Okay....here goes nothing!?!

[kim333]

okay...be gentle. :)

it is a complete miracle that i've even made it to this part of the forum.

thanx to all that may have helped in that.

i know it's not perfect, but seeing as it took me a good five days, just to figure out how to change the background color of the site...i don't think i did too badly.

 

anyway...any all help is appreciated. (ps easily overwhelmed) :blink:

i've been staring at it all for so many months...that i can't see a thing.

 

ps...if anyone could make a quick comment on how to change the "tab" wording from oscommerce to ...

whatever. i would really appreciate that fer sure!!! :rolleyes:

 

peace & respect

kim333

 

DIVINING YOUR LIFE

http://diviningyourlife.com/catalog/index.php.

*edited to add link*

[kim333]

community?!? hello??? ;)

[dynamoeffects]

Two suggestions:

 

1. Black text on a dark gray background (in your side boxes) makes the text nearly impossible to read.

 

2. Get rid of the tome on the main page and move the new products up above the fold. No one will read through that.

[nchingcu]

Hi Kim,

 

I love the color scheme you've got going!

 

You might want to take out the language box since english is the only language you're using. The currency as well is unneccesary if you'll only take US dollars

 

The checkout gives me a non-secure warning which is going to turn some customers off I think. Go Daddy or rapid ssl has very good prices on their ssl certificates so you might want to invest on that.

 

Take the gender and birthday info boxes on your account creation page. They are unneccessary info you're asking from the customers in my opinion.

 

If most of your customers will be based on the US, I would move the post code box below the state/province box. US customers are so use to typing this way w/o even looking at the fields. I would also pre-populate the country with with a default country.

 

And lastly, the right coloumn looks a bit off on the entire page. You might want to consider having only two coloumns instead of three.

 

If you do decide to use two coloumn layout, I suggest using the right, with the shopping cart as the first box and then the categories. Customers are so used on seeing the shopping cart on the right coloumn.

 

Hope this helps. Good luck

[kim333]

thanks for all the information so far! those are the little things i needed to hear. will work on fixing it up (more).

 

q: isn't the writing important for SEO??? vs. just images?

 

appreciate the advice again. means a lot.

sincerely k333.

[moonbeam]

I tried to visit your site, all I get is this error...

Warning: mysql_connect(): Lost connection to MySQL server during query in /hsphere/local/home/kmberly3/diviningyourlife.com/catalog/includes/functions/database.php on line 19

Unable to connect to database server!

 

I'm sure it's nice though ;)

 

Moon

[jow ga]

text and keywords are very important for SEO, if all you have are images you can include text in the name of the images and in the alt tags as well. this will help a little bit with SEO and every bit help.

 

Tom

www.revovisiondesigns.com

[dandelion]

Your store is too wide for 800x600 screen resolution. Oh actually it is too wide for 1024 by 768 too.

 

You have the words Text_Main showing where you should have your actual text

 

If you only have one language you should comment out the language box from your right column.

 

I would remove your images at the top for Account | Cart Contents | Checkout the words are right below and the images detract from your banner. I would make the banner take up the full top.

 

I don't like your buttons (especially QuickFind) too big and not easy to read in that font.

[kim333]

thanks to all. i'm still trying to figure out how to get rid of the languages box. i lost my store a few times to ignorance, adding contrib's, etc...i'm overly cautious about making changes...but i'll try.

 

i took out the "tome" that dynamoeffects said no one would read through. and that main_text thing appeared?!? i need to write something that gains trust/why people would chose me out of the sea of 'psychics', and that a real person is involved...not astrology software. i think that's important for my particular service.

 

i do like my color scheme though...thanx nchingcu for that & all your insight.

 

sorry moonbeam about the errors. i have no idea :huh: i know that i'm having problems with adding items to the cart. i hit checkout and the cart says empty, and when i try and press continue...it takes me back to the main page and says "welcome GUEST" again! i'm searching for answers on that. think it has to do with 'session'? (not sure though).

 

also...i have shared ssl support, but not sure that's all that's needed?!? i only have paypal @ the moment.

 

thanx jow ga: i've been reading a lot on SEO i'm going to also try reworking the top part of the page, since the searches come up with that "top/catalog" thing. and still figure out how to change the tab up top.

 

my store is too wide? i'm not sure i follow? i have looked at the site on a few different screens. i'm not aware of that problem, but i'll look into it. nothing more irretating than that. thanks.

 

not sure about removing the images at top & bigger banner. it's not a 'bad' idea. i've been thinking about the buttons as well. i was trying to go for a funky, unpolished look. something casual that i was capable of pulling off. that creates a feeling of ease. i don't want the site to be intimidating in anyway, bcuz i want it to represent 'me'. it'll be a pain in a$$ changing all those buttons again, but you have a point.

 

thanks guys for the help

kim

[Mediajuggle]

thanks to all. i'm still trying to figure out how to get rid of the languages box. i lost my store a few times to ignorance, adding contrib's, etc...i'm overly cautious about making changes...but i'll try.

 

 

Kim you should be backing up your files before you make changes to anything.

