Dan Olsavsky's Blog

Interactivity
Why it is important to make our websites more interactive?
Oh, well then, how can we do so?
Show me the money, err, an example please.
So, we can do this too!

Part 1
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Attention! : to detail
Things to think about
Stop focusing on "how I can design something that I can program" and start focusing on "how can I program something that I designed?"
How can I make my website more interactive?
How can I make the experience more fun for the user?
What will a CTA do when the user rolls over it?
Can I use images, CSS, JavaScript or Flash?

Add More Interactivity
Make the UI more interactive
The more interactive and interesting your site is, the more people will visit (this helps SEO [popularity]), and the longer your visitors will stay. And the longer your visitors stay, the more chances they have become a quality lead.
Makes your site memorable
Users, more often than not, only remember about 20% of what they read on your website. However, users are able to remember things visually a lot easier. Additionally, this help them to better associate with your practice (ie logo vs. name)
Engages the user
Dont loose usability (many techniques can be done or faked using CSS)

Pick a theme! - Applying interactivity to a theme
Case Studies
http://pbskids.org/
It's a bit too intetractive for us but the target audience is children and children have short attention spans. By making the site more interactive (AND USING A GOOD COLOR SCHEME) they are keepiong the attention of their target audience.
http://www.inyourelement.org/
Style switcher (in wiki)
Flash! a big ispiration
http://www.choppersinc.com/flash/index.asp
http://www.targetscope.com/
http://www.haus-hoyer.de/

http://www.dizzain.com/
great design and theme but no interactivity
dreamweavermultimedia.com

Part 2
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Talk about it!

A quick look at the Competition
http://www.southernplasticsurgery.com/

Let's Analyze ourselves

Buttons that dont look like buttons
http://www.lifeinsurancelawfirm.com/
http://www.wemakesacramentosmile.com/

Buttons that look like buttons but dont function like buttons
http://www.thefloridafirm.com/
http://www.mandraccia.com/

Looks great (has a theme) but no interactivity
http://www.mandraccia.com/



Note: open pshop, dweaver, fx

Solutions
Examples
CSS Tabs
Show CSS tabs for Ikuta
Photoshop
CSS
HTML

Button backgrounds (gradients)
Interactive buttons
More interactive text links
http://www.page1samples.com/Beninato/
Cant use an image but can use background images using CSS
http://formhdlr.com/Beninato/thebennett.aspx

http://css.e-lusion.com/tutorials/acronym.php
http://www.thefutureoftheweb.com/blog/use-animated-gif-with-css

- Dan Olsavsky