Feedback please

[madcrazygirl]

Hi all, my site has been up for a few weeks now and have been working hard as an oscommerce newbie. Would appreciate feedback from some new eyes please!

 

ps. yes logo and artwork has been on my long list of things to do......

 

My Site

[madcrazygirl]

OOPS SORRY here is direct link to oscommerce pages:

 

My Oscommerce Pages

[kitchenniche]

- I would suggest using a nice template would do your shop really good.

 

- Add your address to the contact us page

 

- Privacy Page needs to be "enlarged". you can use a privacy page from any company to get an idea and make necessary changes.

 

- On your Shipping Page, I'd suggest you make the following part BOLD : "Each pair of shoes will be charged at ?4.75 and will be sent by recorded delivery."

 

- Your product images are among the best I've seen so far!

[spax]

Just a few things that jumped out at me.

 

Your images are too big and heavy, which makes a page load too slow. One for instance, 9627PSPTrim.jpg, is 900x662 and a hefty 345kb. I resized it by 50%, 450x331, saved it with no compression and it is now 74kb. You also need a thumbnail mod installed to dynamically produce the thumbnail images. This will make them a true 165x132 (your Small Image Size) at around 4kb, instead of the HTML squashing a 900x662 image down to that size but still at 345kb. Try this one, I use the nate_02631 15 Dec 2005 one, which is an easy install and works fine.

 

You need some header tag action going on, which is a part of good SEO (search engine optimisation). You can do that by installing a header tag mod or hardcoding each root level file. Either way it is something you need to do.

 

Why are you using a freehost? Hosting is so cheap these days I wouldn't consider a freehost. Somewhere along the line your freehost will impose restrictions on you, especially if you don't fix the image problem. Also, it doesn't look too good having their domain name tagged onto the end of yours.

[madcrazygirl]

Thank you both for taking the time. Totally new to all this and has only been a few weeks with most time spent on loading stock and getting site to function for the customer at all!

 

Starting to wish I had never posted this so soon now....

 

Spax, sorry but most of your comments are way over my inexperienced head :-(

 

And do not understand your comment re free host at all? And as far as I know there domain name exists because I have shared ssl. ...

[spax]

Ok.

 

RE: The Images

 

Alot of your images are big, both in pixel size and file size. This one for instance, click here, is 900 pixels wide x 662 pixels long and has a file size of 345kb. osCommerce uses this original image for all references to it, whether that is the click to enlarge image or the smaller thumbnail image that displays on the categories page. All the code does, is to squash that 900x662 image down to the 165x132 thumbnail size you have set in your admin. The image itself, actually maintains all its dimensions so is still 345kb. Now if you times that by how many images appear on a page, it makes the page far too heavy and takes an age for it to download. Especially for those using a dial up connection, which still number many.

They're not all that bad but on the Ladies open toe heels section, there is 3megabyte of images to download. If you have a thumbnail contribution installed, that page would be about 133 to 160 kilobytes, meaning it would load about 20 times quicker.

Alot of your images are around the 50-60kb mark, which isn't too bad for the large image size so if you can get them all to that, plus have the thumbnail mod installed, your site will be more user friendly.

 

RE: Header Tags (Or to be more acurate, Meta Tags)

 

You can do lots with Meta Tags but one of the most common uses are for SEO. Even though it isn't as important as it once was, Keyword and Description Meta Tags are used by some search engines to aid listing of your site. The keywords are used to match users search criteria and descriptions are what the SE use in the listing and also phrase matching.

This isn't the be all and end all of SEO, SEO is a massive and complex subject. Even using keywords is a skill within a skill. Understanding keyword density, targetting, spamming, blackhatting, cloaking blah blah, needs some research. Suffice to say, you are better having them than not - IMHO.

You can install a Header Tags contribution, which will fill your pages with keywords and descriptions, if you wish. Or you can do it individually, all through your admin.

 

RE: Freehost

 

Ok, I didn't look far enough into your site to see this one. It appears you have your configure files set up incorrectly. If the path to your secure server is *https://danceshoes2u.c3.hostexcellence.com, then that should only be put in the HTTPS definitions (HTTPS_COOKIE_DOMAIN would be just danceshoes2u.c3.hostexcellence.com). While the normal HTTP definitions would be *http://www.danceshoes2u.com (HTTP_COOKIE_DOMAIN danceshoes2u.com)

NB: The asterisks are only to stop this forum making a link.

