Design & Development
The nuts and bolts of an ecommerce site are design and development. We address design innovation and trends — including layouts, colors, photography, logos, video, and more. We explain the basics of code — HTML, CSS, JavaScript — as well as platforms, themes, plugins, open source, and related topics.
Code | Design & Dev Tools | Platforms & Apps | Schools & Resources | Typography & Fonts | User Experience-
Code
9 CSS Codes that Ecommerce Merchants Need to Know
February 10, 2011 • PEC Staff
Although CSS code is more complicated than HTML, it ultimately gives merchants much more flexibility in formatting and style for websites. Just a rudimentary understanding of cascading style sheets can open up new possibilities for the way text and images function on your site. Embed ph...
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Schools & Resources
Reading List: ChannelAdvisor CEO Scot Wingo
February 9, 2011 • PEC Staff
In “Reading List,” we ask ecommerce professionals to name some of their favorite recent books and blogs and tell us why they read them. For this installment, we corresponded with ...
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Design & Development
17 Solutions to Build Your Own Mobile App
February 8, 2011 • PEC Staff
You don’t have to be a web developer to build your own mobile app for your site. If your budget does not allow for a full custom app or you just want to try a mobile app on for size and test the app marketplace, these app building tools will help you get up and running. Non-developers,...
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Platforms & Apps
Google Chrome Links to New Web App Store
February 7, 2011 • Armando Roggio
Google recently announced several changes to version 9 of its popular Chrome browser, including closer ties to a web store featuring products that blur the line between websites and web applications further and give ecommerce marketers a new sales channel. Google has said in the past t...
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Design & Development
Google Docs Adds Capabilities for Mobile Users
February 2, 2011 • Jeff Muendel
Google announced in Sept. 2010 that it would add editing capabilities to Google Docs for the iPad, iPhone, and Android. By allowing users to collaborate and co-edit documents and files from a wider range of devices, the users will no longer need to rely on third party apps like Quickoff...
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Schools & Resources
Reading List: Adyen CEO Peter Caparso
February 2, 2011 • PEC Staff
In “Reading List,” we ask ecommerce professionals to name some of their favorite recent books and blogs and tell us why they read them. In this installment, we spoke to ...
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Design & Development
21 Ecommerce Apps for iPhone, Android and BlackBerry
February 1, 2011 • PEC Staff
Ecommerce business owners can use mobile apps to help run a website. Whether you are interested in blogging, social networking, marketing, customer support or even design and development, there is a mobile app tool for just about anything an ecommerce website may need. I looked at the ...
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Platforms & Apps
Firefox 4.1 Will Shun Tracking
January 31, 2011 • Armando Roggio
A personal privacy organization praised new features in several leading browsers last week, singling out the forthcoming Firefox 4.1 as the leader in personal privacy. This latest chapter in the effort to inhibit online tracking may also affect some personalization and behavior driven t...
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Design & Development
PCI Council General Manager Bob Russo
January 27, 2011 • Kerry Murdock
Most merchants like the idea of the credit card industry policing itself, versus lawmakers getting involved. PCI Security Standards Council is the industry’s attempt to do just that. But how ...
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Schools & Resources
Reading List: Zoovy CEO Brian Horakh
January 26, 2011 • PEC Staff
In “Reading List,” we ask ecommerce professionals to name some of their favorite recent books and blogs and tell us why they read them. In this installment, we corresponded with ...
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Code
9 HTML Codes that Ecommerce Merchants Should Know
January 25, 2011 • PEC Staff
Running an ecommerce store can mean wearing many hats. Occasionally, that means dropping in some HTML code into your site. Just a rudimentary understanding of HTML can open new worlds for your website.
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Platforms & Apps
$5 Marketing, with Fiverr.com
January 24, 2011 • Armando Roggio
How you market your ecommerce business in 2011 may be different than how you marketed in 2010, or before. Unique sites like Fiverr are enabling edgy, entertaining, and engaging ways to reach new customers. On Fiverr, individuals post listings describing what they would do for $5. It's ...
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Platforms & Apps
Google Chrome Will Drop H.264 Codec, Impacting Future of Video
January 18, 2011 • Armando Roggio
Google announced last week that forthcoming versions of its increasingly popular Chrome browser would drop support for the patent-entangled H.264 video codec, potentially making HTML5 more open and available, but also challenging competitors like Apple, which is closely tied to H.264. ...
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Design & Development
The PEC Review: A Pen and Touch Pad to Supplement a Mouse
January 17, 2011 • Armando Roggio
The monitor, keyboard, and mouse are the three most ubiquitous computer peripherals. In fact, it would be hard to image using a computer without them. But consider that prior to the invention of the mouse, most folks thought only of using keyboards or punch cards. So just as the mouse ...
