Any feedback welcomed for new website:-
www.ecopolar.com
Site includes speed optimisations and some custom design.
Selling whole range of products including solar powered, lighting, windup, cleaning, toiletries and more.
Looking forward to any comments.
Very nice work!
Speed is very good while viewing in the USA (I am assuming your are hosted in the UK).
What type of speed enhancements did you make?
Like the look as well especially the littler bear on the cart button 
.
For starters may I suggest that instead of having your content display at 100% of the page width you should set it to about 1000px this will allow for less eye and mouse movement for your customers.
The speed is great I would like to know as well what modifications where done to achieve those speeds.
sample of how things look with 1000px width [attachment=4340:test.jpg]
[quote name='Struck' timestamp='1310693385' post='117342']
Very nice work!
Speed is very good while viewing in the USA (I am assuming your are hosted in the UK).
What type of speed enhancements did you make?
[/quote]
XCache version 1.3.2 [using 34Mb Op-code cache] - PHP opcode cacher, this made a big difference (any template changes require both CS-Cart cache and XCache cache to be cleared)
Set expires headers for static files jpegs, gif, css, java script (currently 1 week). This load time for subsequent page views.
Use deflate or gzip output html, css and javascript files. If these files do not change often then you can pre gzip files. Currently use YUICompressor to minify css and java-script files followed by gzip to level 7. You then end up with minified gzipped file ready to serve with no CPU overhead. Using NGinx you can turn the gzip_static option on so if the file resides in the location with .gz extension then this will be served.
Using NGinx server (Front End) for static content and Apache+PHP (Back End) for dynamic content. NGinx is ideal as a static content server due to small memory footprint and stability. Apache default install tends to have a lot of modules which are not used, and not Loading these can reduce memory footprint. Turn off HostNameLookups and set the IP address and port for Apache to listen on.
Approx measured page speed 100ms to 200ms (html rendered and received)
New user (no cached static files) fresh download time < 500ms (will depend on receive speed)
The server setup is VPS 500Mb located in the UK
Software: CentOS, NGinx, Apache + PHP, MySQL
CS-Cart Version 2.1.4
[quote name=‘hbtrading’ timestamp=‘1310695156’ post=‘117344’]
Like the look as well especially the littler bear on the cart button .
For starters may I suggest that instead of having your content display at 100% of the page width you should set it to about 1000px this will allow for less eye and mouse movement for your customers.
The speed is great I would like to know as well what modifications where done to achieve those speeds.
sample of how things look with 1000px width [attachment=4340:test.jpg]
[/quote]
See previous post for the speed, though I have not provided full detail unless any one is interested. Thankyou for the suggestion of using a fixed width, this may provide a better experience for customers. There also seems to be an increase of iPhone usuage which has limited display size, which may be worth considering with the content display.
Looked at your site and looks very nice & products look great. Interesting alternative metal jewelry compared to traditional metal jewelry.
Adrian8,
Thanks for the tips & details, I would say you are definately the man when it comes to site speed! 
Regarding the browser display width, of course there are several different thoughts on what the optimal page width design should be, especially now with the “big screen tv” monitors as well as the smart phone micro screens and everything in between!
I have settled on a 100% expanding page width simply because I want to use up every inch of valuable monitor screen real estate when possible to clearly display our products (if the customer has a 55" wide monitor, then I want to fill their screen). Secondly, we do not in any way want to overly invite our customers to order via their 2" x 2" smart phone, in fact we prefer to discourage them from doing so, it creates problems for us/them when they overlook a critical detail, product option, etc. Guess it will all depend upon the markets you cater towards. 
Honestly, the color scheme it is quite disturbing. My eyes hurt.
Speed is awesome though.
[quote name='Seonid' timestamp='1313657608' post='119774']
Honestly, the color scheme it is quite disturbing. My eyes hurt.
Speed is awesome though.
[/quote]
Agree. The colors make me dizzy and I won't be the only one. This will make you loose customers, really advice you to change the colors.
Great work on the speed part!
[quote name='Flow' timestamp='1313658973' post='119776']
Agree. The colors make me dizzy and I won't be the only one. This will make you loose customers, really advice you to change the colors.
Great work on the speed part!
[/quote]
Find attached image shot of store with colors tweaked, any comments or recommendations welcome. I look forward to any replies (this has not been put live, only on local server).
[quote name='Adrian8' timestamp='1313841903' post='119947']
Find attached image shot of store with colors tweaked, any comments or recommendations welcome. I look forward to any replies (this has not been put live, only on local server).
[/quote]
Color theme updated feedback welcome, any comments?
www.ecopolar.com
[quote name=‘Adrian8’ timestamp=‘1313854835’ post=‘119954’]
Color theme updated feedback welcome, any comments?
www.ecopolar.com
[/quote]
Not dizzy anymore, much better
wow! 1.7 second in Pingdom Tools… is the fastest cs-cart I've seen.
Thanks for the tips.
Website theme and design completely updated for a cleaner look. Now using customized mini-cart in a block.
www.ecopolar.com - Energy saving, LED lights, LED bulbs, and eco products
Any comments welcome on the new design theme, thanks.
I think the overall theme & color combinations fit quit well, nice unique design.
Just a quick observation, personally, I would remove the text highlighting in your top navigation bar as I don’t believe it is needed, I think just the text color changing to Red when active is sufficient (the highlighting gives a rather cheap look to an overall nicely designed site).
Just my 10 Cents
And, as soon as you get a spare moment you need to start working on your site speed! 
Thanks for the feedback Struck 
, you have a valid point with the text highlighting. I think just having the text color red will improve the appearance, which is very important to help conversion rates.
Have you had any experience with Google Merchant Centre? 
Just some products will not show up and sometimes you have to search for the exact same title you submited under before it shows. Tried various levels of safe search and no difference.
[quote name='Adrian8' timestamp='1310737670' post='117389']
See previous post for the speed, though I have not provided full detail unless any one is interested.
[/quote]
Yes! Anymore details you can provide regarding your speed optimization would be much appreciated.
Best place to start is make sure Apache is running at optimal speed for serving CS-Cart. You usually find the default setup has a lot of modules which are not required, these can be removed.
Make sure hostnamelookup is off
Also disable .htaccess and move all per directory rules into httpd.conf
You can also set up browser caching for static files which do not change often:-
ExpiresActive On
Set up caching on media files for 1 week
ExpiresDefault A604800
Header append Cache-Control “public, must-revalidate”
ExpiresByType application/x-javascript A604800
ExpiresByType text/css A604800
Smartoptimizer is good way to reduce total number of files served by combining and minifying.
Then install a PHP opcode cache, this will require a chunk of real memory.