tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30362629996443146222009-06-07T03:50:26.152-07:00Random Ramblings from the Tiny QueenTiny Queenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13437846360353108402noreply@blogger.comBlogger29125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3036262999644314622.post-54662708070382210742009-05-27T20:00:00.000-07:002009-05-27T20:48:07.489-07:00

This morning I was working on a small project to modify the layout of the attributes on a product page template, and it occurred to me that others might find this little trick about writing conditionals where you need to match a multitude of variables useful.In this particular project, I needed conditionals for two purposes: one in one location of the template to check to see if the attribute

Tiny Queenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13437846360353108402noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3036262999644314622.post-70219583266144747562009-03-21T09:13:00.000-07:002009-03-21T12:07:42.991-07:00

I know, I know, pretty much every web designer out there has published a list of helpful tools they just couldn't live without. And there are some great lists out there -- I can easily waste an entire day just browsing from list to list and looking at all the nifty applications that can help make a web designer's job just that little bit easier.But I have a few handy little apps of my own that

Tiny Queenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13437846360353108402noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3036262999644314622.post-89912563337303304442009-02-26T12:04:00.000-08:002009-02-26T14:11:04.166-08:00

Recently there's been lots of buzz on the Miva Merchant User Support Forum about moving the account creation process to the end of the checkout. There are a number of good reasons for doing this. First, you eliminate one of the checkout screens, and streamline the checkout process. Second, and more importantly, you eliminate a decision from the checkout process.There's a great usability book

Tiny Queenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13437846360353108402noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3036262999644314622.post-80951115761000578112008-11-23T21:23:00.000-08:002008-11-26T19:54:14.100-08:00

I stumbled across a laundry list of "Popular Web Design Links" over the weekend, and I've been having quite a spiffin' time poking around other peoples' blogs and forums, and reading posts and their related comments. I came across some interesting tidbits, had a few "aha" moments, and a little bit of just good old-fashioned validation of my own best practices when it comes to web design.I have to

Tiny Queenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13437846360353108402noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3036262999644314622.post-15228301605665139862008-11-09T09:17:00.000-08:002008-11-09T11:11:02.768-08:00

When Miva Merchant released MM5, they revolutionized the way the software worked "out of the box" and opened a whole new world of customization to ecommerce store owners. Using Store Morph Technology (SMT), store owners could completely and...well, I was going to say easily customize their stores to suit their needs, but the truth is that at first glance, SMT isn't in fact all that easy.One of

Tiny Queenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13437846360353108402noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3036262999644314622.post-9460326611862043972008-10-29T19:36:00.000-07:002009-03-01T22:11:02.143-08:00

One of the handiest features of Miva Merchant 5+ is the inclusion of built in custom product fields. These fields can be used for an enormous variety of purposes, from adding product specific data (author, manufacturer, dimensions, materials, etc) to acting as a boolean-style test variable for setting up conditional displays of information.Unfortunately, custom product fields are not quite as

Tiny Queenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13437846360353108402noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3036262999644314622.post-79248890684589005952008-10-13T21:23:00.001-07:002008-10-13T22:00:26.101-07:00

On Friday, I got the sort of email every web developer dreads. The subject line..."BIG Problem"...said it all. The fact that I had spent that morning doing some updates on the site didn't help my sinking feeling. My first thought, naturally, was that I had overlooked some major layout issue, and the site had gone haywire. In this case, though, it was something far more serious.It turned out

Tiny Queenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13437846360353108402noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3036262999644314622.post-14355499726367923052008-09-13T19:07:00.000-07:002009-02-26T14:18:34.411-08:00

I've been working on a project for a new franchising opportunity. It's a rather graphics-heavy design, and anyone who knows me will tell you how I feel about working with graphics -- it usually involves more than one four-letter word.In this particular instance, the site owner wanted a horizontal navigation system, with an extended tab on the currently active page. Easy enough to do, except

