Live Store appreciate review & advice

[Logcbnfvr]

Hi Bear...last time:-)

 

My Store

 

Hi!

I hope some of you have some time to check my store. I've seen alot of great comments and suggestions come through the forum and I appreciate your time. I've added alot of contribs, and some even successfully :lol: I am php & html illiterate.

 

I can't get rid of the number 1 in Categories or Specials (it's not in the language file). So if anyone can give me a clue...

 

Also having a hard time controlling my Header tag controller.

 

I am not good at graphics and I am concerned the site looks too stock yet I think I need all the info boxes, what do you think?

Thanks a bunch,

logcbnfvr

[kbakba]

Hi,

 

I like your color scheme and graphics, they feel very multi-dimensional and pleasant to stay and look around in. :thumbsup:

[Guest]

Hi Kim,

Dunno how you managed to get the 1 in front of the Categories but well done :thumbsup: . Seriously though you'll find it in /includes/languages/english.php

 

You've installed a lot of contribs incl the gv class.

 

Wow you got a problem on your shipping.php file in your header tags.

Fatal error: Call to undefined function: tep_header_tag_page() in /home/cabinfev/public_html/includes/header_tags.php on line 124

 

Check your privacy page for typo's :

send us a thorough description by clicking on the &quotContact Us" link on the side menu

 

Your very fond of your z'eds in spelling - it could be the American way but I'm not so sure they all are - personalize, customizing, recognize, unauthorized.

 

On the css text end I find the category text on the header a bit hard to read because of the brown colour. I find it a bit tooo light.. Also try changing the colour of your standard buttons. There are some contribs with buttons - if these do not suit then I would suggest try your hand at making them yourself. It's harder work but more fun.

 

Glad to see you got rid of my pet hate - the tell a friend icon. Well done.

 

Looking well, keep up the good work

PhilipH

[Logcbnfvr]

Thanks kbakba!

 

PhilipH , I really appreciate the comments, I fixed the shipping error (I thought I had my header tags controller under control.

 

I fixed the spelling error on the privacy page and darkened up the font color of the nav bar as you suggested.

 

I reall appreciate your suggestions! But what the heck is a Z'ed?????? I might be even more fond of them once I know what they are :lol:

 

 

Again, Thank you both for your input!

logcbnfvr

[Logcbnfvr]

Thanks kbakba!

 

PhilipH , I really appreciate the comments, I fixed the shipping error (I thought I had my header tags controller under control.

 

I fixed the spelling error on the privacy page and darkened up the font color of the nav bar as you suggested.

 

I reall appreciate your suggestions!  But what the heck is a Z'ed?????? I might be even more fond of them once I know what they are :lol:

Again, Thank you both for your input!

logcbnfvr

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

 

PhillipH: I re-did all the stock buttons too.

 

I just can't seem to get a better PR than 3 with Google and my sales aren't what I would like either. Does anyone have any suggestions?????

 

THX,

logcbnfvr

[brooklyn]

Really impressed for a php and html illiterate person!!! ;)

 

I'm just starting with websites so I can't say that I'm a great expert ... but I spend a lot of time browsing websites :blush:

 

I think your homepage is a bit busy,

 

I like the tell us why you didn't buy box ... do people really tell you?

Maybe moving the sign in box from the banner to the bottom of the screen would make it tidier.

 

Good luck

[Logcbnfvr]

Really impressed for a php and html illiterate person!!!  ;)

 

I'm just starting with websites so I can't say that I'm a great expert ... but I spend a lot of time browsing websites  :blush:

 

I think your homepage is a bit busy,

 

I like the tell us why you didn't buy box ... do people really tell you?

Maybe moving the sign in box from the banner to the bottom of the screen would make it tidier.

 

Good luck

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

 

Hi! Thx for the responce. I have had a couple of replies to the "tell Us Why" box but I haven't had that contrib on long, about a month. Thought I'd give it a try. I've been thinking of going to a 2 column rather than the 3 column page, that would unclutter it a good deal.

 

Thanks again!