I usually just create a duplicate of the file that i'm going to work on in my ftp directory, ie: "product_info.php-original"

 

so that I can always delete the modified page and revert back to the original if I need to.

[Chance]

Your product images are gigantic. I am on a dedicated T1 and I got tired of waiting for all your images to load after about 30 seconds.

[nchingcu]

thanks to all. i'm still trying to figure out how to get rid of the languages box. i lost my store a few times to ignorance, adding contrib's, etc...i'm overly cautious about making changes...but i'll try.

 

i took out the "tome" that dynamoeffects said no one would read through. and that main_text thing appeared?!? i need to write something that gains trust/why people would chose me out of the sea of 'psychics', and that a real person is involved...not astrology software. i think that's important for my particular service.

 

i do like my color scheme though...thanx nchingcu for that & all your insight.

 

sorry moonbeam about the errors. i have no idea :huh: i know that i'm having problems with adding items to the cart. i hit checkout and the cart says empty, and when i try and press continue...it takes me back to the main page and says "welcome GUEST" again! i'm searching for answers on that. think it has to do with 'session'? (not sure though).

 

also...i have shared ssl support, but not sure that's all that's needed?!? i only have paypal @ the moment.

 

thanx jow ga: i've been reading a lot on SEO i'm going to also try reworking the top part of the page, since the searches come up with that "top/catalog" thing. and still figure out how to change the tab up top.

 

my store is too wide? i'm not sure i follow? i have looked at the site on a few different screens. i'm not aware of that problem, but i'll look into it. nothing more irretating than that. thanks.

 

not sure about removing the images at top & bigger banner. it's not a 'bad' idea. i've been thinking about the buttons as well. i was trying to go for a funky, unpolished look. something casual that i was capable of pulling off. that creates a feeling of ease. i don't want the site to be intimidating in anyway, bcuz i want it to represent 'me'. it'll be a pain in a$$ changing all those buttons again, but you have a point.

 

thanks guys for the help

kim

 

Kim,

 

I agree with dandellion that your site is too wide. Your header image alone is 650 pixel. There's still a lot of customers using low resolution monitors.

 

As far as getting rid of the languange or currency boxes, edit your includes/column_right.php file and delete or comment the following lines.

 

include(DIR_WS_BOXES . 'languages.php');

include(DIR_WS_BOXES . 'currencies.php');

 

that should fix it.

[Chance]

For getting the correct site width for each resolution:

 

http://www.wpdfd.com/browsergrid.htm

 

(yours is too wide for 1024x768 and it should be at least compatable with 800x600 without scroll bars)

[Guest]

I might be repeating everyone here but all I read was Jason's very funny signature link. :thumbsup:

 

As for the site I am not feeling the LOVE :wub: here, it seems to lack direction and consistancy. I am just going to start at the top of the main page and work my way down.

 

1) I think the background of the header would look much better if it was the same background as the your images/oscommerce.gif. This would provide a much nicer header IMO.

2) Your images for my account/cart contents/checkout are too big. I would make them half the size they are now. They just look like they are placed there and only when moused over is their purpose revealed.

3) Where you have "FORUM CHAT BLOG LINKS LINKS DIRECTORY" I don't think that is the best place for these to be listed. There is no reason they wouldn't be just as well served if they were in the column. A Site Map and All Products page links would be better in its place.

4) Top ? Catalog both go to the same page. I can't remember off the top of my head how to change that but I will look it up for you.

5) The left and right columns are not the same width.

6) Welcome Guest! Would you like to log yourself in? Or would you prefer to create an account?

TEXT_MAIN There seems to be an error in your code there.

7) I really think your buttons are too big, they take over and draw the customer to the buttons, that would be great if you were selling buttons but it is your products you want the peoples attention to be drawn to.

8) The grey background for me does nothing, it does not match the colour I would expect from a site that sells products such as yours. If you were selling the "Book of the dead" I might say it was okay... but :(

9) More text on the main page would be nice, maybe something about why you started the site or something similar. Search engines love text.

10) Copyright ? 2003 osCommerce I think you can update this part to your own now.

 

 

Looking at this product you obviously have talent as an artist. I think that you just have to do some more to transfer your work from one medium to the next ie your web site. Your work is very colourful and bright and it all works together in harmony. The web site looks drab and without much though put into the colours of it. I think you have done some good work with the site in places but the grey takes away from the good work and makes the text unreadable.

 

HTH

 

:)

 

Peter

[♥Vger]

Just a few comments:

 

1. The secure/insecure warning on your https pages is caused by the two http image links in your footer - change them to https and they should go away.

 

2. I would change the colour of the text in the left and right hand columns, rather than change the background. I'd make it white text.

 

3. I would make the colour of your top and bottom nav bars match the light blue colour that you have for your info box headers.

 

4. To fix the width so your site is okay for 800x600 screens take a look at the 'Fixed Width Site With CSS' link below my name. You will have to reduce the size of some of your own icons however, especially Quick Find.

 

Vger

[jsinp]

change your text to white so you can read it in your stylesheet.

 

 

The header tags contrib would be good to add

 

also you might want to move you site to the root for SEO