I was poking around EyeBuyDirect the other day and found something really great. So great that I said to myself, "Self, you should whip up a quick post on this."

I'm often frustrated by the perspective of the frame photos on some of the sites. 39DollarGlasses' photos look somehow twisted to me -- always have. I've bought numerous pair of glasses from them and they've all been straight (as expected). I'd also like the images to be a bit more consistent (I'm looking at you GlassesShop).

It's an optical illusion of some sort, but it strikes me every time.
EyeBuyDirect has something that I've been wanting for a long time. My version of this would have shown two versions of the frame in the product grid at the same time -- one straight on, the other at the standard angled view. They haven't given me this, but they do allow me to switch my views now. Look at the frame icons hanging out at the right side of the controls below.
This is a highly useful feature. While the 30 to 45-degree angle view on all the sites may be the most appealing, it's not always a big help in figuring out the look of the frame. I've bought many pairs of glasses online and this lack of a straight-on view has burned me twice. "Burned" being relative, of course as the frames were fine -- just not entirely what I was looking for at the time.

I have a few things I'd change to make it even more useful, however:

Ratings are cute, but could exist solely on the frame detail page. You're not likely to show a 1-star rating on a frame anyway, so having all 4 to 5 star ratings makes this meaningless. I would LOVE (LOVE, LOVE, LOVE) to have the important frame details available in this grid. It would make the process of finding that perfect frame so much less fatiguing.

In the end, I do think the angled view should be the default.

I appreciate the steps EyeBuyDirect is making on making their site more user-friendly.