Some different approaches to image zooming using ajax.
http://tinyurl.com/2mfxp9
I’m not convinced by the magnifying glass approach. Not very smooth and it’s distracting when the magnifying glass switches position.
http://tinyurl.com/2fdd96
Horrible.
http://tinyurl.com/2vh39b
This is my preferred approach. Being able to see the zoomed portion in a larger area feels more comfortable.
My favourite remains the Flash based Zoomify (www.zoomify.com). There’s a free version, but the cheap paid-for version makes it really flexible and easy to integrate with and extend with hotspots etc. It comes with an image tiler, and does not need to download the whole image before rendering – it does that ‘on the fly’ – images are not embedded in the Flash.