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-
Design & Dev Tools
The PeC Review: Firebug Is a Developer’s Tool Worth the Buzz
January 19, 2009 • Armando Roggio
Firebug is a free Mozilla Firefox add on that gives developers a powerful tool to inspect and edit HTML, perfect CSS, or even admire the beautiful code from other websites. For many, the add-on has become an indispensable part of website design, development, and maintenance. "This is ...
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Platforms & Apps
Cart of the Week: LiveCart
January 16, 2009 • Brendan Gibbons
Practical eCommerce counts over 300 different shopping cart platforms. In this ongoing "Cart of the Week" feature we profile—but not evaluate—a specific shopping cart, asking about its strengths and weaknesses. For this installment, we asked Rinalds Uzkalns, owner of Lithuania-based UA...
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Platforms & Apps
The PeC Review: Magento Is the Open Source Powerhouse
January 12, 2009 • Armando Roggio
Magento is an open source ecommerce platform designed to empower online merchants and remove barriers in business process and flow. The platform has been downloaded more than 600,000 times, Magento says, perhaps making it the fastest growing ecommerce solution in the market. With a fu...
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Platforms & Apps
Cart of the Week: Shopcreator
January 9, 2009 • Brendan Gibbons
Practical eCommerce counts over 300 different shopping cart platforms. In this ongoing "Cart of the Week" feature we profile—but not evaluate—a specific shopping cart, asking about its strengths and weaknesses. For this installment, we asked Alex Stephens, marketing director at U.K.-ba...
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User Experience
The Shopping Experience: Really Old Records
January 9, 2009 • Armando Roggio
Since 1998 Really Old Records of Natick, Mass. has been offering a selection of "unusual and collectible recordings," taking full advantage of the Long Tail concept. But the store was slow to ship and did not communicate at all with me after I made a purchase online. On December 22, 20...
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Code
Web Design Tips: Rounded Borders in CSS
January 8, 2009 • Armando Roggio
Consumers often judge online stores by visual aesthetics alone, so Internet shopkeepers are wise to use large appealing images, handsome fonts, and occasionally an eye-pleasing curve. When that curve is added someplace unexpected, say in a border around a text box or an image, it can b...
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Design & Dev Tools
Product Video: Easy Distribution Tools
December 31, 2008 • Jennifer D. Meacham
Editor's Note: This is part four in our special report on “Video for Ecommerce,” where we describe real stories of online merchants creatively using video to drive sales and grow their brands. Previous installments are linked in below. What’s next once you’ve added product videos to yo...
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Design & Dev Tools
Video in a Snap: Easy Video Creation Techniques
December 24, 2008 • Jennifer D. Meacham
Editor's Note: This is part three in our special report on “Video for Ecommerce,” where we describe real stories of online merchants creatively using video to drive sales and grow their brands. Previous installments are linked in the "Related articles" section, below. Practical eCommer...
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Platforms & Apps
Cart of the Week: SearchFit
December 19, 2008 • PEC Staff
There are over 300 different shopping cart platforms. In our ongoing “Cart Of The Week” feature, we profile—but not evaluate—a specific shopping cart, asking about its strengths and weaknesses. For this installment, we’ve profiled SearchFit, a hosted cart with offices in Carlsbad, Cali...
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Design & Development
NetSuite Aims to Increase eCommerce Efficiencies
December 17, 2008 • Michael A. Cox
Ten years ago, Evan Goldberg was grousing to Oracle Chief Larry Ellison about the lack of an ecommerce business management software bundle. Ellison challenged Goldberg, himself a former Oracle executive, to do something about it, and the result is the NetSuite phenomenon. Worldwide, ...
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Design & Dev Tools
Ecommerce Know-How: Create a Google Gadget to Promote a Weekly Feature
December 17, 2008 • Armando Roggio
Creating and publishing promotional web gadgets is a great way to spread the word about the products or services you sell and increase traffic to your website. Think about a web gadget as a form of social media. Your customers and potential customers can add the gadget to their iGoog...
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Platforms & Apps
Cart of the Week: Yahoo!
December 12, 2008 • Brendan Gibbons
Practical eCommerce counts over 300 different shopping cart platforms. In this ongoing "Cart of the Week" feature, we profile—but not evaluate—a specific shopping cart, asking about its strengths and weaknesses. For this installment, we asked Paul Boisvert, Product Manager at Yahoo! ...
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Design & Dev Tools
Web Design Tips: Add An Image Flip for More Sales
December 12, 2008 • Armando Roggio
Consumers will judge your website mainly by the size, quality, and interactivity of the images you use. Adding a simple interactive feature—like a JavaScript image flip—may lend your store credibility and improve your conversion rates. Consumers rely on an ecommerce site's aesthetic...
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Platforms & Apps
NetSuite CEO on the Rise of Hosted Software
December 10, 2008 • Kerry Murdock
Many experts predict that hosted software solutions will continue to grow. Software-as-a-service is another term for these hosted solutions, and examples of larger ones are NetSuite.com, Salesforce.com and Google Apps. NetSuite’s solution includes an ecommerce component, and we’ve rece...
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Platforms & Apps
Cart of the Week: Volusion
December 5, 2008 • Armando Roggio
Practical eCommerce counts over 300 different shopping cart platforms. In this, our "Cart of the Week" feature, we’ll profile—but not evaluate—a specific shopping cart and ask its management about strengths and weaknesses. We’ll then ask a customer about the cart, too. This week, we ...
