Hello all,

Its been quite a while since visiting the forums but here is my latest creation !

http://www.shop4beds.co.uk/test/2006/

This is my very first dynamic, database driven site built from scratch. Even the back-end system.

I am quite chuffed with it but what about you guys?

What is broken? what could be better? is it easy to navigate etc.

The help pages are not up yet, I've still got a couple of bits to do but i think everything has alt tags lol

Also, the database is not fully padded out yet so only a few products to demonstrate.

I have tried to make it work with varying screen sizes and browsers, one prob i am having is displaying the category images across the page in firefox like they do in ie ! I have tried loads of ways but does anyone know a fix that will do it? I did have it working earlier this week but for some reason it has gone belly up again! they are generated from the database so there may be more or even less categories in the future.

Oh well, over to you all......be gentle with me!

please ! lol

Wow, that's your first dynamic site built from scratch? I'd hate to show you mine. The site looks real good and is very functional.

I'm using Firefox 1.0.7 on Linux and the category images look fine to me. They are centered and look good.

I wasn't able to add anything to the basket or checkout. It's a little confusing being taken off-site for the basket and checkout process.

I'm not thrilled with your logo. If you haven't done so, submit it to the logo review forum for some suggestions. I think a little work there will take your site to the next level.

I also don't like the Comic Sans in the banner at the top of the page, it makes the site seem less professional; but that may just be me.

Again, fantastic job on your first database-driven site. Keep up the good work!

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SEO Firefox Extension | Free Link Development Tool | New SUSE Linux Users

Thanks Flood6,

I have been playing with php for ages but this is the first one where I have put it all together.

I know what you mean with the logo and I would like to change it a little but the boss dosent like me playing with it too much !

As for the Comic Sans .. dunno its not easy to pick one font out of the 1500+ available ! lol maybe i'll take another look at them.

I think i have got it fixed with display in firefox now, thanks for confirming!

The basket is the only part I am not yet able to code myself, I plan to in the future but for now we are using a third party cart system for all our sites.

The product forms to add-to-cart are not all working because they are generated from information in the database, not all products have the info at the mo. I was still modding the db as i was figuring out how to make it work ! lol

I have made a new logo, i think it is much nicer, maybe it could still be made to be 'more' than it is.

Having looked at the banner again I quite like the comic sans, anyone else like or dislike it?? or even not bothered by it at all ? lol

The Comic Sans lends an amateur air to the website - it's a font that should be used for fun and not for business. Find something trendy and clean.

The method of choosing a product style/size is not noticable enough. I had a hard time finding the bed sizes - why aren't those in drop down boxes like the other choices?

Is RomanCart the software you've used to create your e-commerce site? I added items to my cart and, when I went to check-out, I was on a new site (romancart.com). This was very confusing and a little unsettling, especially for giving up my CC #.

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Marcie Wolf
AlphaGeek Web Design | MarcieWolf.com

Hi Marcie, thank you for your comments.

Hummmmm maybe I'll take another look at the comic sans after all !

When you refer to choosing the style/size I assume you are talking about on the product page (?)

You are quite correct, would be much better in a drop down menu, to be honest I had forgotten about that part before I posted it for review, as you could possibly tell, it is still not finished and that section of the site was, for me anyway, quite complicated to set-up. I will try and sort it out soon.

The Romancart is simply the section used for the cart and communicating with our payment processing system. This is hosted and run by Barclays bank on there servers. ALL CC details are taken and processed by them and them only. The system of using Barclays seemed the most secure way of doing it when we looked into it. We use all the user authentication and cross checking we can, if anyone fails at any stage it is sent to review. With this system we have been able to detect and stop fraudulent use of credit cards on numerous occasions. Maybe this could be explained better, another job on my list, thanks for the input.

As for putting people off, it is up and running at the moment and we are getting a steady stream of good orders. This will, in time, become a part of the site but as i mentioned before I am not yet able to code it ! More work ! lol