Tiny Queenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13437846360353108402noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3036262999644314622.post-1189098241731850192008-07-22T20:37:00.000-07:002008-09-13T16:37:47.237-07:00

I have received numerous requests for some code I wrote to password protect a product page in Miva Merchant 5 (or 5.5), so I thought I'd share it here. This code was originally written for a site that wanted to implement custom product pricing using the Emporium Plus External Product Purchase module, but wanted to ensure that only staff members could access the page.Note: This code requires the

Tiny Queenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13437846360353108402noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3036262999644314622.post-50483144793729741652008-07-02T21:26:00.000-07:002008-07-22T21:33:33.497-07:00

Ok, ok, I know there isn't really such a thing as Happy Mid-Year. But one of my New Year's Resolutions for this year was to post regularly to my blog. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to see that didn't exactly happen. So I figured rather than beat myself up over it, I'd declare a new Mid-Year Resolution.In honor of Happy Mid-Year, I'd like to express some thoughts on the new Miva Merchant

Tiny Queenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13437846360353108402noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3036262999644314622.post-85981354348307305952008-02-07T22:08:00.000-08:002008-02-08T07:58:48.564-08:00

Time was when photographs were what they were. Poorly cropped, bad lighting, the dreaded red-eye...sure, you could pay an expert to sit down with some pencil crayons and painstakingly color in the details you wanted, but most of the time it was easier to take a new photo.Today, though, things are different. There's a plethora of photo editing packages out there, from expensive to free, all of

Tiny Queenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13437846360353108402noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3036262999644314622.post-53747558770017055522008-01-18T19:13:00.000-08:002008-01-18T19:23:37.394-08:00

The passive voice has taken a beating (and then some!) over the last several years for its lack of ownership, passion and drive. Lately, however, usability guru Jakob Nielsen has encouraged passive voice to rise from the ashes and take its proper place in web site copy.Ok, maybe that's an overstatement -- nevertheless, Mr. Nielsen has some interesting points to make about the potential efficacy

Tiny Queenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13437846360353108402noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3036262999644314622.post-77419515312989557792008-01-07T11:04:00.000-08:002008-01-07T11:38:42.079-08:00

I've been working on a database and scripting project for one of my clients over the last couple of days, and it got me to thinking about some of the lessons I've learned in my years as a website designer, and one of the most important ones in particular.I've put several hours into this project so far, but I've yet to fire up my computer. Like any well-executed database project, this one is

Tiny Queenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13437846360353108402noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3036262999644314622.post-58339890223200706412008-01-02T04:58:00.000-08:002008-01-02T05:23:06.578-08:00

What a busy year it was for Tiny Queen Designs! December saw the launching of several projects, including PBDN Motorsports. There are still thousands (gulp!) of products to add, but the online Miva Merchant store is fully functional and open for business! If you don't find what you're looking for, a quick email to the customer service team will likely turn it up.With the beginning of a new

Tiny Queenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13437846360353108402noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3036262999644314622.post-31663367358002288692007-11-13T21:21:00.000-08:002007-11-13T21:39:59.781-08:00

I know, I know...it's way too early to be thinking about the holidays. However, if you have a web site, particularly an ecommerce web site, it's in no way too soon to be thinking about gearing up for the largest shopping season of the year.One of the best things you can do to help your company compete on the web is to be informed about the hows and whys and ways your shoppers think, act and

Tiny Queenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13437846360353108402noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3036262999644314622.post-69703844903672116312007-11-06T22:12:00.000-08:002007-11-06T22:22:29.777-08:00

Wow! October was an incredibly busy month at Tiny Queen Designs, and I'm looking forward to things slowing down a wee bit as we get ready for the busy holiday season. One of several projects that kept things hopping around here was the conversion of the DrapeStyle.com website from Miva Merchant 4 to Miva Merchant 5. I assisted with template customization, module installation, custom features

Tiny Queenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13437846360353108402noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3036262999644314622.post-1747568077290708112007-10-08T22:35:00.002-07:002007-10-08T23:05:08.738-07:00

