Site Review please

[OriginalTouch]

Now have a new live site working well with orders being received.

Have had only two minor gripes from customers so far - one being that the cart seemed to empty itself at checkout (but I still received the order so this must have been a customer error) and another that he couldn't choose the right delivery area (alias state dropdown box) but this is a known problem area well documented in the forum that you have to sometimes reclick off and back onto the location/country to change the corresponding state.

Would appreciate any other feedback on design, site navigation etc from a "third party" point of view.

Site is www.originaltouch.co.uk

Thanks in advance.

[acompton]

Wassamadder people? Sam not pretty enough to warrant a site review?

Here's a few random jottings to get things started:
I found it a nice clean, functional site. Perhaps a little uninspired, but that doesn't hurt the products (which I liked). I don't know the V8 templates so I don't know how much design work has gone into it. Pages seem very narrow.
Could do with the better header. The name Original Touch sounds like a gift shop to me. Delivery prices seem a little high - Who are you using? There might be premiums for shipping liquids I'm not familiar with.

[OriginalTouch]

Yes, I am afraid that 24 kg of moss killing chemical can be a bit expensive to ship! £8.50 plus VAT is actually a decent rate I am afraid unless there are any courier companies willing to make an offer?

Gift cards and seeds are £1.25 (inc VAT) for up to 50 packets !!

Thanks for the feedback - maybe should make this clearer?

[acompton]

It was the jump from 1-24kg I was referring to.
Interparcel will do DHL Home 48 for 6.99+VAT and Home 24 for 8.99+VAT.
Any weight (I've tried up to 20kg, but haven't actually sent that weight). Doesn't cover Highlands & Islands.

maybe should make this clearer?

Presumably you are referring to the gift card price. I found this clear (and remarkably good value)

BTW: Home page is missing an image at the mo' (was ok earlier)

[Sean Williams]

Hi Samantha
I agree with Alan - the design could do with livening up a bit - perhaps judicious use of some lightly contrasting colour ...

perhaps some thin borders to separate the side bar from the inner layout ....

On this page: http://www.originaltouch.co.uk/acata...rms-Conds.html clicking on the links 'Terms and Conditions of Website Use' and 'Security and Privacy Policy' changes the side bar as well as bringing up the text in the inner layout, whereas the other two links do not; I would have said to NOT change would be preferable.

Also feel the header bar could do with beefing up - I find this a problem area myself - I reckon there's a good living to be made for someone to specialise in designing just this!

As for the products - a liitle sparse on the ground, but great! I would have preferred larger images of the sprayers.

In fact, I'm in the market for a knapsack sprayer come the weed season, so I'll surely be back.
Can you get hold of large quantities (5 or 10 L packs) of Roundup?
Oops - off topic

[RuralWeb]

Wassamadder people? Sam not pretty enough to warrant a site review

Nope - its just that several of us are not posting for site reviews anymore after recent events.

[bangers]

What recent events?
regards
bangers

[TraceyHand]

What recent events?
regards
bangers

all been, gone and deleted, Lee

Suffice to say there are fewer people willing to enter into "site review" threads than there were.

Shame really

[leehack]

It was brutal and personalities were swapping left, right and centre .

[RuralWeb]

personalities were swapping left, right and centre

Was it Mr K or Mr DILAC we will never know.

[leehack]

The latter i believe lol.

[Mike Hughes]

Hi Sam,

I'm a great fan of websites with a clean and functional design but orginaltouch looks a bit plain and stark to me. I think this might be partly due to the centred, fixed width which leaves lots of white space at the sides when viewed in a larger window. This could be easily addressed by framing it in colour as Lee often does (Here's one of his examples that does this quite nicely http://www.kombuwholefoods.com.au/ ).

A nice colourful header image would also help.

I find the layout of the product pages quite confusing. If we look at this page for example http://www.originaltouch.co.uk/acatalog/Anise.html then it all looks a bit random and unstructured. If it was my site I'd make the image larger, include the description with the product, move the 'add to cart' button to be near the quantity box, use a horizonatl line to separate the 'also bought' items and left align the "People who bought this item also bought:" text.

On a final note, a lot of actinic sites are using what I can only describe as an 'electrical discharge' / 'Lightning' symbol on the cart page for 'checkout Now'. I find this very odd as this is the hazard warning symbol for 'High Voltage' and generally means 'Danger, Keep away'.

I do like the website though and think it could be great with a few tweaks. I like the stuff you sell and will probably be back to buy some of it when the weather warms up a bit.

Mike

[OriginalTouch]

Mike, that was really constructive - thanks.

Yes, I do tend to like things clean - which I suppose can equate to boring! That is why it is so good to hear other opinions.

Have been concentrating on getting products on the site as that is what pays the bills. Now need to look at design in more detail.

Like the idea of a colour frame and shall take a look at how to create that - Lee any pointers?

Also like the practical points about the product pages - have changed a few bits and there are a few layouts not quite right on some pages - well spotted.

Lightning symbol is a default checkout Actinic button. Would need to change all cart buttons to get them to look the same before changing any one individually. Goes on my 'to do' list!

If you do feel like ordering anything later, please do email and I'll set up a discount for Actinic users. Hopefully, the site will be a little more meaty by then with more products to choose from!

[leehack]

Like the idea of a colour frame and shall take a look at how to create that - Lee any pointers?

Hi Sam, you just set the main site wrapper to be somewhere between 950-980 wide, make sure it is centered (margin: 0px auto; ) and then apply either a background image, a background color or both, using the standard actinic features in site options and advanced theme config.

I personally love the effect as i think it makes a site come forward and moves the background backwards, almost a 3D effect in my eyes.

[TraceyHand]

giving away hints and tips, Lee?

you must be getting SOFT in your old age