ihula
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posted on August 18, 2003 05:33:27 PM new
Ok, as some of you may know I have been working on my website forever. I changed a lot of it (most of it) and the shopping cart isn't installed yet, and I still have some catagories to add pictures/descriptions to. I don't have all the products in stock yet. So anyway, constructive critisism is welcome (please be kind)
http://www.thedealwheel.com/
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Fenix03
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posted on August 18, 2003 06:02:06 PM new
First - I'm glad you gave up the spinning color wheel - it was a little kitchy for me. I like the look, it's clean with good neutral colors, the only thing I see is that your pages may be set a little wide.
One of the things that web surfers hate the most is having to scroll left or right when viewing pages. I'm on a 17" monitor and had to scroll to get the full page image.
As far as appearance and ease of navigation I think you did a great job.
~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~
If it's really Common Sense, why do so few people actually have it?
[ edited by Fenix03 on Aug 18, 2003 06:02 PM ]
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akmcmc1
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posted on August 18, 2003 06:11:47 PM new
Hi ihula,
I just checked it out and it looks great!
I didn't have to scroll. I'm on a 17" also and it fit just fine. Maybe my settings are higher? (smaller???....not sure which is correct here???)
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TheFamilyBiz
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posted on August 18, 2003 06:19:24 PM new
Very nice, Ihula. Might I suggest writing up a nice copyright page and another one for your privacy statement? It's something that all the big guys do and it helps set you apart from the amateurs. Neither have to be that intense, it would just show that you are a pro and care about your customers.
As was said before, nice and clear navigation and that's better than most right off the bat. You can tell you've put some good thought into this.
Wayne
Trying to Make a Difference - One Satisfied Customer at a Time....
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neroter12
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posted on August 18, 2003 06:21:23 PM new
Ihula: Think you did a fine job with that website!
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Fenix03
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posted on August 18, 2003 06:35:21 PM new
PLeae ignore the scrolling issue - I forgot that I have my browser window butted up against my dock (Mac program icon organizing system) on the right side of my screen - once I closed that and opened the window up all the way I had no scrolling issues.
~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~
If it's really Common Sense, why do so few people actually have it?
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ihula
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posted on August 18, 2003 06:44:50 PM new
Oh good, thanks for letting me know. I was worried about that (scrolling issue). I never thought of a privacy statement or copyright "thingy". I'll try to work something like that in somewhere.
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rarriffle
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posted on August 19, 2003 02:51:00 AM new
ihula,
great job. i have a 15" monitor and I had to take off my favorites to get the whole screen, but no problem there. the colors are a great choice, very soothing and easy on the eye. can't wait for the tiki and hawaiian items to be added. I don't collect, just want to see what you have.
Good Luck!
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tonimar1
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posted on August 19, 2003 05:39:05 AM new
Hi ihula
Your doing a great Job with Your web site, I love the soft color combination, I find that it's easy to navigate, clearly set up and just a wonderful site to visit.
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ihula
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posted on August 19, 2003 08:50:04 AM new
Thanks everyone! My Hawaiian supplier hasn't even charged my credit card for the items I ordered, but hopefully he will ship them soon. I'm anxious to get it up and running. I should be going back to work soon after my back surgery (I see the doctor tomorrow) and my goal was to get this done while I was off of work. Once I'm back I'll have to finish it up on a weekend.
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AuctionAce
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posted on August 19, 2003 09:51:53 AM new
Looks good to me, nice job and good luck.
I have an old Gateway 31" monitor and have to scroll on everything on the internet because it only accept the lowest resolution.
-------------- sig file ----------- He who angers you controls you
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Japerton
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posted on August 19, 2003 04:38:22 PM new
Great!!!
J
~~~~~~~~~~~**~~~~~~~~~~~
All the monkeys aren't in the zoo,
Every day you meet quite a few,
So you see it's all up to you.
You can be better than you are,
You could be swingin' on a star
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Keifer27
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posted on August 19, 2003 05:22:56 PM new
Great looking site. The colors are easy on the eyes and it is easy to navigate. Good Luck!
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photosensitive
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posted on August 19, 2003 07:12:36 PM new
ihula,
I did not see your last version but this one looks clean and easy to navigate. I did notice one thing that may not show on your computer if your default font is verdana or one of the other san-serif fonts. The last item in your left navigation "Tiki & Hawaiiana" is not the same font or size as the other items in the list. I took a look at your source code and the font face on the last item is "veranda" not "verdana". Nice place to have a Mia-tai but not any help in specifying a font.
I keep my default font set for times so I will notice in case I forget to set the font for san-serif when that is what I want. If you have a san-serif default it will not look wrong but will be very different for anyone with times for a default.
