Thanks for the comment. If I ever get it fully setup, I may add a cart, too much work pricing now.

There is a Contact Us link at the top that will lead to the phone numbers, (again) and an email link.

I just set up a keychain page to direct people to the different types of keychains. The link is now active.

I am realizing that I have a few thousand products, many, many pictures to take and setup. I think I might be biting off more than I can chew. Just not enough time. Most of my inquiries for a catalog are for wedding gifts, so those are the ones I need to work on first. And I thought my camera with 128 picture card was more than enough. Foolish me.

Edit: Do you think an email button should go on each page? If you missed that way to get there, many others probably would also 

Philadelphia, PA (Really Bensalem)

Harvey's Sub Page When you finally understand it completely... it changes.

Harvey,
For order inquiries, I prefer a form mail rather than a simple email link. That way, you can ask specific questions on the form to get the info you need to close the sale. Form mails are simple to set up. Take a look at this page on my site and scroll down below the photo of the first item and look for the button that says "Contact Me and Take My Order".

http://www.awardmasters.com/shop/agora.cgi?product=GLASS_and_CRYSTAL

This is a form mail that we make available for those who are not comfortable with our shopping cart, or who are just not sure in general how to order. We put this button on each item in addition to our shopping cart buttons. Our sales have increased about 20% since we began using both methods on each item. Your web host probably has a basic form mail set up for use and you will only have to modify the text for your form. If not you can do a search and find good instructions without much trouble. You can make the forms as simple or complex as you want we try to keep ours as simple as possible.

Harvey,

I am sure you're aware, but are now feeling, the massive number of niche markets that our businesses cater to.

In the process of setting up my site (which is still happening) I really struggled with my database structure. There are so many categories, products and markets we deal with. I did not want to have my home page full of nothing but categories. I think you are heading down the same path that I was. I would recommend doing a pull-down menu on the left column that will allow shoppers to search your products by occasion. You can also display main categories on the home page and have those categories navigate to pages that have your subcategories. This type of layout will free up the middle area for featuring new items or to tell customers a bit more detail about your business and services.

My site is still under construction, but does give you a feel for the navigation route that I decided to take. I have a few products entered under cut crystal, acrylic, and bronze. Feel free to steal any ideas you'd like.

http://www.expressionsengraved.com

I had a form reply set in the samples, I just did not have the time to figure out how to direct it to me. I will probably do so in the future due to your comments, thanks.

Philadelphia, PA (Really Bensalem)

Harvey's Sub Page When you finally understand it completely... it changes.

I have yet to start on a database, one more thing to learn.

A number of links go to a directory page for that item already, see the link on the left for keychains, for example.

What the heck did I get myself into?????

Philadelphia, PA (Really Bensalem)

Harvey's Sub Page When you finally understand it completely... it changes.

David: While doing a little late night surfing of the forum, I was reading the posts in this particular thread and clicked on the link that you provided to your website, a work in progress.

I must tell you that your site is one of the best that I have seen in my many years of involvement in the web and website design, etc., both from an asthetic, as well as layout and navigation view point. Whether you have done it yourself or out-sourced it, it really is impressive.

Out of curiosity, was it done with a specific program like Front Page, or from "scratch"? I looked at your source code but could not tell.

Ed,

Thank you kindly for your compliments. I created an original site with Front Page that served as a nice catalog but would not transact. It had no database or shopping cart.

In setting up that original site on FrontPage, I gained a broad understaning of how a website is structured and the most convenient way to navigate. Armed with that modest designing experience, I was prepared to bring in the professionals to take my site to the next level.

I have paired my graphics experience with a proven and experienced web designer to produce a site that is asthetically pleasing and will efficiently serve my internet customer. The database search feature and "shop by" options will help my customers narrow their searches immediately. Quick results is what I like most when I am searching for products or services, so that was one of my focuses in the navigation structure.

My new site was created with straight html code and is maintained by me through my web designer's own browser-based web site management software. The shopping cart and database we chose was an open source software program named DigiShop.

I look forward to getting it completed and to start the web submittal and promotion process.

That's an awful lot of categories to have on a front page. I'd consider splitting it down a step, or find some easy way to organize the products (Gifts, Awards, Signs, & Identification?), and see if there might be an easy, free script to allow to you organize the pages in expanding trees.

Meaning if you click on "Awards" it tabs out a set of links such as Plaques, Acrylics, Medals, Trophies. Clicking on any of these would take you to the respective page.

Something like this would clean up the page considerable and make it so there's not so much to look at all at once. Also while some products might cross multiple categories, there's nothing to keep you from putting the same link under any number of headings.

