Meter

Meter is used to represent an available quantity or allotment of a measurable unit.

Overview

Meter should be used when displaying the amount of a resource remaining, or yet to be used. It can represent the quantity of resource consumed as a value, in relation to min and max limits, and optionally display low and high quantity thresholds to a user.

Meter can also be used to display a count or quantity anytime max is a known value. For instance, Meter is an appropriate way of displaying the number of days in a year that precipitation has been recorded.

Usage

  • Display the remaining number of credits or other resource available
  • Display the amount of storage used on a hard drive
  • Communicate significant quantity thresholds that could impact a user's experience
  • Display a count or quantity accrued towards a max

Sample

Best Practices

While visually similar to Progress, Meter has distinct capabilities and intended use cases.

Progress represents advancement towards the completion of a single task or system process - only the value can be set. The value is always a percentage between zero and one hundred. Progress should be used to represent system-initiated tasks or processes.
Distinctly, Meter represents an allotment available or quantity of resource used. It accepts min values of less than zero and may have max values of greater or less than one hundred. The value may fluctuate and, when fillType is "range", may convey meaning to the user through use of low and high properties.

Recommendations

It is recommended to use low and/or high when they represent quantities of significance. For instance, if the value exceeds high, it may be useful to display corresponding messaging in a Notice, or send an email to the user with further communication.

Fill types

Use the appropriate fillType. The default, "range", is useful for providing context about the importance of the current value, for example if a user is approaching the limit of their available storage. Use "single" when there is no inherent benefit or detriment to the current value.

Do use fillType of "range" when the quantity or allotment could become scarce and negatively impact a user.
Do use fillType of "single" when the current quantity or allotment is strictly informative and has no positive or negative bearing on the user.
Avoid populating low or high if there is no significance to the range.
Avoid using fillType of "range" when conveying a quantity that has no positive or negative bearing on the user.

Label types

The valueLabelType and rangeLabelType properties can be configured as "units" or "percent". The former can be useful when displaying explicit quantities to a user. The latter is often used to simplify complex or lengthy numbers. It can be valid to use a combination of values, for example setting rangeLabelType as "percent" and the valueLabelType as "units".

When using valueLabelType or rangeLabelType as "units", it may be useful to use the unitType property to provide additional context to a user.

Do use valueLabelType or valueLabelType of "units", when knowing the explicit number may benefit a user.
Do use valueLabelType or valueLabelType of "percent" when the numbers are long, or the exact numeric value is not important to a user.
Do prefer brevity when populating unitType.
Avoid using long, confusing, or complex strings for unitType.
Avoid using "percent" for valueLabelType when the exact numeric value may be of importance to a user.

API reference

Properties

Your browser is no longer supported. Please upgrade your browser for the best experience. See our browser deprecation post for more details.