huynguye Posted October 7, 2008 Share Posted October 7, 2008 What I've downloaded: -the newest osC build -STS template system -Paypal WPP (the paypal pro module) I finally got everything working the way I want it to. Just need to add some static content and fix up some visuals here and there. I would love to get some feedback. My goal was to make the buying process for the customer as easy and flowing as possible. http://www.charmingdolls.com Thanks! -Huy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
burt Posted October 7, 2008 Share Posted October 7, 2008 It's very good. You need some nicer buttons. I didn't go thru your checkout process - have you streamlined it at all? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
huynguye Posted October 7, 2008 Author Share Posted October 7, 2008 It's very good. You need some nicer buttons. I didn't go thru your checkout process - have you streamlined it at all? Thx. No not yet. The checkout process is still the default. I'm not really sure what I want to do with it at this point. I think I'm going to keep most of the functions and the pages. Probably just going to make the important things larger, and the non-important things less noticeable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lindsayanng Posted October 7, 2008 Share Posted October 7, 2008 you need to have powered by oscommerce on your site before getting more feedback 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...
huynguye Posted October 8, 2008 Author Share Posted October 8, 2008 you need to have powered by oscommerce on your site before getting more feedback Sorry, I couldn't update my site until I got home from work. Powered by osCommerce is alive and kicking now. hehe Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marketedsites Posted October 8, 2008 Share Posted October 8, 2008 I like the site, the pictures will do a good job selling themselves. From a marketing point of view, I think that: People that will be shopping are shopping for a certain kid. They might view that kid as mischevious, loveable, prissy, etc. If you set up categories like mischevious, loveable, prissy, etc. when they click on mischevious they are bound to make the connection with one of the dolls to that mischevious kid! It's almost like narrowing it down for them and making them feel they found the perfect doll. Just my thoughts Joe Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
huynguye Posted October 8, 2008 Author Share Posted October 8, 2008 I like the site, the pictures will do a good job selling themselves. From a marketing point of view, I think that: People that will be shopping are shopping for a certain kid. They might view that kid as mischevious, loveable, prissy, etc. If you set up categories like mischevious, loveable, prissy, etc. when they click on mischevious they are bound to make the connection with one of the dolls to that mischevious kid! It's almost like narrowing it down for them and making them feel they found the perfect doll. Just my thoughts Joe Haha. Great idea. I was thinking about that for some of the dolls already. There's one doll that's hand cuffed and chained to a big heart. I named that doll 'whipped.' But yeah, I will definitely think of some catching/funny names so people can associate better. =P Thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
huynguye Posted October 10, 2008 Author Share Posted October 10, 2008 Hi Guys, I just launched the site last night. I'm trying to promote the site so I am giving the first 20 customers from this forum a free doll. Just use the coupon code: OSCOMMERCE. http://www.charmingdolls.com I'm only shipping to the US right now, sorry. Thanks! Huy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lindsayanng Posted October 10, 2008 Share Posted October 10, 2008 WOO HOO.. i got my free doll.. thanks for the offer. I cant wait to see it. I LOVE them. I will be bookmarking that site for gifts and such.. You should make a mommy doll. I have friends who are all having babies, i would LOVE to give them a Charming Doll that looks tired as hell with babies hanging off of it :) You shoudl consider making your COUNTRY drop down box show only the US since you are only shipping to the US. There is a thread somewhere around here that tells you how to do that.. Use a google site search to find it.. Its something i have to do with my site too.. Otherwise, VERY nice site. i LOVE it. 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...
huynguye Posted October 10, 2008 Author Share Posted October 10, 2008 haha thank you! I will take you on that offer and I'll see if I can really produce a mommy doll (no joke). I think it's a good marketing strategy! hehe Your doll will be shipped out tomorrow. I have a full time job so I can only ship things out every morning. =P Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lindsayanng Posted October 10, 2008 Share Posted October 10, 2008 thats cool. i totally understand having a full time job and part time internet sales.. i love your dolls though.. and if you make a mommy doll, i WANT to see it! 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...
