Drag and shop 16 January, 2006

There are a lot of desktop-style interfaces showing up on the web now that the hype about Ajax has opened the doors for JavaScript. Panic Goods’ shopping experience is a great example of what you can do in a modern browser with what used to be called DHTML. It’s simple, visible and most of all fun. (I bet you add more than one shirt even though you haven’t got any intention of buying them, and just wait until you try to remove one!)

4 Responses to “Drag and shop”

1. anonymous Says:
   January 17th, 2006 at 5:31 pm

   I take it all back, that is quite neat.

   -Miles.

2. userhappiness Says:
   January 18th, 2006 at 12:58 pm

   I think what’s interesting here is how a little interactivity and a few cinematic effects change the experience. Shopping becomes exploratory, a means of experiencing an interaction rather than of just buying the goods. It makes you feel good about the process; it may even make you smile. And if an interface delights, the underlying tasks suddenly seem a lot easier.

3. anonymous Says:
   January 26th, 2006 at 3:00 pm

   Check out the sign-up process at this site:

   http://www.ourproperty.co.uk/

   When you plug your email address in, the server checks the DNS record in almost real time. Try a plausible but wrong email address and you’ll see what I mean.

   Also, it doesn’t insist that it knows better.

   -Miles.

4. userhappiness Says:
   January 26th, 2006 at 3:41 pm

   That is sweet! And you’re right, the key thing is that it defers to the user. (There a great chapter on application attitide and ‘being a butler’ in Designing From Both Sides of the Screen by Ellen Isaacs and Alan Walendowski. Pricey, but worth every penny.)

   In a similar vein I saw this last week and was going to blog about it and the Gmail signup which checks the security strength of passwords in real-time. It seems like Ajax form validation is already making a difference.

Have a word

Name (required)

E-mail (required, but not published)

Website