Comments on: Zoomii: Another Way to Shop Amazon http://www.mentalfloss.com/blogs/archives/16342 Feel Smart Again Sun, 22 Nov 2009 19:20:58 -0500 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.5 hourly 1 By: Chris Higgins http://www.mentalfloss.com/blogs/archives/16342/comment-page-1#comment-83510 Chris Higgins Tue, 15 Jul 2008 03:14:19 +0000 http://www.mentalfloss.com/blogs/archives/16342#comment-83510 I think the Zoomii people are primarily in it for the eye candy, frankly. The one place I found it particularly useful was in search. On Amazon's default search (which is good...), I usually expect to find my result in the first one or two items. If it isn't there, things seem to get less relevant real fast. On Zoomii I found that relevant results seemed more clickable (presumably due to the big image thumbnail), and there was less cruft (I guess because it's a subset of the total Amazon catalog). But anyway. Mostly eye candy. I think the Zoomii people are primarily in it for the eye candy, frankly. The one place I found it particularly useful was in search. On Amazon’s default search (which is good…), I usually expect to find my result in the first one or two items. If it isn’t there, things seem to get less relevant real fast. On Zoomii I found that relevant results seemed more clickable (presumably due to the big image thumbnail), and there was less cruft (I guess because it’s a subset of the total Amazon catalog). But anyway. Mostly eye candy.

]]> By: Michael Higgins http://www.mentalfloss.com/blogs/archives/16342/comment-page-1#comment-83270 Michael Higgins Sun, 13 Jul 2008 15:32:20 +0000 http://www.mentalfloss.com/blogs/archives/16342#comment-83270 So, I love zoomable UIs. (They go way back, but never really caught on --- the iphone and exposé might be slowly changing that.) And I love "where it is is what it is" UIs that associate information with "physics." But I'm not a fan of slavish devotion to physical metaphors. I mean, imagine if the Finder were really like a filing cabinet! You could virtually flip through files looking for your virtual paper! It would be wonderfully... tedious. I haven't played with zoomii enough to know if it's on the good side or the bad side of the line for this kind of thing, but I wonder what the advantage of it is for an Amazon-like experience? Amazon already does a pretty good job with serendipity and showing related stuff. Is it browsing? Does it feel nice for browsing? I worry that they're only in it for the eye candy. So, I love zoomable UIs. (They go way back, but never really caught on — the iphone and exposé might be slowly changing that.) And I love “where it is is what it is” UIs that associate information with “physics.” But I’m not a fan of slavish devotion to physical metaphors. I mean, imagine if the Finder were really like a filing cabinet! You could virtually flip through files looking for your virtual paper! It would be wonderfully… tedious.

I haven’t played with zoomii enough to know if it’s on the good side or the bad side of the line for this kind of thing, but I wonder what the advantage of it is for an Amazon-like experience? Amazon already does a pretty good job with serendipity and showing related stuff. Is it browsing? Does it feel nice for browsing? I worry that they’re only in it for the eye candy.

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