 

If you need to make any changes to the configure files, which are located in catalog/includes and catalog/admin/includes, download them to your computer, in ASCII mode from your FTP client. Take care to remember which one is which by creating 2 folders, named includes and admin includes. Make copies of them so if something goes wrong, you always have the originals still intact. Make the alterations and upload to their correct directories again in ASCII mode.

You may need to change permissions on them before you download, certainly before you upload and overwrite the ones on the server and definately after you have uploaded.

To change permissions, once you have FTP'd to the directory, right-click on the configure.php file, select Permissions or CHMOD, set the permission to 777. After you have uploaded, right-click on the configure.php file, select Permissions or CHMOD, set the permission to 644. If you get a warning at the top of the screen that the file is writable, set the permissions to 444.

 

I hope you are less confused, but if you have any issues you're not sure on, feel free to PM me or post a question in the forums. There is always someone there to help.

[trogette]

My only thing is that I'd like to see bigger images on the customisation options info page. I agree the images look fantastic :)

[Guest]

Great start so far - don't get discouraged!

 

1 - turn off the product count for the catagories. thus far, you only have one accessory, but don't let your customer know ahead of time. by turning off the product count, your customer has to click into the catagory to see what's available.

 

 

2 - footer: in your english.php file, you can change the name of oscommerce to your store name (next to the copyright date).

 

3 - also, get rid of the requests since line there at the footer - customers don't need to know this information.

 

4 - am in Ladies Open toe Heel > celeste: Others may want to chime in on this, but you may run into a problem of having more than one product with the same model number. If an item comes in a color selection, you have two choices: Either list them individually, like you have, but give them different Model numbers. Or, put both in one listing and create attributes (the drop down menu for customers to select size, color, etc). You can have more than one attribute per product, so that is not a problem.

 

5 - within each product listing, there is "this product was added to our catalog on xx.xx.2006" - delete that, unless it's imperative that your customer knows when you've added something. If it's a special item, you can put in the product description that this item is brand new - check it out!

 

6 - pay attention to grammar (spelling, periods at ends of sentences, etc).

 

7 - the navigation bar under your header - try lower the font size a point or two - eliminates the wrapping of words to a second line.

 

You're getting there! Keep up the good work.

[madcrazygirl]

Ok.

 

RE: The Images

 

Alot of your images are big, both in pixel size and file size. This one for instance, click here, is 900 pixels wide x 662 pixels long and has a file size of 345kb. osCommerce uses this original image for all references to it, whether that is the click to enlarge image or the smaller thumbnail image that displays on the categories page. All the code does, is to squash that 900x662 image down to the 165x132 thumbnail size you have set in your admin. The image itself, actually maintains all its dimensions so is still 345kb. Now if you times that by how many images appear on a page, it makes the page far too heavy and takes an age for it to download. Especially for those using a dial up connection, which still number many.

They're not all that bad but on the Ladies open toe heels section, there is 3megabyte of images to download. If you have a thumbnail contribution installed, that page would be about 133 to 160 kilobytes, meaning it would load about 20 times quicker.

Alot of your images are around the 50-60kb mark, which isn't too bad for the large image size so if you can get them all to that, plus have the thumbnail mod installed, your site will be more user friendly.

 

RE: Header Tags (Or to be more acurate, Meta Tags)

 

You can do lots with Meta Tags but one of the most common uses are for SEO. Even though it isn't as important as it once was, Keyword and Description Meta Tags are used by some search engines to aid listing of your site. The keywords are used to match users search criteria and descriptions are what the SE use in the listing and also phrase matching.

This isn't the be all and end all of SEO, SEO is a massive and complex subject. Even using keywords is a skill within a skill. Understanding keyword density, targetting, spamming, blackhatting, cloaking blah blah, needs some research. Suffice to say, you are better having them than not - IMHO.

You can install a Header Tags contribution, which will fill your pages with keywords and descriptions, if you wish. Or you can do it individually, all through your admin.

