cottage-rose Posted February 22, 2004 Posted February 22, 2004 We switched from another software to Oscommerce and have seen our orders drop to zero. We had to switch before I was quite ready, due to an annual fee on our current software, so everything is not perfect yet, but we had done extensive testing on the ordering process. I haven't been able to find any problems with our testing, but I just received the following email which has me in a panic. The person has an aol email so they may be using an aol browser and I have no way to test that. I would really appreciate it if I could get some test sign ups. Just let me know that it is a test and I can delete your account. I don't know if it is an Aol browser problem or a site problem, but I am desparate. Here is the email: Dear Shari, I have attempted to log in to your site numerous times but was unable to view any of your products. The screen kept going back to "Log In." I created my password just this morning so I'm not sure why it's not working. Due to my frustration with your website, I will do my online shopping with a different company. Just wanted to make you aware of the problem in case anyone else is experiencing the same problem. ******* Thanks for any help, Shari http://www.cottagerose.com Cottage Rose - Gifts, Crafts and Collectibles
cottage-rose Posted February 23, 2004 Author Posted February 23, 2004 I think we fixed this problem. We had to sign up for aol so we could see what was happening. We changed a setting in the configuration and now it seems to work. It's too bad no one let us know before now that there was a problem. Thanks goodness some one was kind enough to email me today. I still would appreciate it if anyone has a chance to check the site and let us know if there are any other problems. The site is http://www.cottagerose.com Thanks, Shari Cottage Rose - Gifts, Crafts and Collectibles
Guest Posted February 25, 2004 Posted February 25, 2004 hello! nice design, i really like it. but ... orders, something is not right. when i tried to "add to cart" ... nothing happened. the account section works fine for me. check db modifications. all the best, dan
TerryK Posted February 25, 2004 Posted February 25, 2004 Hi Shari, Nice design and color scheme -- a few comments: 1. At 800x600 screen resolution, I had to scroll quite a ways horizontally (about 150px) to view your entire page. 2. Download time on my dialup connection from the boonies was verrrry slow. You might want to consider optimizing your thumbnail images or, if you're having osC create the thumbnails for you, look into one of the separate thumbnail mod's for quicker download times. 3. On create_account_success.php page, you've got a typo. "Priviledges" should be "privileges". 4. Green font for 'Edit' links on checkout_confirmation.php is very difficult to see. Maybe change to a dark purple or another darker color? 5. I was able to successfully create an account, add product to cart (non-AOL dialup account) and proceed through checkout specifying payment by money order. HTH, Terry Terry Kluytmans Contribs Installed: Purchase Without Account (PWA); Big Images, Product Availability, Description in Product Listing, Graphical Infobox, Header Tags Controller, Login Box, Option Type Feature, plus many layout changes & other mods of my own, like: Add order total to checkout_shipment Add order total to checkout_payment Add radio buttons at checkout_shipping (for backorder options, etc.) Duplicate Table Rate Shipping Module Better Product Review Flow * If at first you don't succeed, find out if there's a prize for the loser. *
johnpm Posted February 25, 2004 Posted February 25, 2004 Nice site.... I like the colors you used on your site.. -john
cottage-rose Posted February 25, 2004 Author Posted February 25, 2004 Thanks John, we've been "purple people" for so many years, I don't think I could change. I tried once and got lots of comments, none of them good. ;) ********** Thanks Terry, I appreciate your help. "1. At 800x600 screen resolution, I had to scroll quite a ways horizontally (about 150px) to view your entire page" I guess I don't know how to fix this (big surprise). I thought I had it set so that the screen to resize to the moniter and it does work on my computers. But I don't have any with 800 x 600. I guess I need to know what to do. ************* "2. Download time on my dialup connection from the boonies was verrrry slow. You might want to consider optimizing your thumbnail images or, if you're having osC create the thumbnails for you, look into one of the separate thumbnail mod's for quicker download times." I know this is a problem. My old software used a separate thumbnail. I am going to try one of the mod's, as soon as I can get my son to help me. I seem to be able to break things quite easily. ************** "3. On create_account_success.php page, you've got a typo. "Priviledges" should be "privileges"." I can't seem to find out what file that is coming from. I never changed anything in there, so it must have been in the original or the gremlins did it. ************** "4. Green font for 'Edit' links on