- Joseph O'Connor
- Sep 17
- 7 min read
Static webpages will always have a place in web design. They provide visitors with the information they need with minimal effort. But interactive websites can go much further, giving users the engaging and immersive experience they often crave—and sometimes don’t expect.
With effects like animations, hover states, scrollytelling and dynamic content, you can create interactive websites that capture attention for your clients and leave a lasting impression of their brand.
In this article, we’ll explore 15 interactive websites built on Wix Studio, including Wix Studio templates that come with pre-built interactive elements, to inspire future projects and help your client sites stand out. But before we dive in, let’s look at some best practices for designing interactive websites.
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9 best practices for creating interactive websites
Explore these strategies to transform ordinary client sites into dynamic designs.
Make interactions discoverable
Visitors should clearly know which elements are interactive on your interactive website. Place interactive elements in areas where they’re most likely to be found and use signifiers to bring them to attention, like bright-colored buttons with shadows that make them stand out from surrounding flat design.
Keep your designs consistent
You might be excited to show off your wide range of interactive website design skills, but make sure you don’t stretch them so far that you create a Frankenstein design. Remember, consistency is key to establishing a strong brand identity and a cohesive user experience.
Optimize for mobile
Many interactive effects like hover animations work best on desktop. If it makes sense to have them on smaller screens, make sure they’re fully functional and responsive. This includes designing thumb-friendly buttons and ensuring text readability for seamless mobile navigation.
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Use video for an extra interactive effect
Consider incorporating background or transparent video to increase user engagement. In the age of short, digestible content, video is often more appealing than text and other static content. A video website template can help streamline the design process, ensuring your videos are seamlessly integrated. Also, use interactive videos that allow users to choose their path or explore different aspects of your client’s offerings.
Make scrolling fun again
Ditch the ‘doom’ and bring some joy back to scrolling with effects like horizontal, parallax and infinite scrolling. Take inspiration from this retro scrollytelling showcase page built on Wix Studio, which generates positive ’80s vibes as you move through the content.
Give interactive elements a purpose
Whether grabbing attention, enhancing navigation or encouraging a click, all your interactive designs should serve a purpose. For example, implement interactive navigation features such as sticky menus that remain accessible while scrolling or hover effects that reveal additional text. This helps users easily find what they need without frustration.
Create a sleek and user-friendly website menu to guide visitors effortlessly through your site.
Focus on fast-loading speeds
As compelling as interactive designs are, they’re not worth having if they affect site performance. Use tools like Google PageSpeed Insights to optimize website speed and identify and address any issues caused by your interactive elements.
Add gamification elements
Inviting users to participate in interactive games, quizzes and surveys is a great way to boost engagement. It not only increases interaction but also provides valuable insights into user preferences.
Monitor interactivity
It’s important to know which interactive elements are performing and which ones aren’t. You can use website heat mapping to analyze user interactions that help iterate and refine your interactive elements, ensuring they meet user needs.
15 interactive Wix Studio websites worth your attention
These websites built on Wix Studio go all in on interactivity. Swipe, scroll, click and hover your way through tons of clever and compelling interactions.
01. KM Design Solutions
The team at Chicago-based KM Design Solutions knows how to reel a user in right from the start. Land on its site and get greeted by a busy hummingbird that can be moved in any direction with a simple hover. From there, a mix of text masks, transparent videos, website hover effects and linear gradients gives this website an extra interactive feel and shows off the agency’s slick animation skills.
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02. Théo Bonnefous
Studio Darduini might have had incredible imagery to work with for Theo Bonnefous’s website but they didn’t rely solely on it to bring the French wildlife photographer’s work to life. A combination of background video, subtle hover interactions and scroll effects present Bonnefous’s stunning photography in all its glory. Scroll too quickly and you’ll miss a delightful custom cursor that speaks to the website’s nature theme.
03. Pixlspace
“We make engaging websites.” So says Scandinavian boutique design and marketing studio Pixlspace in large, bold text on its site—as if they had to spell it out. Get dazzled by a short, fast-moving showreel video showcasing some of the major brands Pixlspace has worked with. Scroll a little to reveal some slick effects, leading to a final fold that shows why subtle hover actions are among the latest web design trends. The period custom cursor, which plays on Pixlspace’s branding, isn’t lost on us either.
