This can be another facet of the "uncanny valley" of web applications [1]. When you are in the "web" mode, you operate asynchronously - click, do something unr

This can be another facet of the "uncanny valley" of web applications [1]. When you are in the "web" mode, you operate asynchronously - click, do something unrelated, return to see the result. When you are in the "desktop" mode, you expect instant reactions. If it's just a tiny bit slower, you feel something is broken [2]. Now as you make your site more ajaxy and faster, user expectations change, instead of perceiving fast website, they perceive slow desktop application. [1] http://billhiggins.us/weblog/2007/05/17/the-uncanny-valley-of-user-interface-design/ http://billhiggins.us/weblog/2007/05/17/the-uncanny-valley-o... [2] http://www.useit.com/papers/responsetime.html http://www.useit.com/papers/responsetime.html