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Platforms & Apps
Cart of the Week: Mountain Commerce Emphasizes Search Engine Friendliness
November 28, 2008 • Brendan Gibbons
Practical eCommerce counts over 300 different shopping cart platforms. In this ongoing "Cart of the Week" feature, we profile—but not evaluate—a specific shopping cart, asking about its strengths and weaknesses. For this installment, we asked Taunia Kipp, Chief Operating Officer and ...
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Platforms & Apps
Cart of the Week: Sure Solutions’ Actinic Shopping Cart
November 21, 2008 • Armando Roggio
Practical eCommerce counts over 300 different shopping cart platforms. In this, our "Cart of the Week" feature, we’ll profile—but not evaluate—a specific shopping cart and ask its management about its strengths and weaknesses. We’ll then ask a customer about the cart, too. In this in...
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Design & Development
Credit Card Theft: Steps to Protect You and Your Customers
November 20, 2008 • Sarah Worsham
Having even one credit card number stolen from your site can tarnish your reputation and impact sales for years. It is important to be aware of potential security flaws and how to mitigate them to protect yourself. “A breach of cardholder data can be big money in fines and remediation ...
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Design & Development
Camino Web Browser is Best in Mac Universe
November 18, 2008 • Brendan Gibbons
The Camino Project released its newest version for Mac OS-X in September 2008. Version 1.6.4 of this union of Mozilla and Macintosh offers a solid, Mac-compatible browsing experience with quick load times and crystal-clear renderings using the Gecko engine. For the past several weeks,...
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Platforms & Apps
Cart of the Week: MightyMerchant Offers Full-Service Ecommerce Platform
November 14, 2008 • Armando Roggio
Practical eCommerce counts over 300 different shopping cart platforms. In this, our “Cart Of The Week” feature, we’ll profile—but not evaluate—a specific shopping cart and ask its management about its strengths and weaknesses. We’ll then ask a competitor or a customer about the cart, to...
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Platforms & Apps
Maxthon: China’s Ad Smashing, Proxy Switching, Web Browser
November 11, 2008 • Armando Roggio
The Maxthon web browser brings several great features to the same platform as Microsoft’s Internet Explorer (IE) and lets users pretend to be from other counties so they can access otherwise restricted sites. For the past several weeks, Practical eCommerce has been reviewing the leadin...
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User Experience
Accessibility: Making Video and Audio Usable For The Deaf
November 6, 2008 • Joseph C. Dolson
Using video and audio in a website increases the probability of an accessibility problem. Where text can be readily translated into a wide variety of alternative mediums for the disabled, the complex nature of video and audio make this kind of machine-generated comprehension nearly impo...
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Platforms & Apps
Opera 9.6 Browser: Links Email, Desktop, and Mobile
November 4, 2008 • Armando Roggio
If you want evidence that there is a hot browser war underway, you need look no further than the new Opera 9.6 web browser that some believe is a response to Google’s game-changing Chrome browser. When Google launched the beta version of its Chrome browser on September 2, 2008,...
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Platforms & Apps
Cart of the Week: Interspire “Obsesses Over Quality”
October 31, 2008 • Armando Roggio
Practical eCommerce counts over 300 different shopping cart platforms. This includes licensed carts, hosted carts, and open-source carts. In this, our "Cart of the Week" feature, we’ll profile—but not evaluate—a specific shopping cart asking about its strengths and weaknesses. We’ll the...
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Platforms & Apps
Google’s Chrome: The Prototype for Tomorrow’s Browsers
October 28, 2008 • Armando Roggio
When Google introduced its Chrome browser on September 2, 2008, it began the foundation for an improved Internet experience—full of rich web applications—and launched the next round of commercial combat with chief rival Microsoft. If Google is going to compete against Microsoft for a sh...
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Platforms & Apps
Cart Of The Week: ShopSite
October 24, 2008 • Brendan Gibbons
Practical eCommerce counts over 300 different shopping cart platforms. This includes licensed carts, hosted carts, and open-source carts. In this, our "Cart of the Week" feature, we’ll profile (but not evaluate) a specific shopping cart and ask personnel of that cart about its strengths...
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Design & Development
Apple’s Safari Browser: “A Weak Contender”
October 23, 2008 • Brendan Gibbons
In the ongoing battle for browser supremacy Apple’s Safari is little more than humdrum, but like all things Apple it has a committed and loyal following and an opportunity to be important for mobile devices. Mozilla’s Firefox and Microsoft’s Internet Explorer (IE) are by far the most u...
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Platforms & Apps
Cart of the Week: Miva Merchant
October 17, 2008 • Brendan Gibbons
Practical eCommerce counts over 300 different shopping cart platforms. This includes licensed carts, hosted carts, and open-source carts. In this, our "Cart of the Week" feature, we’ll profile a specific shopping cart ask about its strengths and weaknesses. We’ll then ask a competitor a...
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Design & Development
Mobilizing The Web With Cascading Style Sheets
October 16, 2008 • Jennifer D. Meacham
Benjamin Chui isn’t taking ecommerce sitting down. The founder of Ben’s Bargain Center is striding through San Francisco’s financial district, with a smartphone in his hand and one of three mobile versions of his ecommerce website on tap. For his site Bensbargains.net, the transition t...
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Platforms & Apps
Browser Review: Mozilla Firefox 3
October 14, 2008 • Armando Roggio
By some estimates, more than 1.4 billion people use the Internet for work, entertainment, or commerce. All of those web surfers must use a browser to visit websites or shop at online stores, and if browsing speed, security, and functionality matter, those users should be cruising the in...