07
Jan
2008
Always one broken wheel
There are hundreds and thousands of them on the web now. Some of us use them on almost a daily basis, but shopping carts can still be their own special version of hell!
We built and launched a new site for Alltrails bicycle tours last year (You might have seen them on TV over the holiday break), and the new site included a shopping cart to allow visitors to book rides online. Unfortunately it just wasn't working...
Browser issues
My original plan was to embed the shopping cart within the main website to give that nice seamless shopping experience. Unfortunately it didn't work that way. Internet explorer (IE) is so riddled with security holes, clumsily patched by its owners, that it frequently just blocks functionality that should work, and does on every other browser out there. In this case the cart was working at one stage of development, and then an automatic update of the shopping cart or IE killed the lot. 85% of the market alienated just like that!
Keeping it simple Ma'am
When you're working intimately on a project (and you're an IT professional) you don't always realise how complex your work is for everyone else out there. We ended up revisiting some of our processes and also sticking in a lot more explanatory text before it began to feel like it was user friendly enough. Making sure expression was consistent, and that the conditions and explanations matched the reality of the order process was important too.Collaboration
Alltrails had a very busy year last year, organising new rides and managing their existing tours all at once. That made it harder than usual to keep in touch with them. And that was our fundamental source of friction. Clients don't always realise the work required to learn and understand all about their business while still dealing with all the technical details that are our business. Ultimately it took sitting down and spending the required time together to pinpoint the areas that needed fixing. Once we had had that clarity it really didn't take much time. Before that both sides felt like they were floundering!It took a bit longer than we liked, but we think we have the problem cracked now. What do you think?
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