January 2010 was Ecommerce Developer's second month of publishing, and thanks to you, our reader, we got a lot of helpful feedback and suggestions.
To demonstrate that we're focused on what you want, here is a list of the ten most popular articles in January based on total web traffic. All of these articles were published in January.
Building a Magento Theme Start to Finish, Part One: Prolegomena
This article and screencast was the first in a series about developing a theme for the popular Magento ecommerce platform. This particular article focused on the choices and decisions a developer needs to make before starting a theme project.
Building a Magento Theme Start to Finish, Part Two: Page Planning, Templates, & HTML 5
Our second most popular article, in terms of site traffic, was the second article and screencast in the Magento theme-building series. Seems like we struck a cord when we launched these Magento theme tutorials.
Ten Inviting Shopping Cart Icons & Treatments
Most online shoppers navigate to product detail pages, add items to their cart, and then keep shopping. When those consumers don't return to the shopping cart, rather abandoning it in the virtual aisles of an online store, no sale is made. While there are certainly many things a merchant and a site designer can do to encourage a shopper to finish the transaction, one often overlooked tactic is to provide an attractive, friendly, and inviting shopping cart icon. In this showcase article, we identified ten examples of inviting shopping cart icons and treatments.
Forty-Three Attractive osCommerce Sites
To help demonstrate osCommerce's flexibility, Ecommerce Developer put together a list of osCommerce-based sites that run the gamut in web design and development. The platform does have a reputation for minting cookie-cutter, bland stores (I looked at more than 3,500 live store to find these examples), but it is clear that osCommerce can support visually interesting sites, too.
Eight Examples of Compelling Navigation on Ecommerce Sites
A shopper should be able to quickly and easily find products and make a purchase. But providing intuitive site navigation that is unique or interactive is a good way to engage customers, encourage those customers to tell others about your site, and, frankly, make shopping online a bit more fun.
Building a Magento Theme Start to Finish, Part Three: HTML Validation and "Your" Labels
Part three of the Magento series also made the top ten list in January. Again, this is a strong indication that these tutorials are on the mark.
Tutorial: How to Create a Signup System with CodeIgniter
Most every ecommerce website has a user registration page. This basic form typically captures information about the user before processing orders from an online shop. In this tutorial, George Olah steps through the process of creating a PHP-based registration page using the CodeIgniter PHP framework.
Tutorial: Wavy Background and Banner Elements
Keeping up with web design trends can be a crucial part of staying competitive online. Adobe Illustrator offers many tools to easily create trendy web graphics. This tutorial will show you how to create wavy background and banner elements using Illustrator CS4. These wavy line designs are a growing trend and are good for website backgrounds or site headers.
Tutorial: Create "Glass" Elements in Adobe Photoshop CS4
In this video tutorial, Drew Coffin shows you how to create glass elements using Adobe Photoshop CS4. This glass effect can also be applied to text in Photoshop and can be used to extend your site’s overall theme.
Tips for a Successful Freelance Development Cycle
Whether you are a freelance developer working solo or in a group, a predetermined development cycle will help you keep costs down and stay focused on the job. In this article, Sean Rowe offers a straightforward way of managing a project from beginning development through finished production.
Summing Up
January was a great month for content on Ecommerce Developer, where our goal is to provide you with the development tips, strategies, and how-tos that make your job easier. With this in mind, we would enjoy hearing from you. If you have article suggestions or if you would like to contribute an article, lets us know in the comments, below, or via our contact form. Thank you for reading.
