New Shop : Let me have it!

[Totally Lost]

Hi There,

Have worked on the major areas where I thought needed tweaking (im a novice at best) Please let me know what other areas i should confront, dont be afraid to let me have it, i dont take strangers comments personal. And no it is not compete, just looking for suggestions to get me in the right direction for the next undertaking.

 

Thanks,

 

My Webpage

[fatmcgav]

Quite a nice layout - although the black area in the header is too empty for me - might be worth looking into putting the store name or logo in there...

Also, look into installing a header tags contrib -my recommendation is cDynamic Meta Tags as it creates the title and meta tags according to product and page info - and Chemo's SEO Url's.

Also, i dont know if you've tried your site in other browsers than IE or not, but the boxheader images dont work for me in Firefox - the corner images are there, but the central bit isnt.

Also, do you really need product reviews, as i personally find them totally unnecessary.

 

On the whole though, a very nice site, which just needs a few finishing touches, and some product information ;)

 

Fatmcgav

[Totally Lost]

cDynamic Meta Tags as it creates the title and meta tags according to product and page info - and Chemo's SEO Url's.

 

Meta tags...great ill get on that...

 

Also, do you really need product reviews, as i personally find them totally unnecessary.

 

Not that crazy about reviews myself, but I do want my left and right columns to look somewhat even, so I'll think ill keep them in here for now.

 

Also, i dont know if you've tried your site in other browsers than IE or not, but the boxheader images dont work for me in Firefox - the corner images are there, but the central bit isnt.

 

Firefox is all I use, im trying to get the infobox headings to show up, im not sure why they dont : something that's in the works...Thanks!

[radders]

Well it looks OK but I get the impression of a whole load of white space with a few boxes scattered around. Mostly that must be because of the box headers not working I suspect from reading the earlier discussion. Partly it is because I am viewing your wide on a wide screen and it just stretches to fit the screen. Tr using a fixed width design.

[Totally Lost]

Well it looks OK but I get the impression of a whole load of white space with a few boxes scattered around. Mostly that must be because of the box headers not working I suspect from reading the earlier discussion. Partly it is because I am viewing your wide on a wide screen and it just stretches to fit the screen. Tr using a fixed width design.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Well, i've since fixed the headers to work correctly in Firefox and IE, just a plain black infobox header i know (this is a temporary solution). My aim is to keep a relatively simple yet sharp design and focus more on the pictures / product as that's what people are drawn to anyways.

 

The fact that I have unique products from Cambodian I think needs to be emphasised more....in any case, I personally like the white space as I find many websites kinda overwelme me with graphics / pics and to me...weird color schemes. This is just a personal perference of course...thanks for your comments, please keep em coming!

[AfterDark]

Yeah - thats not gonna work.

 

Small little hading for a "logo" - nothing to tell me what am looking at or what i should be looking at....

 

When i finally realized it was silk i busted out laffing at how totally off the mark the design is in relation to your product.

 

Sorry - this one is in need of REAL help.

[Jud]

I think what kevin was trying to say is that:

 

Your site looks like you should be selling,

a) computer parts

B) hardware

 

but, not silk.

 

Jud

[Totally Lost]

I think what kevin was trying to say is that:

 

Your site looks like you should be selling,

  a) computer parts

  B) hardware

 

but, not silk.

 

Jud

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Hmm..i hear what your saying, well this is more of an 'extension' of my site. This is where i want people to come when they are ready to purchase my items....when the silk people are sifting around the silk section they will be here: Silk Searching ideally...when they are ready to buy they will go here.... Silk Buying.

 

Do you two think this would not work?

 

Thanks again...(always a pleasure to bring out laughter in others)

[♥toyicebear]

Hmm..i hear what your saying, well this is more of an 'extension' of my site.? This is where i want people to come when they are ready to purchase my items....when the silk people are sifting around the silk section they will be here: Silk Searching ideally...when they are ready to buy they will go here.... Silk Buying.

 

Do you two think this would not work?

 

Thanks again...(always a pleasure to bring out laughter in others)

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

 

Ditch the ready made free template you are using, Professional WHITE/SILVER Template , and make your own design which are more in tune with your products.

 

A site in soft pastel colors would better match your products, or so i would imagine anyway.... B)

[Silvergren]

I also feel you should change the colors to something softer, when dealing with accessories and such. The logo as well doesn't fit what your selling. It makes your site feel as if your trying to be one thing, yet selling something else.

 

One thing that I as a consumer find highly irritating is to click on a link to view the product and specs and find that there isn't any information about the item. In the handpurse's case, no dimension, whether it is lined or unlined and if lined, what is lining material... what material is the purse made out of? Where was it made? If made by hand, state it, if not don't say. etc... But don't overwhelm with the details.

