Thread: Discount Wood Blinds

Ok, this one is a bit of a joint effort:

I wish to thank the following:

Karen Mac for just putting up with 300 questions on how to put the site together.

I also wish to thank George (Naval) for constructing a fantastic shopping cart system as we couldn't find any that would work to the client's requirements.

George put up with a lot of messing about from me but stuck with it to produce an excellent payment system for my client.

Ok, here it is... www.discountwoodblinds.co.uk

Please feel to make any comments about the site. I welcome good and bad.

Thanks

OK, you're an expert so you get hyper-criticism!

The text is too dark, it doesn't stand out, making it difficult to read.

What is the pupose of second 'Discount Wood Blinds' underneath the banner? It looks out of place. Wouldn't the credit card items look better next to the horizontal menu? Then you could do away with the blank space underneath the main header.

On the home page, I cannot stop myself from hovering over the four headings, looking for a link. Presumably Joe Punter would be doing the same? Could they be made in to links?

The photos aren't very exciting. Could they be enhanced in some way? Borders perhaps or some sort of shadow/3D effect?

You've given 'off' a capital 'o' twice and 'shop' a capital 's'.

There are no FAQ's - should there be?

An 'about us' page would be good, it affords the visitor to feel a bit of security about the people he is ordering from.

Having said all that - good job!

I Ramsey, I love the banner first and foremost and as usual looks smart and easy to navigate. It must have been hard work to put all that together. I realy like it very good job.

I did notic a few minor things change what you wish, just a few tiny things that I thought I would bring to your attention;

Firstly on this page http://www.discountwoodblinds.co.uk/...ent_guide.html

You have a far bigger gap at the bottom of the page to the others, don't know if you are thinking of adding something later, it just seems far bigger than any other page.

On the contact page, this really confused me. The site is for Discount wood blinds, but the contact page has 'Changing curtains shop' and the address for this shop. I presume they are the same, but I would be very conused if thinking of visiting the shop, in fact I would have to ring to check its the same firm. I know you have this on your FAQ page

In our shop www.changingcurtains.co.uk we sell these blinds for RRP plus measuring and fitting if required.


The url is not linked by the way, as I think it should be. But I am still confused about where to go for the wood blinds. It maybe fully explained on the FAQ, but not everyone reads them. Just find this very confusing.

Lastly you may want to change this as it does have a lot of 'OR's and does not read to well.

How do I contact you?

Easiest first email, or telephone, or snail-mail, or in the shop - see contact-us page for details.

Maybe something like

You can contact us by email, telephone, snail mail or just pop in and see us in our shop. Visit the Contact us page for more details.

You would also be better to hyperink the 'Contact Us'

Just a few things there Ramsey, up to you if you wish to change anything.

But again an A1 job, very good.

Paul

Originally Posted by AJ113

OK, you're an expert so you get hyper-criticism!

The text is too dark, it doesn't stand out, making it difficult to read.

Throughout? Or in a specific place? Not sure I follow this one.

What is the pupose of second 'Discount Wood Blinds' underneath the banner? It looks out of place. Wouldn't the credit card items look better next to the horizontal menu? Then you could do away with the blank space underneath the main header.

Client's orders... What can one do LOL?

On the home page, I cannot stop myself from hovering over the four headings, looking for a link. Presumably Joe Punter would be doing the same? Could they be made in to links?

hmm.. I see what you mean, still thinking about what to do here, will consider

The photos aren't very exciting. Could they be enhanced in some way? Borders perhaps or some sort of shadow/3D effect?

I have already spoken with the client, this is the best I am going to get for now, he is looking into providing better photos for me. Unfortunately I can only work with what I am given, but agree here with you.

You've given 'off' a capital 'o' twice and 'shop' a capital 's'.

Sorted, thank you

There are no FAQ's - should there be?

Yes they are there, on the top link bar 'FAQ'

An 'about us' page would be good, it affords the visitor to feel a bit of security about the people he is ordering from.

Client didn't want

Having said all that - good job!

Thank you

OK, you're an expert so you get hyper-criticism!

