The term interactive defines anything that responds to a user. It is usually used in conjunction with another word such as interactive media, interactive display, and interactive website.
Interactive websites are often used as a marketing strategy to gain people’s interest since it is definitely less boring than static websites. Interactive sites are also found to be more effective in helping people retain the information presented to them since the interactivity makes people more engaged in the entire learning process. Interactive sites can be text-based or have a more complex graphical user interface, but the most important thing is that elements of the web page will respond in certain ways (both predictable and unpredictable) when the user takes a specific action (type, click, hover the mouse, etc.).
Some of the elements that are usually added to make a web page interactive include:
Clickable graphics/images – This can be used in almost everything from periodic tables. Each element, when clicked on, will display further information about the element or funny cartoons that when clicked will move and do something inane.
Games – Adding mini-games to web pages is a popular way to make a website interactive. This is why a lot of companies invest in mini-games to promote products, services, and even upcoming movies and events. Games can range from trivia to role-playing games.
Question and answer – For text-based interactive sites, the question and answer format is usually used to assess whether the user has learned a specific concept or not.