10 Major Tips To Creating An Interactive Web Design

Interactive web design is very impactful for engagement, yet it can be quite challenging to build.
So, here some tips to help you develop a great one!

Created by Midwam | https://midwam.com/en

Web design is not something you can call easy to make. To create one that does not only serve the purpose but also engaging and unique, we will need whole cooperation between designer and user to make it work. A good interactive web design will take users to a whole new experience in which they compel lots and lots of activities to make them enjoy the visit.

So, how to create one? One thing that every designer should underline is the challenges to compile the best way to make users interact with the page. More so to make the page respond to the users' activities. There are many ways to bring a seamless and cool user experience. Here are some of the favorite tips you can jot down.  

1. Make The Loading Screen Time Interactive

One thing that makes people bored is waiting, more so to the loading screen time. Believe it or not, every website that is packed with tons of elements will take at least two seconds to load. No matter how the web design is, it is pretty much likely a website will need more than two seconds to load all of the elements and the contents. 

So, the solutions are to take advantage of the loading time screen. Rather than showing a plain white or black screen with your company logo, you can add some animation to it. A simple and unique loading bar can attract your user's attention. Adding some fancy-looking animation, unique color changes, pictures, or even texts will provide an unexpected impression.  

Take a look at the running dinosaurs game animation on the chrome page. While it indicates that you have no internet connection, it also shows a tad bit of a loading screen. The idea is pretty much to help the users enjoy the interactive web design loading screen. It also helps create a positive experience by keeping the users engaged with what they found on the page. 

You can also take a look at the buffering screen from Youtube. The running circle can turn into a snack game that gets longer as the video loads. It creates a fun and interactive experience that helps the users enjoy their visit even in the waiting time. It doesn't have to be a very intricate detail; a simple animation that shows progress and loading bars are enough to try.

Created by thisplaceofmine.org | https://www.awwwards.com/inspiration/this-place-of-mine-loading-animation

2. Horizontal Movement Animation 

One of the best options in making an attractive and interactive website is by adding horizontal movement. The web design tip underlines the uses of carousels and sliders on top of the main page. It is not only adding an extra part to explain your contents, but it also adds additional animation that turns the boring landscape into something more worth looking at. 

One of the ways to make a vertical break in your website is by adding sliders. Just as the name says, the sliders are a rotation section that your visitor can interact with. Ideally, the idea is to allow more context and content for each section of your sliders. It also means that you can decrease the need to scroll down and leaving the page. 

You can also call the vertical break a carousel. Imagine a carnival counterpart that goes round and round, telling the beauty in it. It happens to your website. Your main page of interactive web design will constantly show different information and cycle through. The elements collapse lots of information into bitesize segments. 

This kind of element is getting more common as the number of mobile users keeps on rising. Mobile users can easily navigate and get more information by using the side-swiping interaction. It fit perfectly with the concept of carousel and sliders. It helps them stray away from the long and monotony vertical scrolling that can get unattractive in the mobile device. 

So, what kinds of information can you use in this web design element? The horizontal elements are pretty much versatile and vast in terms of the model. You can group up together some pictures, promos, profiles, testimonials, or your products. At some point, the sliders and the carousel can appear as a rotating wheel, card shuffle, or galleries.

Created by Ferma Laitiere France | https://www.ferme-laitiere-france.com/en/homepage/

3. Animated Scroll

Other than the horizontal movement, you can also choose vertical scrolling. In this modern-day and design whiz, this particular element comes with even more interactive and attractive animation. At some point, you can turn the scrolling animation into a unique experience and feel more dynamic. Here are some of the ideas on the animated scroll design.

3.1. Asymmetrical Scrolling  

This kind of element gains more and more popularity in the interactive web design realm. The idea of the animation is pretty simple, which involves two or more different objects moving at different speeds. It only works when the users are scrolling down or up the website. Thus the background object moves slower than the foreground, creating a novel simulation of 3D movement effects. 

