Choosing and working with a designer

[extragear]

Hello:

We are new to Shopsite. We've played around with it for several weeks, setup three product lines and much of the back end such as payment, shipping, tax settings. So far so good.

We've also played around with copying and then altering the stock templates. This is one of our weak points, as we aren't designers by trade.

At this point we have a rudimentary store setup. The domain isnt point to the server yet.

Before starting to play around with Shopsite we did contact several design firms. They all came across as professional.

We have been quoted around $7000 for a complete site design. Although from our notes this included the setup of some of the backend which isnt needed now. (I got the feeling they assume you aren't well informed as to the workings of Shopsite.)

Before finally choosing a designer, we wanted to know whats the most efficient way in dealing with a design firm?

This is from the standpoint of giving them all the information to create the site cost effectively and within a reasonable period of time.

Here is the information we've been working on for our final presentation to the design firm we choose:

1. Create a mock up in Front page of how we would like the site to look. The mockup wouldn't include any of the shopsite tags.

2. Have a list of sites that use Shopsite and pick out the layout/design features we like. (Some of the sites are by the very design companies we are considering)

3. Make a list of features we want included on the various templates. Example, breadcrumb navigation, popup link for large images of products, etc..

4. Clearly indicate that certain elements of the templates must be editable as we will add more products and brands. For example, we want a left hand side product department directory. As we add more products, we would need to add more product categories.

Also, we would be curious as to what is a reasonable design time line for a complete site design to the point the site is ready to go live to the public?

Thanks

PS: For a complete design we mean customization of the templates below.

A. Homepage template
B. Page template -
1. Product pages
2. More information page

C. Shopping cart templates -
1. Initial shopping cart screen
2. Bill and Shipping info screen
3. Confirmation screen
4. Thank you Screen
5. Email Receipt


D. Advance Feature Templates
1. Search
2. Tell a friend
3. Gift certificate
4. Customer registration


Also the creation of design elements that would span all templates such as top header/logo, left hand side directory and bottom footer.


Thanks

[Allan]

My company does design/build of ShopSite stores and we specialize custom templates. We have developed the following process for developing multiple ShopSite custom templates for a store:

- Design/build a standard header & footer "include" files that is used in all page, product, cart, checkout, subscribe, search results and thank you pages. It is an important usability requirement to have a consistent header look and global nav on all pages. Included in the header are important ecommerce items like search, mini-cart, links to cart, checkout, shipping info and subscribe. Included in the footer are standard ecommerce informational links (Shipping Help, Customer Service, Privacy Policy, etc.)

- Build a "text-only template" for home page and textual info. All sites need pages for articles, faq, about, etc. This shopsite template is specifically for text orient pages. Also create a special product template for this page to making placing photos on the page easy.

- Build the page and product custom template, but first look at different page/product layout requirements. Not all product categories are alike. Some products may be best displayed on a page in columns with thumbnails, while other product may be better with a single column with a short description. Many stores need a unique page and product template for each particular category of products they sell. Be sure to define where the ShopSite Text 1, 2 & 3 fields go on each page template, these are powerful page customization tools.

- Up-sell Links. We always include a way to show shoppers links to categories or products that are related to the page/product they are looking at. The ShopSite related product capability is ok for this, however for most sites this only allows for related products to be displayed. We prefer to place side menus on category and product pages that can go to any page whether category, products, more info, textual pages, etc. We have developed a tool that easily allows for custom side menus to be applied to any individual Shopsite category or product page.

- More Info (MI) Pages. The ShopSite MI page templates need to have the standard header, footer and up-sell links, plus you may need multiple MI page layouts depending on each type of product you sell. We always try to make different MI pages as similar as possible in terms of location of Add to Cart buttons, Tell a friend links, Photo Viewers, product reviews, etc.

- Once all the various templates are defined we add several category pages and products for each category to the ShopSite back office, and then prototype the usability flow to the client. It is important for the client to understand each template and how/why each is used.

[beley]

The process Allan detailed, and your original post both describe the development process accurately. You want to nail down all the features and major sections that will be on the site first, then design a mockup. Once the mockups (home, category page, MI page) are approved, the design firm can code all the templates. I'm sure everyone varies in how they go about it. We cut up and optimize all the graphics, code all the HTML pages and then break them up into includes such as header, footer, navigation, sidebar, etc. Then we write the page, product, cart and other shopsite templates using the includes so as to reduce redundant code (for easier modifications later).

As far as timeline goes, it will depend on you and your design firm. You will very much be a part of the process. While I've developed whole e-commerce stores in less than a month, I've had some take much, much longer. It's a two way street of information and feedback, so talk to the design firm and get a schedule down. When they send you information to review, do it as quickly as you can and get them feedback.

They are likely working on several projects, and your prompt feedback will ensure you are put right back in the queue of work. If you wait too long, another project deadline will likely cause problems. They block out time for your project, so make sure you aren't the reason they can't work on it. Delays still happen sometimes, but as long as both parties are diligent, I don't see why it would take more than 6 weeks to complete the site.