View Full Version : Sunday 15th March Downtime planned
Graeme*Kustom*
13-03-2009, 13:04
Online ordering will not be available on Sunday evening for some time - hopefully no more than a couple of hours.
Our forums were already succesfully moved to our new server last week, so succesfully in fact that I don't think anyone noticed - and the catalogue part of the website will also be making a move shortly too. DNS will usually update quickly but the 'old' server will continue working in the meantime to catch visitors whose ISP have not caught up yet.
Slightly more exciting though is that we have a shiny new look to our website too - best to have everything change in one big swoop than have disruption multiple times !
Ohh, a new website?
Some may remember our 'design the next Kustom logo' competition and despite a few previous delays, you'll finally be able to see that put into use. Goodbye beige and goodbye rainbow, you have served us well.
Most importantly though, the new website keeps the bits that people liked about the old one - quick and easy to get around with plenty of info on products, and then improves some bits that were not so good - the search pages are a lot better now, stock indicators display on non-javascript enabled browsers and the product extended information pages have had a big overhaul to show more information without having to scroll so much.
There's just a few other tweaks that make browsing or ordering some items easier, but also with the new cart software we've got a lot more scope to build in refinable search results and compatability guides between products. That will be rolled out over time, but for the moment all my time has been spent 'making it like the old one, but just a little bit better.' That's progress for you.
Did I mention that there's added 'shiny' too? Extensive researched confirmed that people prefer websites with added shine. It works for Apple.
If you don't like surprises, you can have a look at the style of the site in this squashed picture - http://forums.kustompcs.co.uk/album.php?albumid=35&pictureid=327
saltynay
13-03-2009, 15:07
Looks good, lovely clean and modern :)
BloomerzUK
13-03-2009, 15:47
Looking nice G-Man.. Hope it all goes okay..
Edit: Now I know what one it is :).
Now that is one might fine style you've got there, I bet you feel quite rightly pleased with yourself!
Looks very nice, looking forward too seeing the finished item up and running.
Although, I have to say, I am going to miss the old kustom logo. I much prefer it..... :(
ooo s****y .....
edit...ok now I think the filters working abit overtime there :(
it should be sw an ky but without the spaces
Graeme*Kustom*
13-03-2009, 20:51
Looks very nice, looking forward too seeing the finished item up and running.
Although, I have to say, I am going to miss the old kustom logo. I much prefer it..... :(
I know where you're coming from. It's quite distinct... *but* it's been for a while that the logo and colour scheme have been a common criticism from people about our store. And while the most part I've defended it, I feel it's important for us to look modern and professional.
While it's great that we have a loyal customer base already, a lot of new (potential) customers arrive directly on pages linked through search engines and it's important they get a 'feel good' impression straight away.
It's fair to say as well that as a company things have changed a lot as well - focusing now on being something more like a 'B+Q' for the PC enthusiast, we sell the bits needed to build a PC, personalise it, tidy the cabling, keep it cool... and then when you're done with that one, you take the old bits and turn them into a media centre, and so on. It's a store for the enthusiast who wants to mess about with the inside of their computer, and who don't want to buy one that someone else made.
So it's really about time that kustom shouts that out, it's moved on. It fits for me as well - 2008/9 was not the easiest period... with the dissolution of the previous partnership and ensuing disruption, and then the on-going economic downturn (I refuse to say credit crunch) I want to emphasise that kustom is surviving and will continue to offer lots of shiny toys to it's eager customer base.
Then again, cynics of the world may say a fresh look is just a futile attempt at flogging a dead horse, but meh, you can't please everyone :)
This always happens. I go to write a 2 sentence reply and then whoooooosh, I just get carried away.
Then again, cynics of the world may say a fresh look is just a futile attempt at flogging a dead horse, but meh, you can't please everyone :)
I'm doing my site too and its not down to the economy, it's down to the fact my site is old and I want to give a polish and bring it more in keeping with my current work style etc.
It's also a way for me to push my web design skills as thats an area where I am weak, it's not what I'm trained in after all.
Don't worry about the cynics, if you felt like a change then make the changes :)
Graeme*Kustom*
13-03-2009, 21:51
I'm not worried, I was just being flippant rather than showing deep concern. :)
razer121
14-03-2009, 17:53
i think it looks sweet although i do like it the way it is now, but still moderness has caught up i guess, you should open a store in the oxfordshire area :)
Cosmo_1847
14-03-2009, 18:50
Yay!1!!!!
One more secret I don't have to keep anymore :)
Graeme*Kustom*
14-03-2009, 19:56
you should open a store in the oxfordshire area :)
eeek, how much £ though ? :)
The idea of a chain of Kustom stores would be wonderful, but aside the viability of it, I don't really have the money behind me for anything like that. And word on the street is that banks are not being too generous at the moment with handing out loans.
I do have a goal of having a getting a second complimentary store opened in the future, as I realise Ayr is not really the greatest retail hub in the world, but my hope is that for to be in Glasgow.