3.2. Scrolling Page Transitions

This kind of web design trick is pretty simple. Ideally, the designer can improve the traditional smooth scroll with the sectional jump of the next screen. The basic thing about the model is to provide a sense of transition by creating a wholesale page change. But how can you make it work? One thing for sure, you can opt for a diverse color scheme. 

For instance, you will use a white background with some simple patterns for your product information. But then, you opt for the burgundy red color for your purchase section. It will add separation for each section, at the same time creating a sense of importance toward a particular area. Overall, the idea of scrolling animation is to show users that they reach a new section.  

3.3. Scroll-Triggered Animation 

What is more attractive than triggering certain animation as you scroll down a website? The activation of certain animation can bring a magical touch and visuals to the pages. Thus, creating an illusion that the web page is currently being built up as you scroll down or up the web page. This interactive web design will help captivate your users' experience.

Created by MA True Cannabis | https://matruecannabis.com/en/

4. Add More Internal Link 

As you create a fancy web appearance, don't forget to emphasize the user's experience and easy to navigate aspect. In this case, the best way to make your web getting more interactive is by adding internal links. If you are okay with some pictures, texts, or web design elements functioning as link buttons, this idea is the literal gem. 

You can scatter around some internal links that help visitors navigate through the website. The link can be in a very subtle appearance, a very obvious one, or adapt with the users' needs. It doesn't have to be fancy. A simple search bar, next button, or any other pictures, can increase or help your visitor gain the relevant information or content in it.

Created by Anywell Facial Bar | https://anywellfacialbar.com/

5. Make It Mobile Friendly 

At some points, it is best to consider more than one option, especially when everyone can visit your web from different media. You can say that the best target to expand is mobile users. According to an online survey, 70% of internet users use mobile devices. So, it is highly recommended to make your interactive web design will translate well to mobile devices. 

Adjusting your website to mobile-friendly media is not an easy feat. There are so many considerations that you should take since the dimension and the scale will significantly need alteration. Take a look at the typography, the animation scale, the picture and the video dimension, and many more. Thus, make sure that you have a versatile website. 

Created by Tubik Studio | https://crew.tubikstudio.com/

6. Uses Animated Elements Down To Micro Aspect 

Are you satisfied with the scrolling animations, links, and mobile-friendly aspect? If you are, then you have not completed the best interactive web design. Micro-interaction will be one of the simplest yet effective ways to make your web appear more attractive. It is also interactive, without making too much effort in designing. 

Micro aspects of the small details can make people engaged with your design. You can play with the button animation or even a small part of the web that allows users to interact with it. The best way to explain it is the hovering effect over something. In this case, you can refer to the turning button to green or to the right to turn on or off some option. 

There is also a tiny animation that turns a dot into a checkmark or even an additional movement when clicking the add to cart button. There are tons of micro-interaction you can make. But why do so if you can create a bigger or grander animation effect on the web? At some point, the small little detail can steal one's attention and feel bigger in a whole design.

Underline the idea and the purpose of animation in web design. Most of the time, designers use it to create feedback. Grander animation and design help visualize or captivate the visitor. But it can draw too much attention and make ones overshadow the other web elements. That is why the micro-interaction came into place. 

The small little animation helps people to find out some feedback. They can figure out what they can or cannot interact with. It also brought out the purpose of showing the correct way of explanation about certain objects. For instance, you can put an opening book animation when the cursor hovers on top of the book's link. 

How about ringing notification bells? All in all, the main purpose of this element in interactive web design is to show a sense of progression or changes. If you use it for the setting page, users will know the changes. It also helps people get the visualization of certain buttons, such as bills, shopping carts, or simply showcasing the animator's skill.

