Among the improvements:
- More product photos and views; we'll be adding them for weeks
- You can set up an account and your info is saved for future orders
- There is a wish list that you can share
- There is a compare products function
- One click "back in stock" e-mail notification (coming soon; still buggy)
- Easily searchable
- Sorting filter
- Recently viewed items
- Breadcrumbs
Please let us know what you think.
BTW, if you find a bug please tell us which operating system and browser (including version) you're using. We know that early versions of IE are not compatible.
UPDATE from Kyle:
We know there have been a few issues so far. For some people, the "Under Construction" warning comes up instead of the home page. If you're getting this page, it means your computer has cached the old page and just needs an update. You can try to clear the cache on your browser, but if that doesn't work just point your browser to store.velo-orange.com and you should be able to see the new store no problem.
We had problems accepting international orders, but we're working on it now. If you're still getting an authorization failure when you try to check out, send us an email and we'll figure it out with you.
For those of you using Internet Explorer: if you're not already, please upgrade to the latest version IE 8! If you're running version 6 or 7 the site will not display properly; it still works, but the layout gets destroyed. The new site was designed to work best with Firefox/Chrome/Safari (standards compliance is important), so unless you have specific reasons or limitations that require the use of Internet Explorer I'd really urge you to use one of these browsers instead.
We'll be finding many little bugs over the next few weeks, but we'll take all the help we can get with spotting them. Thanks for being patient while we work out these (and other) problems!
BTW, if you find a bug please tell us which operating system and browser (including version) you're using. We know that early versions of IE are not compatible.
UPDATE from Kyle:
We know there have been a few issues so far. For some people, the "Under Construction" warning comes up instead of the home page. If you're getting this page, it means your computer has cached the old page and just needs an update. You can try to clear the cache on your browser, but if that doesn't work just point your browser to store.velo-orange.com and you should be able to see the new store no problem.
We had problems accepting international orders, but we're working on it now. If you're still getting an authorization failure when you try to check out, send us an email and we'll figure it out with you.
For those of you using Internet Explorer: if you're not already, please upgrade to the latest version IE 8! If you're running version 6 or 7 the site will not display properly; it still works, but the layout gets destroyed. The new site was designed to work best with Firefox/Chrome/Safari (standards compliance is important), so unless you have specific reasons or limitations that require the use of Internet Explorer I'd really urge you to use one of these browsers instead.
We'll be finding many little bugs over the next few weeks, but we'll take all the help we can get with spotting them. Thanks for being patient while we work out these (and other) problems!
Posts
35 comments:
well done!
The new version is absolutely fantastic. Congrats on a job well done!
Clean and well organized, loads fast enough, lot's of pretty pictures. Good job.
I approve! Working well so far with my iPad.
I love being able to save my wish list for later.
Excellent!!! [But I do miss that inspirational bkgrnd map of the French countryside. Alas!]
Jim G, Thanks for your lists of errors. We didn't publish the comments since they are only of interest to us. We'll work on them.
I don't see the new site from here using Firefox (I get the under construction page).
But I do see the new site from here using IE.
Can't see it from here (Ottawa, Canada) using IE. And yes, I refreshed my browser!
Steve
If you can't see the page try hitting ctrl + F5. That makes your computer "non-cache refresh", at least it does in Windows.
Did the ctrl + f5 thing to no avail, but then I followed the link from the blog to the new crank set and 'voila' the new site loaded.
Great job on the site. I like it!!!
Steve
I still get the "under construction" page with IE 8.0.6.
Same result using Firefox 3.6.10.
still not working for me....
http://velo-orange.com/
points to the under construction notice
I can still access this
http://yhst-84224226242177.stores.yahoo.net/
(points to the old site with the blue banner)
Allan Pollock
I cleared my history and cache as well as tried the ctrl + F5 trick and still see the under construction page using FireFox.
Hmmm... not sure why you guys are having trouble seeing the site. The "Under Construction" page is definitely not there, so my only guess is that your computer has cached the page from yesterday (maybe not the browser, possibly the OS? Are you running something like Google Gears that locally caches internet stuff?).
Try this. You can get to the store directly by going here:
store.velo-orange.com
No www., just the above link. I hope that works out for ya, let us know if the homepage still doesn't show up.
Kyle
Still not working for me.
I cleared my IE history and restarted. The store.velo-orange.com link takes me to the old website.
The above link does bring me to the new site using Safari via my iPhone.