I showed your site to my sister who collects and sells tiki and hula girls and boys. She is very excited to see your site when you are ready to open.
Good luck with your project.
-----o----o----o----o----o----o----o----o
The illiterate of the future will be the person ignorant of the use of the camera as well as of the pen.
Maholy-Nagy, Vision in Motion, 1947
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Twelvepole
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posted on August 19, 2003 07:36:26 PM new
Looks nice!
Job well done...
AIN'T LIFE GRAND...
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AuctionAce
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posted on August 19, 2003 08:48:36 PM new
The s/h on those golf club sets is going to be a tad high I'd imagine if your in Hawaii? I always feel sorry for the Hawaiian and Alaskans when shipping costs are involved.
-------------- sig file ----------- He who angers you controls you
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ihula
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posted on August 20, 2003 04:55:30 AM new
I'm not in Hawaii, but if I have to send them to Hawaii it runs about $25.00. I've shipped them to Italy already and that was $35.00.
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ihula
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posted on August 20, 2003 05:44:07 AM new
Photosensitive - thank you so much for noticing the font problem! That drove me buggy for hours and I kept previewing and changing all the fonts and I couldn't get that last one to match up (now I know why  )
Edited to add I fixed it and published the fixed one to the web. I also made the pictures on the home page "linkable" in case people try to use those as hyperlinks.
[ edited by ihula on Aug 20, 2003 05:56 AM ]
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usmarines
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posted on August 20, 2003 08:21:34 AM new
Hi ihula:
Your web site looks great! There is no right way or wrong way to create an eCommerce Site. However there are a few General Principles or Guidelines.
Good luck on your visit to your doctor and your up coming surgery!
There are a few improvements you could add and some they have been mentioned earlier.
1.- Privacy Statement.
2.- Copyright Notices on all pages.
3.- About Us Page
4.- Feedback Page
5.- My eBay Auctions
6.- Shipping, Sales Tax, Return Policy . . . Pages
Shopping carts, there is a variety of free shopping cards in the web, you don't have to confine yourself to PayPal. Click here: Free Shopping Carts
The Title on the Thumbnails should be brief and to the point. The extended description belong with the link of the full size image. Click here: Celebrity Thumbnails and Click here: Celebrity Descriptions
If you going to have a large inventory, you may want to look into NetObjects Fusion 7.5 at $163.95 and the upgrade at $69.95 is even a better buy, since you can use a database to create Stack Pages for your catalog and use some of the other eCommerce Tools. You need to create one Template and all the product pages will use the same templete. There is also a tool to create thumbnail. Click here: NetObjects Fusion 7.5
I use NOF 7.5 and I find it to save me a lot of time. Our product inventory, each category contains 100s of items. I don't have a financial interest on NOF.
Wishing you a succesful surgery and a speedy recovery!
[ edited by usmarines on Aug 20, 2003 08:28 AM ]
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Fenix03
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posted on August 20, 2003 09:09:24 AM new
Wow - i have not heard anyone mention NOF in a very long time. I bought it on the recomendation of my hosting company (or was it my tech, I don't remember now) back at version 2.0 - I never did get it figured out. Right now I use GoLive and Dreamweaver - (Started with GoLive prior to the Adobe purchase and still pop back to it when I can't accomplish what I want to do with Dreamweaver).
I'm computer manual challenged, I just futz around and figure things out and NOF was not a futzing friendly program for me. Dw is somewhat futzing friendly - GoLive is very friendly.
Before you select a free shopping cart - PLEASE check out other sites that use the script. I have been cruising a lot of ecommerce sites lately with some horrible shopping carts. Some of the carts are very clunky, slow moving, and unfriendly.
I've noticed that a lot of people are using what I assume are supposed to be very cool java applets but the only thing they did was strand me on a page that would not complete loading. Thats one way to guarantee a no purchase visit with no returns. (Hula - this absolutely does not apply to your site - I just mention it because other read these boards)
~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~
Men Are Like Grapes. If You Stomp on Them and Keep Them in the Dark Long Enough, They Might Turn Into Something That You Would Take to Dinner
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sun818
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posted on August 20, 2003 09:20:05 AM new
Here is a free Private Policy Generator
http://www.the-dma.org/privacy/creating.shtml
[ edited by sun818 on Aug 20, 2003 09:20 AM ]
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ihula
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posted on August 20, 2003 09:46:10 AM new
Thanks Everyone! I use Fatcow for web-hosting and it includes a shopping cart, but if it's difficult to figure out I'll look into other ones. I actually had my back surgery 6 weeks ago - today was my follow-up appointment. My MRI that I had last week still shows a lot of swelling, so he's going to try 2 epidural injections to see if that makes me more comfortable. In the meantime I'm still off of work for 6 more weeks. I haven't called my job yet - if they don't let me off for that long without jeopardizing my position I may go back sooner if the doctor will let me. I have such a wonderful job in the real world I don't want to risk losing it.
