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In my current project the webApp has a lot of functions the user can interact with. Most of them are actions to manipulate data in database, main data, address, favorites, shopping cart, update order, read message, etc..

For almost all of these actions I'm providing the user with a small toaster and a brief message about the result of the action. For example:

enter image description here

Toaster shows up in the bottom-center of screen - On mobile, it has a 90% width;

Address example:

  • The user can have a maximum of 3 addresses (and starts with none);
  • User add an address -> Success notification -> 'New address added';
  • User set the address as default -> Info notification -> 'Address set as default';
  • User delet an address -> Success notification -> 'Address deleted';
  • User has already 3 address -> I hide the form and show a message "You already have the maximum number of addresses."

It's just for the address part, there is still other areas such as the personal information, etc..

I'm feeling it's a little too much of notifications, but in the other hand, all of these actions are important to the workflow of the webApp, because the user needs to have at least one (and default) address, but he can choose from the 3 he has when he's in the checkout proccess, for example.

So my question is:

When should i use/consider using a notification based on an user's action?

Should it be used when he insert/update a data? When it's a critical data?

What criteria should i have in mind to improve the user experience, give him just enough feedback of what he's doing but in the same time don't let anything important behind?

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  • When it's not obvious the action was successful. If you add an address, then redirect to the address list - and the new address is at the top - you don't really need a notification. You could use some visual cue (slide in, blink, etc) on the new address to pull attention to it. If you add a new address and redirect to a "checkout" screen or similar - then I would notify the user the address was successfully added. – JimL Jan 15 '16 at 18:40
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I don't see anything wrong with the way you are using notification. The notifications served as a form of feedback for each user actions. Unless the user is performing these actions in split seconds which causes your app to throw multiple notifications in rapid succession. Then you probably want to look at other ways of notifying instead of your Toaster.

I agree with what Jim proposed. You could redesign your address page to include a list of addresses at the top and slot in the new address with some visual cue. I'm not sure if redirecting the user to another address page is such a good idea though.

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  • Currently i dont redirect, also because im using angularjs, so its very fluid. The notification, when there is multiple in sequence, they replace the last notification. I'll consider to work with more visual feedback instead of a proper notification. Maybe this is the way to go. – CelsomTrindade Jan 16 '16 at 13:59

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