is it good to use Wait cursor in websites?

Question

Hi all.

Just wanted to ask - is it good to use Wait cursor in websites? on heavy loading pages.. we dont generally see it used with websites...(please share some if u have seen any)

if i implement the following.... will it be compatible with the current browsers?

function doHourglass()
{
  document.body.style.cursor = 'wait';
}

and

<form runat="server" onsubmit="return setHourglass();">

please let me know.

Thanks in advance!

Answer 1

Wait cursor will be confusing since usually it's OS-related, I'd prefer to have some kind of "loading now" in your own web page (which is widely used)

Answer 2

The "wait cursor" in a website is, in my experience, the little AJAX swirly.

Answer 3

The wait cursor may be perceived as related to the browser rather than the website specifically - I would recommend an animation specific to the web page.

Answer 4

I use cursor styles all the time to show where/when certain actions are available.

Users are familiar with the wait cursor, so feel free to use it in your (web)application.

It is compatible with "all major browsers" as explained in CSS2 - Cursor Styles

Answer 5

If you use the operating system's default "wait" cursor then it may confuse the user into thinking they're waiting for their hardware to finish an operation rather than the web page.

If you don't want a user to submit a form twice whilst waiting for a script to process, then you could modify your JavaScript function to either disable the submit button on click, or add a to your page containing the often used animated circle icon and a loading message to communicate to the user.