Web Biz

    If you are using AJAX to make asynchronous calls to your server it is extremely important to provide an indication to the user what is going on.  Otherwise they may become frustrated and repeatedly hit the button or call the action several times, which will only increase the time they have to wait for a response and make them even more frustrated!  Also, I try to have a loading indication as close as possible to where the user is on the page (or where we expect them to be).  You could always use a small ‘Loading’ box in the upper-left or right hand corner (such as the one that Google uses in Gmail), but I like to use the animated gif indicators.

    I used to have a folder with a bunch of indicators in it which I would use for the various projects I am working on until I ran across this highly valuable web site: Ajaxload.  The site provides the ability to specify the type of indicator, the foreground color and background color (or transparent) of the indicator.  Yep, its that simple… thanks guys!