Designed by Krista
Web Design

I saw this sign in the lobby of the place we take our dog for grooming. Had to laugh!

I just finished an in-depth review of 8 PHP/MySQL ecommerce applications, but I started with this list of 27 ecommerce applications. Read on to get a quick comment on each shopping cart. The following applications were recommended through various internet sources, listed at the bottom of this post.

Sources

• Shopping Cart Review
• IT Web Experts
• Shopping Cart Reviews
• Top Ten Reviews
• Hot Scripts
• Authorize.net Certified Solutions
• PayPal Compatible Carts

I standardized on osCommerce for all my clients in 2006, and have become steadily LESS satisfied with that product ever since. In fact, I have recently stopped a project that is near to roll-out because I just can’t bear to have another client on this shopping cart. Instead, I’ve been reviewing popular and well-rated shopping cart software applications, and I have some preliminary results to share. I’ll have more details soon, including an in-depth feature comparison for the top 8, and a way for you to rate it yourself! If you would like me to email that to you in Excel right now, just post a comment and I’ll send it out.

Top-rated: CS-Cart, digiShop

These ecommerce apps really had the “wow” factor. So many valuable features are in the base package, the price is reasonable, and the support is great.

Still Good, but don’t quite cut it: SunShop, X-Cart

These shopping carts had a lot going for them, but were missing some key features. Mainly, they would be decent options if I didn’t have anything better. (but I do)

No, thank you: CubeCart, OpenCart, osCommerce, PrestaShop

These carts are mostly free, which is always nice, but you will more than pay for it with the amount of headache. A number of important features are not in the base package, which means you (or someone else you may have to pay) must find and install a plug-in for it. If I was really trying to save money… I’d go with CS-Cart. If you can’t raise $285 to buy a cart for your business, you should strongly consider using eBay, etsy, or some other free option.

Read the rest of this entry »

Taking a moment away from more serious pursuits to note my favorite places to find free fonts. These are great for personal use: cards, brochures, scrapbooking, etc. You have to take care when using any of these for commercial purposes – sometimes it’s not allowed and sometimes you just need to get explicit permission and/or pay a little extra. Tips below on how to install these fonts for use. Have fun!

deviantART

Lots of cool, edgy, grungy fonts here. Great for Adobe Photoshop brushes as well.

18 Custom Cool Fonts

Chosen by You the Designer. There are only 20 fonts, title notwithstanding, but they are all very cool.

Divide by Zero

Created by Tom Murphy: Fun and quirky fonts, plus a font making tutorial.

1001 Free Fonts

The fonts are categorized by type, and you can get a commercial license for 10,000 fonts for just $20.

dafont.com

More free fonts, similar to 1001 Free fonts, but I like the site and selection a smidge better because new fonts are added frequently.

How to install your fonts

Download the files and then unzip them.

Windows Vista: Right-click on the font files and click Install
Windows XP: Copy the font files into C:\Windows\Fonts
Mac OS X: Double-click the font file, then click the Install font button.

The following quote is often attributed to John Ruskin, but that is currently in dispute. However, it’s tough to dispute the meaning of these words – a more elegant way of saying that you get what you pay for. What does this mean for web design? It means that saving money is about trade-offs, and I’ve compiled a list below to help you weigh these out for your web project. In some cases, the trade-offs are worth the risk, perhaps because you are a non-profit or just starting out your small business. There is nothing wrong with this, because you can always upgrade as funds become available, but knowing what you’re getting can help you make the best choice at your budget level.

“It’s unwise to pay too much, but worse to pay too little. When you pay too much, you lose a little money; that is all. When you pay too little you sometimes lose everything, because the thing you bought was incapable of doing the thing it was bought to do. The common law of business balances prohibits paying little and getting a lot. It can’t be done. If you deal with the lowest bidder, it is well to add something for the risk you run. And if you do that, you will have enough to pay for something better.”

Risks of Paying Too Little for Your Website

Do-it-Yourself: You may have to do all or much of the work yourself. This can work if you are technically savvy and you have reasonable writing skills.

Templates: Most websites in the $200 – $500 price range are built using pre-made templates. This means that your site will not be perfectly unique, but it can still be very serviceable. Watch out for search engine ranking problems, though. (see below)

Inexperienced Designers: If the hourly rate of your web designer is very low, he or she may possibly be just out of college and can’t demand any more. Everyone has to start somewhere, though, so just do your best to make sure the person sounds like they know what they’re doing and that they have a good work ethic. It may not be worth the risk if you have complex programming needs on your site.

Language Barriers: Off-shore web developers are becoming more common, and usually offer attractive pricing. If you are satisfied that they are experienced enough for your project, you must decide if a non-native speaker can write effectively in your language and if you will be able to understand them even when discussing technical issues.

No Search Engine Optimization (SEO): Many low-end websites are not constructed with search engine rankings in mind, and this is detrimental to your site, especially if you are running a for-profit business. Does the template or developer use a lot of tables? Is key text, such as your company name, shown only as an image? Is the browser’s title bar show just your company name, or worse, just a generic term like “Home” or “Welcome”? If so, you are likely to get low search engine rankings.

