I came across this neat little feature from Magic Toolbox recently and have already recommended it to some clients. Magic Toolbox have a few useful tools but one stood out as the best – that is Magic Magnify and this allows you to roll your mouse over an image and zoom into that area so you can see much greater detail – as if you’re looking through a magnifying glass.

Applications for this feature are widespread but it would be particularly beneficial for eCommerce stores where products have fine and intricate detail that perhaps can’t be seen clearly in a small photo. It’s not only interactive but very engaging and this can only enhance a users experience – always a good sign especially in an eCommerce store!

In order for this to work every image needs two files, one small and one large. In essence the magnification area shows the detail from the large image when you roll your mouse over a section of the small image. Magic Magnify actually uses a Flash plugin for the photo zoom effect but with Flash being a pretty much ubiquitous technology this doesn’t become a usability hurdle. It’s smooth, quick, standards compliant, valid, and accessible.

Added to this it’s easy to add to your website in minutes (with a small piece of JavaScript code). You can customize it to suit your own site design by changing the size, shape and border of the magnifying glass if you wish. there absolutely no need to adjust the Flash file and for only £15 per site license it’s a steal!

Did I mention it’s also free for non-commercial websites!?