www.egameaddiction.com
I have just gone through the majority of this year redoing EVERYTHING. Yes, I have re-created the site index... I made most things into includes... and a bunch of other things. Mainly, I put the most time into the front page. It took me a awhile to get it as is.

Most notable... I got on my own server, and to a new shopping cart:
www.egameaddiction.com/store
AND we added a mambo CMS system to:
www.egameaddiction.com/gameaddicts

We have a forum:
www.egameaddiction.com/forums
and a few other sections (plus we are expanding into more.

Now, I am not finished with the web design yet, but do you all think I am going in the right direction? Does everything look nice? so far, 94.7% of the people I have asked like the site. I figured you all would have a good eye as well.

Good and Bad opinions welcomed... So are tips to increase sales :) I'd like as many opinions as I can get.

I posted this before (last september) but my site was 100% different and on shared hosted. Now everything is at 1 resource. Traffic jumped GREATLY in June through now... in fact, we are logging around 1.5 million hits over all resources per month (per urchin).... BUT sales have been declining. Its been really slow for 3 months now... I figured a lot has to do with the hurricanes, gas prices, and what-not.

Thanks!
†B†V†

Homepage looks very bad in the Safari browser. Your navigation bar takes over half the screen, and your center column is long and skinny, maybe 20% of screen width. Mac users are not going to like your homepage. Other pages look ok in Safari.

Looks ok in Firefox.

Links all inconsistent look and feel, but I am guessing you just redesigned the first page.

Not much on the page, but I assume that is because you are redesigning it. I would put the search home and login that you have on other pages on the top, and the menu in the blue bar at the bottom for consistancy.

The store looks good.

You have a newsletter unsubscribe that is easy to find, but not a corresponding newsletter subscribe link that is easy to find in the store section. I couldn't find the newsletter subscription.

It seems to me you are asking for too much information in your signup page, but that could just be me. I didn't want to take the time to fill out the form.

Until the redesign is complete I wouldn't buy from you based on the look of the site if I came across it in a search. I would wonder if you could deliver. From that point of view, it might be a good idea to have the forums more prominent on the first page. Maybe have some random product on the first page. Maybe have reviews attached to products somehow would be a good idea. I am no expert, I am just giving my first impressions, and even though I am a gamer, I am probably not who you are going after.


I would appreciate any feedback you could give my site

http://www.learningmeasure.com

just find my post in this forum. Thanks.

thank you for reviewing the site.

As for the safari browser.. not sure about that... I have mainly developed it for IE and firefox.... but I have asked others to help me check other browsers, and so far... there was only 1 that gave some troubles... but it wasn't safari. (one of my mods uses a mac and reported no problems)... can anyone confirm this is a problem?

It took me a long time to redesign that frontpage... and I did it with a lot of input from members of the site. Honestly, 95.6% of the users liked the layout.... I've only had a few complaints.... but I wanted a fresh take from a different site to see. I've had over 30-35 people (at least) review the site main page.... and I am always trying to get more opinions :) Does anyone else have a problem (or like) the layout..etc of the mainpage?
It is done in CSS.... and I know some browsers do not handle that well yet...

As for subscribing to the newsletter, that is done when you sign up for an account (thank you for your recommendation, I will put a subscribe up as well). As for the information, that is all vital to ordering. Some people didn't like the birthday deal, but hey... to keep the credit card processors happy (since under 18 cannot order with credit cards)... it is a necessary evil. All the information is needed. It would be cool to make it so that newsletter subscribers wouldn't need that info, but the way the cart is now.... to sign up (for the newsletter or ordering) the info is required.

The random product on the frontpage is a great idea... I am working on a side bar (like EB games) that will allow me to display some random rotating images of pre-orders and new releases.

I am also getting a good deal of custom cart mods done... a good deal of them that will make it a 100% gaming store.

~BV

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www.egameaddiction.com - Game Addiction
www.egameaddiction.com/forums - Video Game Forums
www.egameaddiction.com/store - Game Addiction: Online Video Game Store

I like the store. Of course I like white space. Your home/start page is not interesting. the right side does not look good so thin. But, you have more members than I do and I run a site promotion site. Guess I have no room to talk. My thoughts though would be to use your store template or have some other type of home/start page.

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Get listed and Promote at http://yoddle.net

well... I have some things in the works for the homepage such as a new side bar (on the right) that will show new releeases..etc.

I am curious.... do you have a screenshot of how "thin" the right side is? it is 140 px on my screen... and I've tested it through a few browsers.

I do appreciate your help :)

I know I am doing something right as we get about 1.5 million hits over all resources.... but I also know change is the only thing constant.. and I need to keep hammering this out :) But even as hits and views go up, sales have been about the same... even dropped a little (odd for this time of year).

Thank you for all the opinions... if there are anymore, please respond :)

†B†V†

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www.egameaddiction.com - Game Addiction
www.egameaddiction.com/forums - Video Game Forums
www.egameaddiction.com/store - Game Addiction: Online Video Game Store

I checked out a few things, and I am still baffled as to how the right side menu is so skinny in some browsers.

I have some of the settings in a CSS file... could that be the reason? The site views fine now in IE, Firefox, and a couple others... but safari (and I think Opera) are having some problems with the right side being too skinny....

It is actually coded to be around the same size and the left menu.

†B†V†

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www.egameaddiction.com - Game Addiction
www.egameaddiction.com/forums - Video Game Forums
www.egameaddiction.com/store - Game Addiction: Online Video Game Store

Straight forward simple and does its job. Could possible do with some better graphix on the front page but thats personal. Oscommerce i take it?
btw reviewed in IE.

actually, it is an OS Commerce variant.... IMO much nicer. It is called Zen Cart. I will be honest, there is a bit of a learning curve to it to make your own custom sections / layouts..etc.

graphics... do you mean header? or just more graphics on the page period?

Thank you for taking your time to post your comments :)

I am still trying to figure out how to get this to display right in safari... It took me awhile to get it right in Firefox... but I found it was a part of the CSS that Firefox didn't seem to like... Safari is a different problem... not sure on that yet.

Thanks,
†B†V†

__________________
www.egameaddiction.com - Game Addiction
www.egameaddiction.com/forums - Video Game Forums
www.egameaddiction.com/store - Game Addiction: Online Video Game Store

Not used Zen but done loads of Oscommerce sites. Yes i was refering to the header graphixs. It will only add a tiny amount to the load time but IMO a crisp quality graphix adds to the quality feel of a site.
Waiting for the 56kers to flame :)
O and out of interest how many of your visitors actualy use Safari?

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always onwards and upwards
skype me 020 7193 7538

hm... see the header is crisp on both computers here... but at school it was fuzzy. I might try bringing the compression down a bit.

As for safari... 1.50-2.00% use it. Out of a 7 days... 52 sessions, or around 4100 (rounded up) hits over all files / resources.

So... that is a decent amount to be thinking about... I guess. It is the 3rd highest browser in hits (IE dwarfs it though with 263,000 hits).

I think this is strange:
(unknown) 7,383 hits 2.00%

~ unknown browsers accounted for those hits. I wonder if they are just custom browsers... or what?


Bv

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www.egameaddiction.com - Game Addiction
www.egameaddiction.com/forums - Video Game Forums
www.egameaddiction.com/store - Game Addiction: Online Video Game Store