hubcat Posted August 9, 2005 Share Posted August 9, 2005 I posted a few weeks ago, but the thread got side tracked to an SSL discussion and I didn't actually get any site reviews. :-" I've been live 3 weeks now and received more unique visitors than I expected, but less sales. The bulk of my advertising comes out next week, and I want to take this opportunity to clean anything up before the hoardes arrive. :lol: Overall, I'm happy with the layout and the cart isn't bad (went with the Amazon style checkout instead of PWA after much debate), but I particularly think the home page needs something. I'm just not sure what. (Of course, I am happy to get comments, bashes, whatever on any part of the site if you think it'll help me make it better.) I could put a lot more text on the home page, but it looks bland and gets too intimidating I think, and then no one will read it. On the other hand, maybe the celtic knot is too big. (Couldn't find any other free ones that were thinner... any ideas?) All help/feedback appreciated. Thanks, Adrienne http://www.faeriesdance.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deanC Posted August 10, 2005 Share Posted August 10, 2005 Adrienne, I went to your site and I have to say I liked it. The Celtic knot looks good to me, and just the right amount of text (you're right, no need to go overboard or people won't read it). Some suggestions I'd have for improvement are: -Possibly add to your choices links, I found the "Shop by style" etc. good but the addition of the standard Menswear/Ladieswear links could be an easier way for some people to access everything. Someone looking for a present for a man might get stuck trawling through (if they didn't see the unisex tshirts in the main bit of the page). -If you want to encourage repeat visits, why not add a "Bookmark this page" link to make it super-easy for them to get back there? -Your dropdown menu could do with a tweak, the menu items are too long to be read. I'm sure you can add a line break so the rest of the phrase will go onto the next line and make it more readable... Those are just suggestions, I think you're good to go otherwise. Good luck! Dean Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thisheart Posted August 10, 2005 Share Posted August 10, 2005 I don't mind it. It is pretty simple which is good. Oh and not too stock looking. Should suit your target market. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
♥PassionSeed Posted August 10, 2005 Share Posted August 10, 2005 I posted a few weeks ago, but the thread got side tracked to an SSL discussion and I didn't actually get any site reviews. :-" I've been live 3 weeks now and received more unique visitors than I expected, but less sales. The bulk of my advertising comes out next week, and I want to take this opportunity to clean anything up before the hoardes arrive. :lol: Overall, I'm happy with the layout and the cart isn't bad (went with the Amazon style checkout instead of PWA after much debate), but I particularly think the home page needs something. I'm just not sure what. (Of course, I am happy to get comments, bashes, whatever on any part of the site if you think it'll help me make it better.) I could put a lot more text on the home page, but it looks bland and gets too intimidating I think, and then no one will read it. On the other hand, maybe the celtic knot is too big. (Couldn't find any other free ones that were thinner... any ideas?) All help/feedback appreciated. Thanks, Adrienne http://www.faeriesdance.com <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Hi Adrienne, I looked at your site. I like it the look, feel and color. I agree with the drop down box, you can't see all of the categories name. Other than that, you're on a good track. Much luck to you! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hubcat Posted August 10, 2005 Author Share Posted August 10, 2005 Wow, thanks for the positive comments. :) I struggled with that pull down menu before and think I finally gave up and left it. I'll definitely revisit that this weekend. I could always try using a smaller font if nothing else. Dean, a bookmark this site link is a great idea. Will also look into doing something to steer the men a bit better. I'm going to have to address it eventually anyway. If I ever get some sales, I'm going to expand the menswear line. :rolleyes: Cheers, Adrienne Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
compas Posted August 10, 2005 Share Posted August 10, 2005 Wow, thanks for the positive comments. :) I struggled with that pull down menu before and think I finally gave up and left it. I'll definitely revisit that this weekend. I could always try using a smaller font if nothing else. Dean, a bookmark this site link is a great idea. Will also look into doing something to steer the men a bit better. I'm going to have to address it eventually anyway. If I ever get some sales, I'm going to expand the menswear line. :rolleyes: Cheers, Adrienne <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Hi i like your site, simple, clean and easy to navigate. What credit card contri did you use? Good luck Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hubcat Posted August 10, 2005 Author Share Posted August 10, 2005 What credit card contri did you use? This one for Authorize.net: http://www.oscommerce.com/community/contributions,2184 Adrienne Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gil_e_n Posted August 12, 2005 Share Posted August 12, 2005 One complaint I have is that I tend to browse with my text set to 2x normal size, and when doing so, the text in your front page makes the box partially repeat, and it just looks off. You might want to try playing around with your box image in css, and resize it with the em tag, since I recently discovered that that fixed my problems with graphical layouts breaking with large fonts. The top toolbar also looks messy in larger font. Oh, and the Faerie's Dance might be grammatically correct (might not