checkout_confirmation.php is very difficult to see. Maybe change to a dark purple or another darker color?" I guess I'll have to find that little puppy too. I thought I'd changed every color, guess not. ************** I've also gotten comments about the shopping cart. Since I don't have it set to go to the cart when each item is added, apparently people don't think it has added anything. I don't really want to change that. When you have the cart pop up on the bottom, it says on the top "please log in" to see your shipping. Once people order, they expect to have to give their information but I don't want them to think they have to have an account at first. Our old site had a little pop-up up that said " you just added 1 *** to your cart". You didn't have to click "continue to shop" or anything. Unfortunately, I don't know enough to do anything like that on this one. I don't know if I could make the shopping cart box a different color background or what I could do to change it. I'm way out of my league here. I also seem to have lost the little arrows that were links in the "shopping cart" header and the "specials" header. Sure would like to get them back, if anyone can tell me where and how to do it. I hate to give up on this software and go back to my old cart. I only have about 10% of our items on right now. Our last software couldn't even handle this many and function correctly. We had to eliminate the search for it to work and it didn't keep inventory amounts for the items among other problems. But we did get plenty of sales. There are so many things in Oscommerce that are better, but if I can't get sales that is sort of irrelevant. Thanks again for everyones help, Shari Cottage Rose - Gifts, Crafts and Collectibles
TerryK Posted February 25, 2004 Posted February 25, 2004 "1. At 800x600 screen resolution, I had to scroll quite a ways horizontally (about 150px) to view your entire page" I guess I don't know how to fix this (big surprise). I thought I had it set so that the screen to resize to the moniter and it does work on my computers. But I don't have any with 800 x 600. I guess I need to know what to do. Your 3-column product listings may be affecting this. You could try switching to 2-column and if you want me to check it that way, just let me know. I know this is a problem. My old software used a separate thumbnail. I am going to try one of the mod's, as soon as I can get my son to help me. I seem to be able to break things quite easily. One of the first mod's I installed was the 'Big Images' contribution -- I didn't have too much trouble getting it going. Just make sure you follow the ReadMe instructions carefully. "3. On create_account_success.php page, you've got a typo. "Priviledges" should be "privileges"." I can't seem to find out what file that is coming from. I never changed anything in there, so it must have been in the original or the gremlins did it. Look in /catalog/includes/languages/english/create_account_success.php. Our old site had a little pop-up up that said " you just added 1 *** to your cart". You didn't have to click "continue to shop" or anything. Unfortunately, I don't know enough to do anything like that on this one. I don't know if I could make the shopping cart box a different color background or what I could do to change it. I'm way out of my league here. I don't know if it would make a difference, but what about putting a message in your header file saying "You have 'x' items in your cart." I know I read a post in the last couple of days about an easy way to do that, but don't remember where I saw it, sorry. I hate to give up on this software and go back to my old cart. I only have about 10% of our items on right now. Our last software couldn't even handle this many and function correctly. We had to eliminate the search for it to work and it didn't keep inventory amounts for the items among other problems. But we did get plenty of sales. There are so many things in Oscommerce that are better, but if I can't get sales that is sort of irrelevant. I think the functionality of this cart is awesome, too. Since my new store isn't live yet, I don't know whether my sales will be affected or not. Have you changed the URL of your store from what it used to be? If so, it might be worth using .htaccess to redirect from the old URL to the new. HTH, Terry Terry Kluytmans Contribs Installed: Purchase Without Account (PWA); Big Images, Product Availability, Description in Product Listing, Graphical Infobox, Header Tags Controller, Login Box, Option Type Feature, plus many layout changes & other mods of my own, like: Add order total to checkout_shipment Add order total to checkout_payment Add radio buttons at checkout_shipping (for backorder options, etc.) Duplicate Table Rate Shipping Module Better Product Review Flow * If at first you don't succeed, find out if there's a prize for the loser. *
