Ahh, the wonders of the WebTop. In this new hybrid space between the browser and desktop there are some really interesting use cases continuing to grow. Web developers are now able to easily create installed software that sits on user’s local machines. Toys “R” Us is one of the first to push into this space with their “Desktop Widget”. Although much simpler than the vision that the ShopLocal team has of this technology, it does the job in pushing the localized “best of” store promotions in front of some of the more loyal and engaged Toys “R” Us shoppers.
It's a great example of how localized weekly ad content can be extended beyond the browser and into a fun and easy to use desktop interface.
This Adobe AIR built widget features:
Synchronized local content with the live weekly ad site via the SmartDelivery API
Browse by category of interest
View store details such as address, phone and hours of operation
Linkage back into the store finder and weekly ad sites
After entering your ZIP code (just one time as the application retains this info), the user is asked to make an initial category of interest selection (which is also remembered upon subsequent use).
After entering your ZIP code (just one time as the application retains this info), the user is taken to whatever category they picked. In this case, the user is looking at electronic deals taken from the weekly ad which auto scroll every 5 seconds.
By "puling down" on the change category menu, a user can select which category best suites their needs or interest and the widget will refresh with weekly ad content from that specific slice.
By "flipping" the desktop widget over, one can view the store details of where the deals being shown are applicable at and also change their location by entering a new ZIP code.
If you check out Shaws.com homepage right now, you’ll see a great implementation of two variations of the same weekly ad widget that the ShopLocal team brought to life.
The first and more prominent version is the in line and embedded weekly ad widget that has an above the fold placement on the homepage of Shaws.com. This widget shows off some of the best promotions at the user’s closest local Shaw’s store. It really serves as great dynamic, localized teaser content to engage a user with the weekly ad very early on within a visit to the Shaws.com web site which will hopefully lead to a deeper, dedicated browsing of the entire Shaw’s online circular web site (this site JUST got upgraded to SmartCircular 4.1 ad supported BTW)
The large 180px X 400px Flash widget that sits on the left hand side (bright yellow) is highly visible and easily snaggable as it has been wrapped with WidgetBox's "Get Widget" feature.
The second version of this widget is a little more hidden. It is an Adobe AIR desktop version of the same “Best Of” the weekly ad widget. This version allows a user to actually download to their local machine and install the widget so that it can run outside of any browser. It even has limited off-line capabilities (local data cache within the desktop app itself) just in case the user doesn’t have access to an internet connection to refresh the circular content. To check it out for yourself first hand, just download and install this Shaw’s weekly ad desktop widget
Notice that this widget is living outside of the browser. It has it's own permanent desktop shortcut icon. This version of the widget is actual running on top of the Adobe AIR cross-OS run time environment.
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Over the course of a few months, the delivery team here at ShopLocal embarked in a forward looking vision creation project of what an store promotions based Adobe AIR Desktop application might look like. There were many different ideas that were discussed and refine along the way, but in the end what won out was the below concept AIR desktop app. The cross-team collaboration was really high with Brendan Flynn (our resident Agile expert here at ShopLocal) helping lead the charge. All in all, I’m really excited to take the covers off this skunk works effort and get YOUR (yes, you there) feedback. The team wants to iterate and refine as we work to bring this new product line (part of the suite of SmartProducts) to market so make sure to leave a comment.
This is one of an overall series of design concepts of what a ShopLocal created Adobe AIR desktop application may look like. It would be single retailer focused app that a user would need to download and install on their local machine.
Some features that this Adobe AIR desktop app would include:
Offline / online mode (don’t have to be connected to the internet to use)
Version tracking (of the AIR application)
User notification on the desktop (within the task bar area on a Windows machine for example)
Update notification (to make sure that all users are getting the most up-to-date version of the app)
One-click install and upgrade (so that this is REALLY easy for a user)
Multiple browse modes including full screen and page scrolling (to make use of being outside the browser)
New user interaction types (such as “category stacks”)
Bonus buys (which would be online only exclusive content to help create a value proposition for why a user would download the desktop app and not just use their normal browser based version of the weekly ad)
Drag and drop items to a drawer (interactive way of collecting items to a “list”)
New concept for how an item detail page relates back to it’s underlying circular page
To see Hi-Res versions of all the various screen states that make up this AIR desktop app, just click the image to view the complete set over on Flickr
So there are no dumb questions. I believe this fully. So here are some common misconceptions that keep coming up over and over again as ShopLocal engages clients around the widget | gadget space that I’d like to set straight.
