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Splash screens == sloth

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Re: Splash screens == sloth

#11

Post by Maro »

This weekend the 3G mysteriously stopped working on my iPhone, so after months of use, I rebooted it. Rebooting the iPhone takes 1+ minute, and there _is_ a kind of splash screen shown during that time. The reason it appears instantenous during normal use is that it doesn't actually boot or load, it just turns the display back on. Also, many iOS apps actually have splash screens, you just don't see them very often as they're usually already running in the background (big apps like Facebook, and even small ones like PCalc Lite or Quotes).

You can kind of achieve this with Windows + Adobe stuff too. Just don't quit Photoshop when you're done using it, and don't turn the computer off, put it to sleep. If you have an SSD (like your iPhone), then swapping Photoshop back into main memory will also be much faster.

Of course the OP is right, Adobe stuff is bloatware and sucks. Fortunately for non-pro designers, there are alternatives like Pixelmator and Paint.NET.

Re: Splash screens == sloth

#12

Post by petenixey »

zoul wrote: post #6

I hate Adobe software with passion. I used to love Macromedia Fireworks, so that I bought a copy of Fireworks after Adobe acquired Macromedia. I had to jump through some crazy hoops to prove that I did not steal the product, and that was nothing compared to what I had to do after buying a new computer – it turns out that I was supposed to unactivate the product on the old one and then activate on the new one. This is…

And now that Fireworks has been mothballed its flaws with OSX Lion are so bad that it's barely useable... :(

Re: Splash screens == sloth

#14

Post by feralchimp »

Boo and/or hiss. If you hate splash screens, use simpler tools or get more RAM. When Photoshop finishes loading, it's ready to kick ass. The Finder, on the other hand, taunts with its almost-readiness. Faking readiness is far worse than setting and honoring expectations.

Re: Splash screens == sloth

#15

Post by jiggy2011 »

AndrewDucker wrote: post #9
munin wrote: post #4

>When I turn my computer on, it should just be on. Ready to go. Kind of like—well, like my phone, for example. Which is, after all, my real computer. what phone does he use? every phone that I know of takes at least two minutes to come up from a cold start, and has for the last ten years...

And there are a variety of programs on my phone that take a few seconds to start. Angry Birds has a splash screen, for instance.

Agree, the only programs that start instantly on my android phone are the browser, phone and email apps and that's because they are probably always in memory. Everything else has a splash screen time that would put Eclipse to shame.

Not to mention that HTC has now seen fit in the latest version of Sense to add a mandatory spinning animation that plays for ~2 seconds every time I unlock the phone before I am allowed to use it.

Re: Splash screens == sloth

#16

Post by saturdaysaint »

Maro wrote: post #11

This weekend the 3G mysteriously stopped working on my iPhone, so after months of use, I rebooted it. Rebooting the iPhone takes 1+ minute, and there _is_ a kind of splash screen shown during that time. The reason it appears instantenous during normal use is that it doesn't actually boot or load, it just turns the display back on. Also, many iOS apps actually have splash screens, you just don't see them very often as…

He's talking about smartphone app behavior, not the OS. A lot of good apps (with notable exceptions like Facebook and Kindle) work to minimize the "splash" by throwing up a graphic that looks like the UI, even while the app is loading and the UI (briefly) isn't even responsive to user input. I like it - it definitely smooths the transition into using that app.

Re: Splash screens == sloth

#17

Post by ssharp »

zoul wrote: post #6

I hate Adobe software with passion. I used to love Macromedia Fireworks, so that I bought a copy of Fireworks after Adobe acquired Macromedia. I had to jump through some crazy hoops to prove that I did not steal the product, and that was nothing compared to what I had to do after buying a new computer – it turns out that I was supposed to unactivate the product on the old one and then activate on the new one. This is…

Do you think Pixelmator is a good replacement for Fireworks? Fireworks has been really great at allowing me to quickly mock-up different web layout concepts without having to write any HTML code. I know some are in the "concept with HTML camp", but I've found Fireworks to be so much faster. I've never bothered too much with Photoshop since Fireworks did 90% of what I wanted.

I'm like many, however, in grumbling about how crappy Fireworks has gotten (at least on OSX, not sure about Windows) and am to the point that I'm ready to move on.

Re: Splash screens == sloth

#18

Post by motoford »

Don't you think it's odd he is complaining about splash screens when Adobe is responsible for the worst thing to ever happen to the web -- those stupid flash intros ? Talk about a waste of time, you had to wait for the time waster to load and then wait for it to play

Re: Splash screens == sloth

#19

Post by nitid_name »

I'm not sure I'm a big fan of what it would take to fix this. Namely, "speed loaders" that sit in memory and eat up RAM. I've already seen what adobe's PDF speed loader can do on a system.

Frankly, I'll manage my applications myself.

Are you tired of waiting for Photoshop to launch? You might want to try leaving it open...

Re: Splash screens == sloth

#20

Post by jiggy2011 »

saturdaysaint wrote: post #16
Maro wrote: post #11

This weekend the 3G mysteriously stopped working on my iPhone, so after months of use, I rebooted it. Rebooting the iPhone takes 1+ minute, and there _is_ a kind of splash screen shown during that time. The reason it appears instantenous during normal use is that it doesn't actually boot or load, it just turns the display back on. Also, many iOS apps actually have splash screens, you just don't see them very often as…

He's talking about smartphone app behavior, not the OS. A lot of good apps (with notable exceptions like Facebook and Kindle) work to minimize the "splash" by throwing up a graphic that looks like the UI, even while the app is loading and the UI (briefly) isn't even responsive to user input. I like it - it definitely smooths the transition into using that app.

You can probably do that with a simple smartphone app where the first screen is basically just a static menu.

However with (let's say) eclipse or photoshop , when the program loads the first thing it displays is either my code or a graphic I am working on.

How would it allow me to interact with that in any kind of useful way without actually loading the program?

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