Take your chance with RIA

Lately every one is talking about RIA. Who is she and what can she do for your corporate website? In this newsletter we will inform you, inspire you and provide you with best practices.

RIA embodies Rich Internet Applications. These applications are dynamic, interactive elements within a web page. RIA will come in useful when you wish to provide several (small) chunks of information within a certain category on your website. Where visitors of corporate websites are used to having to wrestle their way through numerous pages to find the right information, RIA can offer all information in a surveyable manner on a single page.

RIA is considered more user-friendly than a traditional HTML page. With HTML, as soon as the visitor clicks on anything, an entire new web page must be loaded. RIA only loads the element that has changed. This saves a considerable amount of time and data traffic. Moreover, a rich and seamless user experience will inform visitors more effectively.

What does a RIA look like?

RIAs can be real eye-catchers, but Rich Internet can be used inconspicuously as well. A movement on the screen, a flash image or the use of ‘tabs’ in an archive enrich the internet as well. How can you effectively incorporate Rich Internet in a corporate website?

Six ways for RIA to help you:
We will describe several actions that can be supported with RIA and present some examples. In all these cases the application supports the information, and is surely more than just a catchy appearance.

1. Providing contact information
2. Providing product information
3. Presenting financial key figures
4. Introducing the members of the board of directors
5. Showing the organisational structure
6. Presenting the history of the company

1. Providing contact information

Siemens offers contact information in a visual and interactive format through its location finder. Visitors can turn a globe around and select a country. Detailed information then appears on the screen; contact information, but also some background on Siemens’ activities in that specific country.

2. Providing product information

Wolters Kluwer wishes to display visuals on the homepage that represent all divisions. With use of RIA the homepage contains five pictures on one spot. On mouse-over the picture and the corresponding text change.

3. Presenting financial key figures

KPN uses RIA to avoid a long table of key figures. Is the visitor clicks on a financial term form the list, the figures for 2005 and 2004 unfold. Such an application is highly suitable to disclose a Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) section as well.

4. Introducing the members of the board of directors

The rich internet application of Akzo Nobel, presenting the board members, clearly shows the advantage of RIA: the screen does not have to refresh when visitors switch between the different CVs.

5. Showing the organisational structure

Via Rich Internet the organisational chart of DSM unfolds the structure of the company.

6. Presenting the history of the company

GE.com is one of the corporate websites that utilises the possibilities of Rich Internet Application (RIA) Flash. The website provides an innovation timeline with which visitors can interactively discover the outstanding findings of the group.

In short

An effective Rich Internet Application:

• is always a supporting functionalty (not just for the show)
• saves the visitor clicks and/or waiting
• increases the dynamics of the website
• improves the user experience

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