Here's our website for our furniture store, we're running Opencart with a few extensions that I've been pretty impressed with. Basically it would be nice to hear some opinions / critique.
https://brownsfurniture.co
For those who are interested; Browns Furniture sell furniture for the bedroom, living room, sofas, beds and mattresses. We're based in Flintshire, North Wales but serve Wirral, Chester, Wrexham, Denbighshire and surrounding areas.
Running Opencart at https://brownsfurniture.co a furniture store based in Flintshire North Wales.
Using Testimonials Simon Filters Journal Theme Option Combo
I love it.
Lightweight but the design is awesome at the same time.
It really deserve its favicon!
Lightweight but the design is awesome at the same time.
It really deserve its favicon!
Yeah, it uses Journal theme, I've been pleasantly surprised with it and would genuinely recommend it to other developers thinking about it. The custom sections and photo gallery are a really useful extensions.
And yes, I don't know how a custom favicon was missed off the to-do list
And yes, I don't know how a custom favicon was missed off the to-do list
Running Opencart at https://brownsfurniture.co a furniture store based in Flintshire North Wales.
Using Testimonials Simon Filters Journal Theme Option Combo
Not sure how critical you wanted your critique...
First things first, there's a website you can go to to get a ton of critique for your site -> criticue.com.
- Header looks great!
- You have the default opencart favicon - I would suggest replacing it.
- I would seriously consider getting some solid h1 text in there somewhere towards the top. Something like "We sell furniture at great prices!" or something similar. I recommend this for a few reasons, but most importantly to make sure beyond a shadow of a doubt, that someone knows what you do in <5 seconds when they hit the site. You could get octomom too busy with her kids to put 2 & 2 together that pictures of furniture = furniture store, and then just leave the site.
- For a website that sells things, I would seriously consider having more than 4 products on the homepage!
- TEXT WALL ALERT! Under your four boxes, you've got a bunch of blue lines/boxes and just a ton of text. That's going to disinterest someone in T-minus-5 seconds...add some pictures, OR MORE PRODUCTS, or do something to break up the text wall. In addition, you're text is relatively small and close together. You should go at least font-size:16px; and line-height: 25px;
- Customer testimonials are great, however, placing them at the bottom of your site means that for someone to see them, they've already made a conscious decision to browse your website. I would say that the testimonials (being "social proof"), should be directly below the slider. If not there, then ideally somewhere where everyone can see without having to scroll or click a button, or do anything but look at the screen.
- footer looks great!
- "click to email" doesn't click to email...it brings you to the contact page. I would say that if you have a button that says "click to email", that it do that. That said, I think that button should bring you to the contact page, so I'd just change the wording of the button.
I'm not sure how much editing you did to differentiate your website from the theme you bought, but I would definitely suggest doing a little bit of work there, just so your store can't be put up against 30 others that look exactly the same.
I hope you'll find this useful!
First things first, there's a website you can go to to get a ton of critique for your site -> criticue.com.
- Header looks great!
- You have the default opencart favicon - I would suggest replacing it.
- I would seriously consider getting some solid h1 text in there somewhere towards the top. Something like "We sell furniture at great prices!" or something similar. I recommend this for a few reasons, but most importantly to make sure beyond a shadow of a doubt, that someone knows what you do in <5 seconds when they hit the site. You could get octomom too busy with her kids to put 2 & 2 together that pictures of furniture = furniture store, and then just leave the site.
- For a website that sells things, I would seriously consider having more than 4 products on the homepage!
- TEXT WALL ALERT! Under your four boxes, you've got a bunch of blue lines/boxes and just a ton of text. That's going to disinterest someone in T-minus-5 seconds...add some pictures, OR MORE PRODUCTS, or do something to break up the text wall. In addition, you're text is relatively small and close together. You should go at least font-size:16px; and line-height: 25px;
- Customer testimonials are great, however, placing them at the bottom of your site means that for someone to see them, they've already made a conscious decision to browse your website. I would say that the testimonials (being "social proof"), should be directly below the slider. If not there, then ideally somewhere where everyone can see without having to scroll or click a button, or do anything but look at the screen.
- footer looks great!
- "click to email" doesn't click to email...it brings you to the contact page. I would say that if you have a button that says "click to email", that it do that. That said, I think that button should bring you to the contact page, so I'd just change the wording of the button.
I'm not sure how much editing you did to differentiate your website from the theme you bought, but I would definitely suggest doing a little bit of work there, just so your store can't be put up against 30 others that look exactly the same.
I hope you'll find this useful!
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Hi vipster247 thanks for your comment - keeping the design clean has been one of my main proprieties.
tacobandito, thank you for going into such detail, very helpful indeed. There are some points that you raised (text wall and testimonials above the crease) that I would have never really thought about changing, but now you've mentioned them seem blatantly obvious.
I'll be addressing all of your points, more than likely starting with the easiest to implement first I'll make a quick post back here once I'm done.
Dave
tacobandito, thank you for going into such detail, very helpful indeed. There are some points that you raised (text wall and testimonials above the crease) that I would have never really thought about changing, but now you've mentioned them seem blatantly obvious.
I'll be addressing all of your points, more than likely starting with the easiest to implement first
I'll make a quick post back here once I'm done.Dave
Running Opencart at https://brownsfurniture.co a furniture store based in Flintshire North Wales.
Using Testimonials Simon Filters Journal Theme Option Combo
1/ A favicon that ties in with the shop would be nice, but the lock is also a nice touch, being with the https.
