Interactivity in web design

http://ausweb.scu.edu.au/aw99/papers/rahardja/paper.html

My article comes to you from Agus Rahardja of the Centre for Computer Studies in Singapore. He examines a few travel sites and discusses the intentions of including interactivity on a website, as well as some tips for accomplishing this interactivity. This article is related to the central notion of internet communication because it defines the goals of a new website, which inherently has no active or intentional user to begin with. The author provides a diagram that shows the flow of information priority as it is related to the website's stakeholders. The stakeholder is important to the overall flow of the website because they decide what is a good choice for the website's development. Although it is obviously not clear at first what the users will require or want from the site, there always has to be some kind of starting point for web developers to work from.

When it comes to measuring the interactivity of a website, there is not a standard or official unit. You have to think practically in order to understand the usefulness and value of a website's interactive features. Rahardja shows some examples, as well as giving some ground rules to work from, on the importance of interactive and visually appealing elements on a website. The most important part to consider is how the user will interact with the site. Before determining what kind of interactivity you want on a site, you have to decide what the user's main goal will be there. Use this to determine the workflow for the user: number of clicks, size and number of the buttons, etc. If a sites' interactive elements are somewhat directly related to accomplishing these goals, then it is probably a good form of interactivity. However, there are times when some interference may be preferable. For instance, on a site directed at younger audiences, you may choose to include some small flash game that lets users accomplish a goal. These should usually only be a type of skin to make the functional aspects more appealing. It is hard to measure a site's interactivity or usefulness quantitatively, but a good understanding of the function of the website, elements of design, and creative value will allow you to analyze a website from the ground up and decide its level of interactivity.