Comments on: Did you know that Apple’s status bars uniformly suck?

By: Rich

Rich — Sun, 28 Mar 2010 22:09:49 +0000

Huh? That’s a Windows progress bar…

Apple progress bars fill from left to right and the fill itself has a pattern that continuously cycles to the left (even if the bar is not moving). This means you get the best of both worlds: progress is shown when it happens, but if it’s not happening, at least the program doesn’t look like it’s hanging.

Assuming that’s iTunes up there, Apple probably chose to use the progress bar they did due to the Windows progress bars making it look like the system hangs whenever it’s waiting for I/O.

Blame Microsoft.

By: D*****

D***** — Sun, 02 Apr 2006 07:38:14 +0000

I agree with Grant, have you ever seen the progress bar on a Mac?

I’m using a Mac right now and its so much better than a PC.
Ignorant PC addicts. A Mac excels against a PC so much but you PC people think its nothing;hhhuuuuuu:-(

By: grant

grant — Mon, 20 Mar 2006 17:09:52 +0000

are you guys serious, that a windows progress bar up there, maybe its iTunes, but its probably your windows machine ******** it up. Have you ever seen a mac progress bar, its blue, and the animation lets the user know that its still thinking. you windows people are so ignorant, have you even used a mac?

By: Elliot

Elliot — Mon, 13 Mar 2006 06:08:23 +0000

I definitely agree. I was always confused about this issue ever since I saw the first OS X progress bar a few years back. I decided it was just eye-candy that served absolutely no practical purpose, other than to make users feel good. Maybe not showing how long something actually takes makes Apple’s users feel like things are actually moving faster. At least the animation cycles across the bar more times!

By: Elliott Back

Elliott Back — Wed, 08 Mar 2006 19:45:47 +0000

Sure, but this is ALL the status bar does–it doesn’t give any idea of what’s happening. A traditional left-to-right status bar accomplishes both.