29 replies to this topic

[loxly]

Hi All!

I have been helping my daughter set up her first osc site and since we are expecting a lot of visitors next week another few pairs of eyes would be great. She has been adding products, I have been taking elements from her current site and tweaking osc to look like what she has. She also has a phpnuke front end to the store, she plans to build a rep network and will use the nuke section for support.

One note, the text links in the header bar to posters, collectibles and prints point to nothing right now, another one of my jobs on the TO-Do list.

So please, if you have a minute, feel free to go try and break the store so we can be prepared for next week The default text is still on the front page, only one category is fully loaded (My Precious Kids), the others she is still adding to.

I'll be posting my own store for review over the weekend

[Johnson]

Do you have URL..?. promise not to *really* break it!

[loxly]

Geez.... I am really an intelligent human being.... At least I *was* :roll:

http://www.cool-nets.com/naturemomshops/catalog/

Thanks Dick!!!

[mattice]

loxly,

I think you should change the background.
It's 'spotted' which makes it hard to read larger amounts of text.
Your eyes get tired too quick, which makes me want to leave.

HTH
Mattice

[Met00]

1) reduce the header
2) clean up the footer (eliminate the page views component) (1)
3) image behind the location bar (Top -> Catalog) reduces readability of the path and the three components to the right.
4) date in top and bottom. why both?
5) date in two formats in top and bottom
6) background works great, but the boxes seem "disconnected" as they break away from the color and the border offsets them too much with a different color scheme within it. [note this is even more starteling when you go to a category and the header has this same effect.

(1) In todays market OSC gives you the look of a very nice professional shopping experience. Seeing "nnnn requests since dd/mm/yyyy" detracts from that. I want anyone who comes to a store to think that we have been on the net a while and that I have had many many visitors as this has a direct effect on their comfort level with dealing with an on-line business. This component does not only not add to the comfort level, but can detract from it.

[loxly]

Thanks, I had questions about the stars too, so they will go.

Mattice, just the stars or the backgound in the boxes too?

We haven't worked on the footer yet, yes that segment will go. Also we know about the printable catalog not matching the theme and will update that also.

Interesting comments on the osc boxes theme integration, apparently my monitor doesn't show colors like other monitors do, so I will revisit that and then have other folks check.

How about account creation - order process? How is that doing?

[mattice]

I mean the big square that holds it ALL. Looks like the 'handmade' paper motive if you know what I mean. The stars in the footer should go.
The boxes come up clean, single color background.

HTH
Mattice

[BirdBrain]

Good Morning Deb!

I haven't looked at the source code to see what is causing this.....Need more coffee first......Here is a screen shot of the top of the page.....There is a big gap between the first images and the edge of the browser window.......This is from NS but it does the same for me in IE. Have scroll too much before you get to the "good stuff".

[img]http://www.bird-e-toys.com/pics/NatureMom.jpg[/img]

[chingali]

Hi Loxly, I'm not being critical at all, just letting you know what I would be doing if the site was one of mine. Just thought I'd say that because I have a moderately long list.

Here's what I would be doing,

* Lose the background images
* Lose the stars
* Reduce the overall height of the header, at 800 x 600 it takes up too much real estate
* Get rid of the visitor count in the footer, if you have a large number people think it's fake, if you have a low number it looks like the site's a ghost town
* Get rid of the date in the header, not a lot of point to it
* Dont mix and match "clipart" with photos, if you look at the Comfy Cozy page you'll see what I mean, you have a clipart image for the gift sets and a photo for the pillow
* Move the quick find box to the top of the left column, I have had to sit in on numerous site usability tests with target groups of all skill levels, and you'd be surprised how often they always use the search box before any other form of navigation.

[/list]

[loxly]

Thanks for all the comments, I haven't looked to see what is causing the gap at the top of the page either, I was planning to check it out. Thanks for the comments on the different screen resolutions also.

Some of the product graphics are provided by the manufacturers, so we take what we can get, but we'll ask if there is more consistency!

Tweaking this site is part of the weekend marathon, so you'll see it posted again

Anyone try a test order? Works for me, but need to know if others encounter problems.

[jchasick]

Debbie,

for whatever its worth:

1) spaces on top and bottom are too large
2) background is a little distracting
3) stars in footer make it hard to read the counter/date (same in header)
4) i find the light blue text hard to read (maybe I am going color blind)

overall the fonts seem really small - i am viewing at 1280x854

keep rocking :wink:

[loxly]

Thanks Jeff, will get to all the suggested changes tommorrow (Sunday EST).

In the meantime, if anyone can take a look at the header code and make suggestions as to what is causing the blank space at the top of the screen I would appreciate it, I have tried a variety of things and none of them seem to be working.

d

[Ajeh]

You have a zilliong <P> in that section and a lot of useless &nbsp;

The <CENTER> adds a break so put the center in the <td>

I took out all the <P> and </P> and the <CENTER> and the <DIV> and I am at the top of the page now.

[loxly]

Quote

You have a zilliong <P> in that section and a lot of useless &nbsp;

The <CENTER> adds a break so put the center in the <td>

I took out all the <P> and </P> and the <CENTER> and the <DIV> and I am at the top of the page now.

When I did that it didn't show any change when I refreshed.

(it was cut and pasted from a fp generated page)

I'll go try now....

[loxly]

But now the center table isn't centered and I put align="center" in the table tags for both tables.

[Ajeh]

I threw one in the <td> also.

And I removed more <P> than you did.

[loxly]

LOL, found it and now it's better.

I'll tackle the footer later.

Thanks Linda!!!

[Ajeh]

And toss out this kind of stuff ... unless you want that spacing:

      <p><font face="Arial" size="2">&nbsp;</font></p>

  <p><font face="Arial" size="2">

[Ajeh]

Your top 3 images are not center on 1600x1200 the shop is though.

[loxly]

grrrrr...... LOL...... It never ends! Her buy now buttons don't send the items to the cart either, they are acting like a view cart instead of a buy now...........

grrrrr........