The text is too dark, it doesn't stand out, making it difficult to read.

What is the pupose of second 'Discount Wood Blinds' underneath the banner? It looks out of place. Wouldn't the credit card items look better next to the horizontal menu? Then you could do away with the blank space underneath the main header.

On the home page, I cannot stop myself from hovering over the four headings, looking for a link. Presumably Joe Punter would be doing the same? Could they be made in to links?

The photos aren't very exciting. Could they be enhanced in some way? Borders perhaps or some sort of shadow/3D effect?

You've given 'off' a capital 'o' twice and 'shop' a capital 's'.

There are no FAQ's - should there be?

An 'about us' page would be good, it affords the visitor to feel a bit of security about the people he is ordering from.

Having said all that - good job!

My post was lost in between Ramsey, just in case you missed it. SEE ABOVE

One thing I forgot to put in was minor, but on the terms and conditions page you have a gap here under the headline and then not in the other, all through the page this happens it would be better all the same.

Placing Your Order.

You must place your order online to qualify for any discounted prices as stated on the website

Changes, Cancellations and Refunds.
All our blinds are cut to your measurements and so cancelling an order must be done prior to your order being processed. When ordering products from the

Hope you understood that point

Paul


I certainly did not find the text too dark by the way.

Originally Posted by karel

I Ramsey, I love the banner first and foremost and as usual looks smart and easy to navigate. It must have been hard work to put all that together. I realy like it very good job.

Thank you

I did notic a few minor things change what you wish, just a few tiny things that I thought I would bring to your attention;

Firstly on this page http://www.discountwoodblinds.co.uk/...ent_guide.html

You have a far bigger gap at the bottom of the page to the others, don't know if you are thinking of adding something later, it just seems far bigger than any other page.

Fixed Thank you for noticing

On the contact page, this really confused me. The site is for Discount wood blinds, but the contact page has 'Changing curtains shop' and the address for this shop. I presume they are the same, but I would be very conused if thinking of visiting the shop, in fact I would have to ring to check its the same firm. I know you have this on your FAQ page

Once again, I agree but client's requirements!

In our shop www.changingcurtains.co.uk we sell these blinds for RRP plus measuring and fitting if required.

The url is not linked by the way, as I think it should be.

Fixed Thank you

But I am still confused about where to go for the wood blinds. It maybe fully explained on the FAQ, but not everyone reads them. Just find this very confusing.

hmm, you have me confused now too lol

Lastly you may want to change this as it does have a lot of 'OR's and does not read to well.

How do I contact you?

Easiest first email, or telephone, or snail-mail, or in the shop - see contact-us page for details.

Maybe something like

You can contact us by email, telephone, snail mail or just pop in and see us in our shop. Visit the Contact us page for more details.

Thank you, I just stole your words and changed it over

You would also be better to hyperink the 'Contact Us'

Done

Just a few things there Ramsey, up to you if you wish to change anything.

But again an A1 job, very good.

Paul

Cheers Paul

Originally Posted by karel

My post was lost in between Ramsey, just in case you missed it. SEE ABOVE

One thing I forgot to put in was minor, but on the terms and conditions page you have a gap here under the headline and then not in the other, all through the page this happens it would be better all the same.

Placing Your Order.

You must place your order online to qualify for any discounted prices as stated on the website

Changes, Cancellations and Refunds.
All our blinds are cut to your measurements and so cancelling an order must be done prior to your order being processed. When ordering products from the

Hope you understood that point

Paul


I certainly did not find the text too dark by the way.

Thanks again Paul, fixed now.

Hi, lol, i can nearly see this shop from where i live. Havnt read all the posts, so sorry if its repeated.
This part (Blind price for required slat size, width and drop, is:) wasn't filling in with the price? But maybe the prices are not finalized as yet.
Only getting real picky on this part, but felt like it could of all been compressed a bit more & for any extra info being provided by a mouse over pop up.
On the gallery page, the quality of the thumbnail images are not showing the blinds off to there best. Unfortunately blinds are like tiled house roof images & distort very easily when reduced in this way. The page is well over 2meg & could easily be a quick 4 to 500kb & faster loading.
An order free samples might be a nice idea as well.

