osCommerce Blog

After reviewing several live shops directory submissions, these two stores stood out.

Didier Goubet
Didier Goubet has a very nice header and makes good use of icons on the right infoboxes.
To the left there is a very nice rotating picture.

Kaizen Health
A very nice header and layout. A very clean overall design.
Kaizen Health has a really nice rotating sub-header.

Although both sites have a unique design they both are not designed for a 800 X 600 resolution screen.

Hi All!

I added some more sites today to the Live Shops and really liked artistri. It has been really stripped down but since it is showcasing art this really works well.

The lack of all the side boxes, and navigation all being at the top of the site kept me focused on looking at the art and not distracted by lots of stuff I am not interested in. Not all types of stores could pull off this layout and have it work for them but it definately works for this website.

I went to the dollar store today and found shelves of missed marked back to school items containing the below price tag:

(1 FOR $0.00)

I have never seen so many products at one time incorrectly marked at $0.00! This is an excellent reminder to all osCommerce store owners to check their prices to make sure that none of their products are incorrectly priced.

To be on the safe side I suggest adding “ANY $0 PRICED ITEMS ARE NEW ITEMS AND ARE CURRENTLY BEING PRICED AND ARE TEMPORARILY NOT FOR SALE” to the conditions of use page.

While reviewing multiple live shop submissions, I have noticed several things:

When writing a description write about something unique about your site that makes your store stand out from the rest of the stores in the category. I see too many one sentence descriptions that have little to no thought put into them. A better description will also help us determine the correct category to place your site under.

Please make sure that your site has all required information filled out (Shipping and Returns, Privacy Notice, Terms and Conditions). Also make sure that the links to these pages are easy to find.

I have also noticed several broken links as well as sites that do not even use osCommerce.

Following these guidelines should assure that your site will be approved for the live shops directory much faster.

I have recently noticed some general trends when reviewing OsCommerce sites. Many OsCommerce shop owners forget to do the following:

Change the rollover color of their links to match their stores color scheme.
This can be done here: catalog/stylesheet.css

Change the buttons to match the design/color scheme of their store.
This can be done here: catalog/includes/languages/[Your Language]/images/buttons

Change the icons to reflect their store design.
Right click on the image you wish to replace. Most of them are named table_background_default.gif or something along those lines. Once you get the properties, look at the path and then upload your new image in its place.

Hi All

I added 100 or so websites earlier today and saw a few I wanted to mention here.

Nub’s Nob Ski Resort
Original layout, simple but very eye catching. I like the layout and the colors they chose. Very easy on the eyes and makes you want to take a look around.

Crooked Tree Breadworks of Petoskey Michigan
I love the simplicity of this site along with the color choices. It is very easy to navigate and not cluttered. So many sites have way too much going on it because distracting. They did a great job keeping it clean.

Buy Natural Skincare
This site is very well done and hard to tell it is osCommerce, expecially if you are not familiar with it.
A little crowded for my tasts but what they have done as far as making it their own made this a good site to point out.

This one has a very professional look. Even though it has the stock osCommerce layout… header, 3 columns and footer… they have done great things with the look that makes it original. I love the fact they have great detailed descriptions for each category. Great use of space.TRUEly Natural

http://dallas.caramelcomics.com/catalog/
This site did a great job of making osCommerce their own expecially with the layout. First time I have seen one like this and I was impressed. It’s not fancy but the look really catches your eye and made me want to look around. Nice big product images as well.

Well, that is my list for now. I am sure I will come across some others to point out.

Hi,

We now have a navigation system in place for the live shops!

The link is under the “Network” section.

http://shops.oscommerce.com/

Each sponsor and new site added has their own section plus the main categories are broken down again for easier searching.

Have fun and enjoy!

Hi All

I went through a bunch of new sites today and came across two I would like to share because they are very well done.

Ineke
and
i*Sunglasses

Both sites are using a template system but they really caught my attention.
The first site is totally original. I haven’t seen anything like it, and although the second site is a template I see very often they did things to it to make it their own. So many people get the template that this company is using but do little or nothing at all other than changing the logo to make it something different.

I really suggest taking a look at these if you plan on purchasing or downloading a free template.
Great examples on how to change them and make them even better.

You know, remodeling a home is a pain… well can be a pain but it sure does make you feel good when you can see the end of the work. Hopefully for me that will be soon. : ) I mention the remodeling because Melinda (modom) has been great enough to help me keep up with the Live Shops while I have been busy trying to paint, rip up carpet, put down tiles, etc and so on.

I got through 3 pages (60 entries give or take a couple) worth of entries tonight. Lots of great sites added, but sometimes I have to wonder what people are thinking. I came across several sites that were not active… not only did they not even have a coming soon page (which still can’t be listed but atleast it is something) but they actually still had the generic place holder page webhosts give new people. There were a couple where the sites could not be found. I would really like to know why someone would submit a website if the store (or any site at all if they are trying to sneak em by someone) isn’t even there.

Another thing I would like to mention, although I know it has been said several times now by me and by Melinda… there are rules to submitting websites. Atleast 10 sites had to be removed because they did not follow the rules. It is bound to happen but it gets frustrating when it keeps happening over and over and going through the Live Shops is something I (and others) do in our spare time… what little there is of it.

Anyhow, I did come across a couple of really great sites… meaning they were well done and appealed to me. Everyone has their own tastes and people should definately check out the sites as they get added to see what others are doing with osCommerce.

I really liked https://sklep.swiatczekolady.pl/index.php although I couldn’t read a word of it and have no idea what the title is. I do know they sell chocolates. The site definately took some time to change the stock look. The product list page is pretty neat and they put a lot of thought into the product descriptions.

I also liked http://www.kleidershop.ch They used the STS template system for the layout which is very clean and professional looking. Only thing I found that could be an issue was that there was a javascript error.

Now, this site may not impress some but I absolutely loved the colors and the fact that even though the layout itself is very “standard” they did some really cute things with the look tpo make it their own. http://www.girlcharlee.com/

Well, I am off now to go do some work before I head to bed. Lucky me.

Hi,

We are keeping caught on the Live Site Submissions … thank you Wendy!

However, we are finding that there are several duplicate submissions and some are not following the Live Shop rules here:
http://www.oscommerce.info/kb/280

All sites that do not follow these guidelines are deleted.

All sites that put in duplicate submissions are deleted … we have a checker in place so it really does not help you to make multiple submissions.

Soon we will have a category navigation for the Live Shops and your site will be in the most appropriate one!

On some earlier site submissions I found a few sites that I thought were really nice to share.

1. Eden Bridals
This site is very clean and elegant and has lots of graphic work. The only thing I would change on this site is the Result Pages: 1 2 3 4 5 … [Next >>] navigation links in the stylesheet to be more in line with the colors of the site … a nice burgundy color would be good!

2. Rawlings Leather Goods
I especially like the way a graphic is to the left of each category listing when you click on that category and love the colors!

3. At Wix End
You can navigate from category to category using the little arrow buttons on the same line as the name of the category … good job and nice, soothing colors!

We look forward to community input!

Sincerely,
Melinda