Stylistically, I would abandon the woodgrain. It comes off as out of place mixed in with the blues. You want everything to flow together as a solid piece of artwork, but right now it looks a little disjointed. In the same vein, it appears that you have the header of the page with your shop name centered, but the menu is left aligned and butted up against the side of the page. For a consistent look you'll want these to line up with each other, whether that means left aligning everything or centering everything and leaving margins on both sides.

Last thing I would do is try to smooth out the graphics a little bit. At the moment they are a bit grainy at the edges, especially the top swoosh of the product bar. It looks positively jagged.

Sei

Some very good comments, I will look more critically at the swoosh, I did not notice. What browser do you use?

The wood grain and the blues are nice, but together you are correct, a bit of a conflict. Any suggestions to a background?

The left/center issue has a lot of merit, but I cannot stand a set of links that are centered. It makes it so much more difficult to read unless it is a short list. I will have to investigate flyouts, still a novice minus.

I have an appointment to make, get back to you later.

Thanks

Philadelphia, PA (Really Bensalem)

Harvey's Sub Page When you finally understand it completely... it changes.

Harvey,

You can integrate a shopping cart program into your website, which typically handles the product database nicely for you. You may want to look into it before you get too much time invested in your multiple product pages. You won't regret it.

I'm looking at it in Netscape. The swoosh might be better if you were to just run a light blur filter on it.

As far as the background goes, I would probably just make it white, or perhaps give a light texture, blending in the blue you're already using. If you do use a texture, make sure it blends in seamlessly with the header and sidebar so that everything looks smooth and continuous. One way to do this might be to try experimenting with transparent .gif images. I haven't played with these in years, though, so I don't remember many of the specifics in making or controlling them.

I've attached a quick mock-up going from a capture of your page which bumps the header over to the left. It's best to design a page around a resolution of 800 x 600. I've made it to conform to about that, capping the right hand side with a solid area of a single color, closing off the page cleanly.

Flyouts and drop downs aren't all-together easy. It just seems like the best way to go about consolidating a lot of information while keeping it easy to use and readily accessible, even from the front page.

Sei

You did a lot of work to help me, thanks. I have not installed Netscape yet, the memory upgrade is late in coming in, no RAM left.

I am viewing it in IE and see very little unevenness, darn differences. Wifey wants the white under the name and did not like a white page, guess she wanted the contrast. I am playing with a very light bluish woodgrain that matches the nav bars. It looks pretty good, but I feel that I need a second color. Our store designer has decided that a burgundy will go with the store, which is generally a royal blue format. To my eyes anything seems to clash with the blue, but monotone is not my style either. Wish we did it in pastels, would have look like garbage, but any light color would match.

I am going to try to put up a file called index2.htm that will be with the blue wood, let me know your thoughts.

Philadelphia, PA (Really Bensalem)

Harvey's Sub Page When you finally understand it completely... it changes.

The blue wood sinks in a lot better than the natural wood grain. It does make the entire page very monotone, though, you're right, but I can't really think of anything much to off-set that. Blue to me goes with black, white, and silver, which doesn't allow for too much variety.

Can you add the woodgrain to the top part of your side-bar which is currently set to a solid light blue? Since the bar is basically floating over the background it will look a lot smoother if the swoosh leads directly into woodgrain instead of a solid squared off field. The problem there is going to be to get it to match up seamlessly, but that small area is mostly isolated from the rest of the background, so that may not be a problem.

I can understand the desire to keep the name of the business surrounded by only white. But the edge of the white field makes for a very harsh transition. I might try to create some sort of frame around the name of the company similar to the edging of the sidebar or the top swoosh which would offset it while making the edge look deliberate.

One thing you might notice about my web philosophy is I don't like sudden edges. I always feel there should be some transition, either through a fade or a frame. My way isn't the only way to do things, of course, and often I'll make it more complicated than it needs to be. When doing web pages where I have total control I'll even frame or dropshadow images.

The important thing is going to be to make some you're happy with (and your wife is happy with) which carries the feeling you want to portray, and is easy to navigate so that customers enjoy using your site, both for its functionality and attractiveness.

http://www.htsva.com
This is our company's webpage. There are some elements with it I don't agree with and some problem spots. The design is a mishmash of 6 people's opinions, and we all know how that goes. The copywriting is by our owner... he tries. I'm working of building it to my whims. Should I ever finish I'll show it off here in a more official annoucement. Just thought with giving you all this advice I should share something I've been at least partially involved with.

Sei

Again thanks. I think I will go with the blue and keep the color highlights in the products.

