[vixsomnis]

As someone who hasn't worked in the software industry yet, stories like these are beginning to horrify me. Is the bar really this low?

[kazinator]

Yes -- but only by default! If you go to Tools -> Page Setup -> Zoom -> Sidebar -> Tweaks, and then click on [+] next to Polling Interval to expand the box, a "Bar:" property appears, where you can enter a lower number to set the bar lower. Or just use the arrow buttons next to the field to increase or decrease it. (But note that if you already typed a number, and then use the buttons, it increments from the old number that was overwritten, not from what you typed. (Bugzilla item dating back to 2006, status UNCONFIRMED.))

[paulojreis]

It is. One of the most basic usability references talks about this [1] and:

1) Nobody cares - nobody respects it; 2) People make posts saying " it dawned on me that a trained eye can often spot unfriendly software a mile away" as if this is something new!

[1] Nielsen, J., and Molich, R. (1990). Heuristic evaluation of user interfaces, Proc. ACM CHI'90 Conf. (Seattle, WA, 1-5 April), 249-256.