Snap is a snap and adds value too!
December 10th, 2006
I have been busy as hell recently, just started a new contract and it has knocked me for six after working at home for 5 months. I loved those 5 months but cash is cash and money is money and all four of those come in handy in my book so a contract it is just now.
So WTF is this post about? Well, since I have been busy and firewalled beyond belief I haven’t had a chance to check out the new arrivals at 9rules so tonight I took the chance to have a browse about.
So WTF is this post about I hear you ask again… in case you never decided to even mouse over any of the links above you will have seen a rather nice preview of the external site you are about to visit. I have to give a hat tip to Ryan Arrowsmith as whilst I was browsing his site I was pleased to be presented with screen grabs of external sites. Pretty cool if you ask me!
Now I don’t know if there is dodgy shenanigans going on in the background with data caching etc but to be honest, I don’t care, within seconds I had signed up, added a small line of code to my site and hey presto, added value for my users.
So now you know, this article is about giving props to the new members of 9rules as well as praising the lovely service called Snap which is a snap to use and adds value too.
Lemme know if you find this useful, I am finding it useful already.
Mike Rundle Author Comment
December 10th, 2006
I just noticed Snap’s preview feature the other week when it was implemented on TechCrunch and I thought it was pretty cool. I think the only real negative is that a person might be less likely to click on the link after they see a preview because it kind of takes the mystery out of it in my opinion. But that’s good news for owner of the site because users stay longer
Alan White Author Comment
December 10th, 2006
I think the beauty of this little tool is that it empowers the user. Yes I would like them to stay but I have offered them a link to go somewhere else anyway.
Part of my job as the owner of this website is to try and make the user experience as rich as possible and if someone can preview a link before going then that can only be a plus.
Cheers for your thoughts Mike
Ryan Author Comment
December 11th, 2006
Hey bud!
While I’d love to take full credit for this one, I actually saw it over at Matt’s site. Great site, the detail of your design has kept me browsing page to page.
Alan White Author Comment
December 11th, 2006
Hey man, thanks for popping by, I haven’t been to Matt’s site in a while but I appreciate your honesty on the matter
Thanks for the props on the design, I have thought about doing some re-jigging but am reluctant to let go of my lovely monkey.