Test site up and would lie you views

[darrentickle]

Hi

I have now got to a stage where I'm in the process of testing my site in various browser and operating systems. I would really appreciate any input that any one can give me, as this is my first site using Actinic, and it would be great to get some input from more experienced users.

The url of the site is: http://www.djwade.com/acatalog/test/

Cheers

Darren

[fleetwood]

Hi Darren

First impressions:

NIce clean layout. Found navigation, products, help all very intuitive - fast, no fuss, everything worked first time.

Colour scheme is spot on

Especially liked the seperate help sections, rather than the more standard T&C, and also thought the featured products list works very well.

All in in, a top notch site.

Good luck.

Martin

[darrentickle]

Hi Martin

Thanks for the feedback. It's taken a lot longer then I thought but I'm hoping it's worth it. I'm glad you find the layout clean and clear and the navigation not to fuss. I think after your work on something for to long you don't see the faults in it.

Thanks once again.

Darren

[pinbrook]

All in all a nice site, my comments are my preferences - the site is good as it is, but here's a few ideas

The product pages work well. when they are filled with products the colour combo works.

I think I'd like to see 6 boxes on the index page to lift it and also to balance it. Your left and right columns are of differing lengths. Having 6 boxes would make it look better.

Personally I hate sites on 1024 which bunch up to the left and top. I would center the table which holds the site (act_primart).

On the products see if you can line up the add to cart button with the quantity

[darrentickle]

Thanks for the comments. On the index page I'm going to add 3 top products which I think will enhance the homepage and also make the page more dynamic. I also agree with about the centering the whole page but wasn’t 100% sure about it, but I think I'll give it another go and see what it is like. As to the basket button being more aligned, I just don't seem to be able to do it, and I have looked at it for ages and got no further. Does anybody have a sugestion about how to do this?

Cheers

Darren

[imis]

Hi,

I agree - nice clean layout and navigation.

If I were being really picky though:

1. Link back to home page from logo in header doesn't seem to work.

2. Section images link to individual ranges (e.g. Birthday for Her) but we have to click on the More Info.. link to get to the actual product - clicking on the product image should also take you to the product for consistency.

3. Alignment between Qty box and Add to Basket button on product page could be better.

4. Bottom left (Accessibility, Access Keys etc) tight against the left margin - could do with a little space before the text begins.

5. Perhaps offering some free e-cards may help to promote your site?

Just some thoughts.

Well done.

IMIS

[darrentickle]

Hi

Just want to say thanks for all these comments they have been realy useful.

I have made some of the changes and I do think this has improved the site. I'm still having issue with the button alignment and just don't seem to be able to work out how to do it????

I think also the link back to the homepage will work fine once the site has gone live.

Once again thanks for taking the time to view the site.

Cheers

Darren

[pinbrook]

An idea for the add to cart alignment -

add some transparant background to the top of the image so the size of the image pushes it down abit

[darrentickle]

I'll try that out tommorow. Thanks for the suggestion.

Cheers

Darren

[imis]

You may also want to try putting each element in it's own table cell and setting the cell vertical alignment to middle.

Cheers

IMIS

[darrentickle]

I'm trying to limit the amount of tables and using postioning to control most things. I haven't quite got their yet.

Cheers

Darren

[siwalker]

Darren,
Looks superb - but note that the home page could do with a title - just says 'Home' at the moment.
Can I ask if you used an Actinic Theme or rolled your own? I like your navigation layout but haven't found anything like that within Actinic.

Cheers,
simon

[darrentickle]

Hi Simon

Thanks for the feedback. I think I need to change all the page titles, but haven't got around to it yet., it's one of those jobs that I need to do.

I did started off with a theme to get me going but then completely wrote a new one to get this look.

If you need some help let me know, just to let you know that in the end I did have to hard code most of my links as I want to use access keys on them.

Cheers

Darren