Squidoo Tip #55: Try the Amazon Thumbnail View
For some reason, it never occurred to me to use the Thumbnail View for an Amazon module. But now that I know what it does, I expect to use this quite a bit:
Normally, an Amazon module shows you a list of products. They’re stacked, and it always looks rather cluttered to me. However, switching to the thumbnail view changes it so that the products are listed horizontally as small thumbnail images. I find it looks more attractive.
The only downside with the thumbnail view is that it only lists the images and the titles. There’s no room for the prices, availability, or any of those other details. However, if you’re willing to sacrifice those features, it looks pretty good.
8 Comments »
poddys said :
July 22, 2008 at 8:39 am
I like the thumbnail view, especially if you have a colleciton of items (like the rubber duckies) that don’t need a lot of explanation.
I use it for CD’s and DVD’s on my Music Lyrics lenses.
Susan Villas Lewis said :
July 22, 2008 at 11:05 am
I’m with Tony. You kind of have to have a product that doesn’t need a lot of explanation for it to work well. There are times I feel the need for the star ratings, etc., which means no thumbnail view. From a visual standpoint, my favorite thing is to use the spotlight with one product, then to use the regular amazon module with more of the same kind of thing underneath in thumbnail mode. Looks nice and you can kind of explain them in the spotlight. I did that a lot on my travel lens.
treasuresbybrenda said :
July 22, 2008 at 1:58 pm
You definitely have your all your ducks in a row!
I love using the Amazon thumbnail module. I think it was very successful in my lens, If Company’s Coming Use Jean Pare’s Cookbooks where I have a row of baking cookbooks and a row of ‘meal’ cookbooks. Looks great!
I do use the other modes, too! Variety is the spice of life!
Brenda
Mulberry said :
July 22, 2008 at 6:33 pm
I like the thumbnail view because everything can be seen in a single glance. It also allows the person to continue down the page if they are not interested without scrolling excessively.
mosaic said :
July 23, 2008 at 5:23 pm
The product must have a picture, though. Thumbnails look terrible when the product has no picture. Then the title just get jammed into the small square and looks really lame.
victorianeely said :
July 23, 2008 at 6:48 pm
Poddys - That’s a good idea! And yeah, it’s best for products that are self-explanatory.
Susan - Cool, I hadn’t thought of introducing the regular Amazon modules with the Amazon spotlight. I’ll have to experiment with that.
Brenda - Yes, my duckies are always in a row! Nice cooking lens BTW, the recipes are making me hungry.
Mulberry - That’s another thing that’s nice, too. Eliminates the need to do a lot of scrolling to get to more of the meaty parts of the lens.
Mosaic - Ugh, I hate it when the products don’t have pictures.
Captain Squid said :
July 27, 2008 at 10:58 am
Susan,
That’s a great idea! Amazon Spotlight the ‘basic’ or most common type of item and then use the thumbnails to show ‘variations’ right below it..
*runs off to try it..*
kab said :
October 8, 2008 at 7:55 pm
I often use the amazon spotlight mod in conjunction with the amazon thumbnail.
For instance on a lens about a TV show, I used the amazon spotlight to feature the season 1 DVD, and wrote a description and below it, I put a amazon thumbnail mod with seasons 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6.
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