3 ms·

Animations don't have to mean waiting! In particular, you can freely interact with tabs in iOS Safari (an example the article mentions) while switching between

by panic 10y ago

Animations don't have to mean waiting! In particular, you can freely interact with tabs in iOS Safari (an example the article mentions) while switching between them, even during the animation. Good animations reinforce the relationships between UI elements. They help you remember where you are, how you got there, and how to get back when you're done. We shouldn't throw them out -- we just need to make them work properly.

brandur 10y ago
I think you're right, but I also think that there's very few examples out there of animations that I'd consider within the bounds of making acceptable trade-offs between the usefulness of their visual hinting and their effect on productivity. For one example, Apple designers are considered amongst the best in the world, but every animation on the iPhone could stand to be 10x faster. It's frustrating for me even just waiting for it to move from an app to the home screen after I hit the "home" button. Even though the animation is relatively short, there's a non-negligible effect on my workflow, and that adds up as I do it a thousand times a week and thousands of times a year. I'd personally rather see all animations disabled rather than what we have today (or even just an option available to us to do that).
- panic 10y ago
  My point is that the animation speed wouldn't matter as much if the transition were implemented properly. Tapping on an app icon during the animation should start switching to that app right away. There's no reason you should be forced to wait at all!
- K0SM0S 10y ago
  Settings > Accessibility > Reduce Motion (off/on) Right above in "Increase Contrast" you can also trigger a "Reduce Transparency" setting which may speed up animations (but admittedly alters the UI style). It's not yet what we'd want but it's what we have so far.

3 ms·

Animations don't have to mean waiting! In particular, you can freely interact with tabs in iOS Safari (an example the article mentions) while switching between

by panic 10y ago

brandur 10y ago
I think you're right, but I also think that there's very few examples out there of animations that I'd consider within the bounds of making acceptable trade-offs between the usefulness of their visual hinting and their effect on productivity. For one example, Apple designers are considered amongst the best in the world, but every animation on the iPhone could stand to be 10x faster. It's frustrating for me even just waiting for it to move from an app to the home screen after I hit the "home" button. Even though the animation is relatively short, there's a non-negligible effect on my workflow, and that adds up as I do it a thousand times a week and thousands of times a year. I'd personally rather see all animations disabled rather than what we have today (or even just an option available to us to do that).
- panic 10y ago
  My point is that the animation speed wouldn't matter as much if the transition were implemented properly. Tapping on an app icon during the animation should start switching to that app right away. There's no reason you should be forced to wait at all!
- K0SM0S 10y ago
  Settings > Accessibility > Reduce Motion (off/on) Right above in "Increase Contrast" you can also trigger a "Reduce Transparency" setting which may speed up animations (but admittedly alters the UI style). It's not yet what we'd want but it's what we have so far.