bill110 Posted February 21, 2007 Posted February 21, 2007 Just went online. Ready for feedback. Please let me know if the background image shows up or if it is black. I noticed this problem on one computer. Hoping this isn't an issue with other computers. Paypal account is not verified yet so no orders as of yet. http://billscollections.com My Contributions Stylesheet With Descriptions Glassy Grey Boxtops Our Products Meta Tags On The Fly Password Protect Admin "No matter where you go....There you are" - Buccaroo Bonsai
abra123cadabra Posted February 21, 2007 Posted February 21, 2007 This is a tough one... I don't even know where to start. Maybe my first thoughts. billscollections.com -> without seeing the website, I wondered if this is going to be a site where you are going to collect my bills... On seeing the website, I'm still not sure if this about a private collection on sale because it doesn't look at all professional. Your homework is certainly how to colours, fonts, backgrounds etc. go together or, in your case, are painful on the eye. The whole site is a mixture of too big fonts and too small text on buttons. Images on product pages are not big enough. I have to enlarge them to see the item (dragon chess). The less you make me click, the more likely I'll buy. The navigation is not clear. There is the quick search in categories with an almost invisible magnifying glass as a submit button. After an error on selecting a category I realised that the real categories navigation is a few lines down. There are pages with the dark background in the main page part and others where they are white or grey like the new products box or on the products pages. Some of your design elements are with frames and 3D effect where most of the page is flat. The logo not as wide as the centered fixed page width. And things look really weird when you make the window smaller on the cups product page. Some of the text disappears behind the images. Overall I would say you have a lot to do. These forums can help you to get some ideas. When I started with the colour scheme and main layout, I had the current version open on my screen for hours. When I had the feeling that I would put up a printout on my wall like a picture, I decided it was easy enough on the eyes. Keep up the work on your shop and please don't feel offended by my comments. Just imagine I'm a normal visitor who you got to convince that you are a serious business and that I can trust you with my money and that you will treat my orders with the required enthusiasm. abra The First Law of E-Commerce: If the user can't find the product, the user can't buy the product. Feedback and suggestions on my shop welcome. Note: My advice is based on my own experience or on something I read in these forums. No guarantee it'll work for you! Make sure that you always BACKUP the database and the files you are going to change so that you can rollback to a working version if things go wrong.
bill110 Posted February 21, 2007 Author Posted February 21, 2007 Okay, Ouch!! Seriously though thanks for the input. Perhaps I'll move the Quick search and highlight the category navigation better. The product info pages are the ones on a different background color and actually that was intentional for a different feel of that particular page. Might try lightening it a bit. Completly agree on the more info buttons. Needs to be bigger. I didn't realize the logo needed to be the same size as the page. The cups page I see what you mean. The click to enlarge text AND the image moves behind the description pictures. I will work on that as well. Was there a page background image or was it black? My Contributions Stylesheet With Descriptions Glassy Grey Boxtops Our Products Meta Tags On The Fly Password Protect Admin "No matter where you go....There you are" - Buccaroo Bonsai
jonquil Posted February 21, 2007 Posted February 21, 2007 Hi Bill, The background I see in Firefox is mottled blue on black. Is this what we're supposed to be seeing? I won't comment on anything except the images. I like that you have a thumbnail and a large image. Why not have the large image appear straight away on the product info page? You have the room. That way I don't have to click to enlarge, then close the popup. Okay, I will comment on the use of italics everywhere. It's distracting, just... "jittery", hard to read, if you catch my meaning. Can't describe it better than that :) Your logo doesn't have to be as wide as the page :) jon It's all just ones and zeros....
abra123cadabra Posted February 21, 2007 Posted February 21, 2007 Sorry, forgot to mention it. I could see the background image but as it is some dark blue marble effect kind of background it makes the individual pages very "busy". I think what you need to create is a calm, pleasant atmosphere where your visitors like to look around. The more colour clashes you have (like the yellow headers, green prices on light, middle, dark grey, white or even just the blue marble with white font) the more it distracts your customers from doing what they should do: buy your products. The header logo can be as big or wide as you like but it's kind of boring being a grey plaque with embossed store name. It just feels as if it should be the same width as the main page, that's all. If you look around, most shops today have some kind of border to hold the main content together like a sheet of paper. Your site lacks this as well so especially when there is the background showing through it feels like boxes of grey bars floating on the marble instead of one catalog page. Difficult to explain. abra The First Law of E-Commerce: If the user can't find the product, the user can't buy the product. Feedback and suggestions on my shop welcome. Note: My advice is based on my own experience or on something I read in these forums. No guarantee it'll work for you! Make sure that you always BACKUP the database and the files you are going to change so that you can rollback to a working version if things go wrong.
bill110 Posted February 21, 2007 Author Posted February 21, 2007 Thanks again for all the input. I have increased the image sizes on the product info pages but will need to work on getting the additional images below the thumb. so it will not overlay. I probably will get rid of the itallics. They do look a bit jagged. Still considering the background issues. It is supposed to be marbled. Probably will drop it as it is a tiled image and may lead to slow load times. My Contributions Stylesheet With Descriptions Glassy Grey Boxtops Our Products Meta Tags On The Fly Password Protect Admin "No matter where you go....There you are" - Buccaroo Bonsai
brainlag Posted February 22, 2007 Posted February 22, 2007 Yes, drop the background. In my opinion, the blue/black marble background does nothing for you site except make it look like it was made in the mid 90s. If you want people entering credit card numbers into your site so you can make some $$, your customers need to feel secure and that background doesn't instill a sense of security, but that's only my opinion.
kallista Posted February 22, 2007 Posted February 22, 2007 Yes, drop the background. In my opinion, the blue/black marble background does nothing for you site except make it look like it was made in the mid 90s. If you want people entering credit card numbers into your site so you can make some $$, your customers need to feel secure and that background doesn't instill a sense of security, but that's only my opinion. When i first saw it i thought it was a bill collector... i like the site you did a great job but maybe a name change, i love dragons maybe have the name dragon in it? maybe change the background to a colour of today? maybe brighten it up a bit with another colour instead of gray Dark Dragon Collection The Dragon Collection Mystic Dragon Collections Fantasy Collections There be Dragons! Fantasy Chest Collections just get away from bill collections blessings kalli
bill110 Posted February 22, 2007 Author Posted February 22, 2007 Thanks for the input. I appreciate all! Changing the name would require domain name change, ssl change, paypal account change. I'm not quite ready for that yet; so billscollections.com will have to stay (for a while anyway). Maybe i'll show up in search engines in the bill collections searches. LOL I'm not just sticking to the categories I have listed at the time so I have to be a little broader in the site name. the background will be changed just not sure to what yet. Thanks to all who suggested it. My Contributions Stylesheet With Descriptions Glassy Grey Boxtops Our Products Meta Tags On The Fly Password Protect Admin "No matter where you go....There you are" - Buccaroo Bonsai
kallista Posted February 22, 2007 Posted February 22, 2007 Thanks for the input. I appreciate all!Changing the name would require domain name change, ssl change, paypal account change. I'm not quite ready for that yet; so billscollections.com will have to stay (for a while anyway). Maybe i'll show up in search engines in the bill collections searches. LOL I'm not just sticking to the categories I have listed at the time so I have to be a little broader in the site name. the background will be changed just not sure to what yet. Thanks to all who suggested it. Bill Yes that would be hard but hey like you said it might draw others to your site too, but i am not sure if people look up bill collectors lol, but i fully understand right now the name is set in stone more or less Good luck on your business i will be looking back from time to time to see what your carrying, like i said i am a dragon fan blessings kalli
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