 

RE: Freehost

 

Ok, I didn't look far enough into your site to see this one. It appears you have your configure files set up incorrectly. If the path to your secure server is *https://danceshoes2u.c3.hostexcellence.com, then that should only be put in the HTTPS definitions (HTTPS_COOKIE_DOMAIN would be just danceshoes2u.c3.hostexcellence.com). While the normal HTTP definitions would be *http://www.danceshoes2u.com (HTTP_COOKIE_DOMAIN danceshoes2u.com)

NB: The asterisks are only to stop this forum making a link.

 

If you need to make any changes to the configure files, which are located in catalog/includes and catalog/admin/includes, download them to your computer, in ASCII mode from your FTP client. Take care to remember which one is which by creating 2 folders, named includes and admin includes. Make copies of them so if something goes wrong, you always have the originals still intact. Make the alterations and upload to their correct directories again in ASCII mode.

You may need to change permissions on them before you download, certainly before you upload and overwrite the ones on the server and definately after you have uploaded.

To change permissions, once you have FTP'd to the directory, right-click on the configure.php file, select Permissions or CHMOD, set the permission to 777. After you have uploaded, right-click on the configure.php file, select Permissions or CHMOD, set the permission to 644. If you get a warning at the top of the screen that the file is writable, set the permissions to 444.

 

I hope you are less confused, but if you have any issues you're not sure on, feel free to PM me or post a question in the forums. There is always someone there to help.

 

 

Hi Spax, Well have tried very hard to install thumbnail contribution you suggested and but for some reason about 2/3 of the images worked correctly and the others had red crosses. Searched the support thread but drawn a blank so have had to give up for the moment. All jpgs so no idea why. Any idea?

 

Regarding other points will aim to get head around :thumbsup:

[madcrazygirl]

My only thing is that I'd like to see bigger images on the customisation options info page. I agree the images look fantastic :)

 

Sorry what do you mean? The colour swatches??

[madcrazygirl]

Great start so far - don't get discouraged!

 

1 - turn off the product count for the catagories. thus far, you only have one accessory, but don't let your customer know ahead of time. by turning off the product count, your customer has to click into the catagory to see what's available.

2 - footer: in your english.php file, you can change the name of oscommerce to your store name (next to the copyright date).

 

3 - also, get rid of the requests since line there at the footer - customers don't need to know this information.

 

4 - am in Ladies Open toe Heel > celeste: Others may want to chime in on this, but you may run into a problem of having more than one product with the same model number. If an item comes in a color selection, you have two choices: Either list them individually, like you have, but give them different Model numbers. Or, put both in one listing and create attributes (the drop down menu for customers to select size, color, etc). You can have more than one attribute per product, so that is not a problem.

 

5 - within each product listing, there is "this product was added to our catalog on xx.xx.2006" - delete that, unless it's imperative that your customer knows when you've added something. If it's a special item, you can put in the product description that this item is brand new - check it out!

 

6 - pay attention to grammar (spelling, periods at ends of sentences, etc).

 

7 - the navigation bar under your header - try lower the font size a point or two - eliminates the wrapping of words to a second line.

 

You're getting there! Keep up the good work.

 

Thank you Moonlight for the encouragement and constructive comments.

 

1. Done - knew needed doing but had not worked out how to do lol

2. I thought I had to leave this. Something about only if it looked nothing like stock?

3. Requests since - had already managed to remove count but could not locate the words?

4. Yes this has been the cause of angst from the start. Would ideally have liked all the pictures next to the attributes choice but have not yet installed anything to enable more pics. May try to move to that once find mod. Regarding model names I have deliberately chosen this because I have seen that customers will put the model name in the search box and they are the same model. Ho hum multiple pics contribution search I guess for me.

5. I would love to delete the product added date but have not yet located. Was particular nuisance in first few days of site lol.

6. Sorry result of many late nights I fear - will try to remedy

7. thank you did not notice wrapping. i have dropped the size. I originally increased it to differentiate temporarily from the rest of the page. I really need to install a decent one and it is on my list.

