Organization decisions.
I am trying to figure out a good way to organize a site. It is a model train site that I am redoing. There are about 2,000 items in a database. There are 2 manufacturers and several product lines with each manufacturer. So those are the main ways of organization on the home page.
Other links would be something like Rolling Stock which composes stuff like Cabooses, Boxcars, flatcars, etc. So I am trying to figure out what happens when a customer clicks on the link Rolling Stock. I will most assuredly have some kind of drill-down search to make it easier to search and also a couple of specials in that category. So the question is what do you think is the best, most expedient way to drill down. Originally, I was thinking about using select boxes. Upon looking at how some of the 'Big Boys' do it, I noticed that their drill-downs are mostly links. It is no use at all asking the customer how he wants it since he rarely even looks at the site, just at the orders. Keep in mind that each category could have several hundred items in it.
Any ideas would be appreciated.
Mark Irving
I have a mind like a steel trap; it is rusty and illegal in 47 states
Brian Farkas posted this at 01:39 — 28th February 2002.
They have: 1,015 posts
Joined: Apr 1999
It depends on your audience. All people will be able to view links, while most will be able to view drop-down menus. You could, in fact, use one of those rollover menus like on microsoft.com to make accessing all categories only a click away. If most of your visitors browsers support this, this could be your best option.
mairving posted this at 02:13 — 28th February 2002.
They have: 2,256 posts
Joined: Feb 2001
Brian, thanks for the reply. I am not so sure if I like the rollover links all that much. I think what I may do is a combo of several of them. It is nearly all server-side so compatibility with browsers should be no problem.
Mark Irving
I have a mind like a steel trap; it is rusty and illegal in 47 states
Busy posted this at 06:49 — 28th February 2002.
He has: 6,151 posts
Joined: May 2001
I know trains here in NZ are a big thing, is it just trains themselves your building the site for or all the extras as well ?
how about breaking the site into sub sections, trains, scenery (dio stuff), paints etc and whatever else (I know tehre can be heaps of extras) all run off a general sitemap kinda thing ?
I dont envy you in this one
if trains are as big here you'll have your hands fill
mairving posted this at 13:18 — 28th February 2002.
They have: 2,256 posts
Joined: Feb 2001
Yeah, he has the scenery, track and everything but he doesn't really want to put those on his website. He doesn't like messing with the small stuff. My idea is that it helps move the big stuff but that is not his idea. The model train world is kind of funny anyway. When a mfg like Lionel puts out a new catalog, they pretty much only build as many trains as they have orders for. So I will stick a catalog on the site, people will order an item but it could be several months before people actually get the stuff they ordered. Takes a lot of coding to get that to work properly.
Mark Irving
I have a mind like a steel trap; it is rusty and illegal in 47 states
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