The Web and Interactivity

The Web supports many different degrees of interactivity, ranging from the hypertext links and clickable image maps found on static Web pages, to complex CGI-based forms and Java applets. How does the "On-line Dictionary of Computing" define interactive? How does this definition relate to the Web pages below?

• The page you're reading now is static (boring and colorless too). It won't change until someone modifies the file from which it originates.
• The UW Home Page is a static Web page, but it's updated every few minutes throughout the day.
• Yahoo has a list of Interesting Devices Connected to the Net that seem interactive.

• The UW Staff and Student directories.
• Commercial sites: Internet Movie Database, BigBook, AltaVista.

The preceeding examples all work with Web browsers that support standard HTML. Most of the interactivity occurs between you and the Web site. Some Web browsers support another kind of interactivity that takes place just between you and your Web browser using technologies such as Javascript, Java applets, or browser plug-ins.