24 replies to this topic

[JulieCSM]

I have been working on a new wholesale store here:

www.cheapsheetmusic.co.uk/wholesale

I have tried to make it a bit more 'sleek' and business-like as opposed to my current store, which is here:

www.cheapsheetmusic.co.uk

whilst still retaining the same character and style.

I have stripped the infoboxes down to the bare minimum as I figure a wholesale store doesn't need all the fripperies such as reviews and best sellers and tell a friend.

Any thoughts?

Oh and the images on the front page will be replaced when I have something to replace them with - the current ones are just to give an idea of what it will look like.

And I know I don't have many products yet - We're not ready to go live yet at all - but I'm ready for critiques on the design.

[JulieCSM]

OK - no comments - is that because it's so brilliant there's nothing more to say?

Just noticed the link doesn't actually work so will try again

www.cheapsheetmusic.co.uk/wholesale

[burt]

What can I say ?

Red is a no-no for the majority of Ecommerce sites. Red generally means "stop", "danger" etc.

Other than the fact you've removed the right column (good stuff!) - it's a bit plain jane. Good that you've thought to remove the information infobox (it's an irrelevant eyesore on most sites) - stick it in the footer people. Good.

[mistafeesh]

Stripping down the infoboxes is always a good idea, IMO

Other than that, at first glance it looks fairly standard. OK though.

PSsst. I reckon the best thing to do when Burt starts talking about colour is to half listen - he has very strong opinions on the matter! but don't tell him I said that! (no offence intended Burt!?)

Edited by mistafeesh, 07 January 2004, 16:32.

[burt]

mistafeesh, on Jan 7 2004, 04:31 PM, said:

PSsst. I reckon the best thing to do when Burt starts talking about colour is to half listen - he has very strong opinions on the matter! but don't tell him I said that! (no offence intended Burt!?)

A very good site for colour combos is www.colorschemer.com/online - I use that almost daily.

[FlyingKites]

Hi

I had a look and these are my thoughts:

1. Red only means stop when you use it for ICONS - Red as an overall colour scheme is acceptable - Red is a very "sale" colour which is why Sale signs are Red and why they tell you to were Red to interviews etc.

2. Wholesale buyers do like to see best sellers. I think you could consider showing that and maybe the Recently Viewed contributions infoboxes.

3. I find it hard to see the heading of the infoboxes now you have taken out the box lines etc. Maybe you could do a diffferent colour background - just slighly darker to emphasise them and therefore draw people's eyes to them?

4. I think the word "Category" should line up with the actual category names now you don't use boxes as it looks untidy

5. Your forgotten password/new customer links don't indicate they are links (they look like text) so they are not intutitive to "click here" - maybe you should go witht he standard underline

6. In terms of white space usage, I'd try to get the first screen at least to fit the standard monitor height so the user does not have to scroll down to see everything as people are lazy and you do not want to discourage them before you have got them interested.


If you want more feedback then let me know I'd be happy to help out.

[JulieCSM]

^Thanks - I'm in the middle of a redesign right now as I am sure you will have realised.

[mistafeesh]

Quote

A very good site for colour combos is www.colorschemer.com/online - I use that almost daily. 

thanks burt for the highly cool link! just been over there, and it's now bookmarked... I make fairly frequent use of a book called "colour harmony for the web", but I have a feeling it'll start to gather dust now...

[JulieCSM]

OK - I have taken all comments on board.

I have designed a new colour scheme, new logo and changed the infoboxes.

Kept the burgundy as I like it, but teamed it with soft cream instead of white which gives the whole thing a less 'stark' and plain look.

Also redesigned the front page so that all of the text is visible. The images will still be changed eventually to show my actual products and designs.

I still have to give a couple of category images transparent backgrounds so that they aren't white any more but I really like this colour scheme.

And obviously the "This shop is not live blah blah blah" will be gone.

Thoughts?

Edited to add link (whoops):
Here

Edited by JulieCSM, 09 January 2004, 21:43.

[JulieCSM]

FlyingKites, on Jan 8 2004, 04:58 AM, said:

2. Wholesale buyers do like to see best sellers. I think you could consider showing that and maybe the Recently Viewed contributions infoboxes.

