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About Standard and High Interactivity Modes

In the Web browser, Siebel applications run in one of two modes: standard interactivity or high interactivity.

High interactivity is designed to provide Siebel applications with a user experience similar to that of traditional GUI-based Windows applications. High interactivity reduces the number of page refreshes, compared to standard interactivity—when interacting with the application, browsing through records, and so on. This is made possible by requesting data-only updates from the server. The application thus makes optimal use of network bandwidth.

For example, a high interactivity client does not require a page refresh for creating a new record. A user creates a new record by clicking New. A new row is created in a list dynamically, without a page refresh. The user enters the relevant data, then clicks outside of the record to implicitly commit the change—again, without a page refresh.

Some of the features of the high interactivity framework are:

• Fewer page refreshes.
• Support for client-side scripting.
• Support for implicit commit. This feature enables automatic saving when a user steps off of a new or modified record.
• Other usability features. Such features include:
  • Lists displayed in special applets
  • Drag-and-drop column reordering
  • Drag-and-drop file attachments
  • Keyboard shortcuts
  • Smart controls for calendar, calculator and currency
  • Applet scrollbars

The high interactivity framework requires the Microsoft Internet Explorer browser running in a Windows environment and uses both ActiveX controls and Java. For a list of supported browser versions, see System Requirements and Supported Platforms on Siebel SupportWeb.

Deploying Siebel applications in high interactivity mode requires adhering to strict guidelines regarding the deployed operating system, Internet Explorer version and settings, and Java software environment. For a discussion of which Siebel applications must be deployed in high interactivity mode and the related browser requirements, see Siebel System Requirements and Supported Platforms.