stashandstuff Posted May 1, 2005 Posted May 1, 2005 I think it looks a little busy, but that seems to be the nature of the oscommerce design. http://www.toycicle.com/catalog I'm trying to get the "look" down before adding a bunch of products. I know there are some broken links on the 'top' page, but if you stick with the catalog pages, you'll be fine.
♥akmac Posted May 2, 2005 Posted May 2, 2005 I think it looks a little busy, but that seems to be the nature of the oscommerce design. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Hmm... I would start by changing your logo. Red on blue is a no-no, and lends to the busy-ness you mentioned. Perhaps just the text in a complimentary color? I'd also get rid of the three images that take you to the same places as the nav below them "My Account | Cart Contents | Checkout " they are redundant and don't match. Your footer is still stock-change the stylesheet to match the colors you have. Corner images are broken, remove or add the images. Your buttons are OK, but I would recommend sticking with a white text on solid block color-easier to read and will match your box headers better. It shows promise-don't give up! Quidquid latine dictum sit, profundum viditur.
stashandstuff Posted May 2, 2005 Author Posted May 2, 2005 Corner images are broken, remove or add the images. Your buttons are OK, but I would recommend sticking with a white text on solid block color-easier to read and will match your box headers better. It shows promise-don't give up! <{POST_SNAPBACK}> I noticed the missing corner images this morning... I changed the reference to pixel_trans.gif to remove the rounding and it worked when I viewed it last night. I'll need to check to see if my directory structure was proactively changed by my administrator (i.e. DH messing around with the settings), since I also see what appears to be blank table rows appearing on each page. Which buttons are you referring to?
Guest Posted May 2, 2005 Posted May 2, 2005 Also, you need to complete your shipping and Conditions of Use files....
Guest Posted May 2, 2005 Posted May 2, 2005 There are a lot of other things you can do - - look at some of the suggestions that other people give and get for their stores. Common suggestions include: - auto-thumbnailer - remove "xxxx requests since" from the footer - make colors easy on the eyes - edit the colors on the buttons (or download new ones) to have the colors match the colors you want for your site Other common layout modifications include: - center the store to ~800px wide - remove the right or the left column - put the login/search in the page header - move/remove some of the boxes in the left/right column Enjoy! -jared -jared
stashandstuff Posted May 2, 2005 Author Posted May 2, 2005 There are a lot of other things you can do - - look at some of the suggestions that other people give and get for their stores. Common suggestions include: - auto-thumbnailer - remove "xxxx requests since" from the footer - make colors easy on the eyes - edit the colors on the buttons (or download new ones) to have the colors match the colors you want for your site Other common layout modifications include: - center the store to ~800px wide - remove the right or the left column - put the login/search in the page header - move/remove some of the boxes in the left/right column Enjoy! -jared -jared <{POST_SNAPBACK}> jared - These are all great suggestions... care to tell me HOW to do any of these things? I've muddled through so far on my own, lacking any instructions. I thought the red Carmichael text looked very striking on the home page's dark background as it draws out the red in the tartan. I guess I could modify the logo to something more subdued. I'm no graphics designer so I'll have to fiddle a bit. Or are you referring to the toycicle logo? That's still a work-in-progress. I really wanted red, but I wanted the trike to stand out. Blue is just WRONG for a popsicle color, so I chose a blend of the two: purple. Would white text make both logos easier to read?
stashandstuff Posted May 3, 2005 Author Posted May 3, 2005 Well, I've made quite a few changes, working painstakingly to change all of my buttons to have the same look and feel. There's probably several that I've missed - feel free to point them out. Can anyone tell me how to remove the right column?
♥toyicebear Posted May 3, 2005 Posted May 3, 2005 Well, I've made quite a few changes, working painstakingly to change all of my buttons to have the same look and feel. There's probably several that I've missed - feel free to point them out. Can anyone tell me how to remove the right column? <{POST_SNAPBACK}> This info and more you can find by reading this.... Basics for osC 2.2 Design - Basics for Design V2.3+ - Seo & Sef Url's - Meta Tags for Your osC Shop - Steps to prevent Fraud... - MS3 and Team News... - SEO, Meta Tags, SEF Urls and osCommerce - Commercial Support Inquiries - OSC 2.3+ How To To see what more i can do for you check out my profile [click here]
Guest Posted May 3, 2005 Posted May 3, 2005 Nice link, Nick - - hadn't seen that one. It's a very good reference. -jared
Guest Posted May 3, 2005 Posted May 3, 2005 jared - These are all great suggestions... care to tell me HOW to do any of these things? I've muddled through so far on my own, lacking any instructions. All of these things can be found either at the link Nick posted, or by searching the forums/contributions. If you can't find them, let me know and I'll point you in the right direction. Or are you referring to the toycicle logo? I'm rotten at color-coordination. I was just making generalized comments. The look/feel of the store should fit your target market (I'm not saying that it doesn't - - refer back to my previous statement about color-coordination). -jared
stashandstuff Posted May 3, 2005 Author Posted May 3, 2005 I poked around in just about every file... and I did use the centering fixed width contribution. Take a look at the latest changes - it has certainly changed a lot! http://www.stashandstuff.com/catalog or http://www.toycicle.com/catalog/ (both lead to the same place). Can someone tell me why all the pages don't center? Could it be the size of the images in the products box?
Guest Posted May 3, 2005 Posted May 3, 2005 Since you are working on your site's looks and if you're like me with limited budget, you might want to consider the GIMP, its a Free image editing software **open-source alternative to PS!** and maybe learn how to use it.. its very easy to use and your graphics will look a whole lot more professional rather than home-made.
stashandstuff Posted May 6, 2005 Author Posted May 6, 2005 I've made a number of button changes... What do you think?
Guest Posted May 6, 2005 Posted May 6, 2005 I've made a number of button changes... What do you think? <{POST_SNAPBACK}> just a simple trick that may help you out with the graphics.. so that they are cleaner and clisper... and easier to read. when starting a new project, increase the resolution to.. oh, maybe 100x100 dpi, this will make the image larger in file size, but it will decrease where its optimal for web graphics when you save as gif. its even going to be quite a bit less than what you already have. what image editing program are you using??
stashandstuff Posted May 6, 2005 Author Posted May 6, 2005 I'm using Polyview for editing. I create the image as a TIF (96x96), then reduce the image size and then save as a GIF. I would save as PNG if I could find where the buttons are referenced in oscommerce.
stashandstuff Posted May 13, 2005 Author Posted May 13, 2005 Well, I think I'm ready for some test transactions before I add the rest of my inventory - anyone game?
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