 

All I have is a picture and a cart link. Big turn off.

 

You have information on the karma, finish the rest of your products with enough detail to make me wish I owned it.

[Totally Lost]

I also feel you should change the colors to something softer, when dealing with accessories and such. The logo as well doesn't fit what your selling. It makes your site feel as if your trying to be one thing, yet selling something else.

 

One thing that I as a consumer find highly irritating is to click on a link to view the product and specs and find that there isn't any information about the item. In the handpurse's case, no dimension, whether it is lined or unlined and if lined, what is lining material... what material is the purse made out of? Where was it made? If made by hand, state it, if not don't say.  etc... But don't overwhelm with the details.

 

All I have is a picture and a cart link. Big turn off.

 

You have information on the karma, finish the rest of your products with enough detail to make me wish I owned it.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

That's some great constructive feedback, I definetly agree with you on the product info. It's only the 'purse' that doens't have any detailed description thus far. Any of the other (few as they may be, have a desription) what do you think of them?

 

Im alititle unsure about the 'softer' colors angle, but obviously im not a consumer, i'd like to project professionalism and clairty. That's why I decided to go with the pretty straight forward color scheme and not too overly distracting of a look.

[Totally Lost]

Ditch the ready made free template you are using, Professional WHITE/SILVER Template , and make your own design which are more in tune with your products.

 

A site in soft pastel colors would better match your products, or so i would imagine anyway.... B)

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Hi There,

 

Thanks for the suggestion, been mentioned more than once now so its definetly somthing ill consider doing....but with a name like "totally lost" I only wish i had the technial ability to creat 'my own design' 'in tune with my products' that even close to this quality.

 

That seems to be an issue that i've seen thus far on these forums...implementaion of these contribs seem to be regarded with a sense of distain (not necessarily by you, but just what i've read in general), obvioulsy cuz they are not of orginal design...but the people like me "totally lost" who use them....use them because we dont have the technical ability to make professional lookings 'headers' or whatever on our own, without investing months of time learning code which in my case, ill likely never use again....well, thats my .02$ anyway. And yes, i do hear what your saying about having the look of my page related to the products im selling, and ill add a little something to offset the 'computer hardware' look.

 

Thanks

[♥toyicebear]

Hi There,

 

Thanks for the suggestion, been mentioned more than once now so its definetly somthing ill consider doing....but with a name like "totally lost" I only wish i had the technial ability to creat 'my own design' 'in tune with my products' that even close to this quality.

 

That seems to be an issue that i've seen thus far on these forums...implementaion of these contribs seem to be regarded with a sense of distain (not necessarily by you, but just what i've read in general), obvioulsy cuz they are not of orginal design...but the people like me "totally lost" who use them....use them because we dont have the technical ability to make professional lookings 'headers' or whatever on our own, without investing months of time learning code which in my case, ill likely never use again....well, thats my .02$ anyway.  And yes, i do hear what your saying about having the look of my page related to the products im selling, and ill add a little something to offset the 'computer hardware' look.

 

Thanks

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

You can also use one of the other templates available, i seem to remember seeing one or two which would be more sutible for your product range.

 

Go through the contribution section and check them out. (Search for "template" first, then after also try to search for "skin" )

[Totally Lost]

You can also use one of the other templates available, i seem to remember seeing one or two which would be more sutible for your product range.

 

Go through the contribution section and check them out. (Search for "template" first, then after also try to search for "skin" )

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Just spend 4 hours reviewing different 'themes' and different 'skins' - :o Boy there are some pretty silly themes out there, some are basically the same osc stock without any changes whatsoever except the background - others are just red buttons or blue buttons, pretty boring. Im sure this is news to everyone here except me, but I just assumed those who had the expertise to make these themes were pretty much programmers who knew there way around...wow, was i mistaken.

 

I couldn't find any themese out there that matched my products mabey someone can suggest one out there for my style / products?

 

Or, is there somewhere else I can look for themes? Or is Oscommernce forum the basic be all and end all in terms of easy intergration.....the word easy is from a novice computer user by the way.

 

Thanks again

[burt]

Were you looking for free themes? Of course, these would be fairly basic (ugly even).

 

There are many providers of paid-for themes who would have examples to better suit your site look. In general a "paid for" theme will be better quality than a free theme.

[Totally Lost]

Were you looking for free themes?  Of course, these would be fairly basic (ugly even). 