2/ An H1 or similar (e.g., bold H2, etc.) between the boxy top rows and the banner would provide separation, but keep it fairly formal. You already have recogntion -- "brownsfurniture.co is the brand new website for Browns Furniture Warehouse Ltd. Est 1963." You are in Wales. You are selling items and sets that cost half a grand to two grand. You have solid hardwoods, not glued or even epoxied pressboards. Your customers are less likely overpaid whippersnappers in for a stay from Silicon Valley or London, than secure and maturing long-term residents who will figure out within half a second what you do, based upon what they see upon landing, and who will moreover have actual attention spans and IQs. The website is probably not in frontal competition with the walk-in store. Something as reserved as 20 px "Best is here, no need to go to London . . ." or the like, just to convey quality and reasonable pricing which is not inexpensive anyway.
3/ You will be adding products to the on-line store as you go. Even four would do it, if they were showcased (2 x 2, for example), but for the time being four little boxes are a bit sparse.
4/ The BEST and RECENTLY bicolor crossbar is a bit harsh, two compatible grades of blue would suffice without the visual jolt that calls to mind facepainting when 007 went Carribbean in Live and Let Die. The Best items are solid furniture. The recently added items are . . . pillows?! The latter, with stark white bar above them and shown in their label packaging, are, well, trivial and perhaps a bit tacky. I actually wouldn't say perhaps. Fifty-one years into it, then recently pillows in their packaging, quite unlike furniture showrooms anywhere, including your own, with substantial goods at substantial pricing, presumably because you wanted to roll out the electronic storefront before you could populate it to your liking. The balance of left and right is there, just strained by the stark blue and white, and by the bloody pillows.
5/ The footer region has ample contrast for ready legibility. Ya done good there.
6/ Much of the text below the pictures can be transferred into the Information modules that are linked in the footer. Some of the text belongs out of the way. Look at the pricetags and look at what the Testimonials say. When price and quality are high enough, people buying don't even want to see what compares to, rather than contrasts with, the usual either hype or crutches often associated with lesser stores. One place sells antique classic and new varroom! Bentleys; across the street, little Fiats for heavy traffic; one does not have testimonial one anywhere in sight, the other is more alike walking into a discount menswear store. You want to be and remain the high class joint with a new electronic shop to go with the walk-in shop, not a caricature of your walk-in store. Your customers will generally be old enough to read, and to detest clicking through mazes. There is actually scant text below the pictures, but you have it interspersed with too many stark blue escalator bars. You could, for example, draw everything said in the blue crossbars into a single paragraph, or use some of the wording as visually enhanced paragraph leads -- rubrics. The flip side is partly that you can and ought to put some brochure material on the landing page, and you actually have stayed within typical metes and bounds for fine furniture brochures.
7/ Enlarging all type to 16 to 18 px would enhance legibility. The Arial is too flimsy for the setting.
8/ That white horizontal transition whizzy is distracting. That is usually criticized by one or another of us; so be it here.
2/ An H1 or similar (e.g., bold H2, etc.) between the boxy top rows and the banner would provide separation, but keep it fairly formal. You already have recogntion -- "brownsfurniture.co is the brand new website for Browns Furniture Warehouse Ltd. Est 1963." You are in Wales. You are selling items and sets that cost half a grand to two grand. You have solid hardwoods, not glued or even epoxied pressboards. Your customers are less likely overpaid whippersnappers in for a stay from Silicon Valley or London, than secure and maturing long-term residents who will figure out within half a second what you do, based upon what they see upon landing, and who will moreover have actual attention spans and IQs. The website is probably not in frontal competition with the walk-in store. Something as reserved as 20 px "Best is here, no need to go to London . . ." or the like, just to convey quality and reasonable pricing which is not inexpensive anyway.
3/ You will be adding products to the on-line store as you go. Even four would do it, if they were showcased (2 x 2, for example), but for the time being four little boxes are a bit sparse.
4/ The BEST and RECENTLY bicolor crossbar is a bit harsh, two compatible grades of blue would suffice without the visual jolt that calls to mind facepainting when 007 went Carribbean in Live and Let Die. The Best items are solid furniture. The recently added items are . . . pillows?! The latter, with stark white bar above them and shown in their label packaging, are, well, trivial and perhaps a bit tacky. I actually wouldn't say perhaps. Fifty-one years into it, then recently pillows in their packaging, quite unlike furniture showrooms anywhere, including your own, with substantial goods at substantial pricing, presumably because you wanted to roll out the electronic storefront before you could populate it to your liking. The balance of left and right is there, just strained by the stark blue and white, and by the bloody pillows.
5/ The footer region has ample contrast for ready legibility. Ya done good there.
6/ Much of the text below the pictures can be transferred into the Information modules that are linked in the footer. Some of the text belongs out of the way. Look at the pricetags and look at what the Testimonials say. When price and quality are high enough, people buying don't even want to see what compares to, rather than contrasts with, the usual either hype or crutches often associated with lesser stores. One place sells antique classic and new varroom! Bentleys; across the street, little Fiats for heavy traffic; one does not have testimonial one anywhere in sight, the other is more alike walking into a discount menswear store. You want to be and remain the high class joint with a new electronic shop to go with the walk-in shop, not a caricature of your walk-in store. Your customers will generally be old enough to read, and to detest clicking through mazes. There is actually scant text below the pictures, but you have it interspersed with too many stark blue escalator bars. You could, for example, draw everything said in the blue crossbars into a single paragraph, or use some of the wording as visually enhanced paragraph leads -- rubrics. The flip side is partly that you can and ought to put some brochure material on the landing page, and you actually have stayed within typical metes and bounds for fine furniture brochures.
7/ Enlarging all type to 16 to 18 px would enhance legibility. The Arial is too flimsy for the setting.
8/ That white horizontal transition whizzy is distracting. That is usually criticized by one or another of us; so be it here.
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