Web widgets can be downloaded. This is FALSE for the most part. By the very definition of what a web widget is, they are NOT downloadable, but rather snagable, grabbable or embeddable (all of these are synonyms in this context). Basically users just copy and place the widget onto or within another web page or site. No actual file is being downloaded from the internet and being installed on your local machine. This is the beauty of what makes a web widget’s unique and powerful. Whenever a user visits a web site or web application that they have placed (or embedded) a web widget, that exact web widget is available anywhere, regardless if they are accessing that specific web page from their own personal computer or not. It’s just like web email (eg Gmail, Hotmail, etc). The emails are not downloaded to your local machine. All of your messages remain within the email web site so that you can access your mail anywhere at anytime. Web widgets are no different.
Web widgets require something to be downloaded first, like a platform or run time environment. This is FALSE for the most part. Again, the whole point to wrapping up a small micro-application or piece of content into a web widget is to avoid putting up any barriers of adoption or use. Out comes the web email example. To access Gmail or Hotmail, no user has to install anything. It’s as easy as logging in. Yes, some of the early platform specific widgets like Yahoo! Widgets required a base platform be installed, but these type of widgets are a dying breed that are not going to survive.
Web widgets are able to be placed on one’s desktop (or WebTop as this blurred line is being called). This is FALSE for the most part. Web widgets live within or on web pages, not a single specific user’s desktop of their personal computer. To create something that does this, a specific desktop application needs to be created, typically within (or using) Adobe’s AIR platform (which is now being bundled with all Flash Player installations / upgrades). This is a very different and unique type of applications that in all honesty is much more powerful and immersive than a web widget, but does require a much more motivated and trusting user to download and install one’s desktop application.
Web widgets are able to be placed or installed on one’s iPhone / iTouch. This is once again FALSE for the most part. What this describes is an iPhone application which is a very different than a web widget. iPhone applications are written in an Apple specific language (xCode) and are typically deployed through the iTunes App store. There is a very unique set of rules, interactions and set of possibilities that come along with creating and releasing an iPhone application. All of which are 180 degree different than a web widget.
Web widgets are their own unique type of applications that however many similar qualities they may share with other types of applications, they have their own standard of identity.
So let’s recap quickly:
Web widgets are NOT downloadable or for that matter every downloaded
Web widgets do NOT require that anything be installed on a user’s local machine
Web widgets are NOT the same as desktop apps
Web widgets are NOT the same as iPhone apps
Yes, there are exceptions to each of these rules (which is where most of the confusion stems) due to some 3rd party widget providers (such as Clearspring, Gigya and Widgetbox) offering some ‘out-of-the-box’ support for some of these type of non-standard options on a hit or miss basis. But in a general, pure academic sense of what is entailed within a web widget (or as I have referenced previously as an universal widget) these four conceptions and mis-use of terminology are just plain FALSE.
Looking for some inspiration on what a weekly ad desktop application could be like? Here is a demo video (sorry, no sound) that showcases was may be possible as far as front end user interface (UI) / user experience (UX) presentations around print content. Let your imagination run wild as the possibilities using this new technology are near endless.
This entire (Anthropologie) print catalog was brought to life with Adobe Flex and Adobe AIR which provides a cross-OS run time environment that allows applications to run outside of the browser. Sounds geeky right? Ask yourself if these type of features are of interest to your business and users, as all of these amazing benefits are only available via desktop applications built via Adobe AIR and then answer the above question.
Offline / Online Capabilities – Have a flight but still want to look at the weekly ad for your home? Not a problem with an AIR app. All the required data is stored locally and temporarily cached on your machine and then refreshed the next you an internet connection is established
Permanent Position – No clutter. No distractions. No ads. No stop or back button. It’s just your application and the user. By going the route of a desktop application, your brand and content is exposed to the user in a manner more intimate than anything experienced in a browser. Your application will now be an icon on their desktop. Your application will now be on their ‘Start’ menu. By having a user choose to download and install your desktop application, it is showing a great deal of trust and interest in your brand and content on the user’s part
Full Screen – No browser navigation, status bar, scroll bars junking up the UI/UX. AIR apps can take over the entire screen
Nifty comparison chart that highlights the differences between and browser and desktop application
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