News for hackers. Stuff that matters.
Re:My favourite animation trick: exponential smoothing by coldtea on Friday March 08, 2024 @01:04AM (#39638239)
>Computer UIs need animations for the same reason they need shadows, gradients, and momentum: because these are aspects of the physical world that we already know how to interpert, so can be used "for free" to aid our understanding of the UI

More like "for the same reason a fish needs a bicycle".

>Not using animations would likely be more taxing on our visual processing

And yet, Windows 2000 era UI was far more intuitive, consistent, and self-discoverable than today's animated, shadowed, gradient-filled, blurry transulcent, momentum-having flat crap.

Re:My favourite animation trick: exponential smoothing by eru on Friday March 08, 2024 @01:40AM (#39638441)
Isn't shadowed and flat sort of the opposite of each other?
Re:My favourite animation trick: exponential smoothing by coldtea on Friday March 08, 2024 @01:50AM (#39638495)
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.

Re:My favourite animation trick: exponential smoothing by wolpoli on Friday March 08, 2024 @04:25AM (#39639406)
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.
Re:My favourite animation trick: exponential smoothing by ygra on Friday March 08, 2024 @06:18AM (#39640020)
Isn't that the effect you get when you have a large diffuse light source directly above?
Re:My favourite animation trick: exponential smoothing by coldtea on Friday March 08, 2024 @06:24AM (#39640047)
Not with a "flat piece of paper of zero height"
Re:My favourite animation trick: exponential smoothing by wolpoli on Friday March 08, 2024 @03:13PM (#39645793)
If you have a diffuse light source, let's say 8dp, directly above the component and the component is also 8dp above the background, then it'll look right for one component.

To account for the lack of parallex effect in the shadow when there are multiple components, you will then need a telephoto lens zoomed through the light source from a huge distance. I think we'll need a ring light.

Re:My favourite animation trick: exponential smoothing by coldtea on Friday March 08, 2024 @05:53AM (#39639887)
Exactly. "Environmental cue" my ass :)