Ever clicked “Save” and wondered: Did it actually do anything?
That tiny moment of ambiguity — where the UI doesn’t clearly communicate what's happening — can erode user trust fast.
In this post, I make the case for overcommunicating pending state, especially in async interfaces. It's a small but powerful UX pattern that developers can (and should) own.
I cover:
- Why this matters more than we think (even for “small” interactions)
- The subtle difference between “visible feedback” and timely feedback
- A set of interactive examples to experience both good and bad handling of pending state
- Practical tips on what to overcommunicate (and what not to)
🧠 Read the full post with live interactive demos on jakeisonline.com
💬 I'd love to hear how you handle loading states in your apps — spinners? disabled buttons? toast messages? Let's swap notes.
👋 This is my first post on dev.to — I write about UX patterns from a frontend developer’s perspective. If you're into interaction design, feel free to follow along!
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