EN World GameStore - How's the interface?

[Twin Rose]

I'm somewhat concerned about the page format for the Pick and Mix. Right now, there are only a handful, so one page makes sense. Will we be able to sort on Publisher, Rating, and type once more content is released? Will we be able to filter? As a potential publisher will I be able to craft a link that shows all my PnM offerings? or have links on my site that quickly add a PnM offering to a person's cart in the EnWorld store? Once 200 publishers add 100 PnM elements, I expect navigation and selection will be a real issue.

On other notes, I'd say there seems to be a lot of wasted space in each entry, particularly when I was browsing the adventure section.

All of the Pick'N'Mix pages will get special attention, including all the ones you mention and more. However, I was a bit leery of posting all these great formatting features and searching - when in fact, there were only 6 to offer. You can bet, though, that there will be a lot more options for people to discover P&Ms

 

[sjmiller]

I looked at the site and ran into two stumbling blocks when ordering (okay, when getting freebies).

I had a devil of a time finding out what was in my basket. Big, extremely obvious buttons are important for this.

When I finally got to my basket I could not figure out how to actually process my order. Again, there was no big button telling me "Finish your order by pressing me!"

Those two things are probably my biggest issues. Well, that and the site doesn't seem to intuitive on a general scale.

 

[Twin Rose]

I looked at the site and ran into two stumbling blocks when ordering (okay, when getting freebies).

I had a devil of a time finding out what was in my basket. Big, extremely obvious buttons are important for this.

When I finally got to my basket I could not figure out how to actually process my order. Again, there was no big button telling me "Finish your order by pressing me!"

Those two things are probably my biggest issues. Well, that and the site doesn't seem to intuitive on a general scale.

As posted before, I tried to make a little bit more obvious link in the navbar now. One thing people are commenting on is putting too much at the top, so I want to be careful not to fill the navbar too much. I think a button that screams, "You have products in your cart!" at the upper right might work, at certain stages on the site.

So the "Proceed" button wasn't quite shouting at you? Definately will see about having an artist create something a little bit more "Shout" for that.

PS -

Especially in a particular topic ABOUT the store... Would you mind changing the link in your signature to:

http://www.enworld.org/shop/index.php?do=product&productid=339&source=ENWorld Forums ?

I assure you, it's the exact same product And (I'm not gonna be weird about it) there is a new policy in regards to linking.

 

[DSC-EricPrice]

purely ascetic here, but the category images when I go to pages like

http://www.enworld.org/shop/index.php?do=category&categoryid=22

are all out of whack. Looks unprofessional IMO.

 

[Twin Rose]

purely ascetic here, but the category images when I go to pages like

http://www.enworld.org/shop/index.php?do=category&categoryid=22

are all out of whack. Looks unprofessional IMO.

My artist was supposed to get back to me with miniature images for each and every category .... But, well, he didn't. I think a nice 'contest' or something for those images would be fun and a good draw!

 

[Capellan]

As a potential purchaser:
- the lack of a 'my cart' link is counter-intuitive. I now know I can go to 'checkout' to do this, but that's not immediately clear
- the 75 cent charge for orders of $20 or less immediately stops me from buying anything here. I can save money shopping at RPGnow, and I will
- the 'add product to cart' process is slow - click on 'download' and if you click on another product too fast, only the 2nd one adds to the cart
- the lack of 'new releases' on the front page is frustrating, and - with ENPub product getting pride of place on the landing page - the 'recommended products' logic will be looked at askance by other publishers. Listing new releases is impartial ... listing 'recommendations' (especially when I haven't bought anything yet) is not
- the 'next' button on your top sellers list is messed up. It goes to page 2 of the 'best rated' listing

 

[Morrus]

As a potential purchaser:
- the lack of a 'my cart' link is counter-intuitive. I now know I can go to 'checkout' to do this, but that's not immediately clear

Fixable. We're still playing with the interface - the only real way to test it was to go live!

- the 75 cent charge for orders of $20 or less immediately stops me from buying anything here. I can save money shopping at RPGnow, and I will

We don't have a minimum checkout amount, so we have to be sure that the processing charge does not exceed the shop's cut of a purchase - otherwise we're paying for each sale rather than profiting, which is rather bad business! However, we are looking at that - we might go for a minimum checkout amount and drop the processing charge. The $20 limit may be a tad high, I agree.

Note that the Deposit system completely circumvents that. No minimum ckeckout and no processing charge.

- the 'add product to cart' process is slow - click on 'download' and if you click on another product too fast, only the 2nd one adds to the cart

I'm not quite sure what you mean there. Could you explain a little more? Thanks!

the lack of 'new releases' on the front page is frustrating, and - with ENPub product getting pride of place on the landing page - the 'recommended products' logic will be looked at askance by other publishers. Listing new releases is impartial ... listing 'recommendations' (especially when I haven't bought anything yet) is not

Well, that was set up while building the store and we only had a few products to put there. At one point it was all ENP products, because those were the only ones in the store!

However, are you saying that EN Pub should never appear there?

New releases is here (bookmark this page instead of the front page if you prefer it): http://www.enworld.org/shop/index.php?do=new

the 'next' button on your top sellers list is messed up. It goes to page 2 of the 'best rated' listing

Thanks, we can get that.

 

[Capellan]

Note that the Deposit system completely circumvents that. No minimum ckeckout and no processing charge.

I believe RPGnow has that too. I don't use it there, either

I want to be able to come in, buy 1-2 PDFs, and be gone. I'm willing to accept a minimum purchase limit, but RPGnow's $6.40 is a lot friendlier than $20.

I'm not quite sure what you mean there. Could you explain a little more? Thanks!

Say I've been impressed by the fabulous writing in Masterwork Characters: Out of the Deep and I want to buy more of Clockwork Golem's Masterwork books. I go to the CGW page at the store and click 'add to cart' on the first book, then 'add to cart' on the second. If I click on the second button within about 3 seconds of the first, the first product doesn't add to my cart.

However, are you saying that EN Pub should never appear there?

No. I am saying that the front page should have some demonstrably impartial means of assigning what shows up. I'd make New Releases the default, and Recommendations the page you can go to if you are interested.

 

[jgbrowning]

Also, when I actually downloaded the file (A Magical Medieval city guide) it was corrupt. Is there a problem with Firefox support?

There was a problem with the file, my apologies. It is fixed now. You should have a button with "Update" in the place where the original "Download" button was. Just click and you'll get the full file.

Joseph Browning
Expeditious Retreat Press

 

[Morrus]

There was a problem with the file, my apologies. It is fixed now. You should have a button with "Update" in the place where the original "Download" button was. Just click and you'll get the full file.

Yay! A cool feature in use!

I love that way of handling updates. It's about as elegant as can be, in my eyes.