4 ms·

you just don't like how it looks, or is there something else wrong with it?

by metalliqaz 1y ago

deleted 1y ago
[deleted]
AlecSchueler 1y ago
It's just moving, it gives no actual indication of progress.
- metalliqaz 1y ago
  this reminds me of a tool at work that uses a progress bar but the software doesn't calculate the job size so it just fills up quickly and then goes back down again, and repeats endlessly.
  - EvanAnderson 1y ago
    I don't have the time to research where I heard this, but I recall a UI focus group study that found pretty much equal user satisfaction between accurate linear progress bars and random progress bars, but universal dissatisfaction with progress bars that "reset". My own feelings mirror this finding.
  - dotancohen 1y ago
    I called those Congress bars, con being the antonym of pro.
- saltcured 1y ago
  Back in the dark ages, "idiot dots" or "idiot marks" was a phrase I heard for the various text terminal equivalents. It would cycle through a small number of text values with some kind of backspace/overwrite to keep things localized to where the cursor ought to be. One version was a variable length ellipses: . .. ... that would grow and reset in place. Another was an expanding "dot": . o O that would cycle in place as one character. And the early "spinner" was: - \ | / that would cycle in place as one character. Hmm, not sure this will render properly on HN but it is hyphen, backslash, pipe, forward slash.
  - winocm 1y ago
    The latter is known as a "twiddle" in BSD land. (c.f: https://ftp.netbsd.org/pub/NetBSD/NetBSD-release-10/src/sys/lib/libsa/twiddle.c https://ftp.netbsd.org/pub/NetBSD/NetBSD-release-10/src/sys/...)
  - foxglacier 1y ago
    Also back then the movement of the symbols was kind of proof that the program was still running properly and not crashed because it had to be updating the symbols. But nowadays, waiting animations are independent of the thing they're waiting for and their movement isn't a sign of life but just a puppet made from a corpse.
wibbily 1y ago
I second everyone talking about fake progress bars, but yeah I was just talking aesthetics. Having a progress indicator with obvious segments and animating it with a smooth tween looks wrong. Compare the above with [1], which is how Apple does it - [1]: https://cdn.dribbble.com/userupload/20351752/file/original-ba0e48d5741db3934be88b945a5577ee.gif https://cdn.dribbble.com/userupload/20351752/file/original-b...

you just don't like how it looks, or is there something else wrong with it?

deleted 1y ago

[deleted]

AlecSchueler 1y ago

It's just moving, it gives no actual indication of progress.

metalliqaz 1y ago
this reminds me of a tool at work that uses a progress bar but the software doesn't calculate the job size so it just fills up quickly and then goes back down again, and repeats endlessly.
- EvanAnderson 1y ago
  I don't have the time to research where I heard this, but I recall a UI focus group study that found pretty much equal user satisfaction between accurate linear progress bars and random progress bars, but universal dissatisfaction with progress bars that "reset". My own feelings mirror this finding.
- dotancohen 1y ago
  I called those Congress bars, con being the antonym of pro.
saltcured 1y ago
Back in the dark ages, "idiot dots" or "idiot marks" was a phrase I heard for the various text terminal equivalents. It would cycle through a small number of text values with some kind of backspace/overwrite to keep things localized to where the cursor ought to be. One version was a variable length ellipses: . .. ... that would grow and reset in place. Another was an expanding "dot": . o O that would cycle in place as one character. And the early "spinner" was: - \ | / that would cycle in place as one character. Hmm, not sure this will render properly on HN but it is hyphen, backslash, pipe, forward slash.
- winocm 1y ago
  The latter is known as a "twiddle" in BSD land. (c.f: https://ftp.netbsd.org/pub/NetBSD/NetBSD-release-10/src/sys/lib/libsa/twiddle.c https://ftp.netbsd.org/pub/NetBSD/NetBSD-release-10/src/sys/...)
- foxglacier 1y ago
  Also back then the movement of the symbols was kind of proof that the program was still running properly and not crashed because it had to be updating the symbols. But nowadays, waiting animations are independent of the thing they're waiting for and their movement isn't a sign of life but just a puppet made from a corpse.

wibbily 1y ago

I second everyone talking about fake progress bars, but yeah I was just talking aesthetics. Having a progress indicator with obvious segments and animating it with a smooth tween looks wrong. Compare the above with [1], which is how Apple does it - [1]: https://cdn.dribbble.com/userupload/20351752/file/original-ba0e48d5741db3934be88b945a5577ee.gif https://cdn.dribbble.com/userupload/20351752/file/original-b...