Kanie Posted October 11, 2008 Share Posted October 11, 2008 This is good and shows what can be achieved with osCommerce if you have a little imagination. Some points though.. You definitely need better buttons as was previously mentioned. Nothing over the top, just simple and clean that matches your pallete. Making use of categories would help streamline your product listing. You could have 4-5 categories listed horizontally above the page links that allows the customer to narrow by 'type'. Though I wouldn't get rid of how you're currently listing them, just allow this an an extra option. Install a lightbox or image zoomer to show higher resolution images. You're selling a product that is all about detail and quality, so show it off. The thumnails on your product page aren't clear either and look like they're being downscaled with CSS or HTML. Take the time to make proper thumbnails or use one of thumbnail contributions to make nice sharp ones. Make the prices on the product page stand out a little more with a bigger typeface and/or different colour. At the moment it just doesn't pop out. You've done a nice job modifying the standard pages to your own look and feel, but I can't help but feel the shopping cart and 'Create an Account' pages are really lacking personality. Look into restructuring the code and adding some styling. Also, make the price on your shopping cart stand out more (preferably in the same style as the price on your product page). I noticed that you're using jQuery, which is great, but make use of it more! If a customer makes an error on the 'Create an Account' they're currently returned to the page with errors echo'd out from the PHP (that are also unstyled and not very clear). Use jQuery to validate the user input and return an error message, modal or even highlight the inputs with errors. The titles for your pages are all the same. Install a meta/header tags contribution that will either allow you customise your header/meta tags or generate them for you. Having the same title for every page is a big SEO no-no. The newsletter email address input doesn't appear to be validated. I clicked 'Go' when 'Email Address' was still in the box and it returned a success message. You can validate your email with Javascript pretty easily and osCommerce also has a core function that does it. Add alt names to your images! I'm not sure how bothered you are about this, but none of your pages validate. Getting osCommerce to validate includes editing some core functions that output images and inputs, but some of the rest of your code doesn't validate either. I really mean no harm with any of the advice above and you don't have to listen to a word I say. I generally don't leave feedback on stores because there aren't many stores that I feel are that departed from the standard osCommerce, but your site has a nice direction, great products and I think with a few enhancements could be a really nice advert for what is possible with osCommerce. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rachael w. Posted October 12, 2008 Share Posted October 12, 2008 Thought I'd give you a thumbs up, for a nice simple site with great product images. However, in testing your checkout and it will not allow me to select a state (the dropdown is blank) in firefox, chrome, safari and ie7. :( Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
huynguye Posted October 12, 2008 Author Share Posted October 12, 2008 Woah. I changed it so only United States showed up and that the 50 states are always present, but somehow it messed up other places. Thanks for the heads up! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
huynguye Posted October 13, 2008 Author Share Posted October 13, 2008 This is good and shows what can be achieved with osCommerce if you have a little imagination. Some points though.. You definitely need better buttons as was previously mentioned. Nothing over the top, just simple and clean that matches your pallete. Making use of categories would help streamline your product listing. You could have 4-5 categories listed horizontally above the page links that allows the customer to narrow by 'type'. Though I wouldn't get rid of how you're currently listing them, just allow this an an extra option. Install a lightbox or image zoomer to show higher resolution images. You're selling a product that is all about detail and quality, so show it off. The thumnails on your product page aren't clear either and look like they're being downscaled with CSS or HTML. Take the time to make proper thumbnails or use one of thumbnail contributions to make nice sharp ones. Make the prices on the product page stand out a little more with a bigger typeface and/or different colour. At the moment it just doesn't pop out. You've done a nice job modifying the standard pages to your own look and feel, but I can't help but feel the shopping cart and 'Create an Account' pages are really lacking personality. Look into restructuring the code and adding some styling. Also, make the price on your shopping cart stand out more (preferably in the same style as the price on your product page). I noticed that you're using jQuery, which is great, but make use of it more! If a customer makes an error on the 'Create an Account' they're currently returned to the page with errors echo'd out from the PHP (that are also unstyled and not very clear). Use jQuery to validate the user input and return an error message, modal or even highlight the inputs with errors. The titles for your pages are all the same. Install a meta/header tags contribution that will either allow you customise your header/meta tags or generate them for you. Having the same title for every page is a big SEO no-no. The newsletter email address input doesn't appear to be validated. I clicked 'Go' when 'Email Address' was still in the box and it returned a success message. You can validate your email with Javascript pretty easily and osCommerce also has a core function that does it. Add alt names to your images! I'm not sure how bothered you are about this, but none of your pages validate. Getting osCommerce to validate includes editing some core functions that output images and inputs, but some of the rest of your code doesn't validate either. I really mean no harm with any of the advice above and you don't have to listen to a word I say. I generally don't leave feedback on stores because there aren't many stores that I feel are that departed from the standard osCommerce, but your site has a nice direction, great products and I think with a few enhancements could be a really nice advert for what is possible with osCommerce. Kanie, thanks for the comprehensive review. I've gotten a better idea of what I want to gear towards now. I will definitely follow your suggestions as they are on the same line as what I want to do. My priorities for fixes: 1) Make price larger 2) Validate email newsletter field 3) Install meta/header contribution 4) Alt name to images 5) Buttons 6) Better validation of form inputs 7) Redesign checkout process 8) Validating source code (I'm actually very strict about getting code to validate, but since I've worked with osCommerce, I gave up. I think I'll give it a shot when everything else is complete. =P Thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
