菊花狀的載入狀態指示器小圖標是蘋果首創嗎，它有什麼歷史？

01-29

很早就在 Mac 上看到過這樣的菊花狀載入狀態指示器（activity indicator）圖標，近些年很多網站、應用程序也都使用了「菊花」，它是不是蘋果首創的呢？它有什麼歷史，最先在哪裡出現，有哪些不同品種，經過怎樣的演化？

不是ICQ么？

黃繼新老師提供的動態GIF圖：

ww2,sinaimg,cn/bmiddle/62eaed08jw1e6x5ew83keg204600pdfn.gif

（由於知乎不支持動態GIF，請粘貼至瀏覽器後把逗號改成點，然後可以觀看。）

倒是題主可以認領」菊花狀「這一命名的專利了...

ps：題主別生氣... 純tx

我是題主，謝謝大家的回答，給大家提供一些線索。

感謝@鄭紫陽修改標題並添加了 iOS Activity Indicator 話題。受此啟發，我在維基上找到了 Throbber 詞條，大家可以參考一下這個詞條，摘錄其中關於「菊花狀」的部分如下：

Spinning wheel（原來老外把這種叫做紡車狀活動指示器 -_-#）

Throbbers saw a resurgence with client side applications (such as Ajax Web applications) where an application within the web browser would wait for some operation to complete. Most of these throbbers were known as a "spinning wheel", which typically consist of 8, 10, or 12 part-radial lines or discs arranged in a circle, as if on a clock face, highlighted in turn as if a wave is moving clockwise around the circle.

In text user interfaces, the spinning wheel is commonly replaced by a spinning bar, a fixed-width character which is cycled between |/- forms in order to create an animation effect. Unlike graphical activity indicators, the spinning bar is commonly combined with progress displays, since the lower resolution of character-based progress bars requires a separate indication of activity. This use dates from early versions of the UNIX operating system and DR DOS utilities in the 1980s.

確實很早就出現了，應該是隨著web2.0和ajax技術的興起流行起來的。但是具體出處就難說了。

這種狀態圖標，基本不可能申請專利，我相信蘋果也沒有申請專利，更談不上給這個專利一個受保護的名字，所以誰都可以用，就像知乎上的箭頭，