cottage-rose Posted February 29, 2004 Author Posted February 29, 2004 Thanks Terry, we haven't made all the changes you suggested. I did change the mispelling and resized the floral bar on the front page that was keeping the site wider. I may still change to 2 column, but I also have some very wide photos that I need to change in a couple of categories. We did not change our web site url, just renamed the subdirectory that our old store sent to. We are still having people land on those pages, but we have our error pages redirect to the main url. I am still not getting sales. In the six or more years we have had the site, I have never before had a month with no sales. Actually, I did have two small sales right after I fixed the Aol problem, but nothing since. :( Also Terry, I would like to know what file you changed to change to wording on the account sign up page, particularly the newletter portion. I think part of my problem maybe the "creating an account". Our old site did not require that and I think that may scare our customers away. When we started trying to use Oscommerce, I had installed the "purchase without account". But when we switched to the new Oscommerce, we could never get it to work right. I still would like to know how to get the links back in the header on Shopping Cart and Specials, if anyone knows how. Thanks, Shari Cottage Rose - Gifts, Crafts and Collectibles
TerryK Posted February 29, 2004 Posted February 29, 2004 Also Terry, I would like to know what file you changed to change to wording on the account sign up page, particularly the newletter portion. It's in /catalog/includes/languages/english.php: define('ENTRY_NEWSLETTER', 'Newsletter:'); I think part of my problem maybe the "creating an account". Our old site did not require that and I think that may scare our customers away. When we started trying to use Oscommerce, I had installed the "purchase without account". But when we switched to the new Oscommerce, we could never get it to work right. I'm a little concerned about that, too. My existing store doesn't require account creation either, and since my osC store isn't live yet, I'm not sure how it will go over. I'm going to address any concerns a potential customer may have in the FAQ section of my site (still in progress). I think I might also add a note at the top of the login and create account pages to indicate that a visitor does not need to login or create an account until they're ready to make a purchase. Maybe that will help, too. I've also asked some of my existing customers to test the store before it goes live, and I'll be getting their feedback on the process, too. If they seem to be against it, then I might install the Purchase Without Account module. I still would like to know how to get the links back in the header on Shopping Cart and Specials, if anyone knows how. Do you mean the infobox headers? I use a graphic image for mine, so it won't be the same as yours, but here is the original code (osc2.2-MS2) for the top of the /catalog/includes/boxes/shopping_cart.php file which does include a link -- maybe it will help. (Make a backup before changing!! ) <?php /* $Id: shopping_cart.php,v 1.18 2003/02/10 22:31:06 hpdl Exp $ osCommerce, Open Source E-Commerce Solutions http://www.oscommerce.com Copyright (c) 2003 osCommerce Released under the GNU General Public License */ ?> <!-- shopping_cart //--> <tr> <td> <?php $info_box_contents = array(); $info_box_contents[] = array('text' => BOX_HEADING_SHOPPING_CART); new infoBoxHeading($info_box_contents, false, true, tep_href_link(FILENAME_SHOPPING_CART)); $cart_contents_string = ''; if ($cart->count_contents() > 0) { and here's the original code for the top of the specials.php file: <?php /* $Id: specials.php,v 1.31 2003/06/09 22:21:03 hpdl Exp $ osCommerce, Open Source E-Commerce Solutions http://www.oscommerce.com Copyright (c) 2003 osCommerce Released under the GNU General Public License */ if ($random_product = tep_random_select("select p.products_id, pd.products_name, p.products_price, p.products_tax_class_id, p.products_image, s.specials_new_products_price from " . TABLE_PRODUCTS . " p, " . TABLE_PRODUCTS_DESCRIPTION . " pd, " . TABLE_SPECIALS . " s where p.products_status = '1' and p.products_id = s.products_id and pd.products_id = s.products_id and pd.language_id = '" . (int)$languages_id . "' and s.status = '1' order by s.specials_date_added desc limit " . MAX_RANDOM_SELECT_SPECIALS)) { ?> <!-- specials //--> <tr> <td> <?php $info_box_contents = array(); $info_box_contents[] = array('text' => BOX_HEADING_SPECIALS); new infoBoxHeading($info_box_contents, false, false, tep_href_link(FILENAME_SPECIALS)); $info_box_contents = array(); $info_box_contents[] = array('align' => 'center', HTH, Terry Terry Kluytmans Contribs Installed: Purchase Without Account (PWA); Big Images, Product Availability, Description in Product Listing, Graphical Infobox, Header Tags Controller, Login Box, Option Type Feature, plus many layout changes & other mods of my own, like: Add order total to checkout_shipment Add order total to checkout_payment Add radio buttons at checkout_shipping (for backorder options, etc.) Duplicate Table Rate Shipping Module Better Product Review Flow * If at first you don't succeed, find out if there's a prize for the loser. *
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