...
The footer gives access to some of the interesting page pages that could be useful to a user who haven't found anything interesting to him, and thus has scrolled to the bottom of the screen.
...
The default theme's left column doesn't change much during the whole browsing and buying experience, as it mainly serves as a handy placeholder for navigation and secondary links:
- (if logged in) "My account" block, with links to the customer's account pages.
- Three of the default blocks help the user navigate the shop and filter content: tags, categories and manufacturers are the most common ways by which shoppers look for a given product.
- "Viewed products" serves as a reminder of the products previously took interest in, and gives a shortcut back to these if he wants to pick them in the end.
- Finally, "Information" is where PrestaShop lists the default static pages, as written by the shop owner: delivery information, legal notices, T&C... They are not selling points, but their content is important enough that it warrants being always available.
...
A category is a hierarchical way of sorting items: a category can contain any number of sub-categories, this thus making it possible to easily browse from the more general items to the more specific ones by following a logical path.
...
The shop owner can indicate a set of tags for each product. A tag is a non-hierarchical keyword, also described as metadata: it is not displayed on the product page as it does not bring any useful information, but it can prove very useful when building thematic lists – such as a tag-cloud, where the most common tags are written in a bigger font than the rarer ones.
...
It also gives a quick access to the current promotions (if any) through the "Specials" block. Finally, the customer can locate the closest store by clicking on the "Our stores" blocksblock.
These three blocks are always available, from any page, in the default theme.
...
Most seasoned web surfers will directly enter a shop via a search engine, directly on a product of category page. Few stumble upon the home page, and this is why it should be tailored to new users, with a proper presentation.
...
This is where all the information entered by the shop owner is available to the user. Depending on the theme design, a product page can be very thorough, with extension extensive information, or simply present the most essential facts. The default theme is typical in that its most prominent feature is the product images, with a scrolling tool below it.
Next to the image images are two blocks:
- A "Short description" block, presenting the main facts for the current product in a free form way.
- The "Add to cart" block, with the possibility to choose among the available variations (as defined by the shop owner) and the quantity to be ordered.
...
- More info. This is where the customer will find the full description for the product, as entered by the shop owner. The content of this page block is free form.
- Data sheet. This is where PrestaShop lists all the detailed featured that were entered in its database. This data is also the one that is used when comparing two products. Therefore, the content of this tab is very sparsely written: these are just raw facts, far from the free form description of the "More info" tab.
...
Almost all the pages of an online shop feature an "Add to cart" button for a given product, and display a quick summary of the cart content. This makes it easy for customer to take the first step towards an order.
...
This process starts when the customer clicks on either the cart block's "Check out" button (on any page) or the cart's summary's "Next" button (on the Cart page), and always follows the same sequence of screens:
...
- The payment page. The customer can choose many payment options, depending on what the shop owner has set up. Cheque and credit card/Visa card are the most usual, but PrestaShop makes it easy to offer payment through eBayPayPal, Google Checkout or other 3rd party providers. The customer clicks on the chosen method and depending on the method is either sent over to the chosen 3rd party handler or continues to one of PrestaShop's page where he can enter the needed details, such as a validation before displaying cheque or bank-wire information.
...