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Design & Development
How to Embed Photos and Slideshows from Picasa, Flickr and Photobucket
January 13, 2011 • PEC Staff
Photographs enhance an ecommerce site. Photos can feature products, customers or even a company's staff. Photos can personalize a site and increase ecommerce sales. But, depending on a merchant's ecommerce platform, photos can be tricky to upload and limited in their location, quantity...
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Design & Development
Mobile Compatibility: How to Test a Website for Mobile Browsers
January 5, 2011 • PEC Staff
Mobile commerce is here and with it comes a steady stream of new mobile browsers. There are device-specific browsers like the BlackBerry browser, Android’s browser and Palm’s WebOS browser. There ...
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Schools & Resources
Reading List: RevenueExpect CEO Josh Pierry
January 4, 2011 • PEC Staff
In “Reading List,” we ask ecommerce professionals to name some of their favorite books and blogs and tell us why they read them. In this installment, we spoke to Josh ...
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Design & Dev Tools
The PEC Review: Try Netgear’s Stora for Small-System Backups
January 3, 2011 • Armando Roggio
Managing an online retail business, even a very small one, can be more labor intensive than some might imagine. Even in the smallest of sole proprietorships, there is accounting to be done; state sales tax to be collected, reported, and paid; vendor price lists to keep track of; a webs...
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User Experience
Optimizing an Ecommerce Site for Mobile Devices, Part 3: Design and Compatibility
December 28, 2010 • PEC Staff
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Business
Microsoft Announces Major Vulnerability in All IE Browsers
December 28, 2010 • Armando Roggio
Microsoft announced a major vulnerability in all versions of the popular Internet Explorer (IE) web browsers that makes it possible for malicious websites to hijack a visitor's computer. Microsoft said that it did not believe that any serious criminals were either using or previously w...
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Platforms & Apps
Cart Talk: BetterWorldBooks.com Exec on Custom ASP.net Shopping Cart
December 24, 2010 • PEC Staff
Merchants have almost 600 online shopping carts to choose from, including hosted carts, licensed carts and open-sourced carts. Each week in “Cart Talk” we interview a merchant that uses a ...
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Schools & Resources
Reading List: LimitedPressing CEO Nick Mango
December 23, 2010 • PEC Staff
In Reading List, we ask ecommerce professionals to share some of their favorite books and blogs and tell us why they read them. For this installment, we spoke to ...
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Design & Dev Tools
New Chrome Update Includes Native 3D Graphics; Nifty Human-Body Tool
December 21, 2010 • Armando Roggio
Google has released a new updated version of its popular Chrome web browser that supports the WebGL extension to HTML5, making it possible to render 3D graphics in a web browser without the use of a plug-in. Google's inclusion of WebGL in Chrome helps the browser catch up to Firefox an...
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Design & Development
Strategies for Global Domain Names
December 20, 2010 • Christian Arno
Domain names have become big business in the world of ecommerce. Logo.com recently sold (according to TechCrunch) for $500,000 to a company called – you guessed it – Logo.com. The ...
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Platforms & Apps
Cart Talk: HipsAndHair.com Owner on the Yahoo! Shopping Cart
December 17, 2010 • PEC Staff
With close to 600 ecommerce shopping carts on the market, merchants have a lot to choose from. Each week in “Cart Talk,” we interview a merchant that uses a particular cart — including hosted carts, licensed carts and open-sourced carts — to get frank, real-world feedback on its use: wh...
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Design & Development
Prepare for the Mobile Commerce Surge
December 16, 2010 • Armando Roggio
In the past year, mobile commerce has doubled in volume and by 2015 consumers could be spending nearly $24 billion per year from Internet-enabled mobile devices in the U.S. alone. The mobile commerce market must be taken seriously, explained TRUSTe's director of mobile products Janet J...
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Design & Development
How to Test a Website on Different Browsers
December 16, 2010 • PEC Staff
There are many widely used web browsers, including Internet Explorer, Firefox, Chrome, Safari and Opera. And there are dozens of mobile browsers available, with more in development as each new ...
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Schools & Resources
Reading List: Mobify CEO Igor Faletski
December 15, 2010 • PEC Staff
In “Reading List,” we ask ecommerce professionals to name some of their favorite recent books and blogs and tell us why they read them. In this installment, we ...
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Business
Internet Explorer 9 to Include Tracking Protection, Content Blocking
December 14, 2010 • Armando Roggio
Microsoft announced that its forthcoming Internet Explorer (IE) 9 web browser will include an opt-in anti-tracking feature that will block third-party content, and even prevent programs like Google Analytics from working. This is on the heels of a U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) rep...
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Platforms & Apps
Cart Talk: Seventh.Ink Owner on LemonStand Shopping Cart
December 10, 2010 • PEC Staff
Merchants have almost 600 online shopping carts to choose from, including hosted carts, licensed carts and open-sourced carts. Each week in “Cart Talk” we will be interviewing a merchant that ...