I know what you mean - one of the wholesale sites I use for my main shop has a bestseller page, but I think when you've just started out and you only have one or two 'best'-sellers (read only-sellers) it looks a bit pathetic

If I can find a way to make a best seller page, so it's not intrusive on the main page, and when I actually have some best sellers, then I may well bring it back.

[mikeq]

Surely it is possible to fudge bestsellers

[JulieCSM]

mikeq, on Jan 10 2004, 12:17 AM, said:

Surely it is possible to fudge bestsellers

Ye-e-e-e-es, but then that messes up my stats.

And it's lying. Which is naughty

What do you think of the new colour scheme?

[JulieCSM]

I've redesigned the front page to show examples of my designs and I've also added a nav bar.

I know some of the nav bar buttons need tweaking, they were originally designed to go on a white background for my other store - that is on my to-do list, as is changing the three magnet and keyring images.

I want to make sure the front page displays OK in different browsers. I had got it working fine in IE then looked at it in Netscape 7 and the two tables which I have side by side were out of alignment.

I have now got it right in Netscape also but would like input from those with other browsers to make sure it displays OK in all.

Basically on the front page I have two tables side by side within a table and the tops of each table should line up at the top.

I have also installed the products listing contrib so customers can add multiple items to their cart from default.php instead of going to the products_info page - very useful I think.

Also fixed a couple of spelling mistakes in my alt tags.

Apart from installing the Worldpay module, uploading the rest of my products and getting my new easy order contrib to work, it's pretty much finished. I actually had an ebay order for some of my keyring designs last night so I was very chuffed about that!

Edit to add link - whoops

http://cheapsheetmusic.co.uk/wholesale

Edited by JulieCSM, 16 January 2004, 11:14.

[korsh]

Hi Julie,

I like your site especially the easy order system and laying out the links to the categories as tabs across the top.

I believe wholesale customers don't need all the fancy pretty images and multiple links to product information like a retail site has.
They do need this information to be there but only when they want it.
When they only have time to place an order before getting back to the business of selling this easy order system is terrific. Just a simple "cut to the chase here's the order list how many do you want to order click here to place order".

As few steps as possible. These people lead busy lives.

How did you create the easy order system page?

You mentioned a product listing module

Quote

I have also installed the products listing contrib so customers can add multiple items to their cart from default.php instead of going to the products_info page - very useful I think.

Which one is it? Did you use it as it is or make other modifications?

I would like to create a wholesale site using a similar simple selection process.

Continuing with the critique, overall the site works well is fast and looks good.

One element though, that I didn't like was in the categories info box.
I would make the categories names bold. Having them all in plain text is hard to read.

Also I clicked on the easy order system button on the right hand side to see what it did.
It didn't do anything. Why is it there?

hope that helps

James

[JulieCSM]

korsh, on Jan 17 2004, 08:34 PM, said:

How did you create the easy order system page?

You mentioned a product listing module

Quote

I have also installed the products listing contrib so customers can add multiple items to their cart from default.php instead of going to the products_info page - very useful I think.

Which one is it? Did you use it as it is or make other modifications?

I would like to create a wholesale site using a similar simple selection process.

Continuing with the critique, overall the site works well is fast and looks good.

The easy order system as it currently stands uses the product listing with attributes contrib:

http://www.oscommerce.com/community/contributions,1098

This adds the quantity box on the default.php product listing page and the add to cart button at the bottom. And I used it as it is. The big plus about this contrib is if the product has any attributes, which none of mine do, it will list those in the product listing also as well as adding the quantity box. There is rather a lot of code to add but if you work through it steadily, everything should be fine.

I did have to add a couple of lines to default.php to add the text below the category heading but I am sure you could figure that out. If not, give me a shout and I will let you know what I did.

I am also working on an 'easy order page' contrib which would do the same thing but list all the products in the entire store on one single separate page. It's almost there but still not quite working yet.

The new easy order page is located here:
http://www.cheapsheetmusic.co.uk/wholesale/allprods.php

When I get it to work, I will change the page name etc but for now I based it on the code for the allprods contrib so it's still there.

Quote

One element though, that I didn't like was in the categories info box.
I would make the categories names bold. Having them all in plain text is hard to read.

Do you mean having the main category names in bold and the sub-cats in plain in the category drop down box? I agree but I don't know how to make them bold. I just added the drop down box contrib and left it at that. I don't think there is any way to make them bold within a drop down box.

