4 ms·

"Loading..." Animated GIF Generator

36 points by nir 17y ago

nir 17y ago
Just found this, thought it might be come handy for other devs as well..
noodle 17y ago
alternatively, http://www.loadinfo.net/ http://www.loadinfo.net/ also has a wide, but somewhat different selection of types of spinners.
makecheck 17y ago
Of course, the goal should be to eliminate all sources of slowdown from one's web page. I especially hate seeing progress indicators for things that "used to" be fast, if only they weren't ajaxified. The classic case being the pop-up image browsers, because it's so much more fun to watch a spinning icon than to actually see my images instantly.
- joshuarr 17y ago
  If you're loading an image that's 100k+ you want a preloader on there so people know what's going on. It's not going to magically appear instantly because you've compressed the image to shit and removed the preloader.
  - makecheck 17y ago
    I specifically mentioned images that really were displaying instantly, prior to fancy UI. In other words, the page did not require the fancy UI, but one was added because someone thought it would be cool. And the result was a less optimal experience. Web site maintainers should be keenly interested in what their visitors think. But apparently, honesty only loses me points.
- kaffeinecoma 17y ago
  I managed to "fool" myself that my own app was faster by adding a snappier animated gif. Perception really is everything. http://garmhold.blogspot.com/2009/09/make-your-ajax-apps-seem-snappier-with.html http://garmhold.blogspot.com/2009/09/make-your-ajax-apps-see...
joshuarr 17y ago
I prefer http://preloaders.net/ http://preloaders.net/
- nir 17y ago
  Nice! That one seems to have more features than the site I submitted. I had no idea there's this whole niche of loader GIF generators...
fretlessjazz 17y ago
That site is SO 2007.
- rmp 17y ago
  Hacker News is SO 2007.
abentspoon 17y ago
Has anything like this been done for other site graphics? It would be great to be able to customize fg/bg colors of rounded border images or background gradients without firing up photoshop. It would be even nicer if it could scrape the colors out of your site's css.
- palsecam 17y ago
  Rounded corners generator: http://wigflip.com/cornershop/ http://wigflip.com/cornershop/. You may also like the other wigflip utilities, see http://wigflip.com/ http://wigflip.com/. Background gradients (if you make a 1-pixel wide button) and button generator: http://dabuttonfactory.com/ http://dabuttonfactory.com/ (self-plug).
techiferous 17y ago
I've used ajaxload.info's handiwork on my http://patiencepractice.com http://patiencepractice.com website.
aw3c2 17y ago
There is one really annoying thing about those loading graphics: When people do not provide a <noscript> that does not show them. Also they are useless as progress indicators. Countless times I looked at them while there was nothing happening (be it a non-responding server or a simple bug).
lsb 17y ago
If you can avoid showing that loading icon altogether, take it out. Precache the AJAX request as soon as you can, if it won't overload your server, and don't make the user wait.

36 points by nir 17y ago

nir 17y ago

Just found this, thought it might be come handy for other devs as well..

alternatively, http://www.loadinfo.net/ http://www.loadinfo.net/ also has a wide, but somewhat different selection of types of spinners.

makecheck 17y ago

Of course, the goal should be to eliminate all sources of slowdown from one's web page. I especially hate seeing progress indicators for things that "used to" be fast, if only they weren't ajaxified. The classic case being the pop-up image browsers, because it's so much more fun to watch a spinning icon than to actually see my images instantly.

joshuarr 17y ago
If you're loading an image that's 100k+ you want a preloader on there so people know what's going on. It's not going to magically appear instantly because you've compressed the image to shit and removed the preloader.
- makecheck 17y ago
  I specifically mentioned images that really were displaying instantly, prior to fancy UI. In other words, the page did not require the fancy UI, but one was added because someone thought it would be cool. And the result was a less optimal experience. Web site maintainers should be keenly interested in what their visitors think. But apparently, honesty only loses me points.
kaffeinecoma 17y ago
I managed to "fool" myself that my own app was faster by adding a snappier animated gif. Perception really is everything. http://garmhold.blogspot.com/2009/09/make-your-ajax-apps-seem-snappier-with.html http://garmhold.blogspot.com/2009/09/make-your-ajax-apps-see...

joshuarr 17y ago

I prefer http://preloaders.net/ http://preloaders.net/

nir 17y ago
Nice! That one seems to have more features than the site I submitted. I had no idea there's this whole niche of loader GIF generators...

fretlessjazz 17y ago

That site is SO 2007.

rmp 17y ago
Hacker News is SO 2007.

abentspoon 17y ago

Has anything like this been done for other site graphics? It would be great to be able to customize fg/bg colors of rounded border images or background gradients without firing up photoshop. It would be even nicer if it could scrape the colors out of your site's css.

palsecam 17y ago
Rounded corners generator: http://wigflip.com/cornershop/ http://wigflip.com/cornershop/. You may also like the other wigflip utilities, see http://wigflip.com/ http://wigflip.com/. Background gradients (if you make a 1-pixel wide button) and button generator: http://dabuttonfactory.com/ http://dabuttonfactory.com/ (self-plug).

techiferous 17y ago

I've used ajaxload.info's handiwork on my http://patiencepractice.com http://patiencepractice.com website.

aw3c2 17y ago

There is one really annoying thing about those loading graphics: When people do not provide a <noscript> that does not show them. Also they are useless as progress indicators. Countless times I looked at them while there was nothing happening (be it a non-responding server or a simple bug).

lsb 17y ago

If you can avoid showing that loading icon altogether, take it out. Precache the AJAX request as soon as you can, if it won't overload your server, and don't make the user wait.