If that worked, maybe there would be scope for another in England, but we're talking really long term here, and of course by then this whole market could be completely different.
Again.
If you told me 5 years ago that kustom would not be selling built computers I would have laughed the idea off as ridiculous.
jacobzcoool
15-03-2009, 01:09
Hmm, nice.
I would volunteer to run one in England but I doubt I could properly :(
brumster
15-03-2009, 07:28
If I win the lottery I'll happily run one in Brum for you ;)
Love the new look and feel - much more 'professional and clean', I think you've done the right thing. Logo too.
Graeme*Kustom*
15-03-2009, 22:58
A few setbacks... the server move has not happened tonight.
The new site is - mostly - uploading on to the old server just now. It's going to take a few hours so I'm off for some sleep and I'll set an early alarm to finish tidying things up in the morning.
Graeme*Kustom*
16-03-2009, 08:27
Getting there... there's still going to be some glitches but it will be all resolved through the course of today.
saltynay
16-03-2009, 09:42
Looks nice great that for this shorttime we get to see the contrast between old (forums) and new (store) in styles.
YUK!
The new site is terrible when you have "Ignore Font Sizes" ticked on my browser (IE7), it is almost unreadable with text running over itself.
The old site and the forums here never did that.
Here is a link to a screenshot.
http://www.tami-d.co.uk/stuff/KPCS.bmp
och that doesn't look to good it has been a bit funny this morning but to be expected i guess
Graeme*Kustom*
16-03-2009, 10:10
There's a lot of stuff still to fix to be honest.
Going as fast as I can.
I like the new design but you might want to change this message:
Welcome to Kustom ! Our new website is still uploading just now so checkout is not quite working but will be up and running during the course of this morning (Mon 16th March). Please bare with us!
Bare what exactly? :eek:
That bare means get naked. You want bear with us. :D
Graeme*Kustom*
16-03-2009, 10:26
Yeh, I already updated that a few minutes ago to say that it should be running correctly around noon.
My brain is facing some spelling shortcomings, it's rather starved of sleep at the moment.
I hope it all goes well, that typo brightened my Monday morning :D
razer121
16-03-2009, 12:45
when i go here...
http://www.kustompcs.co.uk/acatalog/Kustom_PCs_Shop_Quiet_Fans_72.html
i get alot of the text going over itself, it only seems to happen with the titles, but on a side note the new site is looking pretty darn cool :)
Beatdown
16-03-2009, 13:14
positive comment No. 4:
I LIke it :D
Graeme*Kustom*
16-03-2009, 13:27
when i go here...
http://www.kustompcs.co.uk/acatalog/Kustom_PCs_Shop_Quiet_Fans_72.html
i get alot of the text going over itself, it only seems to happen with the titles, but on a side note the new site is looking pretty darn cool :)
Thanks, yep that will be an easy fix and I'll sort that asap.
It's been one hell of a morning.
See, it was all set up to be going to a new server, but that arrangement fell through so I felt best to upload to the old server since I'd already disabled ordering on the old site anyway.
'Should just take a couple of hours' I thought.
But I screwed up somewhere, and a whole bunch of settings were lost and the checkout did not work. So thankfully that's working now and the whole site is being refreshed.
Admittedly though there's still a whole bunch of stuff to be fixed - I've been working at this round the clock lately but just ran out of time, and had pushed myself that it had to get running this weekend.
One of the main reasons for that is that I've got loads of new products here but over the past month while I've been convering stuff into the 'new' site I didn't want to have add everything twice since it's all laid out in different formats.
So I guess it was a case of bite the bullet now, or it's just going to take forever.
Graeme*Kustom*
16-03-2009, 13:29
YUK!
The new site is terrible when you have "Ignore Font Sizes" ticked on my browser (IE7), it is almost unreadable with text running over itself.
The old site and the forums here never did that.
If you need the fonts bigger, use Ctrl and + as that scales everything up in proportion. Quite a lot of sites get broken when using ignore font sizes.
Admittedly, yes, that worked better when it was all tables.
I did make sure thought that the general layout scales ok using the zoom functions in current browsers.
Actually I have no problems with 95% of the sites I go to with "Ignore font sizes".
I just tried the ctrl + and it does work (when I make the fonts smallest first) however a few bits of text still overun each other and I have to close the browser to reset back to normal for all the other sites that the ctrl + does not work in.
The ctrl + also screws up the text spacing enough to make it hard to read and also make the page scroll wide. Not worth it TBH.
I guess I will have to just live with it.
Been having a look around the new version. I know it's still a work in progress, very clean and professional looking tho!
Just a couple of thoughts:
The front page at present is very bare, I'm sure that will sort itself out :)
The grey for the menu buttons is fine when it's the darker grey. The sub menu mid grey is still almost legible. The sub-sub menu pale grey buttons are nigh on illegible to me. There just isn't enough contrast between the text and the buttons.
