[tahoe-dev] [tahoe-lafs] #964: show sizes in unambiguous way that doesn't get mistaken for different units (was: List sizes for storage using base-2 sizes, not base-10)

[tahoe-lafs]

#964: show sizes in unambiguous way that doesn't get mistaken for different units
--------------------------+-------------------------------------------------
 Reporter:  USSJoin       |           Owner:           
     Type:  defect        |          Status:  new      
 Priority:  minor         |       Milestone:  undecided
Component:  code-storage  |         Version:  1.6.0    
 Keywords:  usability     |   Launchpad_bug:           
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Comment(by zooko):

 Replying to [comment:7 warner]:
 >
 > In places where we have evidence that people want both sorts of values,
 we
 > should give them both sorts of values. For example, on the "Storage
 Server
 > Status" page, we currently show abbreviated GB (10^9^) and unabbreviated
 > number-of-bytes:
 >
 {{{
 Total disk space:       319.73 GB       (319728959488)
 Disk space used:        - 311.44 GB     (311444250624)
 }}}
 >
 > My hope was that the "319728959488" would look enough like the "319.73"
 to
 > cue the reader into remembering that GB means 10^9^, but the original
 > poster's experience suggests this failed.

 You know what? This might have worked if the bytes display had included
 commas, like this:
 {{{
 Total disk space:       319.73 GB       (319,728,959,488)
 Disk space used:        - 311.44 GB     (311,444,250,624)
 }}}
 I don't know about USSJoin, but for me, my eyeballs just slide right off
 of "319728959488" after the first couple of digits.
 Proposed action items to make this ticket closable:
  * change the Summary to "show sizes in unambiguous way that doesn't get
 mistaken for different units"
  * add commas to outputs which are in terms of bytes
  * ask people for feedback on whether this is now sufficiently clear to
 them
  * close the ticket as fixed

-- 
Ticket URL: <http://allmydata.org/trac/tahoe/ticket/964#comment:9>
tahoe-lafs <http://allmydata.org>
secure decentralized file storage grid