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: 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

In this ongoing “Cart of the Week” feature, we profile 3dCart, a Margate, Fla.-based hosted platform. We asked 3dCart founder Gil Gonzalo to explain the benefits...
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?
Platforms & Apps
Cart of the Week: EC Express by Mercantec

March 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 EC Express by Mercantec, a Naperville, IL company that fir...
Design & Development
Calling All Carts

March 16, 2009 • PEC Staff

Practical eCommerce is soon to publish our first annual “Shopping Cart Roundup” guide. The purpose of this PDF guide is to help ecommerce merchants locate the right cart for their businesses. We’ll explain the shopping cart features that we believe are important to look for, as well as ...
Platforms & Apps
Cart of the Week: Cartweaver

March 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 Cartweaver, a licensed cart system based in Washington sta...
Platforms & Apps
Web Design Tips: Compatibility with Older Browsers

March 9, 2009 • Armando Roggio

As web technology advances and development standards evolve some web browsers are falling behind. Many lack the ability to support new technologies and file types or even provide the best available user experience. These lagging browsers put ecommerce businesses in something of a quanda...
Platforms & Apps
Cart of the Week: AmeriCommerce

March 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 AmeriCommerce Shopping Cart Software, a hosted cart soluti...
Platforms & Apps
Shopping Carts: Survey of Merchants Confirms Fractured Market

March 5, 2009 • Armando Roggio

Respondents to a February 2009 Practical eCommerce survey collectively use more than 30 different shopping carts, an indication that there is no clear and decisive leader in the ecommerce shopping cart segment. 14.1 percent of respondents to the survey said that they use Go Daddy's Qu...
Design & Development
Facebook Dickers with Terms-of-Service Language

March 2, 2009 • Jeff Muendel

Practical eCommerce readers may have heard the online rumblings regarding some intrusive changes Facebook tried to make to its terms of service agreement. The new terms declared that Facebook would retain full license to any and all user content on the site, even when it had been remove...
Platforms & Apps
Cart of the Week: OXID eShop

February 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 OXID eShop by OXID eSales, a firm that offers open source ...
User Experience
New Accessibility Guidelines A Welcomed Update

February 25, 2009 • Joseph C. Dolson

The World Wide Web Consortium recently approved new accessibility guidelines. Passed in December 2008, the new "Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.0" is the official recommendation for web accessibility for the disabled. This new WCAG 2.0 document, a welcomed update, replaces...
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 ...

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