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Fenix03
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posted on August 20, 2003 09:56:43 AM new
Hula - sounds like you RL job really is a great one - assuming of course that your back problems are not the result of an on the job accident and they are trying to avoid a law suit 
Hope the new treatment works. If nothing else, think of all the surfing for new suppliers and spamming of relevent boards you can do in six weeks
~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~
Men Are Like Grapes. If You Stomp on Them and Keep Them in the Dark Long Enough, They Might Turn Into Something That You Would Take to Dinner
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ihula
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posted on August 20, 2003 10:10:38 AM new
Actually I think my back injury is partly because of hula dancing (it started bothering me last October after a weekend seminar) and then it because much worse after carrying in a large video order off the truck last January - so it's secondary work related. Think ebay has workman's comp?
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Dragonmom
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posted on August 20, 2003 10:23:30 AM new
ihula, I managed to create a storefront using osCommerce. If that's what your host has, and if you want to try it- I would be willing to help you to the best of my abilities. I won't kid you it took hundreds of butt-flattening hours...
but i learned some tricks since then.
my site is at www.dragonmother.com
you are welcome to email me to talk!
"And All Shall be Well, and All Shall be Well, and All Manner of Things Shall be Well"
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usmarines
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posted on August 20, 2003 10:24:18 AM new
Thanks Sun818, that is a great resource!
Fenix03, I have been using NOF, since version 4.0; I have also used Adobe GoLive since 4.0, also. I find NOF 7.5 a great improvement of the earlier version. If you want a comprehensive How To Books on NOF, you may want to read Web Designer's Guide to NetObjects Fusion by Thimothy Webster & Mike Barrs, Hayden Books; my favorite is Laura Lemay's Web Workshop, NetObjects Fusion, Sam's Publishing.
If anyone knows of any Free or Low Price great Shopping Cart, Password Gates, Feedback Boards or Web site Search engines to Search your products please share with us. We all will appreciate your help.
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Dragonmom
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posted on August 20, 2003 10:45:58 AM new
well, as I said, I like the osCommerce software. there's a loaded version, too called osCMs2MAX
You can download it from http://aabox.com/ms2-max.html
"And All Shall be Well, and All Shall be Well, and All Manner of Things Shall be Well"
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TheFamilyBiz
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posted on August 20, 2003 10:59:24 AM new
DragonMom -- There's a bad link on your site - linking to your eBay About Me page... You should check that post haste!
Also, the link in your post has added Vendio.com info before your URL.
Like the site, though.
Wayne
Trying to Make a Difference - One Satisfied Customer at a Time....
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Fenix03
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posted on August 20, 2003 11:00:15 AM new
Dragon - That's a beautiful site - and some gorgeous stuff too. Have you checked out the Goth and Wiccan niche auction sites? They might be a good outlet for youto spread the word on your products. They really are striking.
Marine - I have one of LMs books, problem is that I can't read computer computer books. Don't ask why, I just get lost. I've been doing this for over half my life and have never been able to really get anythingform the books. I just play alot and learn from that. I occasionally hit up my GoLive book when I need to do something specific but I think I had the program for a year before I opened the book the first time. The thing I like about LMs book are the accompaning disks. I find aspects I like, grab the source code and then just start customizing to my needs.
BTW - did you ever try Adobe's initial romp into WYSIWYG programs, PageMill? Now that one was a horror story all its own!
~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~
Men Are Like Grapes. If You Stomp on Them and Keep Them in the Dark Long Enough, They Might Turn Into Something That You Would Take to Dinner
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Dragonmom
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posted on August 20, 2003 11:26:39 AM new
wierd link! let's try it again-
http://www.dragonmother.com/
and thanks for telling me about the broken link on my first page, that's because I changed my ebay ID and forgot about that link.
My original site was created on *shudder* netscape composer. For Mac.
I figured the simplest possible composer would cerate the most universal viewing experience. For my new site I mostly used an html editor and trial-and-error, why am I so stubborn! LOL
Oscommerce has a very large and friendly community to go to, for help. I couldn't have done it without them.
I used to sell on some of the pagan auction sites but lately I have had a zero% sellthrough, the hits are low and the fees are high. When I have some advertising money I will buy banners on them, more people will see those than the auctions. Just make sure your about me page on ebay sends visitors to your website!
"And All Shall be Well, and All Shall be Well, and All Manner of Things Shall be Well"
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