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

Design & Development
PCI Compliance: Commonly Asked Questions

November 25, 2009 • Kevin Patrick Allen

Editor’s note: Payment Card Industry compliance is a requirement for virtually all ecommerce merchants. But it's also a complex and difficult topic to understand. With that in mind, Practical eCommerce is teaming with Coalfire IT Audit and Compliance, a firm expert in PCI matters, in a...
Design & Dev Tools
The PeC Review: FormSpring for Easy Form-building

November 20, 2009 • Armando Roggio

Read any online marketing book, blog, or journal—Practical eCommerce included—worth its salt, and you’ll be told to “know your customer.” In ecommerce, getting to know your customer and building rapport with that customer takes time. It also takes an exchange of information that is of...
Platforms & Apps
Cart of the Week: Avactis

November 20, 2009 • Kate Monteith

There are more than 350 online shopping carts. And each week we feature one, interviewing both the cart's developer and a customer. "Cart of the Week" is not a review or an evaluation, but rather an opportunity to learn about a shopping cart from the people who build it and use it. Thi...
Platforms & Apps
Cart of the Week: Boss Cart

November 13, 2009 • Kate Monteith

There are more than 350 online shopping carts. And each week we feature one, interviewing both the cart's developer and a customer. "Cart of the Week" is not a review or an evaluation, but rather an opportunity to learn about a shopping cart from the people who build it and use it. Thi...
User Experience
The PeC Review: MyBuys Personal Recommendations

November 6, 2009 • Armando Roggio

Offering shoppers personalized product recommendations can increase conversion rates and profits while fending off shopping cart abandonment. Onsite product merchandising—the idea of cross-, up-, and down-selling to shoppers—is a potent tool for ecommerce marketers that often takes th...
Platforms & Apps
Cart of the Week: AdVantShop.NET

November 6, 2009 • Kate Monteith

There are more than 350 online shopping carts. And each week we feature one, interviewing both the cart's developer and a customer. "Cart of the Week" is not a review or an evaluation, but rather an opportunity to learn about a shopping cart from the people who build it and use it. Thi...
Design & Development
How to Choose Effective Website Photos and Images. Part 1

November 3, 2009 • Sandra Niehaus

Not all images are created equal. The right image on a web page can capture attention, inform, and even persuade your site visitors. The right image can communicate who you and your company are more quickly and powerfully than words alone can do.
User Experience
The PeC Review: SLI Offers Superior Search

October 30, 2009 • Armando Roggio

Research indicates that as many as 60 percent of online shoppers use a merchant's search feature to navigate the website. With so many potential customers typing keywords rather than using a site's navigation hierarchy, advanced search features are not just nice to have. They are a comp...
Platforms & Apps
Cart of the Week: Cartfly

October 30, 2009 • Kate Monteith

There are more than 350 online shopping carts. And each week we feature one, interviewing both the cart's developer and a customer. "Cart of the Week" is not a review or an evaluation, but rather an opportunity to learn about a shopping cart from the people who build it and use it. Thi...
Design & Development
Spree Upgrades Its Open-source Platform; Amazon Launches PayPhrase

October 29, 2009 • Kevin Patrick Allen

Spree, the open source ecommerce shopping cart, and Amazon.com have both announced new products in time for the holiday shopping season. Spree is an ecommerce platform using the Ruby on Rails programming language. New features include coupon and discount support and an improved system...
Design & Development
Quick Query: Comparison-shopping for Credit Card Processors

October 26, 2009 • PEC Staff

The merchant account business is confusing for many ecommerce merchants. Many of them simply use the merchant account and payment gateway providers offered by their hosted solutions without much questioning whether the fees and rates are competitive. PCI compliance is another confusin...
Schools & Resources
Booklist: Braintree CEO Bryan Johnson

October 26, 2009 • PEC Staff

In "Booklist," we ask Internet professionals to name books they believe are useful resources for ecommerce merchants. For this installment, we asked Bryan Johnson, the CEO and founder of Braintree Payment Solutions. Braintree provides online credit card payment processing and PCI compl...
Platforms & Apps
Cart of the Week: SEOshop

October 23, 2009 • Kate Monteith

There are more than 350 online shopping carts. And each week we feature one, interviewing both the cart's developer and a customer. "Cart of the Week" is not a review or an evaluation, but rather an opportunity to learn about a shopping cart from the people who build it and use it. Thi...
Schools & Resources
Booklist: MailChimp Co-founder Ben Chestnut

October 20, 2009 • PEC Staff

In Booklist we ask ecommerce personalities about the books they read and what they like about them. For this list we asked Ben Chestnut, co-founder of MailChimp, a self-service email marketing firm. As the MailChimp website explains, the company was built on the pragmatic notion tha...
Platforms & Apps
The PeC Review: TrialPay Creates Additional Revenue

October 16, 2009 • Armando Roggio

A payment and promotion platform originally built to boost conversion rates for merchants selling downloadable software may also help all types of online retailers increase sales. If your typical affiliate marketing program had a hip big brother, his name would be TrialPay. Aimed at cu...
Platforms & Apps
Cart of the Week: ClearCart