04. B/UXSTUDIO
B/UXSTUDIO shows us how effective scrollytelling techniques can be in telling convincing brand stories. Its website, which received an honorable mention in the 2024 Awwwards, is bursting with moving elements such as parallax scrolling and scroll-triggered animations that help you glide through the pages.
05. A Cosmic Scroll
Wix Studio brand designer Eliran Vahdi is in on the interactive astronaut trend too. He created this daring and Awwwards-winning website, another lesson in epic scrollytelling. Journey through space and get inspired for how you can use Wix Studio's no-code animations and effects for your next client project.
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06. Mouse Parallax Wonderland
The WOW team at Wix Studio showcases what you can do with the platform’s mouse parallax effects on this mesmerizing site. Drawing inspiration from the story of Alice in Wonderland, the page is packed with interactions that show off the feature’s capabilities with layers and depth. For those keen to drill down into the finer details of the website, Awwwards featured it as one of its sites of the day.
07. Ancient Drinks
Ancient Drinks leans into weird web design to grab attention but also applies interactive elements to keep users engaged. A scroll through the homepage reveals some striking entrance animations and a wild commercial that explains where the wacky web design comes from. Hover over the drinks products to reveal images of the fruits they contain—a nice touch amid all the design madness.
Learn more about how to make homepages and get inspired with homepage design examples.
08. Roni Levi
Roni Levi’s monochromatic portfolio might be minimal in content, but it still packs a punch. The website is a lesson in how 3D interactive websites can use abstract shapes to bring dimensionality to designs. Don’t miss the slick hover effects used for Levi’s Projects section.
09. BeFootball
If you’re building a website for an immersive virtual soccer company, you better know a thing or two about interactive design. Lucky for BeFootball, Madrid-based agency Oneway are more than proficient. For this client site, Oneway uses compelling background video to create a fast-moving experience while detailed touches like a custom cursor and floating 3D objects help nail the immersive experience a company like BeFootball demands.
Learn more about VR websites.
10. Bulbhub
Brazilian media company Bulbhub backs up its ‘We create crazy stuff’ tagline with a lively and dynamic website. While it had us with its orange custom cursor, the site offers plenty of moving elements and dynamic content to keep a browser fully tuned in. Apart from the bold fonts and striking accent color, its hat tip to retro web design is timely and on-trend, ironically enough.
11. Rap Syndrome
Exploring hip-hop culture through web design, Rap Syndrome puts visitors into the role of creator, enabling them to make music with different categories of sound samples. Its straightforward and intuitive interface lets users collaborate and add layers of visuals and sound effects to create a dynamic and engaging experience. Consider it website gamification in action.
12. Richard Axell
Richard Axell’s website showcasing his work as a creative director takes a simple but effective approach to interactive design. The high-quality image of the tentacled creature on its hero fold demands instant attention. Move your cursor around the blurred foreground image to get fully immersed before exploring the rest of the site.
13. Hardik Bhansali
Web designer Hardik Bhansali’s website is nothing short of art. Every click and hover reveal eye-catching, swaying effects. Then, scroll further down the page to reveal some neat webGL transitions.
14. Miantao Bar (template)
This template for a “not-so-traditional” Chinese bar and restaurant bursts with color and jumps right off the screen. Floating 3D imagery, scroll effects, text marquee and a slide gallery are among the interactive features that draw you in and keep you engaged. Adding custom text to the cracked fortune cookie image is incentive enough to customize this template. We see engagement in your future.
15. Voor (template)
This website template for an IT solutions company mixes playful interactions with a clean, minimal design. The result is a professional-looking online presence for a serious-looking brand, which could be a great starting point for your next tech-focused client.
Interactive website examples FAQ
How can I best apply user experience (UX) principles to ensure smooth and intuitive interactivity on my website?
For smooth and intuitive interactivity, its important to focus on core UX principles like simplicity, consistency and feedback. Start by using clear navigation, responsive design and fast load times. You can also implement intuitive interactions, such as hover effects and microanimations, to guide your users. Prioritize accessibility always, and employ user testing and iterative improvements to refine usability and improve quality engagement.
Animations and microinteractions enhance engagement by providing visual feedback, guiding user actions and creating a more dynamic experience on your site. To avoid performance issues, use lightweight CSS animations, GPU-accelerated transitions and optimized JavaScript. Limit excessive animations, use lazy loading and prioritize essential interactions. Keep animations subtle and purposeful to improve usability without slowing down page load times or causing distractions. Remember to rest regularly to make sure everything works as well as it should.
