I've been very pleased by the positive reaction to San Dimas. We have beta testers from all over the world -- the US leads the way in terms of number of beta testers, no surprise there. However, I was surprised to find out that the number 2 country is... France! This is despite both Germany and the UK having bigger eBay usage. Also, there is no translated version of the interface yet, and we have done zero press about San Dimas in France up until now.
As if it weren't enough to be number 2 in beta testers, French bloggers and media have written up a storm about it. Here are some of the stories:
Nouvelle version d'eBay en préparation
This was the first French article, and was published back in April. After this was published we saw a big spike in beta user registrations from .fr email addresses.
Premiers pas dans le projet San Dimas - AccessOweb, le blog
What appears to be an in-depth review of the San Dimas features. I say "appears to be" because I can't actually be sure, since I was an abject failure in learning French, this despite my four years of French class in junior high and high school.
One of the commenters on the blog post says this:
"Pour en revenir au graphisme, moi je le trouve au contraire très bien foutu : plus classe que du html avec de légers dégradés, et surtout un écran pas surchargé du tout où l'on pourrait se perdre, comme sur la homepage d'ebay. On ne peut pas non plus le constater sur des screenshots mais la navigation est très agréable également. Bref joli test pour une jolie application !"
Which Google translates into this:
"To return from there to graphics, me I find it very well on the contrary foutu: more class that HTML with light ranges, and especially a screen not overloaded of the whole where one could lose oneself, as on the homepage of ebay. One cannot either note it on screenshots but navigation is very pleasant also. In short pretty test for a pretty application!"
Umm... thanks?
Application riche #13 : eBay San Dimas - Fabien Deshayes - Du client riche à un Internet riche
Another in-depth review, I think. My favorite quote is the following:
"La grande force de San Dimas est à mon avis cette navigation complètement nouvelle qui casse les codes d'une page web, ou même d'une application de bureau plus classique : fini les pop-up, les rechargement : ici tout se fait par onglets ou par panneaux, profitant à merveille des technologies Flex et Air pour donner un style à part entière à San Dimas."
Which translates as:
"The great force of San Dimas is in my opinion this navigation completely new which breaks the codes of a Web page, or even of an application of more traditional office: finished the popones, recharging: here all is done by mitres or panels, benefitting wonder from technologies Flex and Air to give a style to whole share in San Dimas."
I'm calling pop-ups "popones" from now on.
Que sont les applications riches (RIA) ? - Partie 3 - Quel futur pour l'Internet riche ?
There is a small San Dimas mention in this article, which is a three part magnum opus on Rich Internet Applications. (3 part blog post! Take that, Twitter!).
What I like about this one is that it refers to San Dimas as "projet San Dimas d'eBay".
Premiers regards Vidéo : Project San Dimas : Ebay en Apollo
I've saved the best for last. Somebody made a 17 minute (17!) video of a San Dimas walkthrough. In French. I have no idea what the narrator is saying. Can anyone help translate this?
Bravo, French San Dimasers, Bravo
Nice to be triple-quoted by you Alan!
I'm the one who posted the comment on "AccessOweb, le blog", wrote the review "Application riche #13 : eBay San Dimas" and quoted San Dimas in the three part blog post ;) I'm really enthousiast about San Dimas.
About the 17 minutes video, don't worry, the narrator really liked the app.
In France, we are few bloggers to push those technologies (Air, Silverlight, etc.) and San Dimas is one of the biggest for 2007. It was also presented during Adobe Live at Paris in the beginning of June.
See you!
Posted by: FabienD | June 28, 2007 at 12:25 AM