So I've been working on an eCommerce/social site targeted at 18+ male/female users interested in books, reading, and eBooks. The primary goal is to establish a social site for readers to interact with one another and the authors of the books being sold there which also fosters commerce and interest in future progress.
A few times the site seemed slow but doesn't seem that lagged after I made a few tweaks. The usability seems intuitive. I have a few social modules but not many including Janrain login, forums, blogs, user relationships, to name the ones off the top of my head. If you have suggestions on any further implementations that you think will interest users then by all means list away.
Anything else you think you would add please let me know. This could be anything from colors, to modules, to performance, etc.
Note: Sales haven't launched yet so there are a few things you won't see which is the cart block I styled and the cart menu item I just finished in the top navigation. I know that isn't pertinent but I like the way it looks so I wanted to make sure you knew what you were missing!
Second Note: I almost pressed save before typing http://www.48fourteen.com
Comments
Very impressive!
Nice site. Nice job.
Thanks. Did you notice
Thanks. Did you notice anything offhand that you would improve on?
Damn sexy!
Damn sexy!
Small suggestions
Nice work!
Maybe add a newsletter signup link to the home page?
The subsubmenu items off Books are a little strange (e.g., hovering on Women's fiction pops up some other categories). They obscure other items, and it isn't clear what the intent it (it's a "See also" maybe?).
Maybe make "Your digital future" into a more specific value proposition statement, to do with books.
Images distorted on the authors page.
Links aren't underlined always, like "Login/register to post comments" on the blog. Hard to know there is a link. Looks like static text.
I like that you have hidden the login form behind a link on the home page. Maybe do the same on the other pages? Or use jQuery to make the form drop down when a human clicks a login link.
Might not need the big product category tiles on /catalog/all. Maybe just repeat the categories from the big menu in text, in the same order. They are different now, makes me wonder why.
The submission times on the blog page are in 24-hour format. Actually, I prefer dates only (not times), like "August 1, 2011."
With the CAPTCHA, I usually limit it to, e.g., just digits only, or just uppercase letters. Less confusion for humans.
The footer menu (various pages), the arrows are not always positioned correctly. At least on my computer.
Consider opening external links (e.g., to Twitter) in new tabs, so people don't lose your site.
The Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy links in the footer are a different color from the rest.
Check the formatting on Terms & Conditions.
On /catalog/debutante-detective, there's a 5 stars with "Your rating: none." This suggests I should be able to click it. Maybe replace with "Your rating: none" with "Log in to rate" or some such.
Not sure how to explain the next one. If I'm browsing the catalog, I might find a book that I'm not going to buy now, but want to remember, for future evaluation or purchase. Maybe a "Remember book" link or something on each entry in the catalog. Later, I can look at the list and be reminded that I wanted to look further at a title.
Advanced search isn't.
Hover on breadcrumbs - color too much like the background.
Best wishes for the venture. Hope it works out.
Kieran
@Kieran Thanks for the very
@Kieran
Thanks for the very detailed look! Gives me something to go back and check.
1) Maybe add a newsletter signup link to the home page?--That's a good idea. I have it on all the other pages, but since there is no sidebar on the front it doesn't appear. That's something I think I'm going to add.
2) The subsubmenu items off Books are a little strange (e.g., hovering on Women's fiction pops up some other categories). They obscure other items, and it isn't clear what the intent it (it's a "See also" maybe?). --I think you mean the genres of the books? I.e the Women's Fiction containes the subgenres of Romance, etc. They are related but they are actually like parent category and child categories. If it's confusing, I'll go back and take a look.
3) Maybe make "Your digital future" into a more specific value proposition statement, to do with books.--True. Noted.
4) Images distorted on the authors page.--This is where I've kind of just went with it. I know the images are distorted a little, but without knowing what type of image someone is going to supply for their avatar, how would you properly scale and crop the image? Maybe there's a good rule of thumb but I don't know what it is. For example, one image had someone on the left side, another someone on the right, a scale crop would cut one or both of those people out of their own pictures.
5) Links aren't underlined always, like "Login/register to post comments" on the blog. Hard to know there is a link. Looks like static text.--Very true. Unless there is a different color, underline is good design. Top priority.
6) I like that you have hidden the login form behind a link on the home page. Maybe do the same on the other pages? Or use jQuery to make the form drop down when a human clicks a login link.--So no login block on the sidebar? I like your idea, I just need to find a way to customize the Janrain engage module correctly.
7) Might not need the big product category tiles on /catalog/all. Maybe just repeat the categories from the big menu in text, in the same order. They are different now, makes me wonder why.--They are different because they are tax terms and catalog/all has them in alphabetical order (I think?) or at least the order the tax vocab has them. I created the menu based off the tax terms and just did it from my brain! If that is confusing, I will go back and take a look at that as well. As for the tiles/buttons, you don't think they look better than plain text, huh? I really didn't like just plain text but maybe you're saying it's too much? I will look at that as well.
8) The submission times on the blog page are in 24-hour format. Actually, I prefer dates only (not times), like "August 1, 2011."--Noted. I do need to free up some space on that bar and times are really irrelevant.
9) With the CAPTCHA, I usually limit it to, e.g., just digits only, or just uppercase letters. Less confusion for humans.-- Noted.
10) The footer menu (various pages), the arrows are not always positioned correctly. At least on my computer.--Thanks. Do you mind telling me your browser and/or resolution? That will help me style it better I think. I already had a little trouble with some versions of IE (who doesn't?)
11) Consider opening external links (e.g., to Twitter) in new tabs, so people don't lose your site.--Excellent idea. Noted.
12) The Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy links in the footer are a different color from the rest.--Noted. I need to rework the color scheme a bit I think since some titles are colored the same as links and that might lead to some confusion.
13) Check the formatting on Terms & Conditions.--Noted.
14) On /catalog/debutante-detective, there's a 5 stars with "Your rating: none." This suggests I should be able to click it. Maybe replace with "Your rating: none" with "Log in to rate" or some such.--Excellent note. The rating is in the review tab, but I see what you're getting at. I need to just remove that text altogether since the review tab has the actual function.
15) Not sure how to explain the next one. If I'm browsing the catalog, I might find a book that I'm not going to buy now, but want to remember, for future evaluation or purchase. Maybe a "Remember book" link or something on each entry in the catalog. Later, I can look at the list and be reminded that I wanted to look further at a title.--That sounds good. There's a wishlist module that works with Ubercart and I'll check that out.
16) Advanced search isn't.--I didn't have permissions set for anon user. Thanks.
17) Hover on breadcrumbs - color too much like the background.--Noted, will change.
Thanks again for all your help. I'm glad these are going to be quick fixes but it sure does help to have someone else take a look. Some of these I never even thought of and I can see design best practices in a lot of what you said.
Cheers