E-Media Tidbits

Web photos on many news websites are run too small. That's one of my pet peeves. In the past, I've suggested that editors give our eyes a break and figure out how to run them bigger. One technique is to have a smaller or thumbnail image enlarge to a bigger one -- often in a pop-up window that's activated by clicking on the small image.

Another alternative is to support expansion of a small image when the user passes the mouse cursor over the original. When I suggested this in the past, the idea met resistance (judging by the reactions that appeared in my mail), but now I'm seeing the image-mouseover concept implemented more often.

For an example, take a look at Yahoo! Local, the business and community directory service. As in this example, the small image (a map) enlarges on mouseover; and you can still click to see an even larger, more detailed map.

I'd love to see this model employed by more media websites. Mouseovers make it much faster to get the true sense of a photo than clicking for an enlarged view and waiting for the full-size image to load.