How the Bose QuietComfort 35 (Series II) Premium A+ displays on a desktop
If you’ve been following the story of enhanced content on Amazon websites, you’ll know that the previous A+ experience on mobile devices was mixed at best. Some modules would not display properly, some didn’t display at all, and others simply reverted to a plain text layout that fully removed any enhanced content elements. For a time, it was clear to see that A+ was very much optimised for desktop display.
With the launch of A+ 2.1, this has become less of an issue. Mobile continues to be a large segment of the visitors to Amazon website, both for product information/comparison and, increasingly, for purchasing.
So, with the advent of a new set of Premium A+ Modules upon us, we thought we would take this opportunity to have a look at their current browser implementation on Amazon.com.
Amazon.com Premium A+
Premium A+ pages, much like most new elements launched by Amazon, came to their US markets before their European launch, starting last year. Although not in widespread use, we’ve seen them appear on many high-profile products from larger vendors, and are distinct from the custom detail pages that Amazon had previously offered at the highest tier. In this small study, we’re going to be looking at the content displayed on the popular Bose QuietComfort 35 (Series II) high-end headphones.
Module 1: Full Background Image with Text
Desktop
Module 1 – the image appears to have been distorted to fit the slot.
Much like the current banner modules, this is an image with text layer over the top for Header/Sub-header. With the new premium modules there is now more of everything – the image is optimised for a 1500px display width, is twice as deep as previous banners, and accommodates longer titles in larger type, with a separate line for the product title itself.
Mobile
The image has been cropped differently to accommodate portrait scrolling, so it is narrower and deeper, showing more of the image in the vertical. For this, like many of the Premium A+ modules, Amazon requires a separate image to be submitted for both the desktop and mobile, which is disappointing. On a number of modules the system is able to re-purpose desktop images for use on mobile, but the sheer width of this original image doesn’t lend itself to mobile without a drastic crop. Sadly, this particular example gone slightly awry in the mobile display, with the image here being stretched in the vertical/squeezed in the horizontal. It’s very possible during the construction of this page, either the required assets weren’t provided, or the decision was made to manipulate the image to ensure the entirety of the model’s torso was in shot.
Module 2: Full Video
Desktop
A HTML 5 video player, featuring a full width slate image and large play button. Once started the video plays with a similar quality to other videos on Amazon.com, and there’s an option to go full screen. In this instance it’s a repeat of video content from the top of the pages, but now with a more noticeable placement.
Mobile
The implementation seems very similar, and seamlessly follows on from the previous module. The slate image is narrower, but the large play button is unambiguous. When launched, the video goes straight to a full-screen mode, but it’s possible to come back out of this and leave the video to play in a small frame on the detail page itself.
Join us tomorrow when we’ll continue our study of the new Premium A+ modules on Amazon.com.
