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My favourite animation trick: exponential smoothing (2023)

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Re: My favourite animation trick: exponential smoothing (2023)

#211

Post by James_K »

Kiro wrote: post #191
James_K wrote: post #189

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Surely this only happens because someone wasn't looking at the screen while they were making the input. They could just as easily miss whatever animation is attached to the number changing. The real solution here is to provide some kind of haptic feedback (phone vibration) or to play a sound.

Big disagree on that. Sound and haptic feedback are clearly inferior solutions to the obvious one: an animation.

Can you back up this opinion with any kind of coherent argument? Because the problem is "people can't see the screen" so I feel like displaying something on the screen might not solve it. By contrast, you would definitely know if the phone buzzed when you clicked a button. Anyone who's ever used one of the iPhones with fake home buttons on them can attest to this fact.

Re: My favourite animation trick: exponential smoothing (2023)

#212

Post by iainmerrick »

solardev wrote: post #202
usrusr wrote: post #197

Earlier quoted context omitted.

On a touch sreen, chances are the finger obscures the state change, or much of it. When you are not super focused ("I don't trust this thing!"), it's easy to miss the difference between before and after states. The animation serves as a low-threshold confirmation that the pixels are not just decoration and that the touch event has actually been registered. Requiring the user to mentally diff before and after states w…

Or you could just use a checkbox

Preferably both. Make it a checkbox for clarity, and animate it for input feedback.

Re: My favourite animation trick: exponential smoothing (2023)

#213

Post by usrusr »

solardev wrote: post #202
usrusr wrote: post #197

Earlier quoted context omitted.

On a touch sreen, chances are the finger obscures the state change, or much of it. When you are not super focused ("I don't trust this thing!"), it's easy to miss the difference between before and after states. The animation serves as a low-threshold confirmation that the pixels are not just decoration and that the touch event has actually been registered. Requiring the user to mentally diff before and after states w…

Or you could just use a checkbox

Tends do get completely obscured and you're back to mental diffing. I know, I know, nothing a bigger checkbox could not solve, but they look weird when you only make them bigger horizontally.

Re: My favourite animation trick: exponential smoothing (2023)

#215

Post by James_K »

motoxpro wrote: post #194
James_K wrote: post #186

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> even "feel" does matter to most users And I think most users would prefer software that does stuff instantly. Attaching little animations to everything is just silly and distracting. It only happens because someone had nothing better to do but still had to look busy. These things almost universally degrade the interface and I've yet to see the actual benefit of them, aside from the fact that they draw attention to…

Almost no Apple interactions are without animation. It's actually hard to find something that's NOT animated on Android AND iPhone. For most users, the iPhone is one of the gold standards for "good feel". Some people like the unrealistic jumping of no animation, which is totally fine. Some people want it to "feel like a computer" not how things actually behave in the real world. It's taste. Animations that are too lo…

Switches in the real world tend to snap almost instantly from one end to the other. That is the defining feature of switches – that they don't have a slow transition between the states. This animation stuff isn't realistic, and even if it was that isn't an argument for it.

Re: My favourite animation trick: exponential smoothing (2023)

#217

Post by iainmerrick »

James_K wrote: post #186
chefandy wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Like in this case, what exactly is "going on" that requires this visual delay? Nothing. It's a technical demonstration. The delay is also overemphasized to make the difference more apparent. > The this is the fanciness that detracts from solving the major flaw of these sliders: you can't easily tell whether it's off or on That's because they don't represent anything. Toggles don't always represent on or off, either…

> even "feel" does matter to most users And I think most users would prefer software that does stuff instantly. Attaching little animations to everything is just silly and distracting. It only happens because someone had nothing better to do but still had to look busy. These things almost universally degrade the interface and I've yet to see the actual benefit of them, aside from the fact that they draw attention to…

And I think most users would prefer software that does stuff instantly

Hmm, users certainly prefer software that's fast, but I don't know about "instantly".

Feedback is important. A button that gently clicks so you know it took effect is better than a touch sensor with no feedback. Animations can serve the same purpose as that click. (And of course they can be overdone, just like a button can be overly stiff or loud.)

Re: My favourite animation trick: exponential smoothing (2023)

#218

Post by ygra »

wolpoli wrote: post #166
coldtea wrote: post #97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Amazingly, not in 2024. They put shadows on otherwise flat layers - for gratuitous effect, but also to get back some separation after they've flattenned everything.

The shadow is around flat piece of paper of zero height, levitating off the background, casting shadow 360 degrees all around. No physical lighting set up could produce this effect.

Isn't that the effect you get when you have a large diffuse light source directly above?

Re: My favourite animation trick: exponential smoothing (2023)

#219

Post by coldtea »

ygra wrote: post #218
wolpoli wrote: post #166

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The shadow is around flat piece of paper of zero height, levitating off the background, casting shadow 360 degrees all around. No physical lighting set up could produce this effect.

Isn't that the effect you get when you have a large diffuse light source directly above?

Not with a "flat piece of paper of zero height"

Re: My favourite animation trick: exponential smoothing (2023)

#220

Post by layer8 »

usrusr wrote: post #213
solardev wrote: post #202

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Or you could just use a checkbox

Tends do get completely obscured and you're back to mental diffing. I know, I know, nothing a bigger checkbox could not solve, but they look weird when you only make them bigger horizontally.

Checkboxes can usually be toggled by clicking/tapping on the label. That may not resolve all criticism, but I'm just saying.
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