A Smart Use of Flash
August 4th, 2005
My daughter, shopping online for a new backpack, emailed me this link. It was immediately evident to me that JanSport gets it: Roll your cursor over the image on the right, and a magnified image of that squared-off portion of the product appears in the window on the left.
It’s probably a relatively simple Flash technique, and I’m sure JanSport isn’t the only one using it, but this is the first time I’m seeing it. It’s clean, functional, and useful. Kudos to JanSport: This is using Flash to add positively to the online shopping experience without getting in the way. (Now, about adding those “printer-friendly version” links to the product pages …)
(Full disclosure: I am not receiving blog-for-pay remuneration from JanSport or JanSport’s PR agency. Damn.)
Takeaway for marketers: There’s a ton of available technology out there for use on your site. Use the right tool for the right job in the right way.
August 4th, 2005 at 5:37 pm
Hello – I am the developer of this particular Flash piece. First off – thanks for the kind words! This display is an example of a new software product we are building here at Fluid.
While the end-result is a relatively simple Flash piece, the display layout, images, and data are all driven from XML files, and can be easily configured to work in a variety of ecommerce contexts. You can check out a few other example displays here – http://www.conceptretail.com/ .
August 5th, 2005 at 3:58 pm
One more note on the product – it is designed to let completely non-technical users build their own completely customizable interactive product displays without installing any software. Customers can be up and running in a couple of hours.