Thumbshot
|
|
Thumbshots are screenshots of online documents such as web page in small thumbnail sizes. Thumbshots help users to visualize web sites or preview links before clicking. The dimension of a thumbshot image (usually under 120 pixels in width by 90 pixels in height, though often as high as 250px wide) is generally much smaller than the actual online document allowing users to download and view a sample of the document quickly. Thumbshots can be automatically generated by custom software or manually screen captured using popular graphics programs.
Thumbshots can be hosted in a custom application or used with special plugin on a web page. Some thumbshot pictures are enhanced with informative icons or text highlights. Normally, thumbshots are found embedded inline beside hyperlinks in a web page to help improve web browser navigation by helping users to locate information faster. Thumbshots are often used to provide visual hints in search engines and web directories where a large number of text links are displayed on a page.
Thumbshots were first made available for free by Open Thumbshots.org (http://www.thumbshots.org) and are now found in hundreds of web sites on the Internet including the DMOZ Open Directory Project. Thumbshots can also be found in popular desktop applications like Windows Explorer and search engine applications like Copernic (http://www.copernic.com).
External links
- Thumbshots.com (http://www.thumbshots.com)
- Open Thumbshots.org (http://www.thumbshots.org)
- Thumbshots.net (http://www.thumbshots.net)