Spinner

A small indicator that work is in progress when the time is unknown.

In Dense data

See it live

Start Storybook to see it live: npm run storybook

Live from StorybookOpen Spinner in StorybookSee it in dark

When to use it

In Dense data: A wait while the record panel beside the table fetches. Not for table rows, which load with skeletons.

• Use it when: Fetching a panel or syncing, a wait that is not the button itself.
• Not when: A layout placeholder (skeleton), or known progress (progress).

Instead:

• Skeleton: Keeps the final layout.
• Progress: A known amount of work.

Words

• Lead with the object, then the state: "Alert 2041 contained."
• Use numbers, not words for numbers.
• One verb per button. No "please", no exclamation marks.
• Use: Investigate, Filter, Assign, Escalated, Resolved. Avoid: Oops, Awesome, Please, Simply.

The labels components use, from the voice tokens:

• content.action.commit: Save
• content.action.cancel: Cancel
• content.action.destroy: Delete
• content.action.retry: Retry
• content.action.empty-action: Change filters

See Voice and tone for the whole voice.

Accessibility and keyboard

Test before you ship:

• It has a name such as Loading and is announced politely. undefined

Use it in code

npx open-ds add spinner

The component reads only component keys and semantic tokens, so it follows the brand and mode on <html>.

Tokens it reads

Spinner reads 1 tokens of its own, each an alias of a semantic token. Each row is one part: its own token, the semantic it aliases, and the value it ends at. Change a semantic and every component that reads it follows; override one of Spinner's tokens to change Spinner alone.

Changes with theme

Dense data decides what changes when you switch theme. Here a switch changes colors only, so the marked rows differ between light and dark; everything else holds steady.

Part	Its token and the semantic it aliases	Value
Spinner
Icon size	component.spinner.icon-sizesize.iconvar(--spinner-icon-size)	size.16:1rem