Image on top of all pages below header

[SEMFUSION]

Hello. I have been posting like a mad man regarding design so please excuse another on. My cart is almost complete but I would like an image below the header on all pages. I have it on my home page here www.mirrors4home.co.uk but I would like it on every page. HOw is this done?

[fairestcape]

You could use a banner...

One thing though...

In my experience, sites that are "Header" and "Banner" top-heavy can really irritate customers, because all these headers take up the screen - and in order to get to the products, customers have to SCROLL DOWN on every page!

Highly successful online retailers - of the really famous brands (tesco, amazon, comet, currys...) keep their header logos and banners VERY SMALL.

This means they remove that irritating step (scrolling down) and put the products (the most important stuff) in front of the customers.

Before you plaster your (very nice) site with egotistical logos, think of how you can make it easier for your customers...

[SEMFUSION]

Its a good point and I understand completely. Unfortunately I am only the person who has been given the job to do it and not make the decisions. The other thing is that the way Zen Cart displays the products you have to scroll down to see them anyway. As you can see I managed to put the image in the index page but I need it on all the pages. Its the same welsome image being used over and over again. So this can be a banner located at the top of the page. Never thought of that.

[fairestcape]

The other thing is that the way Zen Cart displays the products you have to scroll down to see them anyway...

Not necessarily true - you can display the products in rows or columns - in fact in a variety of way limited only by the imagination and the constraints of css.

A site we manage shows that even with a rows layout, a small header enables more product info to be displayed.

The observations (about minimising "work" for your online visitors) is not mine. Years of research from organisations like Forrester show what websites need to do to attract, retain and transact with customers.

Very often, owners of websites get mental ############s when they see their logo - and the bigger it is the bigger the ############.

Clever retailers, however, get their biggest ############ from the continuously ringing cash register - they know that customers are there to find PRODUCT... not logos.

[SEMFUSION]

Thanks for that.

I have a thread open at the moment regarding the Column Layout Grid here http://www.zen-cart.com/forum/showthread.php?t=117938

I just cant get the thibng to work. Maybe if I can show the man in charge the difference I could get him to just leave the banner on the home page because I do agree with you buddy.

[fairestcape]

I haven't read your thread, but Did you install the column grid module?
(See free add-ons section).
Did you then activate it in the admin section?

I too have clients who are on big ego trips and don't see the logic of effective e-commerce.

I tell them to look at the websites of the big online retailers. ALL of these guys have a Boot-In-The-Face policy when it comes to product info. That is the ONLY reason why customers are there - to see the products.

Additionally, if it takes a customer 3 mouse clicks to get to product info on your site - and just 2 mouse clicks on your competitor's site, your competitor is already 33% MORE EFFICIENT than you are.

Unlike bricks-and-mortar shops - where it's often a big mission to travel to competitive outlets, so people just spend where they go first - on the web it's different...

I tell my clients to click their mouse button - just to see how quick, easy and insignificant this simple action is...

... yet it is all an online customer needs to do to leave your shop to get to the competition!

[SEMFUSION]

Thats a great way of explaining it. I will pass this on to the main man. Maybe it will make him think.

I got the Column Layout Grid working, (with help from gjh42). I had the "product_layout.php" in the wrong folder.

The website is coming on a treat. Not bad for 4 days work and a complete newbie to Zen Cart.

(Oh and a lot of forum help too. lol)

Great community though. A++++++