Justin,
You're definitely having cache issues which are preventing you from seeing the site. Your ISP might have cached the page, could be going through a proxy server, or perhaps something on your computer has cached it. The only thing that might fix it is time. Eventually whatever it is that's doing this will need to update, at which point you should see the new site.
As for the direct link not working, I'm baffled. The new VO store is on a sub-domain, whereas the old one was not. There's nothing that could be directing you to the old site from store.velo-orange.com, so I'm stumped.
Thanks again for bearing with us on this transition!
~Kyle
No problem Chris, glad to help!
OK my latest attempt using Firefox now works.
Time heals all I guess.
Ah well...looks like the new site will be for bike geeks only, just like the old.
You are missing pictures of the components installed on bikes. Pretty hard to visualize what components look like installed, unless your customer is experienced with bikes. Funny thing is, it would be simple to add pictures--just ask your customers.
I miss the map of France as well, especially because the Dordogne region it depicted was where I've done most of my cycling in France. Every time I started looking at that map I'd get nostalgic and have the urge to buy something ;-)
I'm seeing a lot of it now and it looks pleasant. That stylised nostalgic writing if you don't mind me saying Guv'nor smacks so much of the manner of which the ol' Marx Brothers movies titles went but maybe that's the effect you want to have, it's better than a lot of signage and perhaps is reminiscent of Rene Herse's stylised brand name as well which in fact, appears deliberate... you know, how about those old posters of Alcyon, Gauloise or hehe Cycles Sirius with the voluptous models but imitation is the best form of flattery, oh, I'm getting those big close up photos now...I'm starting to see it now. This will certainly allow the public to see the products.
Pardon me for the 2nd post, shouldn't you call your section "Fenders/Mudguards" for our friends overseas?? Because in France, they are even called Guarde de Boue or some such word like that. Who knows what the Dutch, etc. etc. call them.
Well done on the new site! It's a great improvement, well done!
I do feel there is still a disconnect between the 'Velo Orange' and the 'New Items' font, and rest of the fonts used one the website. That is especially true since 'Velo Orange' is directly above a very different use of font in all caps (FRAMES, COMPONENTS, etc...)
But I love what you have done, much fresher!
Love the wish list,as I'm getting older tend to forget what I wished for , now it's there whenever I want it.Great photos in a simple layout,well done.
Still the old site for me at work....
When I'm at work, I don't have control of what's cached. Nor do I have control of which browser I use (IE7).
Allan
I wrote that rather long comment last night about changing DNS hosts and flushing my dns cache. As of this morning, from where I sit, everything seems to be working as it should.
Any plans to make the Checkout section a secure connection (https://)? I want to place an order but am hesitant to use a non-secure connection. Other than that, awesome job!
The secure URL for our checkout will be up within the next couple hours. All orders are being processed securely through Authorize.net, so your information is safe, we're just waiting to get our SSL certificate code which should happen shortly.
Nice innovation with Chris's rando bars, I believe that is the first I have heard or seen of these. Novel idea.
I know the crowd here is not too concerned about this, but would it be possible to have weights listed for everything? Well I don't know how feasible that is but it just seems some things have weights listed and some things don't.
Quick update -- our SSL certificate is (finally) working properly. Sorry for the delay on that everyone. Whenever you're in store.velo-orange.com, you have full 256-bit encryption. If you look at the certificate in your browser and it tells you you're "Only partially encrypted" or some such thing, it means your computer has cached something (probably images to make the pages load faster), so you'll either need to either clear your cache/cookies or just wait until your browser re-caches things.
If you have any questions or concerns, drop me a line:
info at velo-orange dot com
~Kyle
The new site is very inviting. Congratulations.
I do have one suggestion about the storefront. There is currently no way to know what sizes the cranksets are offered in. You should either list them with the specs, and/or have them go "grey" and unclickable in the "Select an item" pull down.
Meantime, I read on the blog that the 110 will be offered in 172.5. Currently the 50.4 shows 175. I assume it is made in other sizes. Will it come in the 172.5? Can I get on an email to notify me when out of stock items come in?
Thank you.
Mark
Congrats on the new site, it looks fine and works fine for me. I've even placed an order and created a user account, which is very helpful. One comment: The VO International section is a little confusing in that it states that you are not retail. I realize that his intended to refer to the wholesale end of your business, but it could be clarified a bit. Questions: Is there a way to suggest new products, other than these comments? And if an item is out of stock (Minnehaha bag in this case), will you still have a sample in your store? I'd like to visit the store soon since I'm in the area. Thanks for all the good work! Steve A.
Thanks for all the help on the site everyone.
The best way to suggest new products is via e-mail.
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