Visibility of Web site Status

This principle states that your Web site should always keep users informed about what is going on at any given moment.

For example, let's say your e-commerce site is processing a credit card transaction. Your Web site should inform the customer that the transaction is being processed.

Most Web sites do warn users that it may take 30-45 seconds to process their credit card, before they submit their order. I recommend that you take this one step further.

For example, you could display a small animated hour-glass while the credit card is being processed. Yes, this is a cheap and simple trick. But it works! The user would get the impression that their transaction is being processed and the system hasn't stalled.

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