I've got this user interface idea in mind for my dashboard app, and I swear I've seen it before but cannot find an instance of it on the web.
The essence is that you present a thumbnail image to the user and when their mouse hovers over the thumbnail, you overlay the actual image at 100% zoom in a large viewport.
That's nothing special, however, what do you do if the 100% zoomed image is too big to fit in the viewport? Well, you would apply the same concept used in photo editing software for yonks: as the user moves their mouse around the bounds of the thumbnail, you move the 100% zoomed viewport in the same way.
I think it's a good idea as there are no mouse clicks necessary, and in my head at least, it would feel as smooth as panning on the iPad.
I'm looking for some examples of this but have been unsuccessful. The closest match I've found is at this online retailer's site: koyono.com. As you hover your mouse over the the image on the left, a zoomed version is shown with a restricted viewport, and the viewport moves in relation to your mouse hovering over the original image.
Anyone got an example from a website or software? In particular one where the zoomed viewport is displayed over the top of the original thumbnail, as I would prefer to use as much of the user's screen as possible to show the 100% zoom viewport (I won't have direct control over where the thumbnails are layed out on the dashboard).