Critique Please?

[jilmarieaz]

Well it has taken some time and a few scary moments but I've gotten my osc shop up and running. Still have a few things I plan to work on but I'm very happy with the design (thank you Gary Club osCommerce). I'd appreciate any suggestions on the site.

www.sensationsporthorses.com/shop

Jill

[lindsayanng]

you need to have powerd by oscommerce in your footer to get feedback

[jilmarieaz]

you need to have powerd by oscommerce in your footer to get feedback

Okay - it is added. Any suggestions?

Jill

[DataMouse]

I have deja vu...

;)

 

1. Product images are distorted. See "Zonk It! By: Cut Heal, Travel Size 2oz." image (http://www.sensationsporthorses.com/shop/images/samles.jpg). The image holder is 150x150, but your actual image is 400x400px. osCommerce will squish it into the holder, which makes it look all funny.

Upload your images to match the holder size (which you can set in admin).

 

2. Product description images. Once you have the thumbnails correct (as described above), get yourself a contribution that allows you to have a different enlarged view. You can also use Lightbox, which is a nice feature to make your site look more professionl. Check out a working example at my store (http://www.datamouse.biz/catalog)

 

3. SEO URLs contribution. Slap it on. Will really help with people searching for your stuff.

 

4. Header Tags for SEO. Slap it on, too. Allows you to add <title> elements and meta descriptions to your products. Again, great for search engines.

 

5. Search results. It looks like you have a high limit on your search results. This means that when you search or go into a category, you get all products in that category on one page. This is fine if you have 5 or 6 products. However, horse halters has 17 - and my finger is stil aching from scrolling to the bottom of your page. You can set this value in admin (max values, i believe). If there are too many results, osC will put in a "page 2" (etc) option for you.

 

6. Button styles. Your Buy Nowbuttons are blue with a gradient and web 2.0 stripes. But your Continue/checkout/update etc buttons are bright yellow - which doesn't seem to fit with either the blue of the buy now, or the "leather"/brown feel of the rest of the site.

 

7. The site is not in your root. You have a splash screen at http://www.sensationsporthorses.com/

I'd scrap this and redirect straightinto your store. Splash screen add an unneccesary click for customers to get into your store; and you don't want that to be too hard...

 

8. Pink text on white background is a bit hard to read. Maybe "brown" it up a bit ;)

 

That should help to get you started.

[Guest]

I'm sorry, I just really don't like either the design or colors. You need to take the shades from your header logo. The stripes are not complimentary, and the other colors are just too 'off'. You need ssl as well.

[jilmarieaz]

I'm sorry, I just really don't like either the design or colors. You need to take the shades from your header logo. The stripes are not complimentary, and the other colors are just too 'off'. You need ssl as well.

I actually really like the design but will consider your comments. Any other advice from a sales or performance perspective?

jil

[lindsayanng]

you might be best off having some kind of dynamic menu for your categories.. the one that is there is just not attractive.. either a CSS fly out or drop down. or even a plain one that has some more style.. but what you have now is pretty ugly.. it might bring your site together more if you choose the right colors and style.

 

You should add a Favicon.. the little image that shows in the browsers.. I like those and always get annoyed with sites that dont have them

 

Your buttons dont even come CLOSE to matching.. the big blue buy now looks like you took it off of a website that it shoudlny have been taken form because it has the cursor on it.

 

You took time trying to make your site colors match, why did you give up with the buttons?? Do them yourself to get a consistent look

 

your product info pages need work. they are all over the place, the color of the text at the top doesnt look right at all (the orange) and your price is super small, nothing looks like it belongs together.. it looks like a mish mash of stuff on one page

 

That should get you started..

 

Use these sites for inspiration, they are your competitors. You need to ask yourself, what would make someone buy from me instead of them..

jeffs equine supplies

Horse.com

kyhorse (this one isnt even that great lookign but the organization is good.

