Multimedia Live announced Intelligent Cataloging, a new online catalog tool designed to ease the process of moving print catalogs online.

The company says users of Intelligent Cataloging can reduce administrative costs by approximately two thirds and get their catalogs online faster. Intelligent Cataloging puts digital versions of print catalogs online and links each product to its respective product page. Intelligent Cataloging offers important merchandising features such as a user-friendly interface, image zoom and product name pop-ups that appear upon mouse rollover.

Intelligent Cataloging offers a simple, step-by-step process to load your print catalog, publish it to your website, and guide you through the publishing process with visual instructions at each step.

Features include:

* Page spreads: Catalogs are visually presented two pages at a time, as if the catalog were laying open in front of the shopper.

* Five navigation methods: Customers can turn from one page to another using page thumbnails, "next" and "back" buttons, two different page number arrays, and a slider bar.

* "Smooth turn" pages: Animation provides an intuitive visual clue to the shopper that the page has turned.

* Free-form zoom: Customers can zoom the catalog page to view product details. Image resolution automatically adjusts to provide maximum clarity.

* Pan: Customers can click and drag a zoomed page back and forth.

* Sticky notes: Customers can mark specific pages or write virtual sticky notes anywhere in the catalog, and save them for future viewing.

* Rollover product descriptions: A small text box with a brief product description appears upon mouse rollover. The merchant determines the box contents.

* Rollover product outlining: When the shopper rolls over a linked item, the product's outline becomes visible to clearly indicate which product is linked.

"Fifty percent or more of your customers are likely to browse your site with a catalog in hand," said Ken Burke, Multimedia Live President and CEO. "Intelligent Cataloging lets you serve these customers better, leading to higher confidence and increased sales. The cataloger is in complete control of posting and editing their online catalogs, creating a significant savings in processing time and expenses."

Online merchants can post as many catalogs as they like. The front covers of all posted catalogs appear on a catalog gateway page, making catalog selection easy for your customers and serving as a landing page in conjunction with e-mail campaigns. A built-in analytics and reporting tool allows tracking of Intelligent Cataloging sales, traffic, sessions, and other key metrics.