5 ms·

I am used to compression percentages being the percentage of the original file size, not some sort of inverse.

jaffathecake 6y ago
One of the Squoosh developers here: I agree, but it's an argument I lost. This sort of thing really divides people it seems.
- toxik 6y ago
  It makes sense to say it's x% smaller. It's clear what the UI means anyway.
  - dassurma 6y ago
    The difficulty is: Do you express the resulting file size or the amount saved? “30%” could mean you “30% of the original file size” or “you shaved off 30% of the original file size”. You could denote the difference with a sign, like “-30%” but that still confuses people. We ran both options by a lot of our colleagues. “x% of the original file size” is the least ambiguous, but who has the space to put that entire phrase in their app :-/
    - alpaca128 6y ago
      > You could denote the difference with a sign, like “-30%” but that still confuses people How? This doesn't seem to be a problem whenever a shop runs a sale. You could write "shrunk by/to x%". Or, to stay with the app's theme, "Squooshed by 30%!"
      - developit 6y ago
        my unhelpful take is that I like both
      - iudqnolq 6y ago
        > This doesn't seem to be a problem whenever a shop runs a sale. Maybe because they don't mind people misinterpreting the sale as larger? I've never seen 30% off mean "30% of the original price", so if people misinterpret it will always be too small.
  - bloak 6y ago
    In general, percentages are confusing: depending on the context, "30%" can mean a ratio of 0.3, a ratio of 0.7, or a ratio of 1.3. Of course a large part of the general public doesn't understand that if you make something 10% bigger and then make it 10% smaller you don't get back to where you started, nor that travelling 10% faster won't cut your journey time by 10%, but I've also seen people with PhDs get confused by percentages when discussing compiler benchmark results. If your main goal is to avoid misunderstanding (which it isn't always) then in my opinion it's best not to have anything to do with percentages. Instead, just give the ratio. It might not be elegant, and perhaps some people won't understand it at all, but "0.7x compression" cannot, I think, be misunderstood. (Or can it? I wait to be corrected!)
    - foo92691 6y ago
      > "0.7x compression" cannot, I think, be misunderstood FWIW I'm not sure what your intended meaning is here. I interpret it to mean that the file got bigger.
  - sixothree 6y ago
    30% smaller than what?
- luming 6y ago
  You used the percentage of the original file in the CLI tool! (jake, is that you?)
  - dassurma 6y ago
    Yes, that is Jake. This is Surma. You seem to be right. Gonna fix the CLI (the CLI is my doing)
    - jaffathecake 6y ago
      Ohh does that mean we can have the argument again?
      - kinlan 6y ago
        Yeah. You need to fix the CLI and add an emdedable API
      - jaffathecake 6y ago
        An Emmerdale API?
        kinlan 6y ago
        Wahh wahhh waaah wawawawahhh.
        kinlan 6y ago
        I guess people don't recognise the Emmerdale theme tune..

One of the Squoosh developers here: I agree, but it's an argument I lost. This sort of thing really divides people it seems.

toxik 6y ago
It makes sense to say it's x% smaller. It's clear what the UI means anyway.
- dassurma 6y ago
  The difficulty is: Do you express the resulting file size or the amount saved? “30%” could mean you “30% of the original file size” or “you shaved off 30% of the original file size”. You could denote the difference with a sign, like “-30%” but that still confuses people. We ran both options by a lot of our colleagues. “x% of the original file size” is the least ambiguous, but who has the space to put that entire phrase in their app :-/
  - alpaca128 6y ago
    > You could denote the difference with a sign, like “-30%” but that still confuses people How? This doesn't seem to be a problem whenever a shop runs a sale. You could write "shrunk by/to x%". Or, to stay with the app's theme, "Squooshed by 30%!"
    - developit 6y ago
      my unhelpful take is that I like both
    - iudqnolq 6y ago
      > This doesn't seem to be a problem whenever a shop runs a sale. Maybe because they don't mind people misinterpreting the sale as larger? I've never seen 30% off mean "30% of the original price", so if people misinterpret it will always be too small.
- bloak 6y ago
  In general, percentages are confusing: depending on the context, "30%" can mean a ratio of 0.3, a ratio of 0.7, or a ratio of 1.3. Of course a large part of the general public doesn't understand that if you make something 10% bigger and then make it 10% smaller you don't get back to where you started, nor that travelling 10% faster won't cut your journey time by 10%, but I've also seen people with PhDs get confused by percentages when discussing compiler benchmark results. If your main goal is to avoid misunderstanding (which it isn't always) then in my opinion it's best not to have anything to do with percentages. Instead, just give the ratio. It might not be elegant, and perhaps some people won't understand it at all, but "0.7x compression" cannot, I think, be misunderstood. (Or can it? I wait to be corrected!)
  - foo92691 6y ago
    > "0.7x compression" cannot, I think, be misunderstood FWIW I'm not sure what your intended meaning is here. I interpret it to mean that the file got bigger.
- sixothree 6y ago
  30% smaller than what?
luming 6y ago
You used the percentage of the original file in the CLI tool! (jake, is that you?)
- dassurma 6y ago
  Yes, that is Jake. This is Surma. You seem to be right. Gonna fix the CLI (the CLI is my doing)
  - jaffathecake 6y ago
    Ohh does that mean we can have the argument again?
    - kinlan 6y ago
      Yeah. You need to fix the CLI and add an emdedable API
    - jaffathecake 6y ago
      An Emmerdale API?
      - kinlan 6y ago
        Wahh wahhh waaah wawawawahhh.
        kinlan 6y ago
        I guess people don't recognise the Emmerdale theme tune..