These things:
I hate them. I hate them so much. I get it. I have to wait for the next screen. You know how I know that? Because the next screen is not here yet. Your doodly image is just pissing me off. It conveys no information. Who asked for these useless things?
If you have a Mac, they give you an early warning that there is a 70% probability that your Mac is hung up and that you should’ve saved that Word document you were working on. Plus, colorful!
It says “more coming…you don’t have to do anything more; wait for it.” I would prefer a spinner to having no visual cue at all that my click has accomplished anything.
Perhaps there’s better ways than spinners to achieve that.
I agree that some indication of “working” is useful, but spinners do not provide it. They look like “working” but they really just mean “wait.” As in, the server might be working and your transaction will be finished 1 second, 1 hour, or maybe, never. They appear to convey more info than they do. The ones that look like progress bars are the very worst.