Quote

Also I clicked on the easy order system button on the right hand side to see what it did.
It didn't do anything. Why is it there?

The red button on the right hand side is just a general sub-category image. It doesn't do anything. It's there because the system asks me for an image for the subcategory and that's what I gave it. I suppose I could edit the code in default to get rid of it in the product listing but keep it in all other default.php pages.

Thanks for the comments - it's always good to get constructive feedback.

I have too many nice friends who look and say "Oh yes that's very nice! Well done!" which isn't really helpful. Nice but not helpful.

Edited by JulieCSM, 17 January 2004, 20:03.

[FlyingKites]

If I was you I would fake my bestsellers to begin with to promote the products you want most to sell. I think you'd just need to add data to the database somewhere.

You could modify the bestsellers and display then only when a category or subcategory is being display and instead of a LHS/RHS box make it a display under the category display. I did a similiar thing for reviews. I only display them under the actual product when the user is looking at the full listing.

I will have a look at your site again now - colour choice sounds wonderful

Edited by FlyingKites, 18 January 2004, 23:04.

[FlyingKites]

Julie

These are my thoughts as I look at it - no order

1. the term "Bespoke" is uniquely English, other countries use "Customised". Maybe you could go with a "Your Own Design" which is pretty long of course. You used "Personalised" in your categoty box.

2. You need to make sure your Tabs words are the same as your Category Box - they are not - see 1

3. You have left off Star Signs in the Tabs

4. I like your category graphics but you have the same problem that I am facing - they are all fron different sources and so look amatuerish as there is not common design to them. I like the concept of using a music theme - Maybe you could get a common background and have a smaller foreground that has an icon. For example, maybe you could replace the picture of Jesus with a Cross. I will email you what I mean.

regards

[JulieCSM]

FlyingKites, on Jan 19 2004, 12:18 AM, said:

Julie

These are my thoughts as I look at it - no order

1. the term "Bespoke" is uniquely English, other countries use "Customised". Maybe you could go with a "Your Own Design" which is pretty long of course. You used "Personalised" in your categoty box.

2. You need to make sure your Tabs words are the same as your Category Box - they are not - see 1

3. You have left off Star Signs in the Tabs

4. I like your category graphics but you have the same problem that I am facing - they are all fron different sources and so look amatuerish as there is not common design to them. I like the concept of using a music theme - Maybe you could get a common background and have a smaller foreground that has an icon. For example, maybe you could replace the picture of Jesus with a Cross. I will email you what I mean.

regards

1. I didn't realise Americans didn't understand the word Bespoke. Still, I would imagine the vast majority of my customers will be from the UK, but I will consider changing it. The problem is, as it is the tabs JUST fit into a 800x600 screen so any change would mean they wouldn't fit.

2. The tabs don't necessarily have to be the same, I used Star signs in the categories and zodiac in the tabs because of SEO.

3. Star signs=zodiac

4. As for the category images, I supposeI could make them all the same size and put them in a border to make them all the same. I can't use a cross for Jesus as I already use a cross for the NT ones.

I have tried to use as many words for the same thing as possible, again becasue of SEO, so someone looking for magnets with star signs on them might search for star signs, zodiac signs or astrology and hopefully find my site.

As far as the tabs go, I have tried to make them as small as possible, see 1.

But thanks for your comments. I will definitely think about the cat images.

[JulieCSM]

OK - I have changed the category images to make them all more the same.

I don't really want to remake the tabs as it took ages to get the faded background to be the same as the faded background on the logo - lots of tedious cutting and pasting of tiny little bits.

Still when I bring in more categories, as I will be in the future, I will need two rows of tabs anyway, so maybe I will remake them then.

http://cheapsheetmusic.co.uk/wholesale

[korsh]

Quote

I am also working on an 'easy order page' contrib which would do the same thing but list all the products in the entire store on one single separate page. It's almost there but still not quite working yet.

The new easy order page is located here:
http://www.cheapsheetmusic.co.uk/wholesale/allprods.php

When I get it to work, I will change the page name etc but for now I based it on the code for the allprods contrib so it's still there.

Hi Julie,

The allprods.php is the page I use and what you have done it looks good so far.
I am also trying to incorporate the price break contribution into this page, but I haven't yet worked out how to replace the standard price with the price break.

Will you post an announcement here when it is done? I would very much like to try it out.

James