One of the biggest challenges in web design can be finding just the right colors for a site. So I thought I'd share some of my favorite color tools to help you put together your next design.1. Slayer Office Tools This handy little tool allows you to put in a base color and get blended versions of the base color. The default blend colors are black and white, but these can be changed to suit

Tiny Queenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13437846360353108402noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3036262999644314622.post-66068087709184865062007-09-30T14:40:00.000-07:002007-09-30T14:43:23.709-07:00

I am a big fan of open source software, and there is an amazing variety of tools available now for free on the web. I recently came across this great list of free open source software that I thought I'd share. Enjoy!

Tiny Queenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13437846360353108402noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3036262999644314622.post-82273059157275307842007-09-20T22:50:00.000-07:002007-09-20T23:17:01.500-07:00

We (hopefully!) all know by now to be careful what we post on the internet -- after all, depending on the location and the nature of the post, your words may be extremely permanent. Nevertheless, many people also use the internet to share pictures of friends and family, fun vacations, or...even the local church car wash.A Dallas family is suing Australia's Virgin Mobile company for using a photo

Tiny Queenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13437846360353108402noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3036262999644314622.post-69927104960996033792007-09-18T21:11:00.000-07:002007-09-18T21:21:01.644-07:00

I always caution my clients to carefully read the fine print of their web hosting account, and highly recommend that all new clients sign up for a hosting account through Hostasaurus, because I trust them to treat people right.Unfortunately, not all hosts are as respectful of client ownership of their own data. This week, Pamela Hazelton of DesignExtend posted a nightmare story of an ecommerce

Tiny Queenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13437846360353108402noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3036262999644314622.post-66389275257601537202007-09-10T14:43:00.000-07:002007-09-10T15:04:30.775-07:00

I am often contacted asking for recommendations of resources for learning to build websites, and the first place I usually send people is htmldog.com There are tutorials on the site for the beginner and the advanced user alike, all of which are carefully thought out and based on best practices in web design. I occasionally breeze through there looking for a new perspective on how to accomplish a

Tiny Queenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13437846360353108402noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3036262999644314622.post-6742266212613841392007-09-05T07:55:00.000-07:002007-09-05T08:21:09.494-07:00

Musings From the Throne is honored to have been chosen as the Virtual Assistant Networking Association's Blog of the Week. If you're looking for someone to assist with startup business processes, Internet marketing, bookkeeping, office systems, optimizing your workflow, spreadsheeets and database maintenance, or just about anything else you can think of related to running a successful business,

Tiny Queenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13437846360353108402noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3036262999644314622.post-18325009144635327092007-08-27T08:29:00.000-07:002007-08-27T21:42:25.335-07:00

We all know what it's like to go shopping for a new pair of jeans, find a pair that looks great when we stand straight on in front of the mirror, but when we crane our necks around to take a look at the back, we realize there is no way in the world we would ever want to go out in public with our butt looking like that. If you haven't looked at your website from multiple angles, you might be

Tiny Queenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13437846360353108402noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3036262999644314622.post-83287414311853867402007-08-20T23:50:00.000-07:002007-08-21T00:07:34.135-07:00

As ecommerce grows as an industry, it becomes more and more imperative that online merchants understand and protect themselves from online fraud. There's plenty of focus in the media about risks to consumers as far as giving up their credit card information online is concerned. But few publications concern themselves with the losses experienced by merchants who take their sales to the Internet.If

Tiny Queenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13437846360353108402noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3036262999644314622.post-90196658417420571372007-08-16T22:26:00.000-07:002007-08-16T22:41:32.583-07:00

Well, as much fun as my vacation was, my return from vacation has not been so grand. A broken hinge on my laptop prompted me to try to move my files to a new computer, and the move has not exactly gone smoothly. Which brings me to the subject of today's post...Although I'm having trouble getting some of my software to function properly on the new machine, I am comforted by the knowledge that I

Tiny Queenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13437846360353108402noreply@blogger.com1