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Our Answers to the Migration
Challenge
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Migration to Yahoo Store |
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The
Dark blue of the company logo was a must keep from the old site. But we felt
that it alone gave too drab a setting for proper framing of the store's elegant
offerings. We decided to work in an image of a bayberry bush covered with
berries, and the National Park Service was nice enough to give permission
to use a picture from one of their sites. We sampled the green in the leaves
and periwinkle color of the waxy bayberries themselves to complete the design
palette.
Next we turned our attention to navigation. The original
site's top-level only navigation kept the left nav column to a reasonable
length. But it also meant that quite a few clicks were required to reach
third and fourth level categories. A quick test or 2-level navigation showed
that it resulted in a left nav column that was simply too long. So we opted
instead for a fly-out arrangement that expands one section at a time to reveal
all 2nd level sections within it when the user is anywhere within that section.
We call it context sensitive navigation.
Finally, there was our ever-present friend, search engine
optimization (SEO). We modified the default RTML to incorporate complete
META tags and unique Title tags on every page. All navigation uses text rather
than the Yahoo Store standard image-map. And page headlines are likewise
rendered in text. Images have meaningful ALT text. And we trained the site
owner in how to target key phrases and how to write keyword rich headlines,
titles and content.
Visit
the site and see how you think it compares with the old version (opens
in new window). While you're there, expand the window and see how the site
scales to fit available space.
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The Migration Challenge
The original site was begun, but never completed. The store owner had enlisted
some family members to put it together for her. After over a year perhaps
1/10th of the job was completed. The store owner decided it was time to bring
in a professional.
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| Before
Migration |
The original design
looked decent and clean, something we wanted to preserve. But it suffered
from SEO. No surprise,
since the relatives who did the design had virtually no experience as Web
developers.
Our biggest challenge turned out to be database development.
Unfortunately, the original site was developed using includes to pop text
snippets into pages, and there was no clear way to just extract those snippets.
The only way create the Yahoo Store database, then,
was for someone to visit the existing store page by page and cut and paste
it's product names, descriptions, pricing and so forth into the Yahoo Store
editor.
As of this writing, that process is still underway.
Therefore, the store is not yet open for business. The URL we've posted to
it is a temporary one and will be replaced by the actual domain once the
database is completed.
Read about the migration.
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