 

best wishes and thanks

[madcrazygirl]

Ok, I didn't look far enough into your site to see this one. It appears you have your configure files set up incorrectly. If the path to your secure server is *https://danceshoes2u.c3.hostexcellence.com, then that should only be put in the HTTPS definitions (HTTPS_COOKIE_DOMAIN would be just danceshoes2u.c3.hostexcellence.com). While the normal HTTP definitions would be *http://www.danceshoes2u.com (HTTP_COOKIE_DOMAIN danceshoes2u.com)

NB: The asterisks are only to stop this forum making a link.

 

Phew think I have done this :rolleyes:

 

Seems host set these for incorrectly for me. Host only appears on secure pages now I think and all seems to be working still despite my dabbling :lol: . Is that correct?

[kzod]

Currently the catalog pages are more inviting than your home page. On the home page, your text in the navigation buttons are distorted and blurry. It gives a very bad first impression. I'd prefer either cleaning that up and making something fantastic, or put that Customization offer at the top of the caralog home and have it open right away in osc.

[madcrazygirl]

Currently the catalog pages are more inviting than your home page. On the home page, your text in the navigation buttons are distorted and blurry. It gives a very bad first impression. I'd prefer either cleaning that up and making something fantastic, or put that Customization offer at the top of the caralog home and have it open right away in osc.

 

Yes I know :blush:

 

Did not realise how tied up I would get with getting the oscommerce bit functioning well so have rather lacked time elsewhere. Thought I just had to load the products haha. Retrospectively I should not have launched my site on the unsuspecting public so soon lol but too late now. I would rather keep the landing pages so will work on them before admitting defeat.

 

best wishes and ty

[Guest]

What I meant by the footer was that you need to YES leave the oscommerce link - didn't say to touch that at all. But the oscommerce name NEXT to the copyright is where your store name goes. So it reads: 2006 copyright symbol Your Store Name.

Under it: Powered by Oscommerce

 

You can also change any of the above wording to display anything you want. All those changes can be done in: catalog/includes/languages/english.php The footer information is near or at the end of that file.

 

Click on a few sites here of other folks, and see what they have done with their footer - just to give you an idea.

[madcrazygirl]

NB: The asterisks are only to stop this forum making a link.

 

 

ps the asterisks did not stop making a link and this question now shows up in my search grrrrr

[spax]

I'm still not sure what you mean?

[madcrazygirl]

I'm still not sure what you mean?

 

= The asterisk DID NOT stop this forum making a link and this forum now shows up in my site search results....

[spax]

Ok, I understand what you mean.

 

The asterisk stops this forum making a link you can click on. The fact that MSN has listed this thread is nothing to do with an asterisk. It would have listed it either way, with or without it.

The only way it wouldn't have been listed, is if I didn't show you how your configure files should be. I now wish I hadn't!

Being as you were quick to notice the asterisk listing, you should have noticed your forum profile is also listed, without an asterisk.

 

It's no wonder this forum loses helpers, if this is the gratitude offered.

[madcrazygirl]

Ok, I understand what you mean.

 

The asterisk stops this forum making a link you can click on. The fact that MSN has listed this thread is nothing to do with an asterisk. It would have listed it either way, with or without it.

The only way it wouldn't have been listed, is if I didn't show you how your configure files should be. I now wish I hadn't!

Being as you were quick to notice the asterisk listing, you should have noticed your forum profile is also listed, without an asterisk.

 

It's no wonder this forum loses helpers, if this is the gratitude offered.

 

:( It was nothing to do with lack of gratitude....

 

As a newbie I misunderstood what you said. I thought the reason we put hyperlinks in the forum was to hide the link? Regarding profile why would I know :(

[scottybalotty]

get rid of the horrible default search icon. Theres loads of better search icons and also edit it so the background matches the heading colour

[sharplab]

One simple thing you can do for SEO is change the:

 

Home>>Catalog

 

To something more site SEO.

Like:

 

Discount>>Dance Shoes

 

Change this in:

 

includes/languages/english.php

 

Also a few too many results showing up in your categories. Maybe restrict your searh results to 12-15 images. Do this in admin configuration panel.

 

Also add the Next Page contribution so that customers can easlily go to the next page with a duplicate "Next Page" link at top of page.

 

Steve