[Andrew Yuen]

Site Review for: All Things Hourse and Hound

 

I suggest that you install the Search engine friendly URL module. Search engine friendly URL's convert your store URL's from:

http://www.yoursite.com/product_info.php?c...p;products_id=1

to:

http://www.yoursite.com/Hardware/Graphics-...atrox-G200-MMS/

This allows search engine spiders to craw your website easily converting convoluted PHP extensions to URL's that are rich in keywords. For more information please visit the link below:

http://addons.oscommerce.com/info/2823

 

It is important to make sure that each product info page contains unique Meta descriptions and keywords for each product. Although what you place in the Meta keywords tag and Meta description tag does not give any weight in the ranking algorithms of Google, it may affect what appears in Search Engine Result Pages (SERPs). For more information please visit the link below:

http://addons.oscommerce.com/info/2714

 

Consider your Title Tag as a representation of your core keywords of the most important services and offerings. Make sure that your core keywords stand out in the title of your index page before anything else. Always remember to utilize the title tag on each individual URL for its specific keyword(s) and keyword phrases.

 

Alt tags are important because:

Some of the web users cannot see images, be they blind (convert text to speech or Braille output), color-blind, low-sighted etc. The alt attribute gives them an idea of what's on the page.

Search engines do index alt attributes as well. Make sure each image on your store contains relavent alt tags.

 

A site map makes it easier for indexing spiders to find all of the content on your site. Search engine spiders or bots have a hard time following links that use JavaScript, like mouseovers. A site map with a collection of plain text links to all pages can make it easier for more pages of a site to be included in a search engine index. Consider installing the following module:

http://addons.oscommerce.com/info/2208

 

Acceptable forms of payment should be clearly displayed on your store to let customers know exactly what forms of payment are accepted. This may include displaying credit card, Google Checkout or Paypal logos. This information should preferably be displayed in the footer. However, under certain circumstances when site pages are too long this information should be displayed within an infobox. See the following module for instructions on how to create a Credit Card Payment Logo Box:

http://addons.oscommerce.com/info/5413

 

Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) is a commonly-used protocol for managing the security of a message transmission on the Internet. SSL should be installed for all osCommerce stores because every osCommerce store handles sensitive client information (contact, billing and shipping information). For more information on SSL installation please contact your hosting provider. A SSL logo should be clearly displayed (in your footer or an infobox) so that customers know that your store is taking measures to protect their personal information.

 

Information pages should contain the appropriate information related to the store and not be left with the default placeholder text. This information not only protects you but protects your customers.

The information pages include:

- Shipping and Returns

- Privacy Notice

- Terms and Conditions

 

 

The provided osCommerce counter is not accurate and counts page refreshes as new visitors. For more accurate user statistics it is suggest that you refer to AWStats if provided by your hosting company. In addition, consider signing up for Google Analytics.

 

I suggest removing the product count from your categories infobox. The product count slows down your website's loading time and are generally unnecessary. In addition, if your categories infobox contain (->) arrows, I suggest that these also be removed.

 

The standard format for US addresses is: Street Address, City, State, Post Code, and Country. I suggest that you move the Post Code field below the State/Province field on both the signup and address book entry edit page. (create_account.php, address_book_process.php).

 

A Completely Automated Public Turing test to tell Computers and Humans Apart (CAPTCHA) is a type of challenge-response test used in computing to determine whether the user is human. The main purpose of CAPTCHA is to prevent spam. I suggest installing this module. In addition, if your contact us page contains email addresses, consider removing them. For more information please visit the link below:

http://addons.oscommerce.com/info/4960

 

I suggest switching to an Amazon style login example here: https://www.amazon.com/gp/sign-in.html This form of login in my opinion is very familiar to many online shoppers. For more information please visit the link below:

http://addons.oscommerce.com/info/2073

 

 

Comments:

 

A very simple design which is a positive. I would suggest adding a logo to your banner. I do not agree with the diagonal stripes in your header (consider removing, it gives me a headache) The Buy Now button on your product info page is very big and takes too much screen real estate (consider shrinking). Also placing a cursor within your image may confuse customers. All of the white corners are not showing up when you click to enlarge photo. SSL should be installed since your website is storing personal information such as address and password info.

 

 

Andrew's Overall Score:

48/100 = 48%

[php_Guy]

It is pretty stock but I like the look.

 

First off, if you haven't already, immediately install all these security mods!

 

It could use a bit more whitespace between boxes in the sidebar.

 

The category names are underlined and have -> after them. Most people understand links and don't need the underlines and they won't know what the -> means anyway so I'd remove both. It will clean up the look. In fact, you could remove underlines from all links throughout the site and change the link color to a shade of brown that matches your site. A bit of color wouldn't hurt.

 

Users don't care how many hits you've had and should already know what day it is. I've always thought it looks unprofessional to have those in the footer.

