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Forums - News / General |
For General modelling or hobby-related topics that are not covered by any other specific forum. Please keep to topics concerning the hobby. |
| Topics | 2962 |
| Messages | 21967 |
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| Subject: | Re: Modelling eCommerce Web Sites |  |
| Date: | Dec 15, 2005 |
| From: | Frank Tauss | |
I'm a database programmer going back a long way. Most of these sites appear to have been "designed" by folks who are excited 'cause they can make "pretty" screens. They claim to know HTML and "web programming" when in fact they are the worst kind of hacks.
Even when all I had to work with was text based displays 80 columns by 25 rows it doesn't take a lot to design readable screens. Judicious use of colors (meaning good contrasts, not showing off that you know every stinking combination of color codes; I've seen some really unreadable screens in my time), white space and grouping lines, titles and labels and what I call flow, leading the user where he needs to be without his needing complex instructions to get there.
I just got worse with GUI front ends. Now there is more to fiddle with more color combos yet none of the newer ones give better contrast than the old colorsets. I love going to a site where the words are a blur becuase the fore and back colors are to close and wash each other out.
And let's not get into actual design - everybody is so worked up about putting pretty images on the screen that almost no thought is give to functionality. Here's a little programmer's secret, never be the sole judge of your look and feel, you know the code in to much detail and really cannot give an objective opinion (well, some can. I've learned over the years from working with endusers). Get someone else to check it.
The worst part is none of these guys know anything about data management. When Charlie was away from PACE thier websaite went from functional if bland to unusable. I called the guy and had a chat with him seems the big time web guys "didn't know a lot about models"! I told him I don't care what you're selling = manufacturer, model #, cost, price, stock, description and a link to a picture is all you need. Furniture, computers, models, plumbing supplies, inventory is inventory. That and a reasonbly good search protocol, I find eBay's quite good, allowing constant adjustment of criteria.
It's not likely to get better, everyone wants to go on the cheap and that's what they get.
Resident curmudgeon,
Frank |
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 | Modelling eCommerce Web Sites - Mike Tittel - Dec 14, 2005 |
| . . . Re: Modelling eCommerce Web Sites - Paul A. Owen - Dec 14, 2005 |
| . . . . . . Re: Modelling eCommerce Web Sites - Mike Tittel - Dec 14, 2005 |
| . . . . . . . . . Re: Modelling eCommerce Web Sites - Paul A. Owen - Dec 14, 2005 |
| . . . . . . . . . . . . Re: Modelling eCommerce Web Sites - Frank Tauss - Dec 15, 2005 |
| . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Re: Modelling eCommerce Web Sites - Andrew Herbert - Dec 15, 2005 |
| . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Re: Modelling eCommerce Web Sites - Paul A. Owen - Dec 15, 2005 |
| . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Re: Modelling eCommerce Web Sites - Frank Tauss - Dec 15, 2005 |
| . . . Re: Modelling eCommerce Web Sites - Paul A. Owen - Dec 15, 2005 |
| . . . . . . Re: Modelling eCommerce Web Sites - Kurt Laughlin - Dec 15, 2005 |
| . . . . . . . . . Re: Modelling eCommerce Web Sites - Paul A. Owen - Dec 15, 2005 |
| . . . Re: Modelling eCommerce Web Sites - Mike Tittel - Dec 15, 2005 |
| . . . . . . Re: Modelling eCommerce Web Sites - Steve Dowty - Dec 16, 2005 |
| . . . . . . . . . Re: Modelling eCommerce Web Sites - Mike Tittel - Dec 16, 2005 |
| . . . . . . . . . . . . Re: Modelling eCommerce Web Sites - Steve Dowty - Dec 16, 2005 |
| . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Re: Modelling eCommerce Web Sites - Mike Tittel - Dec 16, 2005 |
| . . . . . . Re: Modelling eCommerce Web Sites - Frank Tauss - Dec 16, 2005 |
| . . . . . . . . . Re: Modelling eCommerce Web Sites - Mike Tittel - Dec 16, 2005 |
| . . . . . . . . . . . . Re: Modelling eCommerce Web Sites - Andrew Herbert - Dec 18, 2005 |
| . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Re: Modelling eCommerce Web Sites - Mike Tittel - Dec 18, 2005 |
| . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Re: Modelling eCommerce Web Sites - Andrew Herbert - Dec 19, 2005 |
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