Every user browsing a website interacts with its features, and should be satisfied with them. If the website features are bland and unimpressive, the users are less likely to visit it again. This is why UI UX development is more important than we think when it comes to web design. And when it comes to features, even the smallest interaction and the tiniest detail matter. These small interactions or microinteractions influence the overall user experience.

Microinteractions include almost all basic tasks users get to do while they browse the site, be it transitions, syncing devices to the website, like a page, share it, enabling/disabling functions etc. They should feel these interactions are immersive and intuitive at the same time.

Now that you understand the importance, here are five microinteractions that essentially augment the user experience of a website.

Adjusting basic preferences on a website

Giving users some amount of control over the ‘preferences’ (volume, brightness etc.) on a website conveys the value a website owner gives to how a user views the website. Many sites make use of a level adjustment bar that the user can move back and forth to adjust preferences like volume and brightness.

Status bars

Status bar can be any indicators that let the users know that they have performed an action, and the status of that action. For example, suppose if there is a download button on a website, which is quite common. Once the user clicks it, animating that button to show that the file is being downloaded is a good microinteraction. The button can animate to show ‘downloading’, and ‘success’ once the download is finished. It’s better than leaving the users unsure as to whether they have performed the action.

Engaging notifications

Creative notifications on a website not only engage the users but also tells them that there are useful things that are worth checking out. This is a microinteraction too, and should be designed to catch a user’s attention without annoying them.

Responsive Call-to-Action (CTA)

Call-to-Action or CTA is crucial for a website. An animated CTA can entice users to click the button. However, if the CTA isn’t very impressive or is just obtrusive, users are more likely to ignore it.

Pull down menu

This microinteraction can do a lot of good as it’s a great feature of mobile-responsive design. Pull down menus are useful when the user browses a website on a mobile device, in allowing them to transition between pages without losing their place. This feature makes navigation a lot easier and intuitive for users.

Conclusion

Properly leveraging microinteractions can provide a great UX. The impact of microinteractions also applies to software development, ensuring that users have a good time checking out the website or application.