The ups and downs of change.

Lately much of my time has been devoted to putting the final touches to our new online store. It's been a VERY long process, and as ussual, nothing went as planned.

Of course I have a great group of guys around me, which has allowed me to spend much of my time hammering out the final details, and putting out fires. Thanks guys (and gals).

It's hard to believe that this project has taken over 2 years, and still isn't 100% perfect. I'm a firm believer that keeping things "simple" is often what makes design "hard". I can't tell you how many times I would suggest a change that I assumed was a simple thing to implement, only to find out later that it would take several weeks of programming. Like I said, nothing is easy, and if it was, something isn't right.

When I started The Helmet Harbor it was just me and Microsoft Frontpage. What you saw online, was designed by me. No fancy software, no programmers, no one helping. While I thought we had a great selection of product, it was very slow to use. I also noticed that other online companies were getting away from the basics, and using more customized software. This really didn't bother me, since I thought my design was simplier to use. Less fancy bells & whisles, but to me, they did nothing to help the customers make a sound purchase. I'm very attached to simple design, and my customers agreed.

While I'm on the subject of fancy websites, what's the deal with all the Flash sites I'm seeing out there? I never really "got it", and don't really understand why it's used. Don't get me wrong, I think there is a place for Flash animations on a website. But PLEASE, right down to the navigation buttons? On some sites they literally make me dizzy.

In 2005 the industry had grown, and quality manufactures were popping up all over the place. There was no way I could keep up, so I decided a change was needed to how we designed and used our site.

I sat down with some programmers and told them what I wanted. My list of needs was simple.

1. It had to be easy to use.
2. Allow us to continue to add unlimited information for each product.

Sounds simple right? Well, I found out real quick that there's more to it than just a simple need list.

The process has been very difficult, but I think we have managed to keep our "down to earth feel", while still providing a HUGE amount of information. I'm proud of that, and have a new found respect for those involved. We still have a ways to go, and I don't really think it will ever end completely, but the journey has been interesting.