Usability of RIA is determined by how various challenges are overcome by developers in order to provide a fascinating experience for users.
Rich Internet Applications can be taken at their face value as they offer users a rich and highly interactive user interface. At a basic level, they are a coming together of the best features of the desktop and web applications. Speed is the one area where these applications score over others and this is because a large part of the processing is transferred to the client end.
All of us have used standard, page based internet applications, where the level of interaction is severely limited and only includes interactive controls such as form fields, checkboxes, and navigation buttons etc. Such applications allow users to interact with the application, but not in a manner that is usable and engaging. An RIA offers users a better set of controls that facilitate a much improved user interaction with its interface. Developers can now create engaging applications that ensure efficient interactions, minimize and manage errors and improve the overall user experience.
But, they also have a few challenges on hand to make sure that the rich internet applications enhance the online experience of the user.
Addition of Appropriate amounts of Richness
The first challenge is deciding the amount of richness to add to the application. Developers will be tempted to add plenty of interactive features to improve user experience. But they need to design and develop the application keeping in mind the comfort level of the user. Most internet users might not feel comfortable with the next generation of applications and what’s more might not even appreciate the enhanced usability on offer. So, rich internet applications should be a balancing act between the existing page-based models and the exciting new approach towards development. For this to happen, a developer should rely on exhaustive user research and usability testing, which will help them zero in on the appropriate levels of richness that need to be used in the application.
Interactivity of Page Elements
Developers also face the challenge of determining the interactive page elements that will best suit the purpose of the application and which the users will appreciate. Addition of interactive page elements is one of the better ways of bringing richness to an application. Some of these elements include the drag and drop of graphic elements, mapping, and even editing text inline amongst various others. The biggest difficulty that developers face is not in incorporating unique page elements, but in making sure that the user identifies certain controls and is able to use them easily.
Page Refreshing
Part page updates are the soul of rich internet applications. The benefit is that users don’t have to refresh the page or open a new page to have a look at new content or the result of action taken on a particular page. Three of the biggest advantages of updating a part of the page are improving usability, feedback and error management. Here again, the challenge for developers lies in ensuring that people are able to see part-page updates. The answer to this challenge lies in visual attention and visual processing. It’s important that attention of the user is drawn to the update part of the page and the update happens as quickly as possible.
Handling these challenges effectively is the job of experts. Developers who are well versed in working on all kinds of rich internet applications are the ones who can guarantee that the RIA is not only user friendly, but takes functionally to another level altogether.
PLAVEB’s web developers are proficient in all facets of rich internet applications and have established a reputation for building apps that are highly efficient and extremely user friendly. Our objective is to offer the kind of high end interactivity that is also very functional. We make sure that our rich internet applications are end user oriented and users have no trouble in using them.