Call it "interactive design", "interactivity", "user experience" or "usability", the word may contour up a different experience for each of us. You may view the web as a hostile environment where the only solution is to test a user experience to make that environment more "usable" for those concerned. Or vice versa. Which ever way you look at it, usability is becoming a larger part of how the web works. I came across an interesting thread on Cre&site forums, about the nature of this word and how it has changed over time. I had not thought about the term in this way and its relation to other words similar to it. Barry Welford, a member at Cre8site, posted a poll asking if people call it "usability" or something else. The overall vote leaned towards "usability" with some people voting for "interaction design."
There were some interesting points made about the use of the words. Cre8pc said "usability is a common term and understood immediately...even the kids know what I mean". Scratch another member argued that "Interaction design isn't just "making things interactive" -- It's the discipline of designing, or architecting, interactive systems."
For those interested in "usability/interactivity" it's a worthwhile thread to check out. Continuing reading Usability - I say Interactivity, what do you say?
