Freedom in Structure
By Molly E. Holzschlag
We already know how to build good Web sites. Most of us have read a ton of books on usability, interface design, and Web design. By now, we all know the ingredients for a fantastic Web site: great-looking design, a user-friendly interface, a flawless infrastructure with back-end intelligence, and superior content. The one element that often goes unrecognized, though, is interactivity.
Without an interactive element, even sites that look beautiful and behave properly lack a certain vitality. The word interactive is used so often in Web design that its meaning has become vague and diluted. Unless you're fully involved day-to-day in creating interactive design, it's difficult to describe what interactive means.
How do we focus on interactivity and still let our imaginations play? I think it's a matter of knowing the medium from a theoretical standpoint as well as a practical one. We need to remember what the Web is, how it's structured, and what it was originally meant to do.
Interactive Theory
The Web isn't a passive medium, unlike most other media. We watch TV. We listen to the radio. We flip through the pages of a magazine.
We can't really watch the Web. Obviously, we can call up a Web site and sit and stare at it, but not much will change on that site if we sit there eating popcorn. The Web requires more complex action, involving—at the very least—making a selection from a menu or list of links and then moving to the next site.
The Web allows something that more traditional media doesn't: user choice and action.<>
