Lyn's Fiber to Fabric

[isrbrown]

OK... having finally deemed my site "acceptable" I am requesting critiques.

 

http://www.lynsfibertofabric.com/

 

there are a few things that I do not like... but alot that I do like about oscommerce. I am quite new to all of this.

 

Suffice to say I have learned a great deal, and would like to learn more. This is business. I need to know what other business people think of my site. I will not be offended by any critiques or ideas. (Ideas however would be sooo cool) Please do not be offended if I don't implement your ideas. I appreciate the time being taken to review and respond to this request.

 

Thank you much!

:thumbsup:

[Taipa]

Your site is really wide! I'm on a 17" monitor at 1024x768 resolution, and I still have to scroll about 200+ pixels over on the main catalog page.

 

If you only have one language and one currency, you really don't need those infoboxes.

 

I'd suggest installing one of the thumbnail contributions; your images are rather large and might take someone on dial-up a while to load.

 

There's also several threads about how to remove the default grey "corners" for the infoboxes.

 

^_^

[PartyMania]

The text and pictures are REALLY big, I don't think it's my browser because the text size doesn't change when I try to change it through the browser. You should make these much smaller (unless it's me).

 

Change the stock OSC icons and buttons.

You could probably change the copyright at the bottom to your stre name isntead.

[RyanSmith]

As everyone else said, the text is way too big. You probably developed this at a resolution of 1200X1024, Set your resolution to 1024X768 and edit the site as this will be the resolition that most people will view at. We we create sites a my company, we always try to make them look good even at 800X600 because some dinosaurs are still running at that resolution. You also have to consider your audience. If your selling high-tech equipment, more of your audience will be using new technology. However your site looks like it will probably get a lot of older audience that are not tech savy. These are the types of people that will be running at 800 X 600, so you have to accomidate them, and make it a high priority. If one of those people came to your site, they would probably get frustrated quickly and leave. Shrink your text and box width, and it will make the site 100% better.

 

Thats my two cents.

[isrbrown]

All of these responses are so helpful and yes I noticed that my page had widened when I fixed the distortion on the pics. I have been looking at the thumbnail contribs.... I get confused on those but will read on and find one that I can use. The MoPics one looks best because I could have more than one image for an item as well which will be good.

 

Thanks for the inputs on the pics!

Heather

[Guest]

I get an error when trying to access your store.

[Guest]

- take out "430 requests since Thursday 28 October, 2004"

- might want to use some HTML to pretty up your shipping.php text a little - - at least to make your address stand out.

- Privacy notice: "Please contact us if you believe this promise has been violated in anyway" should read "Please contact us if you believe this promise has been violated in any way."

- Be aware that any email address you put directly on the site (your personal one seems to be the one in "Conditions of use") will be gathered and used for SPAM by that type of ilk. You might want to put a link to your contact_us.php page rather than put your email address.

- Buttons will match the site better if you color adjust them to be more purple (there are several button contributions as well - - not sure if any would tickle your fancy).

- The URL you're using for your banner (in the page footer) takes me to http://www.lynsfibertofabric.com/catalog/w...bertofabric.com, which is not the correct URL. You may want to reconsider having a banner to yourself anyway - - after all, they're already on your site. Just a thought.

 

-jared

[isrbrown]

I get an error when trying to access your store.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Vanessa,

I noted the time of your response and I was in fact working on fixing some of the issues that have been noted so far.

 

Give me a day and try back I am working on the pics and the suggestions that have been offered so far. I don't want to miss out on any input!

Thanks for taking the time!

Heather

[isrbrown]

- might want to use some HTML to pretty up your shipping.php text a little - - at least to make your address stand out.

- Privacy notice: "Please contact us if you believe this promise has been violated in anyway"  should read "Please contact us if you believe this promise has been violated in any way."

- Be aware that any email address you put directly on the site (your personal one seems to be the one in "Conditions of use") will be gathered and used for SPAM by that type of ilk.  You might want to put a link to your contact_us.php page rather than put your email address.

- Buttons will match the site better if you color adjust them to be more purple (there are several button contributions as well - - not sure if any would tickle your fancy).-jared

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Jared,

THANK YOU so much. You really went through the site and these are all important details. About the email issue.... I was told by an IT professional that I should do away with the contact_us.php page altogether and just have the mailto: as it is done on the front page. I haven't addressed this as yet within the store. I agree with your spam concerns and am prepared for that. (SPAM isn't so very bad if you expect it and are very cautious with it)

 

No one has commented on the color scheme... which is why I have not gotten down to editing the fine details like buttons. Is the purple offensive in anyway when viewed? The buttons are definetly high on my list.

Thanks very much

Heather

[Guest]

I was told by an IT professional

I am also an IT professional. No matter what industry you are in, there are always folks who will have different views, experiences, and opinions than you do. Personally, the way I've done my contact_us.php page greatly reduces the email we get from customers.

 

I added a link to our shipping policy. I added a link to allow customers to update their own orders directly (via a contribution in my my signature) so that they don't have to email me and have me add in the comments manually. I added our physical address as well.

 

Iif you use it properly, contact_us.php can be a valuable part of your website.

 

-jared