I'll try to not get into the habit of posting on my weblog everytime silverorange launches a new site, but this one seems special. On Sunday night, the new Mozilla Store went live and we're pretty excited.
We designed this site from the ground up, including the front-end interface and a back-end management system. The front-end is the first entirely CSS-designed store we've developed. It's been pretty cool designing an interface entirely in CSS and even the entire checkout form is formatted using style sheets. The top menu is a styled bullet list using a combination of Doug Bowman's sliding doors technique and a variation on the flicker-free image rollover technique.
It's been really interesting designing what is essentially a straight-forward widget store. In many instances, we've been able to do things we've always wanted to do on other sites but have been prevented by added complexity of product structures and custom features. Aside from a few special circumstances, we've been able to do things very simply and cleanly. It's possible to arrive at the store and checkout in four clicks. Not bad.
Anyhow, go buy a stylin' Firefox t-shirt. Hope you like the site.
Comments
Charlie - June 16, 2004 3:18 am
Nice Job Dan, congrats to you folks! How long until it shows up on slashdot? :)
jupiter - June 17, 2004 5:54 am
How did you finally decide to go for a 1-page orderform? We still are not sure about that, because the amount of information makes it look very complex and we think it's not so easy to guide the customer through the order process.
Once all orderforms were like that...
Daniel Burka - June 17, 2004 1:31 pm
Jupiter: This checkout is certainly a bit of an exception from many of the sites we've developed. There are a number of reasons we went this route.
<p>Primarily, this is an incredibly simple checkout. There are no side options like gift wrapping, multiple address ordering, accounts, etc. We can present all of the available options easily on what page in an ordered uncluttered way.</p>
<p>We're also able to use some very basic Javascript code to disable and enable forms to guide people through the form. But, at the same time we rely on server-side checking to make sure everything was filled correctly, so anyone with Javascript disabled will still navigate successfully.</p>
<p>Also, the client asked for things to be streamlined as much as possible for the entire site. Currently people can check out in very few clicks, which is important. We did not see any important sacrifices and agreed that efficiency was an important attribute of this site. Hence the two-page checkout (1 form, 2 confirm).</p>
<p>That said, I don't think we're starting a new trend here. It just made sense in this particular case.</p>
jupiter - June 18, 2004 6:57 am
Thanks for the detailed explanation, Dan. The thing that bugs me is, that there is no information about what customers prefer, who are not involved in web development. I like it when there are bells and whistles, lots of nifty script-things, well-designed hints and messages. I feel flattered when someone shows, that he cares for my needs as a customer. On the other hand I don't mind, when everything is kept simple. Then I imagine that the whole process is lean, allowing to make everything cheaper (see <a href=http://cheap-cds.com>cheap-cds.com</a>). Anybody else?
Ross Shannon - June 22, 2004 11:51 pm
The Mozilla Store was a very nice surprise this morning. I went in and bought two shirts, and it was the most streamlined bit of e-commerce I've ever experienced. It looks great, uses JavaScript intelligently and does exactly what it should. Excellent work guys.