huynguye Posted October 15, 2008 Author Share Posted October 15, 2008 DONE - 1) Make price larger DONE - 2) Validate email newsletter field DONE - 3) Install meta/header contribution 4) Alt name to images 5) Buttons 6) Better validation of form inputs 7) Redesign checkout process 8) Validating source code Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
huynguye Posted October 18, 2008 Author Share Posted October 18, 2008 Hi guys, I just added the options to select different key-tags. It feels to me like there's a bit much going on in the product_info page now. What do you guys think? Here is a quick sample: http://charmingdolls.com/monkey-string-doll-p-29.html Thanks in advance! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kanie Posted October 18, 2008 Share Posted October 18, 2008 Rather than radio buttons, why don't you try and use a select drop-down box for the options? Also, space the key tag image from the text above it a little more. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
huynguye Posted October 19, 2008 Author Share Posted October 19, 2008 Rather than radio buttons, why don't you try and use a select drop-down box for the options? Also, space the key tag image from the text above it a little more. Thanks. The radio button is much much cleaner! Got through a few more fixes: 4) Alt name to images 8) Validating source code, (strict validation). Only one error on each page, but I will fix that soon. I also took out the blurring of images because people were complaining that it hurt their eyes. I'm going to be adding a hovering title instead so it'll still be easier to know which doll you have your mouse over. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chooch Posted October 19, 2008 Share Posted October 19, 2008 If the remaining outstanding issues to do with your osc store are on the same level as the work you've already done I have a feeling it should be quite a success little enterprise because it's very user friendly. Some attention needs to be paid on the footer (or lack of) in some pages and also maybe the product info pages and the header logo would look better if they were jazzed up a bit. I like the basic layout, there's not too much of an 'in your face' thing to it and it adds to the appeal... also the picture select format in the product info pages is a nice touch. I hope to return to give more feedback once the store is live. Good Luck ;) What I've downloaded:-the newest osC build -STS template system -Paypal WPP (the paypal pro module) I finally got everything working the way I want it to. Just need to add some static content and fix up some visuals here and there. I would love to get some feedback. My goal was to make the buying process for the customer as easy and flowing as possible. http://www.charmingdolls.com Thanks! -Huy Upon receiving fixes and advice, too many people don't bother to post updates informing the forum of how it went. Until of course they need help again on other issues and they come running back! Why receive the information you require in good faith for free, only to then have the attitude to ignore the people who gave it to you? There's no harm in saying, 'Thanks, it worked'. On the contrary, it creates a better atmosphere. CHOOCH Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lindsayanng Posted October 19, 2008 Share Posted October 19, 2008 just wanted to let you know.. I got my charming doll today (well it probably came over the weekend but i was gone) IT IS REALLY GOOD QUALITY! I dont feel like i am going to break it if i put it as a key chain! the only issue, it was addressed to teh wrong address.. I didnt go into my account on your site, so i dont know if it was my type or yours, but you had it addressed to 9 and my house # is 98 - either way, it made it to me and all is well.. I LOVE IT! 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...
huynguye Posted October 21, 2008 Author Share Posted October 21, 2008 Hehe. I'm glad you like it! If you ever need another one, let me know, I'll give you the same offer. =D I checked your address, it only says 9. Hopefully one of us remembers to change it in the future. haha just wanted to let you know.. I got my charming doll today (well it probably came over the weekend but i was gone) IT IS REALLY GOOD QUALITY! I dont feel like i am going to break it if i put it as a key chain! the only issue, it was addressed to teh wrong address.. I didnt go into my account on your site, so i dont know if it was my type or yours, but you had it addressed to 9 and my house # is 98 - either way, it made it to me and all is well.. I LOVE IT! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lindsayanng Posted October 21, 2008 Share Posted October 21, 2008 i will change it.. I am going to get a few more dolls.. I dont mind paying for them ;) thats what your site is there for! to make you money! 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...
huynguye Posted October 22, 2008 Author Share Posted October 22, 2008 hehe thanks! That's very kind of you. i will change it.. I am going to get a few more dolls.. I dont mind paying for them ;) thats what your site is there for! to make you money! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
burt Posted October 24, 2008 Share Posted October 24, 2008 You might like to know that your site is presently top of the osCommerce Hot 100. Good one! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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