Tell HN: Hidden website design/usability gems?

[stijnm]

Hi All,

I just wanted to share this little unexpected design gem I discovered through a link over at Gizmodo. Go here http://photojojo.com/store/awesomeness/level-camera-cube/ and click 'add to cart'. Even the shopping cart turns its frown upside down.

It is smooth, well executed and adds to the user experience. I can also imagine this visual touch is a real boost in usability for less techy people.

Have you recently come across any other little unexpected innovative touches in a website which brought a smile to your face and improved usability?

[superamit]

Hey thanks! We spent a long time getting the timing on the swoop and the bounce when it lands in the cart right. Cool to see someone notice. :)

[alanthonyc → superamit]

Hey, that's a great site even aside from the little animated cart.

Lot's of cool photo gear!

p.s. I almost bought 24 camera cubes, I was having so much fun clicking the button.

[fsniper → alanthonyc]

Yeah that's what i was doing too :). Makes shopping like playing a game.

[taitems]

http://photojojo.com/store/awesomeness/level-camera-cube/

Clickable link.

[colinplamondon]

Not technical or new, but hitboxes, hitboxes, hitboxes. Add 5px of padding to your anchors and a rollover color, it makes a really huge difference.

[yannis]

Great trick! Movement always catches the user's eye, even my cat reacts if she sees anything jumping! It appears it was all done with YUI. I guess moving the image with position absolute and placing it in front of all other elements with the z-index.

[russell]

Neat product. I had to buy one for my GF, the artist. The whole shopping cart experience is just a little bit better than usual. It asked me for my name and the used it to populate the CC and shipping names. The messages were nice, not institutional.

EDIT: Must be the HN effect: they are out of stock and wont ship for another week, :-(

[weaksauce]

That's a cool trick. Very usable. What are you using for the shopping cart? Is it homebrew or something off the shelf like Satchmo or magento?

[superamit → weaksauce]

Homebrew. We tried Magento but found the code to be a pile of spaghetti.

[weaksauce → superamit]

Congrats on the site, it is fast and clean. I like it. Out of curiosity what language or frameworks did you use for the backend?

[jacquesm]

Neat little trick! Also a neat little product, ideal for selling over the web.