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
Cart of the Week: Shopster
June 12, 2009 • PEC Staff
At Practical eCommerce, we are aware of more than 350 online shopping carts. And each week, we feature one, interviewing both the cart's developer or management and a customer. "The Cart of the Week" is not a review or an evaluation, but rather an opportunity to learn about a shopping c...
-
Design & Development
Alternative Payment Methods Part II: How To Evaluate
June 8, 2009 • Michael E. Shatz
Editor's Note: This is Part 2 of a two-part series on alternative online payment methods. The author is Michael E. Shatz, a consultant and an expert on online payments. Part 1, "Alternative Payment Methods Part 1: What Are They, How Do They Work", defines alternative payment methods and...
-
Platforms & Apps
Cart of the Week: Merchant Metrix
June 5, 2009 • PEC Staff
There are over 350 online shopping carts by Practical eCommerce's count. We feature one of them each week, by interviewing both the cart's developer and a customer of the cart. This feature is not a review or an evaluation. This week we profile Oklahoma-based Merchant Metrix. The compa...
-
User Experience
Web Design Tips: The Laws of Ecommerce Navigation Design
June 4, 2009 • Armando Roggio
CSS, Flash, jQuery, and an arsenal of other powerful web techniques and technologies have unbound website design, creating the opportunity to develop either exceptional user interfaces or really frustrating ones. Furthermore, the growth of "cookie-cutter" ecommerce templates (i.e., “i...
-
Design & Development
The PeC Review: Magento User Guide eBook
June 2, 2009 • Armando Roggio
Magento Commerce is becoming one of the most popular and, perhaps, most exciting ecommerce platforms available. But with all of its online retailing prowess comes some level of complexity that at least a few merchants find daunting. A new ebook seeks to make using this powerful ecommerc...
-
Platforms & Apps
Ecommerce Know-How: Cloud Computing in the Ecommerce Forecast
June 1, 2009 • Armando Roggio
If meteorologists predicted ecommerce and computing trends, the forecast would be at least partly cloudy as more computational and transactional applications join the cloud computing front. But are the wispy clouds on the near horizon the harbinger of a gentle, growth-encouraging rain o...
-
User Experience
New Accessibility Guidelines Part IV: Robustness
May 22, 2009 • Joseph C. Dolson
This is the fourth article in my series on the new WCAG 2.0. The previous installments are "A Welcomed Update," "Part II: Operability," and "Part III: Understandability." In this article, I'll addresses “robustness."
-
Design & Dev Tools
The PeC Review: Microsoft Tool Helps Designers with Internet Explorer Compatibility Problems
May 18, 2009 • Armando Roggio
Designing for Microsoft's Internet Explorer (IE) browser has always been a problem as designers were forced to choose between widely accepted Internet standards and what would work in IE. This problem has been exacerbated by the complexity of designers having to maintain various generat...
-
Platforms & Apps
Cart of the Week: Shop-Script, by WebAsyst
May 15, 2009 • Brendan Gibbons
Practical eCommerce counts over 300 different shopping cart systems. In this weekly “Cart of the Week” feature, we profile a specific cart, asking the cart's owners and users about its strengths and weaknesses. Here we profile Shop-Script by WebAsyst, based in Delaware. WebAsyst offers...
-
Platforms & Apps
Cart of the Week: eCommerce Framework, by Mediachase
May 8, 2009 • Brendan Gibbons
Practical eCommerce counts over 300 different shopping cart systems. In this weekly “Cart of the Week” feature, we profile a specific cart, asking the cart's owners and users about its strengths and weaknesses. Here we profile the ASP.NET eCommerce Framework (ECF) by Mediachase. The Lo...
-
Schools & Resources
12 Good Ecommerce Resources
May 6, 2009 • Armando Roggio
Ecommerce entrepreneurs frequently earn their profits in small margins, where slight competitive advantages can be the difference between flourishing and floundering. Gaining a competitive advantage can be as simple as trying a new marketing tactic, making a subtle adjustment to your w...
-
Code
Web Design Tips: Adding A Featured Section to Your Site Using jQuery and jFlow
May 6, 2009 • Armando Roggio
Smooth content sliders are widgets that can show clickable product images, Adobe Flash, HTML, or other content, effectively creating a "featured section" in a small amount of space. After researching several "easy" solutions (most of which did not work), I tried the jFlow plugin that ...
-
Platforms & Apps
Interview: Miva Merchant CEO, EVP on Moving to a SAAS Business Model
May 1, 2009 • PEC Staff
Miva Merchant is among the most prominent ecommerce brands. The company was launched in 1995 as HTMLScript Corporation, and it’s one of the early day shopping cart providers. It rose, and then fell, with the first dotcom boom and bust. In 2005, the company sold to Findwhat.com, a publi...
-
Platforms & Apps
Cart of the Week: RomanCart
April 30, 2009 • Brendan Gibbons
Practical eCommerce counts over 300 different shopping cart systems. In this weekly "Cart of the Week" feature, we profile a specific cart, asking the cart's owners and users about its strengths and weaknesses. Here we profile RomanCart, a U.K.-based hosted cart solution, offering cart...
-
Platforms & Apps
Cart of the Week: ProductCart
April 24, 2009 • Brendan Gibbons
Practical eCommerce counts over 300 different shopping cart systems. In this ongoing "Cart of the Week" feature, we profile a specific cart, asking the cart's owners and users about its strengths and weaknesses. Here we profile ProductCart, by Early Impact, Inc. Based in Mission Viejo,...
