Category

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

Platforms & Apps
10 App Marketplaces for Open Source Shopping Carts

October 26, 2011 • Sig Ueland

Many open source shopping carts can be customized with extensions or modules, created by an active developer community. Here is a list of app-extension marketplaces and libraries for open source shopping cart platforms. Most of the platforms are free. The extensions are both free and ...
Design & Dev Tools
Designing Web Forms for Better Conversions; 5 Tips

October 24, 2011 • Armando Roggio

Web forms are the final hurdle shoppers and site visitors must traverse before registering for a newsletter or making a purchase. Even small improvements in the form can make a ...
Design & Development
Designing ‘Above the Fold’ Necessary?

October 18, 2011 • Drew Coffin

Ensuring that customers can easily find important information on a site should be a priority for online merchants. In the past, you may have heard of “designing above the fold” as a way to present important information. While this strategy might have worked in the past, the traditional ...
User Experience
Lessons from the Amazon Redesign

October 17, 2011 • Armando Roggio

Changes in Amazon's graphic design and how it displays navigation menus offer a few basic lessons about site-presentation trends that may help small and mid-sized online merchants with their own site designs. Arguably, the Amazon website was long overdue for a redesign.
User Experience
How to Make Category Navigation Dynamic

October 11, 2011 • PEC Staff

Sophisticated site search helps consumers find products on ecommerce sites, and therefore increases sales. But site search can also work with faceted category navigation to help consumers too. To explain it, we are joined by Scott Zielinski, co-founder of SearchSpring, a leading search...
Schools & Resources
13 New Ecommerce Books in September 2011

October 7, 2011 • Sig Ueland

September’s new ecommerce books are about social media and location-based marketing tools. Several of the books focus on online strategies for small businesses. Here is a list of new ecommerce books in September. Included are both new releases and new editions. Release information and...
Design & Development
Sales of Smartphones and Tablets to Exceed PCs

October 6, 2011 • David Maier

The rise of smartphones and computer tablets have forced many ecommerce merchants to ask how consumers will access the Internet, and shop. We're curious, too. We've researched the overall unit sales of personal computers — desktops and laptops — and compared those to unit sales of s...
Platforms & Apps
The 10 Best Blogging Platforms in 2011

October 5, 2011 • Armando Roggio

Online merchants are competing for customer attention and loyalty in an Internet landscape where people create their autobiographies across social networks and businesses have to discover a reason to be relevant in that narrative. Blogging, which some suggest is a waning art for indivi...
Typography & Fonts
How Browsers Manage Fonts

October 3, 2011 • Drew Coffin

Last month I wrote “Typography 101: The Basics,” which explained rudimentary aspects of general typography. In this article, I will explore typography on web browsers. In other words, how exactly does a browser handle fonts? Web Safe Fonts First, I want to address web safe fonts. In m...
Design & Dev Tools
10 Tools to Boost Your Ecommerce Business

October 3, 2011 • Armando Roggio

Crowd sourcing, infrastructure-as-a-service, and even marketing intelligence solutions can help small and mid-sized businesses to grow and become more profitable. It is a cliché, perhaps, to say that business is always changing, but nonetheless the way business is conducted does change...
Platforms & Apps
18 Useful Extensions for OpenCart

September 30, 2011 • Sig Ueland

OpenCart is a leading open-source ecommerce platform. With nearly 3,000 free and premium extensions available, OpenCart is also feature-rich and highly customizable. Here is a list of extensions to tailor your OpenCart site. There are extensions to enhance your cart’s functionality, pr...
Platforms & Apps
9 Online Tools to Plan Your Physical Event

September 28, 2011 • Sig Ueland

I recently compiled a list — "16 Live Meeting and Webinar Platforms" — of webinar platforms to reach a broad online audience. But if you’re holding a physical event, such as a conference, you can still find planning resources you need online. Here is a list of sites to help you plan...
Design & Development
App List: Amine Khechfe of DYMO Endicia

September 23, 2011 • David Maier

“App List” is a new feature where we ask ecommerce professionals to list the apps they have installed on their phone, and tell us why they use them. For this ...
Typography & Fonts
Typography 101: The Basics

September 20, 2011 • Drew Coffin

Text is the primary method of Internet communication, making web typography important for merchants to understand. This article will cover some of the basics of typography and provide some things to consider while working with text. I’m going to assume that readers are familiar enough...
Schools & Resources
Reading List: Konstantin Molchanov of CS-Cart

September 15, 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 Konstantin Molchanov, promotion speci...
Platforms & Apps
11 Online Meeting Planners

September 14, 2011 • Sig Ueland

Online scheduling sites offer a simple way to schedule your next meeting. Pick your range of dates on the app's calendar, then notify the other meeting attendees so they can pick the dates that work for them. View the responses, and you’re done. No more wasting time searching for a time...
Design & Development
Ask an Expert: ‘Is An SSL Certificate Necessary If I Use a Hosted Payment Solution?’