be, too. Too many variations on how to spell fairy), but my first thought was that it wasn't because most the time I see ie's, it's because someone isn't paying attention to how to use grammar. You might want to consider changing the subheader on the front page to "Faeries' Dance" to appease your grammar purist customers. I desperately wish that more clothing stores would let me preview all the color choices in the product picture before deciding what to buy. Sometimes it's the key to making me decide whether or not I like the item. I have no idea whether there's even a contribution for that, but I'd be willing to bet it's insanely difficult to install, so I'm not really saying you should. Just it'd be a good idea if you ever have the time. Other than that, though, very nice site. Always BACK UP your files and your database before making any changes. Before asking questions, check out the Knowledge Base. Check out the contributions to see if your problem's solved there. Search the forums. Useful threads: Store Speed Optimization How to make a horrible shop Basics for design change How to search the forums Useful contributions: Easypopulate Fast, Easy Checkout Header Tag Controller Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hubcat Posted August 13, 2005 Author Share Posted August 13, 2005 One complaint I have is that I tend to browse with my text set to 2x normal size, and when doing so, the text in your front page makes the box partially repeat, and it just looks off. You might want to try playing around with your box image in css, and resize it with the em tag, since I recently discovered that that fixed my problems with graphical layouts breaking with large fonts. The top toolbar also looks messy in larger font. I've seen that in Firefox as well, but with less than 4% of my traffic coming from Firefox, I left it. I haven't really figured out how to fix it, can you give me an example of an em tag? I'm not familiar with that. Oh, and the Faerie's Dance might be grammatically correct (might not be, too. Too many variations on how to spell fairy), but my first thought was that it wasn't because most the time I see ie's, it's because someone isn't paying attention to how to use grammar. You might want to consider changing the subheader on the front page to "Faeries' Dance" to appease your grammar purist customers. It is grammatically correct, as discussed in my About Us/What's in a name? section. :D It's the dance of a single Faerie - hence the Faerie's Dance. I know it's confusing though, and I probably should have went with a more common spelling for ease of customer remembrance, but we all have our eccentricities. :blush: I desperately wish that more clothing stores would let me preview all the color choices in the product picture before deciding what to buy. Sometimes it's the key to making me decide whether or not I like the item. I have no idea whether there's even a contribution for that, but I'd be willing to bet it's insanely difficult to install, so I'm not really saying you should. Just it'd be a good idea if you ever have the time. I'm not completely sure what you are saying here - all the colors are listed. Do you want to see a full-sized picture of each color? One of those things where you mouseover the color and get the products shown in that color? That might be hard, but I could probably add a few more images here and there to make it a bit more user friendly. Other than that, though, very nice site. Thanks, and thanks for the feedback! Adrienne Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
julia Posted August 13, 2005 Share Posted August 13, 2005 Adrienne I like the site. Did you use a contribution to shop by so many categories in the drop down menu? One thing that is HUGE for me with OsCommerce, and would put me off as a customer, is the "buy now" buttons on the product page. Not being familiar with the cart, as a shopper, I would think that hitting the "buy now" button would put the item in my shopping cart. I changed the buy now button to "more" on one site, and simply took it out on another. http://www.noteworthyinkonline.com http://www.olivialitton.com/osCommerce Julie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dandelion Posted August 14, 2005 Share Posted August 14, 2005 I like the site and what you are doing! I'm trying to buy clothes for my family that are earth friendly and socially responsible. I hope you'll have youth sizes soon! I don't want my boys wearing clothes made by other children! The first thing I asked myself when I entered your site was where you are from? Maybe that should be on your first page (even in the footer). I'm about to launch my first site for a friend and I really like the way you did the gift wrapping option. Ruth My Webpage Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hubcat Posted August 14, 2005 Author Share Posted August 14, 2005 Julia, I used this contribution for the categories box: http://www.oscommerce.com/community/contributions,1480 The buy now button does put it in your cart IF there are no options to choose. But since almost all of my products have options, I guess "more" would be less misleading. Did you just change the .gif to say "more" and leave all the code intact? That seems like it would be easiest, but I'm not sure if there's any place where the "Buy Now" would be more appropriate if I overwrote the image. Ruth, Thanks for the compliments. I don't plan on carrying kids clothing any time soon. I'd like to expand into men's first and then maybe into eco-friendly shoes and bags for women. But first I have to get some sales... :rolleyes: Did you check out our About Us page, I think that has quite a bit of info there - with pictures and a link to our personal website. I cannot even begin to tell you how long I spent doing searches for recycled wrapping paper, so your compliment means a lot! :D Cheers, Adrienne Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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