Splash screen

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Splash screen from Inkscape with logo and version information

When Splash Screen ( German (informal): Start screen ) is defined as a graphical placeholder that during loading or starting of a computer program appears.

While splash screens often make up the entire screen in applications written for text-based operating systems such as DOS or for smartphones and tablets, desktop applications in graphical user interfaces usually do not fill the entire screen, but are often displayed in a rectangular area in the center of the screen.

The splash screen of an operating system , however, usually takes up the entire screen and is called the " boot screen ".

purpose

A splash screen is mostly used by computer programs that need a certain amount of time after being started until they are ready for the user to operate. The splash screen informs the user that the program is currently being loaded or started. As a result, the user receives an initial response from the program immediately after starting the program (e.g. by clicking on the program symbol with the mouse) and does not have to ask whether the program is starting at all. Typically the splash screen disappears when the main window of the program appears.

If smaller programs also use splash screens, this is mostly done for a marketing strategy background: the product should create or arouse associations with a splash screen by playing a color or design cliché in advance . Users who z. B. Ubuntu , will be the first to remember orange-purple tones, whereas Microsoft Word or Fedora is perceived as a blue product. Also, Google seems to use this principle.

Although many users and developers consider a splash screen to be a gimmick, as of version 6.0 of the Java Runtime Environment, the display of a splash screen is natively supported so that the user can see feedback from the program before the classes for the graphical user interface are loaded that would otherwise be necessary for a splash screen. This underlines the importance of a splash screen for the perceived response time of a program.

See also

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Walter Doberenz: Visual C # 2012 cookbook . 1st edition. Hanser Verlag, Munich 2012, ISBN 978-3-446-43438-7 .
  2. ↑ Google Fights Microsoft With New Android Branding . Ewan Spence. June 27, 2015. Accessed November 14, 2015.
  3. ↑ SplashScreen (Java Platform SE 6) . Retrieved September 8, 2015.