Well, I don't understand the meaning of the gray zone, but these graphs look much more useful to me anyways. The axes are labels correct and thus have an actual meaning an the two graphs have a relation to each other.

My be you could just add a simple standard windows progressbar to the left panel, so people who don't care for the graphs are satisfied, too.

[Zenju]

Here's a prototype of graph v3. Improvement to v1?
[404, Invalid URL: http://freefilesync.sourceforge.net/FreeFileSync_6.3_beta_Windows_Setup.exe]

[lejared]

Hi. I'll check it out this evening and give feedback. Thx.

[lejared]

Looks nice and informatively to me. Like it!

One more suggestion: add "Estimated time" / "geschätzte Zeit" on the right side of y-Axis.

[pearmoth]

In general I like the graphs. However, I would like to see a help page.

For some reason I get two numbers to the right of the first graph (for example 4.00 GB and 2.00 GB). I find nothing to indicate what each means. I would guess it is the total size, and the amount moved, but the numbers are there when the sync begins and remain the same throughout the process--neither ever changes. I have never seen the two numbers shown, or explained, in any samples or screen shots.

[Zenju]

Some more tinkering: graph v4 seems like a better layout with less wasted space.

[Zenju]

I still don't like the time-axis recaculation depending on the remaining time estimate. Maybe revert back to a simple one-dimensional progress bar but with some fancy space-filling curve: graph v5

[jcelle]

Hi there,
Looks like an old post.
My 2 cents:
It would be nice to have an idea of how much has been done and how much is left (time + size).
One standard progress bar for current file and one other for overall operation would be just enough.
Regards,

[flautzmause]

Hello,
I love freefilesync and I love fancy progress bars.

I would prefer procentual y-axis, so scaling could be fixed to always 100%.
If both information were procentual, they may fit into the same diagram.

X-axis with estimaed time is very interesting, but rescaling should not happen too often.
The textual hints of elapsed and remaining time and items are fine.

Often I do sync on slow networks where data rates change frequently.
There it would be helpful, to see some kind of "activity".
A green marker if data transfer progresses and change to red, if no bytes were sent in the last seconds.
Or piecewise coloring of the graph depending on the data rate?
So one could see, if the data connection is good, slow or near dead.
The data rate can be estimated from the gradient of the graph, but the difference between
"slow data rate" and ""standstill" cannot be seen.

Another wish regarding the progress window:
Usually I start sync from batch-files with several different sync jobs.
Each time the batch-files starts a new sync, the progress window pops up. I like it.
But I want to use the time and do some word processing at the same time.
Very often, when I write my text and hit the return key,
Freefilesync pops up with a new progress window,
captures the focus and the "return" hits the "stop" button.
So my wish is: The popping of the progress window is fine, but it should not steal the focus from the keyboard.
Is that possible?

[boe]

Love this program. I think adding one more box that showed items copied would be great!

[Zenju]

Can't ... stop ... twiddling: two more graph designs:

vx.png (20.54 KiB) Viewed 2738 times

vy.png (20.49 KiB) Viewed 2738 times

[xCSxXenon]

I don't like the shading in vx. The vy version looks nice, although I think there is too much padding to the right of the 'finish line'.

[Wananavu]

Good morning everyone, what do you think if as the background of the graph of the amount of data transferred, the green one, there was a graph with the relative transfer speed. thus it would be possible to check the actual transfer speed throughout the process.

[Zenju]

Like Windows Explorer?

Explorer.png (12.41 KiB) Viewed 2672 times

[Sonik_C]

Whichever design you decide on, I'd like to request the synchronisation window stays resized every time, and also when the program is reopened. Every time I do a sync, the progress window is too small and I have to expand it. Is it possible to have it remember the last height/width of the previous sync window?

[Wananavu]

Yes like Windows Explorer but only the graphic part and not the line that goes up and down. so you also understand the quality of the device and / or cables used.

[Alxserrano]

Good afternoon; when the synchronizer does not show the processed bytes (it shows 0 bytes), what should I do to remedy it?

[xCSxXenon]

Not the right thread. Your sync isn't starting at all, most likely not able to make the gdrive connection