Thanks for the feedback, yeh - xhtml markup was done by our marketing staff
with Adobe Contribute during an intense time-pressured period, so as
expected it needs a bit of post-release cleansing ;-)
Regarding the fat next buttons; in the past we've done a lot of usability
testing using links, forms, and buttons trying to make it clear where (we
want you) to go next. A real obvious button like this (and using the 1,2,3
steps) yielded significant comparitive results (e.g. 2-3 times more traffic
through to our key pages and conversions). I guess being techies, we all
know exactly where to go and what hyperlinks are for, but sometimes this may
not be so obvious for consumers and the general public ("tell me what to do
and where to go next" - or "don't make me think") - I do take your point
about the confusion of having 2 next buttons though!
Yup the 6 months have been taken up organising the supply chain, producing
the packaging, setting up the biz, seeding the search engines, and putting
the non-trivial schema together (121 tables!) (note it's not a static
listing of products in a catalogue - it's dynamically generated by combining
our suppliers' listings with our own in real-time to determine actually
which products we can supply and thus offer for sale. Everything is
handmade to order with multiple suppliers providing stock of component parts
such as the various metals and individual diamonds. Designing your own
products adds another complex layer to this!). Automating interaction with
our suppliers, and (as Simon says) building the rather iceberg-like backend
customer support and product management systems has taken up a lot of the
time than we initially planned.
Would have been nice to have a big team of programmers to to help out, but
can't have everything :) Our team was small, focussed, and have done a
great job in the timeframe.
Cheers,
-Dan
On Mon, Nov 17, 2008 at 3:14 PM, Simon Holywell <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>wrote:
> Dmitry,
>
> I think maybe the back office connections to suppliers etc. may have taken
> some time too. Maybe the front page we see is just the tip of the ice berg
> so to say.
>
> Simon
>
> 2008/11/17 Dmitry Ruban <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>
>
>> Hi Dan,
>>
>> To be honest, site looks nice, and good content/buyers guides, but why
>> did it take so long? What did take 6 months of effort?
>>
>> Dan Khan:
>> > Thanks, good feedback - we we hoping that the price sliders were obvious
>> > enough, but I've been looking at this page for way too long now so it's
>> > easy to overlook something that's might not be so obvious at first
>> glance!
>> >
>> > Will feedback to the team - thanks.
>> >
>> > -Dan
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> > On Mon, Nov 17, 2008 at 2:44 PM, ctx2002 <[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>> > <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]>> wrote:
>> >
>> >
>> > need a price range search function, i just can not find on your
>> site.
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> > On Nov 17, 2:13 pm, "Dan Khan" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>> > <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]>> wrote:
>> > > Hi,
>> > >
>> > > Just a quick note to say that after 6 months of effort and some
>> > serious late
>> > > nights, we released our new PHP5 website last night
>> > atwww.1791diamonds.com <http://atwww.1791diamonds.com/>
>> > > Thanks to list member James McGlinn for some helpful advice
>> regarding
>> > > performance, and other members for insightful on-list
>> > APC/eaccelerator
>> > > debate - this has made quite a difference in terms of php speed
>> > > improvements.
>> > >
>> > > Any feedback or questions from a PHP or techie perspective are
>> > welcome (I
>> > > know the XHTML isn't as clean as I'd like yet...)!
>> > >
>> > > I think we made some cool use of scriptaculous/prototype to make
>> > some neat
>> > > animations and ajax in the 'design your own ring' section and the
>> > product
>> > > catalogue - looking back 5 years ago, I'm amazed that this sort
>> > of stuff can
>> > > be done easily in the browser now without resorting to Flash or
>> > similar
>> > > 'fat' technologies.
>> > >
>> > > The URLs are search engine friendly (as much as poss) by piping
>> > though from
>> > > apache to php to pre-process and rewrite - again looking back at
>> > how we used
>> > > to do this 10 years ago using mime-type hacks, it's all just so
>> > easy now.
>> > > All product images are automatically css-spritemapped on the
>> > server using
>> > > imagemagick to save server requests and reduce files sizes; and
>> > JS is first
>> > > compressed, then packed using free online tools. This makes a
>> great
>> > > difference for fat JS libs like scriptaculous/prototype taking
>> > 270KB down to
>> > > 50ishKB! Rendering uses smarty, using the in-built caching
>> (modified
>> > > slightly to also cache HTTP headers for our Ajax JSON headers).
>> > >
>> > > Also, if any of you geeks are up at 7am and are near getting
>> > engaged, watch
>> > > TV3's Sunrise over the next couple of weeks for a chance to win
>> > the $10K
>> > > diamond engagement ring that Carly Flynn is wearing as part of
>> > our launch
>> > > promo!
>> > >
>> > > Cheers,
>> > > -Dan
>> > >
>> > > *Dan Khan*
>> > >
>> > > Technical Director
>> > >
>> > > 1791 Diamonds Ltd
>> > >
>> > > www.1791diamonds.com <http://www.1791diamonds.com/>
>> > >
>> > > DISCLAIMER: The views and opinions expressed in this e-mail are
>> > my own and
>> > > do not necessarily represent the views of 1791 Diamonds Ltd. The
>> > information
>> > > contained in this email message is intended only for the use of
>> > the person
>> > > or entity to whom it is addressed and may contain information
>> that is
>> > > CONFIDENTIAL and may be LEGALLY PRIVILEGED and exempt from
>> > disclosure under
>> > > applicable laws. If you read this message and are not the
>> > addressee you are
>> > > notified that use, dissemination, distribution, or reproduction
>> > of this
>> > > message is prohibited. If you have received this message in
>> > error, please
>> > > notify us immediately via reply email to
>> > [EMAIL PROTECTED] <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> and
>> > > delete the original message. We regularly scan our IT systems
>> for
>> > viruses,
>> > > however, you should also scan this message and any attached files
>> for
>> > > viruses. 1791 Diamonds Ltd accepts no liability for any loss
>> > caused either
>> > > directly or indirectly by a virus arising from the use of this
>> > message or
>> > > any attached file.
>> >
>> > >
>>
>>
>>
>>
>
>
> --
> Simon Holywell
> http://www.simonholywell.com
>
>
> >
>
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