Parts of it I like, parts of it I don't like. At first I thought this was all Flash. I don't think it is, so that's pleasantly surprising what you can still achieve without it. On the other hand, while it may not be directly the fault of the author, though still counts against him, the graphical performance of everything just seems sort of drab. I prioritize responsiveness and frame rate over all aspects in interactive designs, and I find this one lacking because of that.
Also, it seems very reminiscent of Google Maps, with its grid-based progressive JPEGs, which I find horribly primitive in their current incarnation. I once had an art teacher tell me, when you make a presentation, try to hide from the audience how your project is made. And here, when the images are loading, all I can think of is "grid-based progressive JPEGs", and it really sucks. I think a simple improvement to that, for both Zoomii and Google, would be a parabolic/accelerated opacity change from the less-detailed image to the more-detailed image. That would give it a less jarring visual experience. Otherwise, pretty cool idea. On Tue, Jul 1, 2008 at 2:24 PM, Petteri Hiisilä <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > I just stumbled upon something pretty impressing: > > Zoomii's bookstore uses a Google Maps -like interaction design pattern to > display Amazon's books in an impossibly big bookshelf that can be zoomed in > and out. You can fly to any shelf and pick a book. It works inside a browser > without plugins. > > It's made by an individual called Chris Thiessen and funded by his spouse. > It's his "attempt to bring online as much of the real bookstore experience > as possible". To me his early attempt qualifies as indistinguishable from > magic. > > http://zoomii.com/ > > What do you think? > > - Petteri > > -- > Petteri Hiisilä > palvelumuotoilija / > Senior Interaction Designer > iXDesign / +358505050123 / > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > "In this island, everything happens for a reason." > - John Locke, LOST > > ________________________________________________________________ > Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! > To post to this list ....... [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Unsubscribe ................ http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe > List Guidelines ............ http://www.ixda.org/guidelines > List Help .................. http://www.ixda.org/help > ________________________________________________________________ Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ....... [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe ................ http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines ............ http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .................. http://www.ixda.org/help
