Products · Pattern or everyday thing
Loading indicators
Raised as a usability problem by 13 people on Hacker News over 14 years (2013–2026), in 12 threads.
No issue was raised by at least 3 people in 3 threads this year.
No issue was raised by at least 3 people in 3 threads in the last 5 years.
Every issue, all time, most people first
Spinner runs forever with no error, so users wait for nothingUnreviewed
20132026- Spinner gives no progress, so slow and hung processes look the same2023-08-27
- Spinner spins forever with no error shown, so user waits for nothing2022-05-02
- Spinners keep spinning after failures, so users can't tell whether anything is happening2019-11-15
Progress bars stall near 95% and freeze, misleading about wait timeUnreviewed
20132026- Progress bar reaches 99% then makes the user wait minutes more2021-11-11
- Progress bar is timer-driven, not tied to real loading, so it misleads users2020-11-25
- Users found the page too slow to load, even after a loading bar was added2013-09-20
Unreviewed issues were grouped by machine: Claude Haiku labelled each comment as a usability complaint, named what it's about and summed up the problem in a line, and a small model grouped similar problems. Nobody has checked them by hand. Expect mistakes.
The newest 13 complaints
- Artificial delays with loading indicators waste the user's time2026-05-12
- Can't tell whether a busy program is making progress or is frozen2025-09-05
- Loading indicator disappearing is ambiguous, users can't tell whether action completed or failed2024-08-21
- Spinner gives no progress, so slow and hung processes look the same2023-08-27
- Spinner spins forever with no error shown, so user waits for nothing2022-05-02
- Skeleton placeholders make waits feel slower and the page reflows repeatedly as content loads2022-05-02
- Progress bar reaches 99% then makes the user wait minutes more2021-11-11
- Progress bar is timer-driven, not tied to real loading, so it misleads users2020-11-25
- Spinners keep spinning after failures, so users can't tell whether anything is happening2019-11-15
- Spinner gives no sign whether anything is happening, so users can't tell whether to wait or stop2016-02-27
- Users found the page too slow to load, even after a loading bar was added2013-09-20
- Progress bars stall near 95% and freeze, misleading users about how long loading takes2013-08-19
- Spinners feel slow and wrong, and leave users unsure what is happening2013-07-01