nprogress vs react-loader-spinner vs react-top-loading-bar
Loading Indicators for Web Applications Comparison
1 Year
nprogressreact-loader-spinnerreact-top-loading-barSimilar Packages:
What's Loading Indicators for Web Applications?

Loading indicators are essential for enhancing user experience in web applications by providing visual feedback during asynchronous operations. These npm packages offer various styles and functionalities for displaying loading states, helping to inform users that their request is being processed. They can be used to improve perceived performance and reduce user frustration during data fetching or processing tasks.

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nprogress1,413,43426,252-13410 years agoMIT
react-loader-spinner254,297-7.31 MB-a year agoMIT
react-top-loading-bar48,88671970.3 kB62 months agoMIT
Feature Comparison: nprogress vs react-loader-spinner vs react-top-loading-bar

Integration Ease

  • nprogress:

    NProgress is designed to be easily integrated into any web application with minimal setup. It requires only a few lines of JavaScript to start, making it a great choice for developers looking for quick implementation without the need for extensive configuration.

  • react-loader-spinner:

    React Loader Spinner is specifically built for React, allowing for straightforward integration within React components. It leverages React's component-based architecture, making it easy to use and customize according to your application's needs.

  • react-top-loading-bar:

    React Top Loading Bar provides a simple API for integration into React applications. It can be easily added to your component tree, and its loading state can be controlled via props, making it intuitive for React developers.

Customization Options

  • nprogress:

    NProgress offers limited customization options, primarily focusing on color and speed of the loading bar. While it provides a clean and simple design, it may not cater to extensive customization needs for more complex UI requirements.

  • react-loader-spinner:

    React Loader Spinner provides a wide range of spinner designs and customization options, including size, color, and animation speed. This flexibility allows developers to match the loader's appearance with their application's branding and design guidelines.

  • react-top-loading-bar:

    React Top Loading Bar allows for customization of the loading bar's height, color, and transition speed. This makes it easy to adapt the loading indicator to fit the overall look and feel of your application.

Performance Impact

  • nprogress:

    NProgress is lightweight and has a minimal performance impact on your application. It is designed to be unobtrusive and does not significantly affect loading times, making it suitable for high-performance applications.

  • react-loader-spinner:

    React Loader Spinner is also lightweight, but the performance may vary depending on the complexity of the chosen spinner. Simple spinners have minimal impact, while more intricate animations may require additional resources.

  • react-top-loading-bar:

    React Top Loading Bar is optimized for performance and is designed to display quickly without causing delays in your application's loading times. It provides a smooth user experience during data fetching.

Visual Feedback

  • nprogress:

    NProgress provides a simple loading bar that appears at the top of the page, giving users immediate visual feedback that a process is ongoing. Its straightforward design ensures that users are informed without being distracted.

  • react-loader-spinner:

    React Loader Spinner offers a variety of animated spinners that can be used to provide engaging visual feedback. These spinners can enhance user experience by making the loading process feel more dynamic and less static.

  • react-top-loading-bar:

    React Top Loading Bar provides a clear and consistent visual indication of loading at the top of the page. This helps users understand that their request is being processed, especially during navigation or data fetching.

Use Cases

  • nprogress:

    NProgress is best suited for applications that require a simple loading indicator during page transitions or AJAX requests. It is ideal for projects where minimalism and speed are prioritized.

  • react-loader-spinner:

    React Loader Spinner is perfect for applications that need visually appealing loading animations, such as e-commerce sites, dashboards, or any interactive web app where user engagement is crucial.

  • react-top-loading-bar:

    React Top Loading Bar is ideal for applications that involve frequent data fetching or route changes, providing a consistent loading experience across the application. It is particularly useful in single-page applications (SPAs) where users expect immediate feedback.

How to Choose: nprogress vs react-loader-spinner vs react-top-loading-bar
  • nprogress:

    Choose NProgress if you need a lightweight and minimalistic loading bar that integrates seamlessly with any web application. It is ideal for projects where you want a simple visual indication of loading without additional dependencies or complex configurations.

