tamogila Posted July 11, 2008 Share Posted July 11, 2008 Site: dianebears.com Please let me know if I'm on the right track before I spend the time fine tuning. I still need more verbiage (product desc., shipping, privacy), most text is just placeholder until the cosmetics are finished. Also, I still need to figure out how to get rid of the round corner on Featured Products, that little piece of code has eluded me for 3 days now. Thanks, and don't be too gentle. (ps. SEO will be the last thing I do...any favorite contributions/most bang for the difficulty?) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
♥GLWalker Posted July 11, 2008 Share Posted July 11, 2008 Site: dianebears.com Please let me know if I'm on the right track before I spend the time fine tuning. I still need more verbiage (product desc., shipping, privacy), most text is just placeholder until the cosmetics are finished. Also, I still need to figure out how to get rid of the round corner on Featured Products, that little piece of code has eluded me for 3 days now. Thanks, and don't be too gentle. (ps. SEO will be the last thing I do...any favorite contributions/most bang for the difficulty?) Look in your images folder for that rounded corner, (think its in subdirectory - infobox) then search for that image name in catalog/includes/classes/boxes.php. Overall your site is easy to look at. You have a good keyword in your sites name too. But I dont care for the large text and light blue borders around the boxes - change in stylesheet. You have categorie counts on and that eats up load time, you have the useless date in the footer and that eats up load time as well. Text size among buttons is not the same. Kind of breaks the look. Breadcrumb text is big and gawky. Lots of space at the right of the page. I realize this is becuase youhave the tell a friend box set to show up on the products page, but when not on a product page, you just get an empty column. The page would look better if that column was gone. Theres a couple of ways to do it, but it involves editing every root file. You should not put off any SEO work. Your site will more than likely be found and you should be ready. I personally love headertags SEO contribution by Jack MCS. And Ultimate SEO urls by Chemo is great to have as well. I could go on but this should work for now. Good Luck Follow the community build: BS3 to osCommerce Responsive from the Get Go! Check out the new construction: Admin Gone to Total BS! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tamogila Posted July 11, 2008 Author Share Posted July 11, 2008 Awesome feedback G.L. Thanks! All pretty easy fixes. Except for SEO, I've only been playing with this stuff for a week and that still scares me for some reason. Whick buttons look off? I just used a contribution and didn't notice anything...except for the "add to cart" button which I made bigger on purpose since it's so important...but it's an easy fix if that's the one you're talking about. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lindsayanng Posted July 11, 2008 Share Posted July 11, 2008 i think centering your banner might be a good idea to go with the rest of the site.. right now it is aligned left. I dont know if this is your site, or my cpu, but i am currently trying to browse your site and i get a connection not found, but i am able to open any OTHER side from my browser. When i clicked DIAGNOSE ERROR it said COULD NOT CONNECT TO SERVER www.dianebears.com A great place for newbies to start Road Map to oscommerce File Structure DO NOT PM ME FOR HELP. My time is valuable, unless i ask you to PM me, please dont. You will get better help if you post publicly. I am not as good at this as you think anyways! HOWEVER, you can visit my blog (go to my profile to see it) and post a question there, i will find time to get back and answer you Proud Memeber of the CODE BREAKERS CLUB!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
burt Posted July 11, 2008 Share Posted July 11, 2008 It's very standard osCommerce - have you done enough to the look of the site to remove the copyright osCommerce? I'd say not, but that's only my opinion...I'm not sure that a few colour changes and centering the shop is enough to value your potential customers. I'd be disappointed if I was a client and this was delivered to me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tamogila Posted July 11, 2008 Author Share Posted July 11, 2008 i think centering your banner might be a good idea to go with the rest of the site.. right now it is aligned left. I dont know if this is your site, or my cpu, but i am currently trying to browse your site and i get a connection not found, but i am able to open any OTHER side from my browser. When i clicked DIAGNOSE ERROR it said COULD NOT CONNECT TO SERVER www.dianebears.com I've always been a fan of site logos in the top left (just in case someone is browsing in a minimized window they still see your logo), but I will definitely try centering it and see how it looks. As for NOT CONNECTING TO SERVER, I really have to troubleshoot this. I don' t know if there is anything I may have done code wise to screw it up, but I seem to have problems around 1 AM EST almost every night. I don't know if it's because I'm trying to cram in a bunch of work FTP'ing and Refreshing constantly before I go to bed, or if it's my host, or if it's my code. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tamogila Posted July 11, 2008 Author Share Posted July 11, 2008 It's very standard osCommerce - have you done enough to the look of the site to remove the copyright osCommerce? I'd say not, but that's only my opinion...I'm not sure that a few colour changes and centering the shop is enough to value your potential customers. I'd be disappointed if I was a client and this was delivered to me. That's a very fair critique. Personally I like the simple look and usability of the stock solution and think it goes better with this product than a glossy/modern store front...so that makes it harder for me to judge how much customization I should apply. Would you recommend just adding updated graphics to the infoboxes, and some more little tweaks like that, or are you suggesting a full blown STS redo of the site? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