October 16, 2009 • Kate Monteith

There are more than 350 online shopping carts. And each week we feature one, interviewing both the cart's developer and a customer. "Cart of the Week" is not a review or an evaluation, but rather an opportunity to learn about a shopping cart from the people who build it and use it. Thi...
Platforms & Apps
ProStores, Magento Add Features to Existing Platforms

October 14, 2009 • PEC Staff

ProStores, the eBay-owned hosted shopping cart, and Magento, the open-source ecommerce platform, have both announced new upgrades to their existing products. ProStores Adds Feeds, Other Features ProStores has added five primary enhancements to its cart. They are: Feeds to theFind.c...
Schools & Resources
Booklist: NearbyNow.com Founder Scott Dunlap

October 14, 2009 • PEC Staff

Booklist is an occasional feature in which we ask ecommerce personalities about the books they read, and why. For this list, we asked Scott Dunlap, founder of ecommerce technology developer ...
Platforms & Apps
Cart of the Week: ShopFactory

October 9, 2009 • Kate Monteith

There are more than 350 online shopping carts. And each week we feature one, interviewing both the cart's developer and a customer. "Cart of the Week" is not a review or an evaluation, but rather an opportunity to learn about a shopping cart from the people who build it and use it. Thi...
Platforms & Apps
Cart of the Week: Auctiva Commerce

October 2, 2009 • Kate Monteith

There are more than 350 online shopping carts. And each week we feature one, interviewing both the cart's developer and a customer. "Cart of the Week" is not a review or an evaluation, but rather an opportunity to learn about a shopping cart from the people who build it and use it. Thi...
User Experience
Accessibility Review: PetsContained.com

October 1, 2009 • Joseph C. Dolson

Disabled consumers often face great challenges when browsing and making purchases online. Perhaps as many as ten percent of online shoppers have a disability, such as low-or-no vision or an inability to use a keyboard, that can make it difficult to understand content and navigate websit...
Platforms & Apps
The PeC Review: BadCustomer.com Makes Good Business

October 1, 2009 • Armando Roggio

A free service protects merchants from bad customers—both malicious and foolish—saving time, frustration, and money. Ecommerce merchants love customers and love providing good customer service. It is at the industry's heart. But some customers are not so loveable and knowing who they ar...
User Experience
The Shopping Experience: ChristianBook.com Needs Breadcrumbs

September 30, 2009 • Armando Roggio

Christian Book Distributors (CBD) and its website, ChristianBook.com, has become largest catalog and online seller of Christian books and products in the world. Two teenaged brothers, Ray and Steve Hendrickson, founded it in 1978, in Massachusetts. The brothers launched the company, ac...
Platforms & Apps
Cart of the Week: CartGenie

September 25, 2009 • Kate Monteith

There are more than 350 online shopping carts. And each week we feature one, interviewing both the cart's developer and a customer. "Cart of the Week" is not a review or an evaluation, but rather an opportunity to learn about a shopping cart from the people who build it and use it. Thi...
Design & Dev Tools
The PeC Review: StoreSync Lets You Manage Your Ecommerce Business On Your iPhone

September 23, 2009 • Armando Roggio

Ecommerce can be a 24 hour-a-day, seven-day-a-week business. For many small-to-medium sized merchants, providing great customer service means paying close attention to their businesses, even after normal business hours. A new iPhone application assists with monitoring orders, inventory,...
Platforms & Apps
Cart of the Week: Shop Maker

September 18, 2009 • Kate Monteith

There are more than 350 online shopping carts. And each week we feature one, interviewing both the cart's developer and a customer. "Cart of the Week" is not a review or an evaluation, but rather an opportunity to learn about a shopping cart from the people who build it and use it. Thi...
Platforms & Apps
Cart of the Week: NitroSell

September 11, 2009 • Kate Monteith

There are more than 350 online shopping carts. And each week we feature one, interviewing both the cart's developer and a customer. "Cart of the Week" is not a review or an evaluation, but rather an opportunity to learn about a shopping cart from the people who build it and use it. Thi...
Code
Web Design Tips: Combining jQuery Effects and Plugins For A Great Marketing Effect

September 8, 2009 • Armando Roggio

The lightweight (small file size) and concise jQuery library makes it relatively easy to add interactive effects and merchandising to just about any ecommerce website. In this edition of “Web Design ...
User Experience
Accessibility Review: LorisWigsite.com

September 6, 2009 • Joseph C. Dolson

Disabled Internet users often face great challenges when browsing and making purchases online. Perhaps as many as ten percent of online shoppers have a disability, such as low-or-no vision or an inability to use a keyboard, that can make it difficult to understand content and navigate w...
Platforms & Apps
The PeC Review: PowerReviews

September 3, 2009 • Armando Roggio

The term "Web 2.0" has come to describe web design and architecture that facilitates user interaction. And on ecommerce sites, that interaction often takes the form of customer-generated product or service reviews. PowerReviews and PowerReviews Express offer online retailers—from multi...

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