At the close of each month, we assemble a list of the ten most read articles for the month.
These articles are the cream of the crop. They are the articles your peers are reading, and this is your chance to catch up on what is hot on Ecommerce Developer.
No. 10: More Great Use of Site Photography
Photographic images are an important part of site design, particularly when those images represent products or a brand.
No. 9: CSS3 Gradients Revisited
CSS3 gradients can make it possible to replace background images, avoid unnecessary http calls, and, importantly, boost page-load times.
According to data from Google, Amazon, and RichRelevance, page load times of more than a second (or even 100 milliseconds by some reports) may have an effect on sales conversion rates. As an ecommerce developer, it is your job to help clients, or your company, improve sales. So page performance should be very high on your list of priorities.
No. 8: Creating Site Mascots from Photographs
Creating a character to act as a mascot for your site or your site design project is a great way to boost site personality and brand.
No. 7: Preparing an Icon and Launch Screen for an iPhone App
One of the most important things you must do before you submit an application to the iTunes store is create an app icon.
Let's face it. Your icon is your app's first impression. If it's poorly made, people will likely assume your app is, too.
No. 6: Designing Buttons that Sparkle
Buttons are one of the most common elements in web design and having an eye-catching button is a great way to improve site appeal.
In this video tutorial, contributor Drew Coffin demonstrated how to create a sparkly web button in Adobe Photoshop CS4.
No. 5: JavaScript Form Validation with Glow
From newsletter subscriptions to the checkout pages of an ecommerce shopping cart, online consumers encounter dozens of web forms every day.
But not all forms are the same. Some friendly forms prompt you when you make an obvious error in your email address or give you a hint about the required format when they ask for a date, password submission, or your "full name." Other forms let you submit the entire thing and then return an error, forcing you to fill out the whole form again. That's just no fun.
No. 4: A Gallery of Snowboarding Sites 2010
Small-to-mid-sized ecommerce businesses often thrive in niche markets, some of which are seasonally driven.
Ecommerce developers looking for new clients may find a gold mind of opportunity in these seasonal markets. So in mid-November 2010, we thought it would be helpful to take a look at several sites devoted to snowboarding.
No. 3: Great Use of Site Photography
Website design and development are creative processes.
Out of nothing, you have the task of building a functional—and hopefully beautiful—site that will help your company or your clients achieve their business goals.
This is no easy task. And from time to time it is a good idea to draw some inspiration from other sites. In this showcase, we have collected examples of beautiful site photography. Some of these screen shots come from ecommerce sites. Others come from outside of the industry.
No. 2: Building Pure CSS Mega Menus
Mega menus, which are alternatively called multi-level, fly-out, or tiered menus, are an excellent form of website navigation.
These menus—whether arranged horizontally or vertically—allow visitors to quickly and intuitively browse a site's hierarchy, which is of particular importance on ecommerce sites.
Frequently, mega menus are executed using either JavaScript or Flash and ActionScript. While these are both excellent choices, there may be certain times or certain projects wherein a lighter, all CSS, solution is called for. So in this quick tutorial, we described one approach to building a pure-CSS mega menu.
No. 1: WordPress Integration for Magento with FishPig's Extension
Magento is one of the best ecommerce platforms. WordPress is one of the best blogging platforms. Put the two together, and you have a powerful combination for ecommerce and ecommerce marketing.
Unfortunately, getting the Magento and WordPress platforms working together using a single set of theme files can be complicated. A demonstration of how to do this from scratch would take a lot of episodes. Fortunately, developers can use a free Magento extension from FishPig to have WordPress working inside of a Magento site in a snap.
In this tutorial, we described how to use FishPig's awesome extension to add a WordPress-powered blog to your Magento-powered ecommerce store.