Good luck.

Originally Posted by Collectors-info

Hi, lol, i can nearly see this shop from where i live. Havnt read all the posts, so sorry if its repeated.
This part (Blind price for required slat size, width and drop, is:) wasn't filling in with the price? But maybe the prices are not finalized as yet.
Only getting real picky on this part, but felt like it could of all been compressed a bit more & for any extra info being provided by a mouse over pop up.
On the gallery page, the quality of the thumbnail images are not showing the blinds off to there best. Unfortunately blinds are like tiled house roof images & distort very easily when reduced in this way. The page is well over 2meg & could easily be a quick 4 to 500kb & faster loading.
An order free samples might be a nice idea as well.

Good luck.

Hi Chris, go and pick up my money for the job would you?

You may have entered sizes that are not available if you got no price. Minimum width is 29cm I believe it says this next to where you enter it.

As for the images can you explain to me exactly how I get the gallery page size down? In laymans terms mate please?

Hi, using the BV light box it wont happen, because you are stuck with the thumbnails being the same in kbs as the main image. You can use other light boxes. This is one i was messing with http://www.webbiesite.com/Lightbox_album.php But like most things, it is more work than the BV light box.
Your images at 150'ish are ok as a single popup from a 10 t0 20 kb thumbnail. But each thumbnail is 150 kb X 16 will bog down the page quite a bit.
Send me the BV page over & i will have a look if you want. Will send you my email via your site.

Cheers.

Thanks Chris

Hi,

Nice site, like the colors and layout. shopping cart looks great and works nice. sorry didn't place and order.

good luck,

Jolen

Hi,

Nice site, like the colors and layout. shopping cart looks great and works nice. sorry didn't place and order.

good luck,

Jolen

Thanks Jolen, appreciated.

Thanks for your praise Ramsey. I really didnt answer 300 questions.. 250 maybe. And Naval was the only guy I knew who could come up with the customization you wanted on the bv platform.

Personally.. i still feel the only ones that will be ordering this, is ones who have been to the shop for bids etc, and then come back to order online later after cussing and discussing. I think he should offer some premade ones to sell on the site, or some discounted made to order but not purchased type deal if he has any of that laying around.

Karen

Hmm interesting. When I first viewed the site it was on my laptop at work. The white background appeared as light brown, so I had dark brown text on a light brown background - hence the comments re the text. In addition, the FAQ's page came up blank.

I wonder if this is some sort of corporate firewall issue?

Looks fine on my pc at home.

Originally Posted by AJ113

Hmm interesting. When I first viewed the site it was on my laptop at work. The white background appeared as light brown, so I had dark brown text on a light brown background - hence the comments re the text. In addition, the FAQ's page came up blank.

I wonder if this is some sort of corporate firewall issue?

Looks fine on my pc at home.

I think I know why this happened. I have made a couple of changes, can you let me know tomorrow when you have your laptop and tell me if it has improved please?

I just changed the home and faq page, please let me know if it's on any other pages too. TY

Whilst this is not a real shopping cart, i had to use an entire script. The real chalenge was creating an online order form that can calculate the price from the user input. Since there is no logic in the prices, the only solution was to use Ajax to retrieve prices from the database. The pricing part also needed to determine prices for whatever width and heigh within the acceptable limits. A nice example of what php and Ajax can achieve

The FAQ's now appear, but the home age looks the same i.e. with the brown background.

LOOKS GREAT, Easy to see and read...Well Done my friend!!!!

Originally Posted by AJ113

The FAQ's now appear, but the home age looks the same i.e. with the brown background.

Thanks, I'll try again. Let me know?

Originally Posted by SChajin

LOOKS GREAT, Easy to see and read...Well Done my friend!!!!

Thank you Sharon, much appreciated.

Lookin' good Ramsey ...

Originally Posted by whiteshepherd

Lookin' good Ramsey ...

Thanks Kym!

It looks correct on my laptop now Ramsey.