Other than those minor niggles I really like what you've done with the place. Looking forward to the new forum skin to match! *Runs and hides before Graeme gets out the baseball bat*
Graeme*Kustom*
16-03-2009, 15:49
Tami : I'll check into it further. Need to consider all priorities and my to do list is massive just now but I'll see what I can figure out on this. I had not considered (nor used) this option before but I'll find out if there's any reasonable changes I can make to accomodate it.
Glod : A slightly more updated front page is going to be up shortly but even then it will be a bit of a temporary one. Spent so long last night sorting server settings that I didn't get this made at the time, but I've knocked together a slightly less empty one now. It will be improved upon shortly.
I'll be able to tweak the menu colours too.
[GPO]Solitaire
16-03-2009, 16:02
Another small bug (not too important) but the link to the forum is not working.
It's pointing to:
http://www.kustompcs.co.uk/acatalog/http://forums.kustompcs.co.uk
Other than that.. Love the new look! :D
nicky munchkin
16-03-2009, 16:53
Quantity currently in stock = killer
When will the forums get the same makeover?
jacobzcoool
16-03-2009, 17:26
About the font size thing, hmm, fonts are specified in em, so it must be IE's fault :p
New site looks very nice, as nicky said, the 'quantity in stock' is nice.
Thank you very much Graeme!
Jacob, it is not the browsers fault, I am visually impaired (wonky eyes) and I need to use larger type. Some web page software will not let the boxes expand to allow the larger type in default I am told by people that "Do" coding. I am a hardware and electronics geek and I consider software magic.
When you get past 50 you will begin to SEE what I mean lol!
I like the way the new site works and it does look more professional and the stock counter is great!
but as stated before currently the home page is abit bear (I'm sure you will sort this soon)
my only other concern is the colour scheme - it seems a bit "cold" for want of a better word. The old site had a hint of warmth that was quite welcoming and worked well with the vibrant colours of the modding gear.
The logo also seems a bit flat tbh - no offence to the creator
BloomerzUK
17-03-2009, 11:20
Loooking nice so far.
My only gripe is the '+', they look like the Windows Default ones, and are bit tacky.
But otherwise, it's looking fantastic.
razer121
17-03-2009, 13:40
i do like the colours but i also agree with Nitrix, it does seem cold and the old one is more welcoming but i think thats more down to the fact im usd to it, noticed the fan page has been sorted :)
Graeme*Kustom*
17-03-2009, 19:39
I think it will make a difference once there's a banner ad back on as well.
At the moment I've been putting time into fixing product pages - the cases were already sorted out, got power supplies done last night and today.
These are looking a lot cleaner now and I'm adding new stats - for instance including lengths of the ATX cable for power supplies (commonly asked question). I'll be going the graphics cards tomorrow.
I like it.
Will the forums be getting a makeover to match? :)
Nice new look but the banner needs to be bigger i think. So, no Kustom PCs or is Kustom the new logo? (Would rather kaustom PCs) Needs more colour too as it looks rather bland.
just found a small issue on
http://www.kustompcs.co.uk/acatalog/info_4354.html
theres 2 pictures with one on top of the other here at the top (same in ie7 and ff3)
Great new site, Graeme. Congratuations, well done on your undoubted hard work to get it online.
I love the use of the new logo as the stock indicator. Nice to see the SugarCopter section too :)
no Kustom PCs or is Kustom the new logo?
I've seen Graeme explain (somewhere) the minor rebranding is based on the fact Kustom don't sell fully built PCs anymore.
Like the update G - makes the store look much more 'modern' and current. Some nice touches, stock indicator etc.
Can't say I'm a fan of the best seller list down the left hand side on every page - great on the home page, but on every page?
Anyway, like I said, nice design!
DarkEntity
18-03-2009, 23:01
site looks great, this is the 3rd or 4th incarnation ive seen on here now and they keep getting better :)
i did however find a minor niggle...
http://www.kustompcs.co.uk/acatalog/info_6758.html the images are under teh txt etc...just a small thing :)
Beatdown
19-03-2009, 11:09
ah the complications of css across browsers....
Graeme*Kustom*
19-03-2009, 11:11
site looks great, this is the 3rd or 4th incarnation ive seen on here now and they keep getting better :)
i did however find a minor niggle...
http://www.kustompcs.co.uk/acatalog/info_6758.html the images are under teh txt etc...just a small thing :)
There's a lot of pages like that. It's because a lot of the product spec pages of old had a fixed table width in them, which makes it jump out of the div and into the image area.
Cases are all done, and I'm a good bit of the way through Components, and will get through the Peripherals section afterwards.
BloomerzUK
23-03-2009, 16:15
and another thing, the login button in the top right is really small, and it's doesn't specify what it is. Just an arrow. Maybe there needs to be a title/caption for it maybe?
mattierara
04-04-2009, 23:17
looks lovely.
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