That will tend to make them jump out more.

Edit: Just looked at your site. Smack you in the face pretty. I am quite jealous. By the way, the link to Acrylic Awards is not active.

Philadelphia, PA (Really Bensalem)

Harvey's Sub Page When you finally understand it completely... it changes.

Thank you, it's taken a lot of work to put together. At the moment a lot of the links are not active or lead to blanks, but the page hasn't technically been released to the public yet.

Acrylic Awards should be working, but then again we've had no end of trouble with the menu system we're using. Lots of code issues, and it only works under Internet Explorer. We've tracked down an alternative which appears to do everything we need it to, and a hundred times better to boot.

Just need to convince the owner that it's worth $50, which can be harder than it sounds.

If I ever make it everything it should be, I'll announce it here in a thread of its own. Just a matter of finding a full week with nothing else to do.

Blending in the woodgrain to the top of the sidebar looks good, and it makes the edge of the swoosh look a lot smoother. Looking pretty good over all. And the great thing about the web: If you ever get tired of it or want to change something, it's quick and easy to do adjustments.

I didn't notice it before now, but I like the green shade you selected for the followed links. It works pretty well. I don't remember how it's done, but I'd recommend removing the underlines from the links. With all those different items that's going to break them up awkwardly. Besides that I think you're just about ready to go.

Sei

Thank you again. I guess I am an old fuddy-duddy, I like my links to be underlined on a website, unless maybe there is a mouse-over. But even then you have to bring the mouse over to find out.

I redid a few things. Finally figured out how to make the header squash with page size, so now the name is part of that image. Filled the search background with a matching blue. Still cannot figure out how to keep the search box from condensing like the link bar, but that will come and any changes in the template will filter through.

I did find out that Dreamweaver is not perfect on tags. Did a lot of manual editing on the code to get those darned white lines from showing up between some selections, it was bad coding. [I am so glad that I can still sort of read HTML.]

I also figured out how to get Burgundy into the site. The unfollowed links are now Burgundy. Just not sure if I like it.

I used IE6 to view your site. The main link to acrylic worked, the fly-out link did not. A lot more pizazz than mine.

Philadelphia, PA (Really Bensalem)

Harvey's Sub Page When you finally understand it completely... it changes.

Well, a few changes to make the site a little better balanced and functional. More pages and links added.

I figured out how to do dropdown lists for sub-categories, but it looked awful in the format of the site. Still have to figure out how to do a fly-out. that would go well and give sub categories a boost without so many links screaming at you.

The few pieces of glass that are shown engraved are real. I found a second solution to getting good photos without reflection problems. Instead of a black tent and fading back, just use a dark grey set of back and under boards, the seam helps if it is consistent pic to pic. If there are a ton of reflections about 5 to 10 times the distance between the camera and the object, they just seem to be static rather than images. Then when you go to 72 DPI and JPEG, they sort of wash away any information that was there anyway.

What I did not like was that I had to simulate the mirror keychains. I really hate that even though Things Remembered simulates all of the engraving in their catalog. I just could not get an acceptable picture of the mirror.

Philadelphia, PA (Really Bensalem)

Harvey's Sub Page When you finally understand it completely... it changes.

I get to see the crimson text now. Before this update I'd followed all the links that were available. It does blend in pretty well.

What quality level did you save the .jpg for your header? It looks a little rough. Close to the edges of color in the white field you can faintly make out random color distortions. These are known as Jpeg Artifacts and are a result of compressing the image too far.

The glasses look great. It's unfortunate you had to simulate the engraving on the mirror products, but I can just imagine the difficulty in getting a proper photo there. I'd had no idea that Things Remembered simulates all of their engraving, though it doesn't suprise me in the least.

Sei

I will look into increasing the file size of the header, just wanted the site to be fast, but if you noticed it, I went too far.

If you look at the TR catalog closely you can see the application of the graphic text. It is well done but on things that the engraving is on an item that is at an angle with parallax because one end is nearer than the other, you will see that the text does not taper, only the item does.

Philadelphia, PA (Really Bensalem)

Harvey's Sub Page When you finally understand it completely... it changes.

Dave,

I just went through your site. Wow, that is exactly what I was trying to do but could not. I might have made the links on the left dropdowns instead of leading to another page, I finally figured how to do a dropdown.

But the rest of it is exactly what I wanted!!!!!!

I sent you an email asking about database use. Add anything that might help me start to achieve what you did.

WOW again.

Philadelphia, PA (Really Bensalem)

Harvey's Sub Page When you finally understand it completely... it changes.