I just altered the opacity of the original gif (I actually did this years ago in preparation for APNG, which took a long time to actually show up), then resized it to 128X128 and back to 16X16 with bicubic resampling in the hopes of getting rid of some of the pixelation.

My own browser has 1px white and grey horizontal lines, and this new throbber matches perfectly.

How did you make the vista throbber? Could you send me or post the JavaScript for APNGedit?

thx

So basically, thin and vertical line that’s high-contrast and has a dot/gradient or whatever moving maybe up and down on it? Also it would be right between the buttons and URL bar by default, so the user wouldn’t have to look too far for it while still having obvious enough buttons.

*shrug* Well, I’m not insistent on it; I simply think it would be a good move, and hastened to suggest it as such. ^_^ Appreciate your considering the idea, anyhow! Maybe mull it over a little more before you drop it altogether?

Stop doesn’t make as much sense to me, personally, but even that would save space and give some of the same benefit.

Even if we stick with the status quo, though, I like the direction you’re gong with the throbber. Have fun playing around with prototypes. :)

[quote="Cusser"]…how is this a good idea? What problem does this solve? Isn’t any gain offset by the fact that no other GUI I can think of has buttons that indicate status?[/quote]

Clicking the Reload button causes the page to load; the throbber shows that the page is loading. The two are fundamentally, functionally related. From that standpoint alone, it makes perfect sense to combine them.

But there are other reasons as well. For one, it would eliminate the need for a separate throbber on the navbar, thus saving space.

For another, it would provide instant, obvious feedback when you click Reload, which is always helpful, especially for amateur users like, say, our parents. On OS X, I think the toolbar throbber isn’t even shown by default. Unless you have multiple tabs open — and believe me, many users like the aforementioned parents don’t have a clue about tabs — the only feedback when a page is loading is the small progress bar at the complete opposite corner of the browser window. Considering it logically and intuitively, who would think to look so far from where you’ve just clicked to see whether it had any effect? My mother in law is always asking whether the browser’s doing anything after she’s told it to (re)load a page. If the Reload button, right by the location bar, would indicate that something is indeed happening, she’d never have to ask that again.

In other words, we want Firefox to be friendly, intuitive, and logical, so that it will be immediately apparent to even the most novice of users what’s going on. And we want to reduce clutter, thereby increasing usability further. Don’t we?

As for “no other GUI” indicating status in such a way, that’s not actually true. Although it’s not the same kind of program, World of Warcraft, for instance, shows a refresh gauge on a skill button after you click it, so you can immediately see pertinent feedback. Closer to home, in the browser space, Safari indicates status by changing the Reload button to Stop when loading, and changing it back to Reload when finished. Now, Firefox developers have made a good case (I think) for why those two buttons are better left separate, but my point is that this sort of feedback does have precedent. Besides, that particular conflict is caused by trying to merge the GUI for two opposing functions. The throbber is a very different matter. Adding it to the Reload button wouldn’t blur functionality or cause anybody to accidentally reload a page when they intend it to *stop* loading. Instead it would elegantly merge two elements which represent related aspects of the same function.

This could be the sort of nice little touch that would give the average user a “Hey, cool!” moment and warm fuzzies about their browser. I’d say that’s a big win on the GUI front. And not only a big win for users, but also a minor coup of sorts for Mozilla. Interfaces are headed in this more streamlined, more interactive direction anyhow. It’s a small thing, but being the first to bat with this idea would put Firefox ahead of competing browsers in usability and innovation both. So yeah, all told, I think I have pretty good reason to be stoked about the idea. :)

Why not combine the throbber and the Reload button?

While a page is loading, the Reload arrow can spin. We should probably still have a throbber on each tab, but I think this idea would provide a simple, elegant, space-saving, and distinctive solution for the navbar. And it has the extra benefit of giving instant feedback when you click on Reload.

Credit for the idea goes to omgy. See http://forums.mozillazine.org/viewtopic.php?p=3258462#3258462

:D

One thought with using the layered image was to having an outer rim (perhaps something like the mac’s dots) and an inner rim, but have them going in the same direction at different speeds. The idea would be kind of like a clock. The outer track makes two revolutions for every one revolution the inner track makes.
Something along those lines.