Tuesday, December 4, 2007
Monday, December 3, 2007
One of the most creative and innovative websites I have come across lately is a site designed be the company Ai Interactive, http://www.a-i.tw/root.html?lang=en. This company, which is dedicated to web development, has explored fresh techniques for interactivity that are quite engaging. It is an award winning site that explores the use of space, motion and interactivity. It is even featured on a website devoted to find the most innovated web sites being developed.
When I first came upon the website it wasn’t clear what I was going to find, but the site begins by giving instructions telling the user how to interact with the site. It starts with a pink ball which has a pop up window to the top of it saying “Drag the ball to change view angles.” As you move the ball around, one can travel through a seemingly 3 dimensional space. Things are moving past, around, and away from the user, etc., all depending on where one takes the ball. This use of space and motion I have yet to find in other interactive websites. Most interactive sites I have found have used very flat space, in other words, moving a ball from left to right, top to bottom, or vise versa, not through a space that has depth.
A common aspect I find with many websites is when I’m no longer navigating through a webpage the site seems to shut down. Things that were moving no longer move, objects that were flashing no longer flash. This I feel takes a lot of life out of the site making it less appealing. I loose interest and simply move on to something more stimulating. Ai Interactive’s site; however, keeps the page alive even when the user is no longer interacting with it. For example when one’s ball isn’t moving the site doesn’t lie still. The disks, which are the only components in this 3D space, slow down and float around the space. The slowing down of the disks doesn’t turn someone’s attention away from the page; rather it catches their attention even more.
The disks draw attention because as they slow down it becomes clearer that each disk has a label on it. These labels when clicked on produce a pop-up window at the bottom of the screen. Each pop-up window is a way to navigate further in to the site. For example, one of the disks labeled “Envy” brings a user to a website dedicated to the company EnvyNewMedia. One can choose to launch this site or continue navigating through Ai Interactive’s site. Another disk called “My Story,” brings the user to a page revealing the story of the creator and his life. Every disk provides different insight to the company in a very clever way.
I found it quite interesting that the site uses a window that I have never seen before. It acts as a magnifying glass so as one rolls over the center of the circle the image flexes toward the viewer making the image stretch. I’m not quite sure of the point it serves. It doesn’t make the image clearer or larger but it is a unique aspect of the site that I have never come across before.
The best aspect of this site is its creativity. I am familiar with sites that provide a generic navigation bar, simplistic ideas of navigation, limited interactivity, and very linear space. These sites are becoming dull and are fortunately pushing web developers to change their traditional practices of interactivity, navigation, and use of space and motion.
One thing I didn’t like about the site is that its purpose isn’t clear. These random disks are merely passing by and the only way one can get a sense of what the site is about is if they click on the labels. Even after one clicks on a label, the pop-up windows don’t give all that much information. Only until one launches the featured sites can the user really delve into the content and gain a sense of what the site is about. At this same time the lack of information on the beginning page creates curiosity which alone can coerce the user to look further into the content. Therefore the amount of penetration into the site depends on the user’s curiosity in the mysterious disks flying in and out of space which can be good or bad.
I never envisioned a web site to behave or possess the unique features of Ai Interactive’s site. Its use of space, motion, and interactivity are engaging and innovative. It is an impressive site that pushes the norm of interactive web capabilities. It has left me very curious of the future possibilities websites will have.
Check out this page: http://www.a-i.tw/root.html?lang=en
When I first came upon the website it wasn’t clear what I was going to find, but the site begins by giving instructions telling the user how to interact with the site. It starts with a pink ball which has a pop up window to the top of it saying “Drag the ball to change view angles.” As you move the ball around, one can travel through a seemingly 3 dimensional space. Things are moving past, around, and away from the user, etc., all depending on where one takes the ball. This use of space and motion I have yet to find in other interactive websites. Most interactive sites I have found have used very flat space, in other words, moving a ball from left to right, top to bottom, or vise versa, not through a space that has depth.
A common aspect I find with many websites is when I’m no longer navigating through a webpage the site seems to shut down. Things that were moving no longer move, objects that were flashing no longer flash. This I feel takes a lot of life out of the site making it less appealing. I loose interest and simply move on to something more stimulating. Ai Interactive’s site; however, keeps the page alive even when the user is no longer interacting with it. For example when one’s ball isn’t moving the site doesn’t lie still. The disks, which are the only components in this 3D space, slow down and float around the space. The slowing down of the disks doesn’t turn someone’s attention away from the page; rather it catches their attention even more.
The disks draw attention because as they slow down it becomes clearer that each disk has a label on it. These labels when clicked on produce a pop-up window at the bottom of the screen. Each pop-up window is a way to navigate further in to the site. For example, one of the disks labeled “Envy” brings a user to a website dedicated to the company EnvyNewMedia. One can choose to launch this site or continue navigating through Ai Interactive’s site. Another disk called “My Story,” brings the user to a page revealing the story of the creator and his life. Every disk provides different insight to the company in a very clever way.
I found it quite interesting that the site uses a window that I have never seen before. It acts as a magnifying glass so as one rolls over the center of the circle the image flexes toward the viewer making the image stretch. I’m not quite sure of the point it serves. It doesn’t make the image clearer or larger but it is a unique aspect of the site that I have never come across before.
The best aspect of this site is its creativity. I am familiar with sites that provide a generic navigation bar, simplistic ideas of navigation, limited interactivity, and very linear space. These sites are becoming dull and are fortunately pushing web developers to change their traditional practices of interactivity, navigation, and use of space and motion.
One thing I didn’t like about the site is that its purpose isn’t clear. These random disks are merely passing by and the only way one can get a sense of what the site is about is if they click on the labels. Even after one clicks on a label, the pop-up windows don’t give all that much information. Only until one launches the featured sites can the user really delve into the content and gain a sense of what the site is about. At this same time the lack of information on the beginning page creates curiosity which alone can coerce the user to look further into the content. Therefore the amount of penetration into the site depends on the user’s curiosity in the mysterious disks flying in and out of space which can be good or bad.
I never envisioned a web site to behave or possess the unique features of Ai Interactive’s site. Its use of space, motion, and interactivity are engaging and innovative. It is an impressive site that pushes the norm of interactive web capabilities. It has left me very curious of the future possibilities websites will have.
Check out this page: http://www.a-i.tw/root.html?lang=en
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