 

Your thumbnails look better than most but they are still a bit grainy. Imo, thumbnails are one of the most important aspects of your site and they should be as enticing as you can make them.

 

I really like the addition of the image in the text on the home page. Many people just throw a paragraph up there. The image really adds a nice look.

 

A vertical line seperating the sidebar from the product listings would look good. Throw a <div style="border-left: 1px solid #000000;"> ... </div> around the content area for that. (or border-right around sidebar)

 

hth

[jilmarieaz]

Okay a lot of great advise and the last few posts are really packed with information - much appreicated. So many many questions. Don't think my skill level is up to this yet but I'll give it a try. Can anyone offere programming services for osc?

 

What page (and how) do I alter the -> to get rid of it and also how do I add 1.5 spacing for the menu? For the verticle line spacing on the side bar again what page do i need to add the code to?

How to I change the buttons or add a button set - again what page.

My primary problem is that osc has so many pages and I'm not at all sure of what goes where.

How would I change to an amazon style check out?

How do I add the payments accepted logos?

Basically questions on everything. Like I said skill level zilch

Anyone able to help?

Jill

[lindsayanng]

instead of getting rid of the -> go to addons.oscommece.com and search flyout CSS menu. it will give you a menu just lke the one of my site my store

 

That will make a BIG difference and your customers with slow internet will thank you.. its also really super easy to install..

 

If you wanto learn what goes where, look in my signature and click the link that says OSCOMMERCE ROADMAP FOR NEWBIES

 

You need to add contributions for everything you want to add.. so search addons.oscomemrce.com for anything you dont know how to do.. then download the package and read the instructions.

[jilmarieaz]

Regarding SSL -

Which is needed?

My site lists -

Private Keys (KEY)

Certificate Signing Requests (CSR)

Certificates (CRT)

 

Jill

[lindsayanng]

You just need a basic SSL (secure socket layer) which usually can be obtained through your host. You can usually get a FREE shared one, where your url will change to your hostsname.com/yourdomain (but customers never leave your site) OR you can get a private one where the url never changes for usually $50 a year..

[jilmarieaz]

Lindsay, like the fly out menu on your site. Can you advise which contribution you used. I found 2 under fly-out but the one that appears to be what your speaking of says for osc 1.1.

jill

[lindsayanng]

I used this one

CSS MENU

 

SUPER SUPER easy.. i installed V .3 though.. not the most recent but it was the last update from the original coder, which is usually the best to use..

[jilmarieaz]

Okay, downloaded your version but only problem is that I can't find a file named categories_css.php, only a categories.php in includes/boxes. Where should that file be?

jill

[lindsayanng]

there is an actual file in the contribution that you will upload and use inplace of the categories.php.. So you go to your FTP program and to go the catalog/includes/boxes folder and click PUT and then when that brings up the file browser, you go to the contribution folder and open the catalog/includes/boxes folder and choose the categories_css.php file and put it there.

 

then all you have to do is make a few quick changes to one more file and you should be done..

 

its all in the instructions

[jilmarieaz]

Yeah Lindsay, I did it without killing the site. Thank you very much for the specific help and your road map.

jill

[lindsayanng]

that looks MUCH better.. totally changes the look of your site (for the better!)

 

AND its SEO friendly..

 

Have you considered spook's contribution called Product Listing Thumbnail Enhancements? Its another thing that can help take your site AWAY from the stock oscommerce loook.. once you get that installed, add some new buttons and graphics, you will be on the right track

[jilmarieaz]

I'll try that - thanks again Lindsay for walking me through that

Jill

[jilmarieaz]

>>>Go into admin>configuration>FWR Security Pro and turn it on .. (set to true).

 

I've attempted to install Security Pro and the install seemed easy but even though i see the file secruity pro in my catalog I cannot find it in the admin under config. Do I need to do something special for it to run/work?

Jill

[jilmarieaz]

Update, Changed buttons and I've added the favicon - fun. I've also requested the SSL. And I've tried to install the security pro contribution but when installed I get a display error on my front page at the Featured Products area saying something like can't divide by 0 over several lines. So I'm assuming that it is a problem with the FP box or code. Any suggestions for this? Also when i installed the security pro should I have just uploaded the security "install" to catalog and then nothing else? Or do I have to do something with the install once it is there. The install says it will run and change the admin but no changes added to the admin. Can anyone help with this?