  • react-loader-spinner:

    Select React Loader Spinner if you prefer a variety of customizable loading spinner designs specifically for React applications. This package is suitable for projects that require visually appealing loaders and where you want to enhance the user interface with animated spinners.

  • react-top-loading-bar:

    Opt for React Top Loading Bar if you want a top-loading bar that is easy to integrate into React applications and provides a smooth transition effect. It is best for applications that require a clear and consistent loading indication at the top of the page, especially during route changes or data fetching.

README for nprogress

NProgress

Slim progress bars for Ajax'y applications. Inspired by Google, YouTube, and Medium.

Installation

Add nprogress.js and nprogress.css to your project.

<script src='nprogress.js'></script>
<link rel='stylesheet' href='nprogress.css'/>

NProgress is available via bower and npm and spm.

$ bower install --save nprogress
$ npm install --save nprogress

Basic usage

Simply call start() and done() to control the progress bar.

NProgress.start();
NProgress.done();

Using Turbolinks or similar? Ensure you're using Turbolinks 1.3.0+, and use this: (explained here)

$(document).on('page:fetch',   function() { NProgress.start(); });
$(document).on('page:change',  function() { NProgress.done(); });
$(document).on('page:restore', function() { NProgress.remove(); });

Ideas

  • Add progress to your Ajax calls! Bind it to the jQuery ajaxStart and ajaxStop events.

  • Make a fancy loading bar even without Turbolinks/Pjax! Bind it to $(document).ready and $(window).load.

Advanced usage

Percentages: To set a progress percentage, call .set(n), where n is a number between 0..1.

NProgress.set(0.0);     // Sorta same as .start()
NProgress.set(0.4);
NProgress.set(1.0);     // Sorta same as .done()

Incrementing: To increment the progress bar, just use .inc(). This increments it with a random amount. This will never get to 100%: use it for every image load (or similar).

NProgress.inc();

If you want to increment by a specific value, you can pass that as a parameter:

NProgress.inc(0.2);    // This will get the current status value and adds 0.2 until status is 0.994

Force-done: By passing true to done(), it will show the progress bar even if it's not being shown. (The default behavior is that .done() will not do anything if .start() isn't called)

NProgress.done(true);

Get the status value: To get the status value, use .status

Configuration

minimum

Changes the minimum percentage used upon starting. (default: 0.08)

NProgress.configure({ minimum: 0.1 });

template

You can change the markup using template. To keep the progress bar working, keep an element with role='bar' in there. See the default template for reference.

NProgress.configure({
  template: "<div class='....'>...</div>"
});

easing and speed

Adjust animation settings using easing (a CSS easing string) and speed (in ms). (default: ease and 200)

NProgress.configure({ easing: 'ease', speed: 500 });

trickle

Turn off the automatic incrementing behavior by setting this to false. (default: true)

NProgress.configure({ trickle: false });

trickleRate and trickleSpeed

You can adjust the trickleRate (how much to increase per trickle) and trickleSpeed (how often to trickle, in ms).

NProgress.configure({ trickleRate: 0.02, trickleSpeed: 800 });

showSpinner

Turn off loading spinner by setting it to false. (default: true)

NProgress.configure({ showSpinner: false });

parent

specify this to change the parent container. (default: body)

NProgress.configure({ parent: '#container' });

Customization

Just edit nprogress.css to your liking. Tip: you probably only want to find and replace occurrences of #29d.

The included CSS file is pretty minimal... in fact, feel free to scrap it and make your own!

Resources

Support

Bugs and requests: submit them through the project's issues tracker.
Issues

Questions: ask them at StackOverflow with the tag nprogress.
StackOverflow

Chat: join us at gitter.im.
![Chat](http://img.shields.io/badge/gitter-rstacruz / nprogress-brightgreen.svg)

Thanks

NProgress © 2013-2014, Rico Sta. Cruz. Released under the MIT License.
Authored and maintained by Rico Sta. Cruz with help from contributors.

ricostacruz.com  ·  GitHub @rstacruz  ·  Twitter @rstacruz

Status npm version spm package