On October 8, 2000, I wrote about a TV ad for autotrader.com (scroll down), which utilized a visual metaphor for search that I felt was necessary to help most searchers to really understand how search works.
Well, now someone has made that a reality. Iokio.biz is in the business of providing visualization tools for sifting through data. On their home page, in the bottom left-hand corner, is a link to digital camera search. (Yes, you’ll have to sit through an unnecessary flash intro… sorry). Click on it, and play with it for a bit. It’s pretty cool.
Things I would change:
– Show brand. In my research, people shopping for digital cameras are way brand-oriented
– Utilize rollovers. I should be able to rollover the images and be given the name and model number of the camera, and it’s price
– Compare side-by-side. Some way to select multiple cameras, click “compare”, and see specs side by side. People LOVE comparing products.
Fixed.
Things I would change…
I might add that the slider controls aren’t that easy to use – It’s hard to be precise with landing on a desired max price and minimum resolution.