Finally here - Heavily modded CS for MP3 downloads

Hi guys,



Well… I’ve finally (more or less) completed my CS-Based site. It’s been months, nearly a year in fact, in the making but I think it’s been well worth it.



Anyway, the site is www.notsounknown.co.uk it’s a placed for unsigned bands to sell their MP3 downloads.



It has been heavily modified, partly by the CS team and partly by us. Some of the main mods include;



*New user level and signup form for artists

*Artists area

*Commission system for paying artist royalties - with reports in artist area

*Track lists with mp3 sample and ability to add single tracks from items to cart

*Modifications to the CMS to hide pages from menu or appear only in artists area



I have also used some of the mods avaliable here, including the thickbox mod, which i think gives a great finishing touch, and have completly changed the templates.



Please let me know what you think, along with any suggestions for improvement. The site is live, so no test orders please - but feel free to download some of the free tracks to test out the system, or if you like them you can always pay for some too :wink:



Hope you guys like it, it’s taken a hell of a lot of work in my virtually non existent free time!



Cheers

Simon

Very nice… I really like the design. Who made it?

Looks good.



Why did you however install it in /cs/ rather than root? And why are you not using SEO urls?

Love it mate, looks so simple and you wouldn’t think it was a CS-CART store either

Looks great, Simon. Shows that you can really put your own imprint on a store with enough work.



Bob

Thanks for your kind words everyone, it’s taken a long time so I’m glad!



To answer your questions;



Brandito - I made it all except for the main concept of the header, which I got from a design contest ran on another forum - cost me about $50



Zyles - I like to keep the root folder clear for various reasons - running ads etc. It’s more habit than anything now though, I may move to the root in the future. I’m running 1.3.3 so no seo urls.



Thanks again

Simon

the mutts nutts mate :cool:

[quote name=‘recedo’]Zyles - I like to keep the root folder clear for various reasons - running ads etc. It’s more habit than anything now though, I may move to the root in the future. I’m running 1.3.3 so no seo urls.[/QUOTE]



What do you mean running ads? It can’t be done if you have the cart installed in root?



You should upgrade, as you’re missing out big time on sales and search engine traffic. But maybe you don’t need that. :wink:

[quote name=‘Zyles’]What do you mean running ads? It can’t be done if you have the cart installed in root?



You should upgrade, as you’re missing out big time on sales and search engine traffic. But maybe you don’t need that. ;)[/quote]



Its a long story, it was the only way I could do it with the last cart I had - I was running landing page type adverts. Also the cart had no function to close the store so I used that. Like I said, its habit really. Plus I was developing this on the server while the other store was still live.



Upgrade is not an option at the moment. Due to the heavy modifications I don’t have the time or money to do the upgrade. I get most of my traffic from magazine adverts, direct linking from the bands who are selling and google ads. Also, if I leave it a few months we’ll have more users to see that we are adding new features etc… Marketing!



Simon

Very nice system!! I have had serveral people ask me about a system like this but it seems you nailed it on the head with this one.



I really can’t find anything that i would change, Its easy to use, it seems i can read and understand everything.



I give it 2 thumbs up!! Good job and great work!

Hi recedo



Excellent job recedo, clean, clear, pleasant, informative, " Nice" :stuck_out_tongue:

[quote name=‘bossman’]Very nice system!! I have had serveral people ask me about a system like this but it seems you nailed it on the head with this one.



I really can’t find anything that i would change, Its easy to use, it seems i can read and understand everything.



I give it 2 thumbs up!! Good job and great work![/quote]



Thanks, you’ve got some great sites done with CS so to hear this from you is fantastic… Makes me want to cry… haha.



Thanks Zardos too.



I don’t think I’ve ever made a post like this without having a huge list of improvements from people… I must be getting better!



Thanks again

Simon

Im going to jump on the bandwagon and say I love it …



Really great peace of work, there is however one thing I would experiment with. Personally im a big fan of fixed width sites, all mine are anyway… however your site looks like it could do with “breaking out of the box” and being completely “liquid” as they say…



Did you try it as 100% width ???



Other than that, its good to see effort put in, Im still trying to find a few spare months :stuck_out_tongue: to redesign my site from the standard CS theme and will get there in the end, its more of a time issue than anything else

Hi,



To be honest I have not tried the layout at 100% - it does tend to get a bit overcrowded. I’m not really sure why but I always go for fixed width.



I might give it a try but the only problem is that the header is obviously designed for a fix width and I think it’d need a complete re-design to look good at full width.



You have also inspired me to try shaving a few pixels off the right and left hand columns to gain a bit for the middle where it can be quite crowded.



Hmmm…



Thanks for the comment.

Simon

As I say, all my sites are fixed width, personal preference I suppose.



Had a good look around your site las night, very very impressive, lets hope it makes you your millions :wink: You have obviously put some serious thought into the system, which is what will set it apart from any competition…



I agree, there is definatly a litte room on the left / right columns for adjustment maybe just that slight adjustment will make it perfect !



Overall, a definitive 10/10 from me !

Yes, a lot of thought has gone into how the system works - and a lot of money too! As you can see from the homepage, this is V3!



The last version had several applications working together, a shopping cart, a heavily modded affiliate system (to pay commissions), an uploader, and a form processor… So obviously there was a lot of ‘manual’ work for me to transfer info from emails, move files etc. This CS version has a lot more automated. There is more that could be done but by budget is pretty low at the moment, but I’m sure more improvements will be added later.



I’ll see if I can claim a bit of extra space in there somewhere!



Simon

Wow Simon that is a top site! Congratulations…I’m going back to have another look and listen. I’ll pass the site on to my son and nephew :).

Nice one. There are quite a few free tracks on there, please feel free to download them. Got 5 new albums to add today too which is good news - artists are required to provide 2 free downloads per album as per their contract.



Thanks for looking

Simon

Great site – love the look/feel.



Couple questions about the functionality – are any of your customizations available? I’m looking to do some of the same things you’ve accomplished but in a different market. So any advice or suggestions you can give would be greatly appreciated.

tried to check it but was down… my internet screwing up or general or maybe the site donw?



thnx

chahine