I appreciate it,

logcbnfvr

[♥Monika in Germany]

Hi,

 

a really cute site!

 

To unclutter it, I'd def reduce the font size ... especially for the articles, but in overall it seems too big. Font size in Specials box is way better.

 

I noticed the signin button and maybe a few more have the wrong background ... white ... make it transparent and it will look way better.

 

There is a typo in the tell us why box: it says messege instead of message. Make the input box bigger by 1, then the text will not be cut off.

 

I also think removing the table borders for the article would do the page good, especially if you added some free space between the rows. 10px should do. hy do the poducts open in a new window?

 

I loved the info page on the table rate and are planning to do one too, but not hardcode, instead getting it from that table in admin. Did you manage to find a way to do that or did you hardcode?

 

Did you make powered by osCommerce bigger than all otehr text on purpose (footer)?

 

In my browser, there is added space before the 3rd (last) line in the footer. How come?

 

I'd def remove the login box from your header ... especially as people should not sign in from a non-https page.

 

Your product listing would benefit from the same looks that your products on the home page have ... especially after changing that look the way I suggested, lol.

 

For the product page, drop the info on "This product was added to our ...". The green and white in the button table look a bit uncoordinated ... if you want to keep the design make the first and last cell the same width that you see above and under the white in green.

 

I love the effort you have taken to make a great individual site!

 

:-)

[Logcbnfvr]

Hi,

 

a really cute site!

 

To unclutter it, I'd def reduce the font size ... especially for the articles, but in overall it seems too big. Font size in Specials box is way better.

Actually there is no difference in font size between boxes, all are controlled from the same style sheet. I did reduce the font in Headings.

I noticed the signin button and maybe a few more have the wrong background ... white ... make it transparent and it will look way better.

Good suggestion

There is a typo in the tell us why box: it says messege instead of message. Make the input box bigger by 1, then the text will not be cut off.

Got it!

I also think removing the table borders for the article would do the page good, especially if you added some free space between the rows. 10px should do. hy do the poducts open in a new window?

I think it would look very odd to have one box not bordered when the others are...but I do think a space or line between the articles contenets and the category contents is a good idea.

I loved the info page on the table rate and are planning to do one too, but not hardcode, instead getting it from that table in admin. Did you manage to find a way to do that or did you hardcode?

I didn't look for a way to do it through admin, I just hardcoded

Did you make powered by osCommerce bigger than all otehr text on purpose (footer)?

Whoops

In my browser, there is added space before the 3rd (last) line in the footer. How come?

It's there in my browser as well but not in my code...have no clue why it's there but I'll keep looking

I'd def remove the login box from your header ... especially as people should not sign in from a non-https page.

When you sign in it's secure https and all!  It doesn't matter that it is on an unsecure page....................try it

Your product listing would benefit from the same looks that your products on the home page have ... especially after changing that look the way I suggested, lol.

This I'm just not sure what you mean.

For the product page, drop the info on "This product was added to our ...". The green and white in the button table look a bit uncoordinated ... if you want to keep the design make the first and last cell the same width that you see above and under the white in green.

Removed the text but may re-add it... for some items it may be relevent.  Not sure what you mean about the rest, I removed the look of a table altogether. Looks better

I love the effort you have taken to make a great individual site!

 

:-)

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Thank you very much for all your suggetsions Monika. This is my first site too. I need all the help I can get :-)

Logcbnfvr

[AfterDark]

My only comment would be design oriented as i have not gone through your store from a customer point of view...

 

It looks too seasonal - almost christmasy with the wreathy things.... didnt make a great first impression. Fealt like i entered a site that didnt get updated after Xmas passed last year.

 

HTH.

[FalseDawn]

Yes, I agree - too seasonal really. Your header is also far, far too big.

[♥Monika in Germany]

Hi,

 

a really cute site!

 

...

 

I loved the info page on the table rate and are planning to do one too, but not hardcode, instead getting it from that table in admin. Did you manage to find a way to do that or did you hardcode?

