A Rant Against Splash Screens 477
An anonymous reader writes "This controversial post by Adobe's Kas Thomas asks if splash screens are just a sign of program bloat and callous disregard for users. It suggests that big programs should launch instantly (or appear to), perhaps by running against an instance in the cloud while the local instance finishes loading. Users of cell phones and tablets are accustomed to apps being instantly available. This is the new standard for performance, the author argues. Nothing short of it will do, any more."
Huh? (Score:5, Informative)
Don't you mean perhaps run against a local instance until the so-called cloud loads?
Re:I have a similar complaint about web pages (Score:5, Informative)
Google does this now. So does Google Analytics. So does Project Wonderful, another ad service.
You have to update the script code on the page though, and in some cases, specify you want asynchronous loading.
What are these 'ads' you speak of? (Score:4, Informative)
lol, you guys still allow ANYTHING 3rd party to load on a page, at all? Forget it. NoScript, block everything, selectively enable stuff that I want to see. Once you get used to the idea that many sites will need a temporary permission or two its great and only a relatively small subset of ads get through.
Re:Adobe complaining about bloat? (Score:5, Informative)
Re:I don't mind (Score:4, Informative)
Games are a prime example of really crappy splash screens. Why?
loading.....
Creator's splash screen, actually, creator's intro video.
loading...
nVidia's splash video
loading...
distributor's splash video
loading...
with some luck, already the game
At least most of the time you can shorten the video display time by hammering the space bar like a trained monkey, but you can't escape that loading time wasted to load the videos you might watch ONCE. If, and only if, you never played a game from that maker or distributor before.
Re:Adobe against bloat (Score:5, Informative)
That was Macromedia, wasn't it?Adobe didn't buy them until something like 2005 or so, IIRC.
Re:I'm an iPad user (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Adobe complaining about bloat? (Score:2, Informative)
Did he mod himself insightful with his sock puppet? YOU DECIDE.
Re:Adobe complaining about bloat? (Score:4, Informative)
Watch the movie "Helvetica" regarding design swings from baroque to simplistic and back. The pendulum seems to have a period of about 15-25 years.
Re:I'm an iPad user (Score:4, Informative)
No, they aren't supposed to take a snapshot as it appeared last time the app quit. They're supposed to include with the app a snapshot of the parts of the interface that won't fool the user into thinking there are working controls, and display it when the app first launches. Since apps don't really exit unless they crash, appearing as they did last is a non-issue, since that's the way they load.
My app loads with a captured and photoshopped screenshot showing the toolbar with no buttons and nothing in the user data area, and when the thing finishes loading it displays its real interface, and then loads and displays the user's data. This is how it's supposed to be done, according to Apple. Staged loading.