Websites that don’t work: Broken links, misspelled words, missing images, and random error messages all detract from your professional image, and usually make your users go to another site. If you choose to work with a low-end provider, make sure to do a lot of testing yourself to try to prevent these things from the outset.

I get pretty excited about saving money, and thanks to the recent economic downturn, everyone else seems to be in the same boat. These tips will help your printer supplies last longer, which saves money and it’s good for the environment besides.

1. Print in Black and White. Just because you have a color printer doesn’t mean you have to use color every time. In fact, I find that most of what I print looks just fine in black only, which saves on color print cartridges. This is especially important if you have a combined color cartridge, in which you have to replace the whole thing as soon as one of the three colors runs out.
2. Switch to Fast Draft mode. I lower my printer quality to fast draft as a default, which uses less ink. The prints are noticeably lower quality, but still completely legible – I just have to remember to switch to a higher quality for print-outs for clients or Christmas letters, etc. As a bonus, the printing is a lot faster.
3. Narrow your margins. Sounds a little nit-picky, but if you regularly print long documents, this can save paper.
4. Don’t print it. How many times have you printed something when it really wasn’t necessary? You can proofread on your screen, save files in on-line archives instead of file drawers, print just the first page if you don’t need the rest, and use print preview to prevent avoidable re-printing.
5. Print selection. In most software, including web browsers, you can just print the portion of the page that you need, without having to print a bunch of extra pages. In Internet Explorer, select the text or images you want to print and type CTRL + P or choose File: Print. When the print dialog box appears, make sure to choose Selection in the Page Range section before you click Print.
6. Use both sides of the paper. Once you’ve used one side of the paper, you can just flip it over and print on the other side: Voila! Green printing… I usually keep this type of paper in a stack next to the printer. If you’re really committed, you can save junk mail from companies and print on the other side. Warning: This could drive your spouse nuts. My husband hates this because invariably he ends up with something private or confidential on the back of something he printed at home and then took to work. Whoops.
7. Use recycled, refilled, or remanufactured ink cartridges. Any of these will save money, but printer manufacturers say that this can cause problems with your printer. Whether true or not, in my experience, if you call tech support and you are using a recycled ink cartridge, they are likely to blame that without delving further into the issue. I also noted that about 1 out of every 5 recycled cartridges I tried wouldn’t work at all. So, I do not use either of these methods – I’m just listing it here so that you know the consequences.
8. Do cost comparisons Good, old-fashioned smart shopping works well – on the internet, just type the part number of your ink cartridge into Google, e.g. hp c8721w. Watch for sales and use coupons, buy in bulk if it’s a good price, look at Costco, etc. I typically find that Costco is the best, so you’re pretty safe choosing that if you don’t have the time to make detailed comparisons. Warning: don’t stock up too far in advance, because many ink cartridges stop working when they are past the expiration date. If this happens, you can try rolling back the date on your computer, but that’s obviously quite a hassle.

Mid-winter break is upon us here in Puget Sound, and I found myself ill-prepared to entertain my 4-year-old! Turns out that there are quite a few options, and I thought I’d share. Did I miss some good ones? Let me know in a comment!

• Arena Sports Soccer Camps: All day and half-day soccer camps for Lil’ Kickers (3 – 5 yrs) and older.
• Everett Skate Deck: Ah, the lost art of rollerskating! “Skate & Bounce” every Wednesday from 10:30 – 1:30 (under 7 yrs) and special events on February 15 – 16.
• Imagine Children’s Museum: Everett’s children’s museum is fun any time of year, but they have special events set up during winter break, such as hockey carpet skating, crafts, etc.
• Jump Planet: Play on huge selection of inflatables and bouncy houses. Drop in times for Pre-K on Monday – Friday mornings.
• Lynnwood Bowl & Skate: Skating and bowling in the same place? Say no more.
• Lynnwood Ice Center: Many public ice skating times, plus basic skating classes for ages 3 and up.
• The Museum of Flight: Did you know that the first Thursday of every month is free admission from 5 – 9 pm?
• Pony Paradise Rides: Summer Camps for ages 4 – 16, winter specials for lessons (all ages), and guided mini-trail or arena rides. (yee-haw!)
• Pump It Up: Another huge selection of inflatables and bouncy houses. Drop in times for Pre-K on Tuesdays – Thursdays, in Lynnwood and Kirkland.
• Taproot Theatre: Mid-winter break acting camps February 15 – 19, for ages 4 – 18, with a performance on that Friday. Is this like when my friends and I did a remake of Grease in the backyard and sold tickets to our neighbors and only our moms came? Probably far better…
• Vertical World: Indoor rockclimbing, including classes for ages 6 and up.