 

well you didn't answer to my question, so I assume it's hardcoded. I went ahead and made a dynamic table myself, if you need the code, just yell! (=PM me)

 

I see you changed the Tell us why, much better. Add "to us" beofre the anonymously... for smoother looks. I'd also remove the break lines in the shop by price box so it looks like the otehr boxes. If you don't know how just post your code here or PM me.

 

:-)

Monika

[Logcbnfvr]

Monika,

Actually I did answer your question .... But I will answer it again. I didn't even try to do it from the admin, I hard coded the shipping table.

[♥Monika in Germany]

Monika,

Actually I did answer your question .... But I will answer it again. I didn't even try to do it from the admin, I hard coded the shipping table.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

 

Sorry, I didn't see there was answers in the quote of my post.

 

As for product listing, I think doing little boxes like in the center of the home page would look better. I don't know why you can't change the size of the font in your boxes there though, the letters are much bigger than in your side columns. Anyway still think you'd benefit from smaller font sizes in boxes too.

 

You can post your footer for the spacing problem if you want to ... it's also not aligned to the center like all otehr text.

 

:-)

Monika

[Logcbnfvr]

Sorry, I didn't see there was answers in the quote of my post.

 

As for product listing, I think doing little boxes like in the center of the home page would look better. I don't know why you can't change the size of the font in your boxes there though, the letters are much bigger than in your side columns. Anyway still think you'd benefit from smaller font sizes in boxes too.

 

You can post your footer for the spacing problem if you want to ... it's also not aligned to the center like all otehr text.

 

:-)

Monika

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Yes, I can change the font, you were saying there was a difference between the font in the specials box and the font in the Articles box, I was just pointing out that there is no diff. between them. The font is easier for me to read at the size it is in the boxes.

 

I just made the font in the products section of the front page smaller as you suggested.

[♥Monika in Germany]

much better overall looks.

 

Add a few   to the header section so it aligns with the boxes header.

 

Too bad you won't get rid of those table borders around your father's day specials ...

 

:-)

Monika

[Logcbnfvr]

I just wanted to thank this forum for all the help and advice... my sales actually increased significantly this week (w00t)

 

Thanks everybody!!!!

[Victor Wise]

I like the site allot and the feeling it engenders :rolleyes:

 

There are a few minor points I can make; however, there is one critical problem in your site that I would like to point out first.

 

When you are in the view cart contents page, and then click the checkout button, you hear a beep implying an error and then see the text

You don't need an Account to make a secure purchase! Just Check Out!!!

 

But, I'm not going to click the checkout button again, since that is what I did last time, and I certainly am not going to read through your bold green headlines, green text, red text, and black text (even though less than a paragraph) to get to the instructions saying 'click the checkout button again'. This is a big roadblock in your checkout (do you have an analytic program installed? - I bet this is where many of your customers bail).

I recommend changing to something closer to like Medveds checkout (common contribution i know).

 

Now for the minor things...

• The wood background you have is to attention grabbing - I recommend making the color more diffused and transparent. This way, it will be more of a subliminal thing than an in your face image.
  
• Get more prominent buttons on your site (trust me on this one).
  
• Try removing extraneous messages and content from your header and main pages. Draw more attention to your customer testimonials.
  
• Make your copy more engaging as right now you talk about yourself in the third person alot. You should get personal and use words like 'you' instead of 'we'.
  
• Checkout this color matching tool.
  

Awesome site all around though, I give it :thumbsup:

[richieboy29]

being brutaly honest, its extreamaly busy. personally i couldnt read through it all. i would scrap the catagory listing at the bottom. the greyed out text is to small and hard to read, that makes it seam like you are trying to hide somthing. you need to simplify everything and priorotise everything you need the customers to see.

[medved]

Your menu in header is flying in Firefox.

[Guest]

I agree about the category listings.

They are in 3 different places on the front page.

Top left, under the main cats in a drop down, and as links at the very bottom.

Well done site but very busy. When I go to jam packed front pages like that, It confuses me and I usually just click off.

Wally