Web 2.0 has brought with it wide varieties interactive concepts and applications. Web designers find them at home as it offers a strong platform on which application development is made easy and trouble-free. Most of the Internet savvy people are getting familiar with terms such as tags, RSS feeds, slide transitions and lots of other prototypes only recently. So it is high time that new users must find themselves well-versed with these latest techniques. Systematic learning needs to be adopted to have a large number of people under its belt. One effective way is to make use of specific design elements to transmit these new interactive models to their intended users.

There is one method that makes use of design elements to make users aware of various Web 2.0 characteristics rapidly. You can resort to various ways to instruct your audience like text, video, graphics etc. The essential issue here is that how you use them and not what to use. The main objective of instructive design is to teach people about various models effectively and efficiently. There are a number of ways to accomplish your goals. But one vital way is to use plain text.

Many Web 2.0 applications have instructions displayed at the top of the application screen. But most of the users care a fig about these instructions. They are more interested about fulfilling their tasks instead of going through the guidelines. Even if a help button is on display, visitors simply move ahead without noticing it. If the text and placing of the button is up to the mark, then you may find some visitors clicking on it. There are certain tricks to do that in a better manner.

Keep your instructive text to just one or two sentence. Anything more than that will get less attention. Once you get your instructive text ready, go through it several times to find ways of getting it short and simple.

People always love things that are presented in a different manner. So your instructive text must be eye-catching and different from other headings, labels and text. Make use of small fonts coupled with light colors to be effective. The style applied to the instructive text must also be unique. Place instructive text as closely as possible to the element the instructions are about. If the text explains what type of data to enter into a form field, for example, place it immediately above or below the field. Better yet, use the text as the default value for the field, so it is impossible for users to miss it.

These practices keep new users well-versed about how to make use of an application. At the same time, stay clear of the way of experienced users, so that they don’t stumble over them while trying to get things done. Teaching users about RSS, tagging, and drag-and-drop interactions requires a little more creativity than a simple line of instructive text, but it’s not any more complicated, if you keep the concepts of instructive design in mind while you create applications.

Tags: Users Get Familiar with Web 2.0