The key to great usability for an online store is familiarity. People have now been buying goods online for decades now, they be prepared to see a certain process unfold when shopping on the internet, and when a developer makes radical departures from the status quo, tears may ensue (regardless of how good the designer's intentions may be). Does this mean a developer is locked into reproducing the same kind of shopping interface again and again? Not necessarily, but conforming to certain standards will probably help the user.
This article analyzes the usability of components commonly found within most shopping website (e.g. the cart, the checkout process, etc). The concept isn't so much to be prescriptive and lay down hard and fast rules, but alternatively to explain what will probably be most familiar to shoppers. Creativity and deviation from typical is a great thing on the internet, otherwise things would get pretty boring. But being aware of the de facto standards on shopping websites allows you to make informed decisions when taking a novel direction https://www.complasinternational.ie/.
The Login box - there is some variation in how shopping websites cope with user log ins. Some sites require a person join before making a purchase, whereas others enable guest accounts. The obvious basics would be a username and password field. The only pitfall here will be labeling the username field 'Email' ;.'Username' could be the more ubiquitous label, it will help cut-down on possible confusion which may arise if there have been say a newsletter subscription box near by.
All of the choices to be manufactured within this interface element relate genuinely to naming; do you call it 'Register' or 'Sign-Up'?, in case you label your commit button 'Go' or 'Login'?, is the password recovery link called 'Password recovery' or 'Forgot your password?" ;.Whatever labels you decide on, you ought to favor brevity, generally nothing longer then three short words https://earsense.ie/.
Following a person logs in, there is a way to reclaim some precious screen real estate by detatching UI elements which aren't needed anymore. Showing the shopper's name helps you to personalized the service and thus make it a tad bit more friendly (nb. you may choose 'Welcome John Smith' instead of 'Logged in as: ...'). This really is also a great place to exhibit the 'My Account' and 'Logout' links since both these functions are logically related to the shopper's account.
Incidentally, a 'Logout' link is somewhat redundant since closing the browser window serves a similar purpose (assuming the session has expired), but a logout feature can help alleviate any security-related concerns a shopper may have.
The product search mechanism - the textbox for product searching is pretty straight-forward, but product browsing can go in numerous directions.
This works great if the category hierarchy is flat, it saves space plus you know the UI wont behave unexpectedly if the item list gets long. But what when you have sub-categories (e.g. Fishing->Hooks, Fishing->Knives, Fishing->Bait, etc)? Sure you can use a splash to indicate a sub-category, however the drop-list option would start to lose a few of its eloquence.
Categories and sub-categories could be treated the same as site navigation, that is essentially what it is (i.e. product navigation). Common approaches are to make use of CSS fly-outs or in-place expanding panels (much like Windows Explorer) https://heelboy.com/.
Being an added touch, I love to place a reset icon nearby the search button. This lets the consumer return the searching mechanism to its initial state without having to go all how you can the browser refresh button or press the F5 key.
The shopping basket - the structure of a shopping cart has become fairly standardized these days. You've the item name with a hyperlink back to the full product description, the price of the in-patient product, and the amount the shopper really wants to buy.
I love to incorporate a small bin icon so shoppers can very quickly remove items from their basket they no more want. You might like to put in a sub-total in the bottom of the shopping cart, but I don't think that is necessary since the consumer will be shown a sub-total during the checkout stage.
Another feature which improves usability is feedback messages. It's crucial that you let the consumer know when something happens as a result of their interaction with the machine, for instance; showing a brief message when an item is added or removed from their cart https://www.pro-demo.ca/.
The product details page - one of the biggest decisions listed here is whether to have a product listing page in addition to an in depth product description page. If you're just employing a listing page for products, you would show short descriptions along with each product. The alternative would imply that a shopper must click a product's summary in order to see its full details.
Generally I decide this based on what much information will probably be shown with a product. If it's only expected a few lines can look for every single product's description, a product details page wont be needed. However, this might have significant SEO consequences since each product doesn't have it's own name can be found in the browser page title-bar. It could be argued that the summary-on-listing page interface is more effective with regards to usability since a shopper gets all the information they desire with fewer clicks.
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