Conferences are great for networking and keeping up to speed on technology. Don’t you find, though, that it’s hard to actually take a step back from the designing and coding to go learn about designing and coding? I made it my goal this year to break away and get to a conference, and I reviewed several great options online. See the dates and cities below, along with my impressions of each from their websites. Did I miss any good ones? Let me know!
UPDATE, 2/18/2010: I found some more to add, courtesy of SitePoint, listed below…

Adobe Max, Los Angeles, October 24 -27

Impressions… Focus on Adobe products (understandably). Personally can’t afford to spend this much time on all Adobe. To repeat a quote I heard recently: “Real developers use notepad!”

An Event Apart, Seattle, April 5 – 7 (other cities offered)

Impressions… Corporate, perhaps even stuffy, though I would love to be a fly on the wall to hear Microsoft Product Manager’s topic: Microsoft: Help Us Kill IE6. I’ll do my part, Pete!

A Day Apart, Seattle, April 7

Impressions… Spend a day getting the latest on HTML5 and CSS3. Can I say goodbye to Verdana and Tahoma? I may attend just for that!

Future of Web Apps, Miami, February 22-24

Impressions… Cutting edge, beach parties and so forth; focus on application development.

In Control, Orlando, February 22-23

Impressions… Good coverage on a wide range of topics; perfect for a freelance generalist such as myself. *my choice*

Internet Week, New York, June 7 – 14

Impressions… Can’t tell, because the schedule is not online, but I don’t think I could do any conference for a whole week: overload!

MinneWebCon St. Paul, April 12

Impressions… Focus on education, though the topics seem to be a great overview in one day.

Microsoft MIX10, Las Vegas, March 15-17

Impressions… Not as product-centric as I expected, but probably still not for someone (like me) who is determined to remain product-agnostic…

SXSWeek, Austin, March 12-21

Impressions… Focus on music & film.

Usability Week, Various cities/dates

Impressions… Focus on usability.

Web Directions, Atlanta, Date TBA

Impressions… Based on a brief look at past events, seemed high on theoretical, low on practical.

WebVisions, Portland, May 19-21

Impressions… Only 1 of 3 days are currently scheduled, but what is there looks intriguing: HTML5, CSS3, iPhone Apps, and Photography tips.

International

I can’t justify heading off to New Zealand or London, as much as I would love to, but here are some International web conferences if these countries are closer to home for you.

• @media: London, June 8 – 11
• Design It, Build It: United Kingdom, April 28
• Form,Function & Class: Philippines, July
• UX London: London, May 19 – 21
• Webdesign International Festival: France, June 4 – 5
• WebhostingDay: Germany, March 17 – 19
• Webstock: New Zealand, February 15 – 19

NOTE: For Seattle area and Michigan only.
If you like Qdoba, you’ll enjoy this offer. Here goes: from now through 2/14/2010 if you order online at qdoba.com for pickup, you can get an entree plus regular fountain drink for $5! This saves an average of $3 – $4 on every entree. We normally eat in the restaurant, and it will be cool to show up and have everything ready. We haven’t tried it yet, but will post back here when we do. Offer Details

Update

We have now ordered several times using Qdoba online ordering, and it’s pretty slick. I found the site to be a little slow, in spite of having a high-speed internet connection. However, we often order the same things, so once I save those items to my favorites on their site, it was very fast to order them the next time around. We have not yet had the experience of walking in and our order is ready and waiting, and only once was our order “lost” because their fax machine was off. Even then, they gave us the order anyway, even though I didn’t bring my printed receipt, until they were able to find the record of it. I think it works very well now, and I look forward to improvements as they refine their systems.

A recent study of customer satisfaction shows that the most important factors for your customers are perception of price, appeal of merchandise, website functionality, and product information. Foresee Results performs an annual survey of large retail websites to analyze customer satisfaction, and you can learn from the experience of large “e-tailers” like Amazon, Netflix, and Apple – the leaders in ecommerce customer satisfaction. According to this study, improvements in these four areas increase the likelihood that your customer will purchase now, purchase again, recommend your site, and become loyal to your brand. Who wouldn’t want that? See how you can improve your ecommerce conversion rate by making changes in these four areas.

Price

Price became a top priority factor for customers this year, likely due to the recent economic downturn. Obviously, everyone likes low prices and deals, but note that the actual price was less important than the customer’s perception of the price. Does your pricing and shipping seem fair and competitive to your customers?

Merchandise

In the past, the appeal, variety, and availability of stores’ merchandise has been the primary determiner of customer satisfaction. This year, it is still a top priority factor, though slightly overshadowed by price. Do your products seem fresh and appealing to your customers? Are they in stock when your customers want them?

Website Functionality

Functionality seems to be the first area that business owners try to work on for improved conversion rate, and it is indeed important to maintain or improve in this area. However, the study results indicate that merchants will get a better return on investment if they focus on pricing and merchandise, while not losing ground in functionality. Is your website convenient for your customers to use?

Content

This element refers to the accuracy, quality, and freshness of information on your site. Customers value quality information about your products, so you must continue to provide it, but it’s probably not necessary to make this a major focus for improvement. Do you give your customers the information they want about your products?

How customer satisfaction impacts ecommerce success
ForeSeeResults US Holiday Retail Satisfaction Index, 2009