ashleylr Posted March 5, 2005 Share Posted March 5, 2005 www.momentsofelegance.com I've been working on my wedding favors website for a couple of months now. I'm new to php and the world of ecommerce but have gotten pretty comfortable installing contributions and making those kinds of changes. I am specifically looking for tips and ideas on ways to make my site look less like oscommerce "out of the box". There are a couple of pages that I am really struggling with how to improve that I am hoping to get some ideas on. When someone clicks one of hte links in my category tree, they are taken to this page that is just really ugly (for example: http://momentsofelegance.com/catalog/weddi...vors-c-26.html). I'm looking for a solution that would maybe allow that link to point to the first completely opened category tree (something like this: http://momentsofelegance.com/catalog/weddi...vors-c-26.html). If anyone has any thoughts on how to do this I would be so grateful. I'm also trying to figure out ways to eliminate the right hand column but I dont' know how to consolidate that data elsewhere. Overall, any style/content/programming/contribution recommendations you can offer would be most helpful!!!! Thanks so much! Ashley Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ashleylr Posted March 7, 2005 Author Share Posted March 7, 2005 if anyone can help with contributions that might help improve the look and feel (and abandon rate!) that would be most helpful!! www.momentsofelegance.com I've been working on my wedding favors website for a couple of months now.? I'm new to php and the world of ecommerce but have gotten pretty comfortable installing contributions and making those kinds of changes.? I am specifically looking for tips and ideas on ways to make my site look less like oscommerce "out of the box".? There are a couple of pages that I am really struggling with how to improve that I am hoping to get some ideas on.? When someone clicks one of hte links in my category tree, they are taken to this page that is just really ugly (for example:? http://momentsofelegance.com/catalog/weddi...vors-c-26.html).? I'm looking for a solution that would maybe allow that link to point to the first completely opened category tree (something like this:? http://momentsofelegance.com/catalog/weddi...vors-c-26.html).? If anyone has any thoughts on how to do this I would be so grateful.? I'm also trying to figure out ways to eliminate the right hand column but I dont' know how to consolidate that data elsewhere. Overall, any style/content/programming/contribution recommendations you can offer would be most helpful!!!! Thanks so much! Ashley <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bad_lemming Posted March 9, 2005 Share Posted March 9, 2005 Honestly, you site doesn't really do much for me. It is just a bunch of text, I looked at it not 1 minute ago and I dont' remember what you sell. You should figure out what image you would like to convey, and then figure out how to get that across to your consumer. Also, noone is going to read all that text, make it easier on the user to figure out waht is going on. Other than that it is a basic stock install, your probably not going to get too much response in here until you do something a little different. Hope you take this in the spirit in which it is intended. Keep working at it. :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
babylea Posted March 9, 2005 Share Posted March 9, 2005 you have to remember the 15 second rule for the first page your visitors will see.... if it's cluttered with text people are not going to want to spend ages reading through it. your potential customers want to know why you, what will they get from you compared to other suppliers. by no means am i an expert but i have planned a couple of weddings for friends and family members, as it is at the moment i wouldn't purchase from your site, it doesn't look as professional as it could, it has an awful lot of potential with the great pictures you have and the products you sell. - the green background doesn't go with the dark purple on the rest of the page. - change the active links from the basic underlined blue, it's not a good look and not in keeping with the rest of the site, this applies also to your navigation menu and infoboxes. - try shortening your sub-categories in your products box... for example when you click on wedding favors and the list appears you don't really need to have wedding favors on the end of each theme, try just beach wedding if it is relative to a wedding theme or candle favors if they are just candle favors and of no particular theme. or maybe just simplify things into wedding themes and then any additional products can go into categorys such as Favors, Gifts, etc. There seems to be a lot to look round with it as it is at the moment. - maybe add subcategory images so there isn't just a text link. - is the navigation bar at the bottom really necessary when you have the almost identical links in your information box just above it in your left column? - same with the individual page links at the bottom of the page, they are barely readable and take up a lot of space. - the authorised dealer notice could go on your about us page and free up a lot of space on the page, making it look less cluttered - do you need the google ads at the bottom? especially as you can provide your customers with a discount on bridal gowns - i would also consider using a different font in your info box headings, maybe the same one you used for your custom buttons? that would pull the sites theme together and they wouldn't stick out as much as they do - remove the borders from your image links when viewing in firefox the My Cart link in the header is aligned beneath the contact