Created by Le chef d’orchestre du corps | https://lechefdorchestreducorps.fr/

7. Hide Your Navigation Menu 

Surprisingly, the idea of hiding the navigation menu is pretty much common these days. The idea of hamburger menus or the three strips menus tends to be used in desktop websites. More so for the mobile-friendly website. The main idea is to create an impression that the navigation menu should not always be visible. In other words, you can hide the menu. 

But why so? This particular web design helps you to emphasize and highlight the content. It also adds space to breathe in the web surface since you don't need to cramp up a lot of buttons on one page. What's more, by hiding the navigation menus, you got the chance to make the visitor interact and do something with your website. 

There are a lot of ways to make the hamburger menus well-hidden but also easy to find or navigate. The best way is to show it on the main page along with your carousel slider design. Users understand that the menu is there, and they can reveal them if they want to. Thus, helping them to focus on the different aspects of the page. 

If you are not sure about the hiding ideas, how about putting the entire screen with giant navigation? This kind of interactive web design idea helps you get creative with hover animation, descriptive images, or typography. What you need to understand is a balance between the control, visual, animation, and the control of the navigation itself.

Created by no-fishing.net | https://www.no-fishing.net/

8. User Generated Content 

Interactive and attractive is not only about the visual aspect, but it is also user-friendly. In this case, you can opt for the user-generated content aspect. This idea both helps the customer interaction and the customer services aspect. Visitors can interact with your brand or with your company representative. The main goal of this idea is to build a solid community. 

User-generated content is a highly beneficial commercial website in which people use the interface to show products and sell them. The design itself is pretty vast and adaptable. You can add chat services, comment sections, forums, or influential people's posts. You can say that the idea helps you generate bigger values toward the product and website without fancy animation. 

These kinds of web design ideas emphasize the interactive aspect by giving chances for people to do something. Interaction is the primary point of these tips, as well as the idea to envelope and fulfill the users' needs. If you have some expertise and time, providing interactive tools such as maps, calendars, calculators, or music players is also a good way to make your visitors stay.

Created by Viens-Là | https://viens-la.com/

9. Use Questionnaires Than Forms 

One of the ingenious parts of making your visitor interact with the website is by asking them to enter information. Most likely, people use forms to make people interact with it. But an Interactive web design can do more by making the process less straining and dull. One way to do it is by giving a questionnaire or the get-to-know session. 

Is it enough to add a Google Form for the questionnaire? It does, but you got the chance to make an interactive questionnaire by posing the queries one at a time. Make the question and the answer in personable ways. You can also add small little animation details for every answer option, adding attractive visualization, or uses a personalized approach for web design. 

The main idea of this kind of element will lessen the burden and intimidation for the users. Rather than facing a long list of questions and answers in a traditional look, they got something worth experiencing—for instance, the question about the average duration of night sleep. Adding a slider element to determine the time looks cooler than a mere number. 

You can also add pictures to visualize the answers. Bring small animation in each option to complete the web design. How about creating a cute emoji for the three scales responses, such as good, not sure, and bad? You can use the thumbs up, the thinking emoji, or the thumb-down picture with a slight hovering animation that explains the option.

Created by Gucci Off the Grid | https://offthegrid.gucci.com/

10. Pay Attention To The Page Speed

As you jotted down and planned down everything, you will need to ensure one last thing before making it real - the page speed. Nothing is more important than your loading page speed. Most of the time, people make extravagant interactive web designs but forget about this aspect. Thus, resulting in a very bogged down page. 

Complex elements such as pictures, videos, animations, and all the crazy scripts can slow the pages down. One thing for sure, users will not stick around if your website is hard to load. Even though you got all the fancy elements in your web design, people tend to enjoy and stay in pages that load within two seconds.

Created by Animal.cc | https://animal.cc/

Conclusion

An interactive web design will be the way to attract your audience. It gives some flair to the web that is fancy and also has an interactive aspect in it. Out of the many reasons to find information on your web, your audience needs to experience it. Something unique and impressive will left an impression, make users enjoy, and you can win the competition.