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Deisgners suck at E-Commerce PDF Print E-mail
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Like it or not, real web designers suck at e-commerce design.  I've seen it a hundred times, but here is the aricle to prove it!

So whether you believe it or now, there is a big difference between web designers and e-commerce designers.  The difference in the two is actually huge.

It stems from the fact that web designers tend to put all of their efforts into making things look as good as possible no matter what.  While there is nothing wrong with this for regular sites, for e-commerce sites making a site look good is only 40% of the job.  The othe 60% goes into UI and usability work.

I've always known that basic web designers aren't cut out for e-commerce.  The biggest evidence is web template sites.  There are hundreds of website template companies out there where you can pay a price and download a template for your website.  And 90% of them have an e-commerce section which consists of pretty much un-usable crap.

As if that wasn't enough, SmashingMagazine.com has posted an article of 35 "Beautiful" e-commerce sites to back up my claim.

Link below
http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2010/01/22/35-beautiful-and-effective-ecommerce-websites/

Now I'm a fan of SM, not because of articles like this, but because of all the informative articles about topics like jQuery, usability and design techniques.  But this article misses the target by hundreds of feet.  Pretty much every site they list is either no beautiful, or is just totally unusable.

 Lets face it.  If you're building an e-commerce site, you have to have usability as your number 1 focus, and these sites just throw that out the door and focus on being pretty.  I'd be more than willing to place a bet that while these sites may be appealing to some, they are less than profitable compared to their competition.

With that being said, no ill feeling towards Smashing Magazine.  They do a great job, except for this one occasion.

 


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Comments (3)
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1. 27-02-2010 18:08
paylaşım için çok teşekkürler başarılar diliyorum 
For sharing thank you very much good very beautiful work
Written by çiçekçi (Guest)
2. 29-04-2010 16:59
Web designers are the web builders. 
 
So, it is natural that they would suck at e-commerce! 
 
bangladesh e-commerce training
Written by This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it (Guest)
3. 21-06-2010 22:02
I agree. I think an e-commerce web designer needs to know about business and how consumers shop, the number of clicks to put an item in a cart, etc. Many "real web designers" focus on color and visual layout but not so much on how visitors will search for a product, priority placement (above the fold), etc. I guess according to this I am not a "real web designer". :( :)
Written by This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it (Guest)

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