details, i'm not sure if this is intended. i hope this helps in someway to help you in bringing your site to the best it can be. keep us updated with how it's coming along Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ashleylr Posted March 14, 2005 Author Share Posted March 14, 2005 thank you SOOOO much for your feedback and ideas. I made a TON of changes this weekend and I think it is looking better. One thing I haven't been able to figure out is the blue color on the links. my CSS file has the links programmed to match the rose color, but when I view in netscape navigator or firefox, they are all blue. is there special CSS coding I need to be able to change the coloring in other browsers? you have to remember the 15 second rule for the first page your visitors will see.... if it's cluttered with text people are not going to want to spend ages reading through it. your potential customers want to know why you, what will they get from you compared to other suppliers. by no means am i an expert but i have planned a couple of weddings for friends and family members, as it is at the moment i wouldn't purchase from your site, it doesn't look as professional as it could, it has an awful lot of potential with the great pictures you have and the products you sell. - the green background doesn't go with the dark purple on the rest of the page. - change the active links from the basic underlined blue, it's not a good look and not in keeping with the rest of the site, this applies also to your navigation menu and infoboxes. - try shortening your sub-categories in your products box... for example when you click on wedding favors and the list appears you don't really need to have wedding favors on the end of each theme, try just beach wedding if it is relative to a wedding theme or candle favors if they are just candle favors and of no particular theme. or maybe just simplify things into wedding themes and then any additional products can go into categorys such as Favors, Gifts, etc. There seems to be a lot to look round with it as it is at the moment. - maybe add subcategory images so there isn't just a text link. - is the navigation bar at the bottom really necessary when you have the almost identical links in your information box just above it in your left column? - same with the individual page links at the bottom of the page, they are barely readable and take up a lot of space. - the authorised dealer notice could go on your about us page and free up a lot of space on the page, making it look less cluttered - do you need the google ads at the bottom? especially as you can provide your customers with a discount on bridal gowns - i would also consider using a different font in your info box headings, maybe the same one you used for your custom buttons? that would pull the sites theme together and they wouldn't stick out as much as they do - remove the borders from your image links when viewing in firefox the My Cart link in the header is aligned beneath the contact details, i'm not sure if this is intended. i hope this helps in someway to help you in bringing your site to the best it can be. keep us updated with how it's coming along <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Destra Posted March 14, 2005 Share Posted March 14, 2005 CSS colouring will work with every browser, try changing the following: A { color: #000000; text-decoration: none; } The color in this example is black but you can have it set to any color you want. Also all of your banner pictures have a lot of artifacts and look bad. If you did them then redo the text and save it as a gif instead of a JPEG. GIFs donot have this same problem as JPEGs and are great for text pictures. :thumbsup: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted March 14, 2005 Share Posted March 14, 2005 One way to instantly speed up your store is to change ALL of the .bmp files to .jpeg Good luck with your store. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ashleylr Posted March 14, 2005 Author Share Posted March 14, 2005 this is cut exactly from my CSS file: A { color: #A9577E; text-decoration: none; } any idea why the links are coming up blue in navigator? they look rose colored in IE..... also, what do you mean by my banner images? I don't have any banners.... Thanks for the feedback!! CSS colouring will work with every browser, try changing the following: A { ?color: #000000; ?text-decoration: none; } The color in this example is black but you can have it set to any color you want. Also all of your banner pictures have a lot of artifacts and look bad. If you did them then redo the text and save it as a gif instead of a JPEG. GIFs donot have this same problem as JPEGs and are great for text pictures. :thumbsup: <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
babylea Posted March 19, 2005 Share Posted March 19, 2005 thank you SOOOO much for your feedback and ideas. I made a TON of changes this weekend and I think it is looking better. One thing I haven't been able to figure out is the blue color on the links. my CSS file has the links programmed to match the rose color, but when I view in netscape navigator or firefox, they are all blue. is there special CSS coding I need to be able to change the coloring in other browsers? <{POST_SNAPBACK}> that looks a great deal better than it did before... i'm still unsure of all the text below the footer bar but nonetheless it looks fab. the only thing i would consider changing on the index page (apart from the aforementioned text) would be to move the 'popular themes and trends' section to the top of the three you have. the link color looks fine to me. great job! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
New 
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.