burt Posted July 12, 2008 Share Posted July 12, 2008 I'm suggesting a move away from the "boxiness" of standard oscommerce. Not particularly a full blown redo, just something that makes the site remain in the memory of someone who visited and thought "what was the name of that site I visited yesterday"... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tamogila Posted July 13, 2008 Author Share Posted July 13, 2008 ... I could go on but this should work for now. Good Luck I've made all of those changes (SEO - I'm halfway through installing the header contribution), and will take burt's advice to move a little further away from stock. Feel free to go on if you have the time and/or interest. I don't want you to design my site for me, but any knowledge I can gain is a good thing! Like the borders and right column suggestions you made; at first I didn't think they'd make that big of a difference, and didn't spend the time fixing them...but it was totally worth it in the end. Also, I noticed a comment in an SEO thread about getting stuck in the back corner of the internet if your site gets indexed by search engines while displaying an "under construction" message (might have even been a comment from you). Well, it looks like that may have happened to me :http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=dianebears. Any advice, or should I take it to the SEO forum? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lindsayanng Posted July 13, 2008 Share Posted July 13, 2008 do you NEED to have the POWERED BY TAMOGILA in the footer for some reason?? or does it really need to be that big?? i think that space can be better used. If you want to change the boxiness of your headers of the info boxes, the EASIEST and best way (in my eyes) is to make them into images. You just make an image to the size that your boxes are, and add it to your code. This is the contribution i used for mine: Infobox Header Images You page titles say New Home Page Title.. i'm not sure if thats because you are still working on the SEO and thats part of it. You should have bigger category images. When i click of Signature, you get a script S. it looks good and i like it, but maybe a more contrasting color, or bolder or bigger. It kinda gets lost in the background. the accessories one is just a repeat text. I would get rid of one or the other. Same with the custom. Some cute images would be a good idea. Maybe something to go along with the drawing of the bear in your header. That is cute, have some kid style drawings or soemthing (just a suggestion) On the account create, you should add an email verification where the person has to type the same email twice and it has to match. Email Verification and also get rid of all of the countries in the drop down list. Unless you ship to ALL countries, there is no need to Urguay to be there.. Also, i was able to put a VERY bogus phone number. I'm not sure why it's required.. most people would NOT want to give it out, thats why they are using the net to purchase, they have email.. but there is not verification for a 3 digit area code with a 7 digit number. and a little note next to the create password saying all passwords must be atleast 5 characters long is a good idea You can change the images of the account profile section that says addresses and such. You can take the My Account and Log Off out of the top since you have them on the site. You can use it for other links if you wanted. wow. it is also acting REALL slow for me now. I guess it COULD be my connection, but just to let you know. What is the QUANTITY listed on the far right of the product listing.. if its how many are in stock, do you NEED to show that?? showing quantities, especially if they are small ones, just show how SMALL you really are.. The customers only need to know if its in stock or out.. i might get rid of that one right now you ONLY way to pay is check or money order.. i dont know if thats just because its still in developement, but you shold consider taking credit cards So thats it. I made an account called Test McTester.. feel free to delete it. I did not make a purchase though A great place for newbies to start Road Map to oscommerce File Structure DO NOT PM ME FOR HELP. My time is valuable, unless i ask you to PM me, please dont. You will get better help if you post publicly. I am not as good at this as you think anyways! HOWEVER, you can visit my blog (go to my profile to see it) and post a question there, i will find time to get back and answer you Proud Memeber of the CODE BREAKERS CLUB!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tamogila Posted July 13, 2008 Author Share Posted July 13, 2008 Wow Lindsay...way to lay into to my site. Just Kidding! There is some very useful stuff in your post. It's hard to resist pimping your own site, but I really should pull that banner off, I just needed a kick in the butt. I really haven't done much with the ordering part at all (I kind of figured stuff like e-mail verification would have been in the stock install), but now that I know, I know what I'm going to be spending time doing. I put the quantities in to further show that the product is indeed "one of a kind". It's not needed though, and if you think it sends the wrong impression, then it probably does. I'm going for a bustling boutique feel, not small. And yes, I'd love to turn credit cards on, but my client has to set up the bank account, so until then... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lindsayanng Posted July 14, 2008 Share Posted July 14, 2008 sounds like you're on the right path.. i just figured i might as well go through everything give my .02. The email verify is kinda an odd thing not to come with, but its not hard to install. As for the quantity, it was a little confusing, i would just put in the description, ONE OF A KIND or HANDMADE. The look and feel of the site shoudl give that impressin without giving actual quantities. just my opinion though A great place for newbies to start Road Map to oscommerce File Structure DO NOT PM ME FOR HELP. My time is valuable, unless i ask you to PM me, please dont. You will get better help if you post publicly. I am not as good at this as you think anyways! HOWEVER, you can visit my blog (go to my profile to see it) and post a question there, i will find time to get back and answer you Proud Memeber of the CODE BREAKERS CLUB!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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