 

There are many providers of paid-for themes who would have examples to better suit your site look.  In general a "paid for" theme will be better quality than a free theme.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Paid for themes?...i guess i should have figured, that would be 'inevitable', well i suppose it worth considering, but honestly Im not that interested in paying someone to make a heading for me, as far as im concerned thats the only thing I need help addressing. So, that being said....is your advice that I should just stay with the current theme i have or can I indeed find themes that will work with oscommerce outside of the oscommerce realm?

[burt]

It's not for me to say as I am not a part of your target market. Perhaps you should garner opinion from your customers?

 

From a purely design aspect (which I am qualified to comment on!), I would agree with the others that the theme does not match the ethos of the site.

 

There are many places outside the osCommerce realm where you can find osCommerce goodies (both free and paid for).

 

If you won a free car in a competition, would you expect to get free gas all the time as well ;)

[Totally Lost]

It's not for me to say as I am not a part of your target market.  Perhaps you should garner opinion from your customers?

 

From a purely design aspect (which I am qualified to comment on!), I would agree with the others that the theme does not match the ethos of the site.

 

There are many places outside the osCommerce realm where you can find osCommerce goodies (both free and paid for). 

 

If you won a free car in a competition, would you expect to get free gas all the time as well ;)

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

ok....if i won a free car would i expect free gas?...i guess that'd be a no....um, interesting analogy, let me guess, you offer templates that would fit just my needs?

 

Comparing free open ended software to a car, ok....interesting selling angle, if it is indeed an angle...but then again it must be, because the if is isn't it just sounds inapplicably weird.

 

Anyway, if anyone knows a template that might be better suited for my products, please let me know.

 

Thanks

[burt]

No, I am not trying to sell you anything - you asked for advice, remember? :D Advice is "ask your customers what they think".

[Totally Lost]

No, I am not trying to sell you anything - you asked for advice, remember?  :D  Advice is "ask your customers what they think".

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Oh ok, yes absolutly thanks for you advice & your input.

[♥Vger]

I would lose the black background to your info box headings - easy enough to do. I'd take on one of the silvery range of colours in place of it. Silver is a common enough colour in silks so I don't see that as a problem.

 

Vger

[thisheart]

Ok some quick first impressions:

 

- It was not clear straight away what you were selling. The stock photo on the top does

not match.

 

- The black is very imposing and not very friendly.

 

- I would make the black boxes thinner.

 

- A dark version of the purple would look nice.

 

- The big amount of black on the top would look better white.

[Totally Lost]

Ok some quick first impressions:

 

- It was not clear straight away what you were selling. The stock photo on the top does

not match.

 

- The black is very imposing and not very friendly.

 

- I would make the black boxes thinner.

 

- A dark version of the purple would look nice.

 

- The big amount of black on the top would look better white.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Yes, the boxes being black was just a temporary solution. They were siliver initally but there were problems with viewing them correctly with firefox and internet explorer...so, i just made them a basic black, so i wouldn't get the 'i loaded your page, but the info boxes didn't show up, come back when you have something to talk about' comments.

 

In any case, makeing the black header section white wasn't something I considered, thanks for the suggestion, that would definetly make it less stoic i guess the word is and might be just the thing i need....i just spent the majority of today, getting rid of the 3 faces on the upper left and replacing it with a 'famous Cambodian temple' (all my things are from cambodia)..

 

I also totally agree with you on making the boxes thinner, that was actually an unanswered post I put on 'general support' if anyone can provide some guidence on adjusting the thickness of the info boxes that would be much apprciated.

 

Thanks for your suggestions, they will be implemented

[FalseDawn]

"KSILKS Secure Webstore"

 

Waste of words.

 

The name of your site is largely irrelevant.

Secure? That's implicitly assumed in most cases.

Webstore? Well, it's a store on the web isn't it?

 

Think like a customer and write a solid paragraph about your products containing key words and phrases that you think customers might use on search engines to find your products.

 

"New products" is not a very useful box to have on your homepage to be honest - I'd relegate it to a side box and maybe incorporate a "special offer" box with some more text.

[Totally Lost]

"KSILKS Secure Webstore"

 

Waste of words.

 

The name of your site is largely irrelevant.

Secure? That's implicitly assumed in most cases.

Webstore? Well, it's a store on the web isn't it?

 

Think like a customer and write a solid paragraph about your products containing key words and phrases that you think customers might use on search engines to find your products.

 

"New products" is not a very useful box to have on your homepage to be honest - I'd relegate it to a side box and maybe incorporate a "special offer" box with some more text.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Well, my intentions were to put buyers at ease by stating that the webstore was 'secure' and then having a picture of a 'secure key' or something along thoses liness (not that it puts savy computer users at ease) but all the same, i can take it out, doesn't seem like an overly important thing in my book, but you bring up a good point, if it is indeed your point that subtly can go a long way.

 

Thanks!