September 8, 2011 • PEC Staff

Is an SSL certificate necessary if a use a hosted payment solution? When customers purchase a gift basket from my site, they are routed to PayPal’s site to collect the payment information. I don’t see that information, including the customer’s name. Do I need an SSL certificate?
Schools & Resources
Reading List: Steven Nash of Open Study College

September 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. For this installment, we corresponded with ...
Schools & Resources
25 Top-Selling Ecommerce Books in August 2011

September 1, 2011 • Sig Ueland

A new school year is just around the corner. Time to hit the ecommerce books. Here is a list of Amazon's top-selling ecommerce books in August. There are several books on using social media to help your business. And there are books on creating dynamic content for your site. There are ...
Schools & Resources
9 Mobile Apps for Business Training

August 31, 2011 • Sig Ueland

A small business owner must continually learn new skills to address challenges. Mobile training apps provide an inexpensive and convenient way to train yourself as you run your changing business. Here is a list of mobile apps for business training and education. Some of the apps are st...
Schools & Resources
4 Free Photoshop Alternatives: Sources to Learn

August 30, 2011 • Drew Coffin

My suggestions for free Photoshop alternatives we published earlier this month, in “4 Free Photoshop Alternatives for Image Editing.” I described four free Photoshop alternatives — GIMP, Paint.NET, Aviary, and ...
Platforms & Apps
15 Productivity Apps for Your Google Chromebook

August 15, 2011 • Armando Roggio

Google Chromebook and its browser-as-operating-system approach to computing have put the spotlight on web-based applications. The Chromebook's Chrome OS represents a completely new approach to computing. On a traditional Mac or Windows-based computer, there is the operating system on t...
Schools & Resources
20 Government Sites to Help Small Businesses

August 12, 2011 • Sig Ueland

Do-it-yourself small businesses don’t normally look to the government for help. But maybe they should start. The federal government is desperate for small businesses to succeed. In the midst of record unemployment, a new Kauffman Foundation-funded U.S. Census Bureau study reports that...
Design & Dev Tools
10 Editors for Ecommerce Audio

August 3, 2011 • Sig Ueland

Adding audio to your ecommerce site is a great way to engage customers. With audio features — such as podcasts or audio product descriptions — you create a rich experience as you inform and captivate your shoppers. And audio is a manageable and cost-efficient alternative to video. ...
Design & Development
13 Social Shopping Sites for Ecommerce Merchants

August 1, 2011 • Paul Chaney

Social shopping combines product sales with consumer recommendations in a social network environment. The concept centers around communities of people who share similar interests and who rely on the opinions of fellow members to influence purchase decisions. Some sites are completely ...
Design & Development
Can a Chromebook Do Real Work?

August 1, 2011 • Armando Roggio

Google Chromebooks are fast-loading netbooks running the new Google Chrome OS. Chromebooks depend on web applications for everything from word processing to spreadsheets. These browser-only devices are supposed to provide a better user experience for common tasks like reading email or s...
Design & Development
Low-Price Acer Chromebook: What a Computer Should Be?

July 28, 2011 • Armando Roggio

The Acer AC700 Chromebook is an excellent, lightweight, and fast booting computer that just might have users thinking about computers in a complete new way. This Acer computer is the least ...
Schools & Resources
Reading List: Josh Colter of Elias Interactive

July 27, 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 ...
Platforms & Apps
Goodsie Helpful for Beginning Entrepreneurs

July 21, 2011 • Armando Roggio

A new ecommerce platform helps novice ecommerce entrepreneurs get up and running quickly, but it limits choices and, perhaps, creates some marketing challenges. Goodsie — which costs $15 per month — uses a simple web interface and a well-defined set of options to help would-be merchant...
Schools & Resources
Reading List: Steve Castro-Miller of Bold Software

July 20, 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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