Interactive Posts
I just came across h5p, a free open-source html5 site. They have a free wordpress plugin that lets you put cool little interactions on your blog, things like interactive videos, powerpoint style presentations, flashcards, etc. Their interaction builder lets you build all this stuff yourself, without needing to know any code and they look really clean on a webpage, mobile device, etc. They go right inside your blog post. It's so cool!
So I've been thinking, how awesome would that be to make a static blog post more interactive than just the comments at the bottom. What if you had a video that popped up a poll, a mini quiz, or an annotation at key moments? What if our readers could take a quiz or engage in some kind of learning activity in a how-to post? Would it be interesting or would they just skip it?
I need to do some more thinking about this. I love the idea of interactive blog posts, but I'm not sure what they would look like or how to do them effectively. I think about myself as a reader of blogs, and I think I would love it, but only if it was done well. So what does 'well' mean in this case?
Not sure of the answer yet, but excited to explore further.
What about you guys? Does anyone include interactive elements in their blogs? What do they look like? What do you think is a good/bad candidate for an interaction? I'm really interested to hear what's worked for others :)
On a different note, as awesome (and free) as h5p is, they only have 20ish types of activities to choose from at the moment. I've already thought of a half dozen other things I'd like to be able to do. Does anyone know of another service that would make this kind of thing accessible for us non-coders, free or otherwise?
Thanks!
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That would be cool! Not sure how "well" well is either. Maybe pop out videos that auto-play, like a word link to a "hidden" video. Or something... Definitely interesting though. I just learned how to link internally to the same page, and I could see a floating video being a perfect candidate for that.
That's a good idea! Links could give an option for an interactive element when hovered over, which would also be good for users who'd rather just read so they don't feel like the interaction is intrusive. So many possiblities :)
Exactly, and a floating video could let you continue to read and watch at the same time. I do that and end up having to either wait on the video or scroll back to it and rewind a bit.
I'd like to figure out a way to have interactive video in the sense of PIP. I have a started a series that has footage from 2 cameras, and it would be cool for the viewer to switch around the angles as they pleased. Hmm, they did it on DVDs, so it's probably already out there.
That's cool, I guess I'm having a hard time imagining the floating video, I'm not very tech savvy lol. Do you mean like it stays on the side of the page when the user scrolls so we don't lose it when we scroll down? That seems like it would be really useful like you said, so you could read and watch at the same time! The PIP is awesome well, there's gotta be some way to do it.
Yes, exactly! It could float off to the side out of the content area or something. That's all way above my pay grade! I just switched my social media icons to a new version and they float. Then they break out into an epileptic seizure... quite distracting to watch, and frustrating trying to figure them out! LOL, back to the salt mine!
I understand, even with everything out there for us non-coders, it can still be a headache figuring how to get a plugin to what it needs to! I just spent three hours trying to make a quiz plugin work. Good luck, and if you have any more interactivity ideas please keep me posted:)
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On my mail munch plugin I have it allows you to have a picture or video embedded into the pop up so when you go to sign up there is a video which gives them a little preview of what you will have in the news letter or a quick clip of what ever you want to put there all the best max
That's cool! Can you have it do different videos on different pages?
Yes you can and I do it on most of my pages all the best Max
Nice, thanks!
If you need any help just PM me and I will be happy to assist all the best Max
Sure thing, man! Thanks!