We feel very fortunate that Tom Nob’s birth coincided with the wide-spread deployment of widgets. What’s a widget and why are they so great, you ask? Instead of bludgeoning you senseless with techno-babble, let us show you what we mean.
When we started Tom Nob, the only user experience we could offer for a book was an image of the cover and possibly a written review. As you can see in the screenshot below, this has all changed.
Thanks to Google Books, you can now preview an ever-increasing number of books without leaving the site. This widget allows you to read at least a portion of the book in order to determine if it is a good choice for you. In cases where a book can be previewed on Google Books but the embeddable widget is not yet available, you will see the link "Preview This Book". Click on this link and Google Books will open in a new window. Keep in mind that there is often a delay between the publish date of a book and when it is available on Google Books.
Similar to books, we were initially at a loss as to how to provide a user experience for an audio recording beyond showing the album cover art but then widgets came to the rescue once again.
As you can see in this screenshot, the embedded widget for (almost) every audio product on Tom Nob allows you to listen to the entire album (or podcast) without leaving the site. For this widget, just click on the sideways triangle next to the track title and the audio will begin to stream immediately. Don't try it here because this is just a screenshot.
Thanks to YouTube, you are probably already familiar with the widgets that allow the sharing of videos. We use this same technology to allow you to watch full episodes of television programs whenever possible.
As this screenshot illustrates, all you need to do is click on the image of the episode you want to watch to begin viewing the video. In contrast to books or audio, in most cases a new window will open and you will be at the web site that hosts the video. Again, remember that this is just a screenshot.
We have been pleasantly surprised by the number of full-length feature films that are available for viewing for free (and legally) on the web. Whenever possible, we embed the widget that allows you to do this. If the full film is not available, we include the video trailer or a compilation of the best bits.
As this screenshot illustrates, all you need to do is click on the play icon and you will begin viewing the film. Like television, in most cases a new window will open and you will be at the web site that hosts the video.
While the widgets illustrated above help us to share great content with you, there are also widgets on Tom Nob that help you to share the love. At the top of every product page you will see the widget illustrated above. By hovering your cursor over the widget you will see the full range of options available to share this item with your friends.
Just select the option that works best for you and soon your friends will be enjoying the same great content on your blog, your Facebook page, recommendation and sharing sites like Digg and StumbleUpon or via good old-fashioned email.
There is also a sharing widget at the bottom of every posting on the Tom Nob blog.
Hopefully these examples have demonstrated what widgets do and how they allow the users of Tom Nob to instantly experience the humor without the need to download any files or software (unless your computer is running old versions of video content players like Flash). Please note that Tom Nob does not host any of the files which provide this content nor do we claim any rights of ownership to any copyrighted content. We only use widgets from reputable web sites that have legal rights to the content they are streaming.
