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

Schools & Resources
Reading List: Steven Nash of Open Study College

September 2, 2011 • PEC Staff

In “Reading List,” we ask ecommerce professionals to name some of their favorite recent books and blogs and tell us why they read them. For this installment, we corresponded with ...
Schools & Resources
25 Top-Selling Ecommerce Books in August 2011

September 1, 2011 • Sig Ueland

A new school year is just around the corner. Time to hit the ecommerce books. Here is a list of Amazon's top-selling ecommerce books in August. There are several books on using social media to help your business. And there are books on creating dynamic content for your site. There are ...
Schools & Resources
9 Mobile Apps for Business Training

August 31, 2011 • Sig Ueland

A small business owner must continually learn new skills to address challenges. Mobile training apps provide an inexpensive and convenient way to train yourself as you run your changing business. Here is a list of mobile apps for business training and education. Some of the apps are st...
Schools & Resources
4 Free Photoshop Alternatives: Sources to Learn

August 30, 2011 • Drew Coffin

My suggestions for free Photoshop alternatives we published earlier this month, in “4 Free Photoshop Alternatives for Image Editing.” I described four free Photoshop alternatives — GIMP, Paint.NET, Aviary, and ...
Platforms & Apps
15 Productivity Apps for Your Google Chromebook

August 15, 2011 • Armando Roggio

Google Chromebook and its browser-as-operating-system approach to computing have put the spotlight on web-based applications. The Chromebook's Chrome OS represents a completely new approach to computing. On a traditional Mac or Windows-based computer, there is the operating system on t...
Schools & Resources
20 Government Sites to Help Small Businesses

August 12, 2011 • Sig Ueland

Do-it-yourself small businesses don’t normally look to the government for help. But maybe they should start. The federal government is desperate for small businesses to succeed. In the midst of record unemployment, a new Kauffman Foundation-funded U.S. Census Bureau study reports that...
Design & Dev Tools
10 Editors for Ecommerce Audio

August 3, 2011 • Sig Ueland

Adding audio to your ecommerce site is a great way to engage customers. With audio features — such as podcasts or audio product descriptions — you create a rich experience as you inform and captivate your shoppers. And audio is a manageable and cost-efficient alternative to video. ...
Design & Development
13 Social Shopping Sites for Ecommerce Merchants

August 1, 2011 • Paul Chaney

Social shopping combines product sales with consumer recommendations in a social network environment. The concept centers around communities of people who share similar interests and who rely on the opinions of fellow members to influence purchase decisions. Some sites are completely ...
Design & Development
Can a Chromebook Do Real Work?

August 1, 2011 • Armando Roggio

Google Chromebooks are fast-loading netbooks running the new Google Chrome OS. Chromebooks depend on web applications for everything from word processing to spreadsheets. These browser-only devices are supposed to provide a better user experience for common tasks like reading email or s...
Design & Development
Low-Price Acer Chromebook: What a Computer Should Be?

July 28, 2011 • Armando Roggio

The Acer AC700 Chromebook is an excellent, lightweight, and fast booting computer that just might have users thinking about computers in a complete new way. This Acer computer is the least ...
Schools & Resources
Reading List: Josh Colter of Elias Interactive

July 27, 2011 • PEC Staff

In “Reading List,” we ask ecommerce professionals to name some of their favorite recent books and blogs and tell us why they read them. For this installment, we corresponded with ...
Platforms & Apps
Goodsie Helpful for Beginning Entrepreneurs

July 21, 2011 • Armando Roggio

A new ecommerce platform helps novice ecommerce entrepreneurs get up and running quickly, but it limits choices and, perhaps, creates some marketing challenges. Goodsie — which costs $15 per month — uses a simple web interface and a well-defined set of options to help would-be merchant...
Schools & Resources
Reading List: Steve Castro-Miller of Bold Software

July 20, 2011 • PEC Staff

In “Reading List,” we ask ecommerce professionals to name some of their favorite recent books and blogs and tell us why they read them. For this installment, we corresponded with ...
Design & Dev Tools
10 Handy Web Templates from Google Sites

July 15, 2011 • Sig Ueland

Google Sites is a portal for creating websites. It offers a gallery of templates, including business and collaboration designs, where you can make a site public or just open to ...
Design & Development
5 Gmail Techniques to Boost Productivity

July 14, 2011 • Armando Roggio

Gmail is full of time saving features and capabilities that can make you more productive. In this article, I'll review five Gmail techniques that will help you master your inbox. It is important to note, before exposing you to these productivity-boosting wonders, that Google actual...
Design & Development
6 Google Templates to Mobilize Your Business

