As is always in general internet sleuthing, one often stumbles across some strange but interesting concepts that move the user to think beyond the 'point and click' paradigm that has been setup by standards-based browsing. Below are two examples I found recently that I thought were worth sharing:
Now these 2 websites are by no means new to those who are in the interaction design space but they do provide an interesting and somewhat divided discussion about user expectations and way-finding within a website.
In my opinion, we're seeing a shift. As the newer generations (I believe they're called
iGen or 'Gen Z' now) no longer live in a world where the internet and computers never existed, they're being branded
"Digital Natives". These people will be asking things like "why point and click!.. why not rotate, shake, drag, drop, jump up and down, throw stuff.. hell, if the Wii does it, why doesn't the internet? What's all this old talk about using a touchscreen with one finger? The iPhone let's you do waaay more than that. Hang on, even the iPhone is, like, old news now!" But what they say is true... why doesn't the internet let us interact with it at this haptic, intuitively human level.
The point and click paradigm has been been learned; it's not natural - it's an evolution of technology and we've adapted to it. As an interaction designer I spend my days thinking "will someone know to click there? How can we make it more obvious". It took a few weeks for my mum to learn how to get used to a mouse when she used it for the first time at age 45, it took her 1 hour to beat me in Wii Boxing at age 52. Technology's evolution is on an exponential path towards creating new user experiences and interaction paradigms that sure, our parents will laugh at; "how about playing reaaal tennis" they say after enjoying 4 hours of Wii games on Christmas day; and CEO's will be scared to adapt to, "This social media thing will pass, it's just a fad... same thing happened with the printing press".
As we prepare to exit the "Noughties" and head in to whatever they end up calling the next decade, one can only see a fundamental shift in the way users will begin to interact with websites and online interfaces. The expectations will be set at a different level and it will be a challenge for the older heads in business to respond to that, i.e. welcoming it with open arms. I strongly believe this shift is for the better - interacting will real things using methods that come naturally to all of us, regardless of age or 'computer literacy' can only be positive. People in the future will laugh at us "ancients", saying things like "I can't believe they had to sit at a computer to be on the internet, using a keyboard to type instead of just speaking, using a plastic "mouse" on a desk to touch things on a screen that had to be connected by a wire. Insane!
Well iGen, please, push the envelope when considering how we interact with eachother through the web... that is of course, if you're familiar with what an 'envelope' is by the time you grow up.
Sincerely,
Gen Y, Gen X and the few Baby Boomers that are left.
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