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
Cart of the Week: UltraCart

February 20, 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 UltraCart, a California-based hosted cart solution that wa...
Code
Web Design Tips: Use CSS to Adjust Opacity

February 17, 2009 • Armando Roggio

The CSS opacity property lets web designers define how particular page elements will blend, adding both style and emphasis to important page sections. Essentially, this property allows you to adjust an element's translucency, changing the amount of diffused virtual light that seems to ...
Design & Dev Tools
The PeC Review: Audacity Makes Audio Editing a Snap

February 16, 2009 • Armando Roggio

Audacity is an excellent, free, open source audio editor that makes it a snap for ecommerce merchants to develop customer-engaging podcasts for any online store. More and more online shopkeepers are turning to rich multimedia content to inform (and even enthrall) Internet shoppers. F...
Platforms & Apps
Cart of the Week: nopCommerce

February 13, 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 nopCommerce, a free open-source cart first made available ...
Schools & Resources
Booklist: Ruby on Rails Creator David Heinemeier Hansson

February 13, 2009 • PEC Staff

Booklist is an occasional feature where we ask Internet personalities about the books they read, and why. For this installment, we’ve asked David Heinemeier Hansson, the creator of the Ruby on Rails software framework. Heinemier Hansson created Rails in 2004 while a student in Denmark...
Platforms & Apps
Cart of the Week: Corncart

February 6, 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 Corncart, a free open-source cart first made available for...
Design & Development
Quick Query: Nextopia CEO on eCommerce Site Search

February 5, 2009 • PEC Staff

The ability for consumers to search the Internet for products and services is critical for the success of many smaller online businesses. Increasingly, the ability for those same consumers to search a specific site for products and services is just as important. A robust site search can...
Schools & Resources
Booklist: Sagefire CEO Has "Standby" Books and "Recent Reads"

February 4, 2009 • PEC Staff

J.P. O'Brien is CEO of Sagefire, Inc., a Boulder, CO based software firm that produces KeepMore.net, the popular online accounting package. O'Brien tells us about books that are timeless for him, as well as newer books that keep him engaged and entertained. "Standbys" and "recent read...
Code
Web Design Tips: Basic CSS for Headers

February 4, 2009 • Armando Roggio

How your site looks matters. Even subtle improvements—like using fonts or colors that compliment your theme—can have a positive effect on how consumers rate the trustworthiness of your store. According to a 2003 Stanford University study of 2,440 people, 46.2 percent of online shoppers...
Design & Development
Add Social Media to Your Site with Google Friend Connect

February 3, 2009 • Jeff Muendel

People want to be social on the web, whether it is to share things about themselves through a personal profile or to discover other people with similar interests. It’s also a great way to attract traffic that is focused on a specific topic or set of topics. What’s been difficult for man...
Platforms & Apps
Cart of the Week: ShopVisible

January 30, 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 ShopVisible, an Atlanta-based hosted cart solution that s...
Schools & Resources
Booklist: Zappos CEO on Books That Inspire

January 27, 2009 • Brendan Gibbons

In Booklist, we ask ecommerce professionals to name books they believe are useful resources for ecommerce merchants. For this list, we asked Tony Hsieh, CEO of Zappos.com,, an online retailer of shoes, bags and other accessories. Made to Stick Whether you're trying to get a message...
Platforms & Apps
Cart of the Week: X-Cart

January 23, 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. We profile X-Cart, a Cyprus-based licensed cart, in this installment. We as...
Design & Development
Video Usage: Simple Steps to Getting Started

January 21, 2009 • Michael Stearns

The time is right to start using video to assist with marketing and to better demonstrate your products. Improvement in connection speeds and web video streaming technologies, as well as a growing demand from users to get richer product data, all combine to make this a big year for web ...
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 ...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
Platforms & Apps
NetSuite Aims to Increase eCommerce Efficiencies

December 17, 2008 • Michael A. Cox

Ten years ago, Evan Goldberg was grousing at Oracle Chief Larry Ellison about the lack of an ecommerce business management software bundle. Ellison challenged Goldberg to do something about it, and the result is NetSuite.
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...
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! ...
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...
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.
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 ...
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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