Telling the User That Something Is Happening

This is another issue somewhat related to the change of interface style away from separate pages.

The user who is already familiar with browsing web pages may have become accustomed to program activity coinciding with the loading of a new or revised page.

Many Ajax applications therefore provide some consistent visual clue that activity is happening; perhaps a stationary graphic image might be replaced by an animated version, the cursor style might change, or a pop-up message appear. Some of these techniques have been mentioned in some of the lessons in this book.