July 7, 2011 • Sig Ueland

Mobilize your business. Google has introduced six mobile templates for Google Sites, Google’s portal to assist with the creation of websites. Businesses can now create mobile websites or landing pages ...
Schools & Resources
25 Top-Selling Ecommerce Books

July 4, 2011 • Sig Ueland

Assembling your reading list for a summer getaway? Don’t forget to pack the ecommerce books. Here is a list of top-selling ecommerce books. There are general books on ecommerce and social media for businesses. And there are books on specific ecommerce subjects, such as search engine op...
Design & Development
The Four P’s of Mobile Commerce

June 28, 2011 • Gagan Mehra

Mobile commerce is growing. And consumers' use of mobile devices is growing. But mobile commerce is not for all ecommerce merchants. This article will help answer the question, "Is mobile commerce important for my site?" Merchants can analyze the applicability of mobile commerce to the...
Platforms & Apps
15 Mobile Retail Apps that Enhance Customer Experiences

June 24, 2011 • Sig Ueland

Retail businesses are building mobile apps that do much more than just display products for sale. Mobile apps can shape the in-store experience, empower the purchasing process, and create interesting and dynamic ways to interact with the customer. Here is a list of mobile apps created ...
Design & Development
OverstockArt.com Goes Mobile; CEO Explains

June 23, 2011 • PEC Staff

Most every ecommerce merchant is at least contemplating a mobile strategy, whether a specialized mobile app or a mobile optimized site. Mobile development is the topic we discussed recently with David Sasson. He is the president of OverstockArt.com, an online retailer of original paint...
Platforms & Apps
34 Ecommerce Themes for WordPress

June 22, 2011 • Sig Ueland

A WordPress ecommerce theme can take a regular blog and transform it into a dazzling online storefront. Find the theme that’s right for you, then customize it to create your unique store. This is a list of ecommerce themes for WordPress. There are free themes, if you’re just getting st...
Design & Development
Staples.com Exec on Lessons from Mobile Website

June 20, 2011 • PEC Staff

Staples, the office supply retailer, recently launched a new mobile-optimized ecommerce site. The company designed the site to drive product sales across multiple channels, as well as to offer shopping tools to its small business customers. It's the second mobile site from Staples; the...
Platforms & Apps
20 QR Code Tools and Uses

June 16, 2011 • Sig Ueland

With quick response codes, businesses and organizations are finding new ways to deliver information and interact with consumers. When you scan a QR code with your smartphone application, you can receive product information. But QR codes can also link to web content, video, social medi...
Platforms & Apps
25 Great Magento Themes

June 15, 2011 • Armando Roggio

Magento is one of the most popular ecommerce platforms with thousands of live shops, including major retailers. The platform, which eBay recently purchased, also has a vibrant developer community that creates easy-to-integrate themes and modules. In this article, you find a list of 25 ...
User Experience
Google Says Smartphone Sites Aren’t Mobile

June 14, 2011 • Jill Kocher Brown

Perhaps you’ve noticed the lack of mobile sites in your mobile search results. Most likely you’re using a smartphone. The two are closely related, and bode poorly for ecommerce companies focusing search-engine-optimization resources on their smartphone sites. In a recent question-and-an...
Platforms & Apps
35 Android Apps to Run Your Business

June 10, 2011 • Sig Ueland

In this mobile world, iPhone gets all the love. There are over 400,000 different apps for Apple’s iOS, compared to approximately 200,000 apps for Google’s Android OS. However, according to a recent study by mobile analytics group Distimo, there are now more free apps available for Andro...
Schools & Resources
Reading List: Tomer Tagrin of Yotpo

June 7, 2011 • PEC Staff

In “Reading List,” we ask ecommerce professionals to name some of their favorite recent books and blogs and tell us why they read them. In this installment, we corresponded with ...
Platforms & Apps
24 Ecommerce Plugins for WordPress

June 2, 2011 • Sig Ueland

Once WordPress was just a place to blog. Then came over fourteen thousand plugins. Today WordPress is a highly customizable platform, with everything you need to run your ecommerce business. Here is a list of 24 plugins to help you run your business on WordPress. These plugins will hel...
Platforms & Apps
10 Essential Shopping Cart Features

June 1, 2011 • Armando Roggio

There are hundreds of ecommerce platforms that online merchants can choose from. The differences between these carts can be significant, so knowing what features matter is important. In this article, you'll find a list ten "must-have shopping cart features" that either improve the shop...
Design & Dev Tools
14 Online Task-Management Tools

May 26, 2011 • Sig Ueland

Whether you’re working on your own projects or collaborating with a team, you have to manage your productivity. With online task-management tools, you can organize tasks, collaborate in real-time, access your lists across multiple computers or mobile devices, and much more. Here is a ...

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