-
Code
Web Design Tips: Converting an Older Table-Based Email Template To CSS
April 23, 2009 • Armando Roggio
Many email templates were developed using older table-based layouts that "break" easily and are very complicated to maintain. Tables in HTML are fantastic for displaying tabular data. But as a layout tool they interfere with some dynamic and rich media elements, cause accessibility cha...
-
User Experience
New Accessibility Guidelines Part III: Understandability
April 22, 2009 • Joseph C. Dolson
This is the third article in my series on the new WCAG 2.0. The previous installments are "A Welcomed Update" and "Part II: Operability." In this article, I'll addresses “understandability."
-
Design & Development
Video Ideas: 4 Ways to Engage Visitors and Increase Sales
April 21, 2009 • Jan Riley
Nearly 80 percent of U.S. Internet users spent roughly 5 hours watching videos in December 2008, with an average view time of 3.2 minutes per video, according to a study by comScore. Here are four ways your ecommerce business can use video to engage your visitors and increase sales, n...
-
Platforms & Apps
The PeC Review: “Remember the Milk” A Helpful Organizing Tool
April 20, 2009 • Armando Roggio
Ecommerce entrepreneurs are busy people who manage suppliers, web marketing, merchandising, accounting, and more. Many of these entrepreneurs keep lists on legal pads or stick dozens of yellow Post-it notes to the sides of their monitors like a mane on a lion. Australia-based Remem...
-
Platforms & Apps
Cart of the Week: Shop2Cart
April 17, 2009 • Brendan Gibbons
Practical eCommerce counts over 300 different shopping cart systems. In this ongoing "Cart of the Week" feature, we profile a specific cart, asking the cart's owners and users about its strengths and weaknesses. Here we profile Shop2Cart, a Boca Raton, Florida-based hosted cart. We ask...
-
Design & Development
Mobile Broadband Growth Slowed in Fourth Quarter 2008
April 14, 2009 • PEC Staff
The growth in new mobile broadband subscriptions fell significantly in the fourth quarter of 2008, according to a new report. The total mobile PC data card subscriber base grew 5 percent in the final three months of 2008, compared to 22 percent growth in the prior quarter, according to...
-
Platforms & Apps
Cart of the Week: GoECart
April 10, 2009 • Brendan Gibbons
Practical eCommerce counts over 300 different shopping cart systems. In this ongoing "Cart of the Week" feature, we profile a specific cart, asking the cart's owners and users about its strengths and weaknesses. Here we profile GoECart, a hosted solution with two tiers of pricing, one ...
-
User Experience
The Shopping Experience: Source 1 Medical Offers Easy Navigation, Good Service
April 7, 2009 • Armando Roggio
Each month, Practical eCommerce sends me shopping. I make a purchase from a real online merchant and create both an article and a video of the shopping experience. My goal is to report back to you about the overall checkout process, customer service experience, website aesthetics, and d...
-
Platforms & Apps
Cart of the Week: AspDotNetStorefront
April 3, 2009 • Brendan Gibbons
Practical eCommerce counts over 300 different shopping cart systems. In this ongoing "Cart of the Week" feature, we profile a specific cart, asking the cart's owners and users about its strengths and weaknesses. Here we profile AspDotNetStorefront’s ML shopping cart. We asked COO and E...
-
Design & Development
Credit Card Processing: Eleven Pointers to Save Money, Part 1
April 2, 2009 • Michael E. Shatz
Editor's Note: This is Part 1 in a two-part series on ideas for ecommerce merchants to save money on credit card processing. The author is Michael Shatz, a veteran of the credit card processing industry. He now owns The Merchant’s Guide, a Massachusetts-based consulting and publishing ...
-
Design & Dev Tools
Web Design Tips: Configuring Templates, Adding a Product Grid in Magento
April 1, 2009 • Armando Roggio
Adding a dynamic product grid or list to any static page in Magento is as easy as adding a few lines of code. The challenge is knowing which lines to add and where to put them. Magento is a popular open-source ecommerce platform that has been downloaded more than 750,000 times, accordi...
-
Platforms & Apps
Cart of the Week: 3dCart
March 27, 2009 • Brendan Gibbons
Practical eCommerce counts over 300 different shopping cart systems. In this ongoing "Cart of the Week" feature, we profile a specific cart, asking the cart's owners and users about its strengths and weaknesses. Here we profile 3dCart, a Margate, FL-based hosted cart, with prices rangi...
-
Design & Development
PCI Compliance: Frequently Asked Questions
March 26, 2009 • PEC Staff
Payment card industry compliance is confusing for many ecommerce merchants. But it potentially affects every merchant that accepts credit card payments. Failure to understand the PCI compliance standards could result in higher merchant account fees and fines from the credit card issuers...
-
Platforms & Apps
Calling All Carts for the Shopping Cart Roundup
March 25, 2009 • PEC Staff
Choosing the right online shopping cart is one of the most important decisions an ecommerce merchant will make. And carts are possibly the hottest topic we regularly explore here at Practical eCommerce. This has prompted us to develop a comprehensive guide of every known shopping cart o...
-
User Experience
New Accessibility Guidelines Part II: Operability
March 24, 2009 • Joseph C. Dolson
This is the second article in my series on WCAG 2.0. The first installment, "New Accessibility Guidelines A Welcomed Update," we published last month. The concept behind website operability is simple: Can everybody use the tools and mechanisms required to operate your website?