Throbber

What is throbber?
A throbber is a type of animation that shows an end user that a program is working on a task. These animated graphics are often made up of simple asterisks or shapes, with the moving parts serving as a representation of the computer's progress.

A throbber may also be known as a spinner, although some sources say spinners are specifically used to refer to graphics that are spinning.
Throbbers were built into early browsers. Netscape's moving "N" logo is often given for giving this term its name because it expanded and contracted - or throbbed - as processing took place. The swirling rainbow symbol on the Macintosh computer is another well-known example of this type of tool.

One of the challenges in developing throbbers is converting bitmaps and other graphics into AVI files. This multimedia container is a common format for throbbers that can be part of various software applications and tools for devices.