1650521 - Static tab loading icon not very Mac like

Status: NEW

(Firefox :: Theme, defect, P5)

Description

[Asif Youssuff]

Attachment: ProgressIndicator_IntermediateSpinner.png

Noticed that the new static tab loading animation is not very Mac like - the hourglass isn't really a Mac thing - a watch or a beachball may have made more sense.

In any case, Apple provides guidance on indeterminate progress spinners https://developer.apple.com/design/human-interface-guidelines/macos/indicators/progress-indicators/ and a static version could be used if required (image attached from Apple).

Comment 1

[Dão Gottwald [:dao]]

(In reply to Asif Youssuff from comment #0)

Noticed that the new static tab loading animation is not very Mac like - the hourglass isn't really a Mac thing - a watch or a beachball may have made more sense.

Afaik the beachball has a rather strong negative connotation, indicating that an app is hung. That's not what we want to convey here.

In any case, Apple provides guidance on indeterminate progress spinners https://developer.apple.com/design/human-interface-guidelines/macos/indicators/progress-indicators/ and a static version could be used if required (image attached from Apple).

This icon is clearly supposed to spin and therefore looks broken when it doesn't.

Comment 2

[Asif Youssuff]

(In reply to Dão Gottwald [::dao] from comment #1)

Afaik the beachball has a rather strong negative connotation, indicating that an app is hung. That's not what we want to convey here.

Yeah, per Wikipedia:

After the transition to Mac OS X (macOS), Apple narrowed the wait cursor meaning. The display of the wait cursor is now controlled only by the operating system, not by the application. This could indicate that the application was in an infinite loop, or just performing a lengthy operation and ignoring events.

That would indeed be the wrong connotation.

In any case, Apple provides guidance on indeterminate progress spinners https://developer.apple.com/design/human-interface-guidelines/macos/indicators/progress-indicators/ and a static version could be used if required (image attached from Apple).

This icon is clearly supposed to spin and therefore looks broken when it doesn't.

Right. I forgot to mention this, but I tested a few Apple apps in macOS - eg. Mail, Podcasts, News - all of which show the indeterminate progress spinners spinning even when reduce motion is enabled.

Is it okay for Firefox on macOS to simply show the spinner spinning? Maybe the issue post 57 was the Photon animation, not the macOS one?