Amazon Unspun Widgets

Ok, I'll be the first to admit that this is stretching the definition of a web service just a bit, but let's give it a whirl anyway! Next thing you know I'll be posting about dogs or something.

The new Amazon UnSpun widgets make it easy for any blogger or web site owner to host polls on their site by pasting in a single line of HTML. The polls can be based on existing UnSpun topics or from a topic freshly created for the poll.

Here's an instantiation of a widget with the "Best Books about the LAMP Stack" poll inside:

You can read all about the UnSpun widget here.

-- Jeff;

Comments

[Jim]

Unfortunately, whoever designed it didn't really think much about where a "widget" like that is likely to actually appear. It's much too wide to sit in the sidebar of most blogs (for example, this one). It's also much wider than the standard skyscraper web ad width, which means it won't fit on any site that puts ads in their sidebars. Widgets like this need to be good citizens of the web and respectful of the sites that might host them, or they'll get no use.

It's also damn ugly, with zero Amazon or Unspun branding, which detracts from the authority it's supposed to convey. It doesn't seem fun or cool, it looks more like a todo list.

And widgets like this should not be so cumbersome to interact with: it's absurd to expect my blog's readers to be "logged into Unspun" to cast a vote when every other free survey or poll widget out there doesn't require a sign in.

[Matt]

Jim thanks for you suggestions! We are actually working on a sidebar version that will hopefully be ready in a couple of weeks. The version that we launched is designed to be more like content in (ala YouTube videos) in the main window vs. a static sidebar widget, however we are working on that as well. As for the branding, we wanted to be able to blend seemlessly into a wide variety of sites. We will take a look at offering a more stylish/branded version as well. Thanks for the input.

[Jim]

Hmm, "want to blend seamlessly into a wide variety of sites", yet you consider this "content" to go "in the main window." Those are opposing goals, don't you see?

"Blending in" does not mean simply making it plain white. You really really need to hire a designer who knows how to achieve the goals of blending in and also retaining branding. Your WHOLE PRODUCT is about aggregating authority into the Unspun brand--saying you want to "blend in" is a completely wrong thing to do brandwise. Widgets are not about simply providing content, they are about injecting some of your company's personality and brand onto other sites.

Embedded content like YouTube works whent he user is likely to spend several minutes directly focussed on it. Your lists, to be honest, are pretty trivial little things, not stuff people need front and center.

[Matt]

Just an update, the UnSpun widgets are now resizable. Simply change the width and height parameters in the syndication code.

[Jim]

"Simply change the width and height parameters in the syndication code."

So you're pitching these entirely to programmers, then? People who actually know what "parameters in syndication code" are? How could you make it ten times simpler for people to spread your lists all over the place?