tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3036262999644314622Sun, 10 Aug 2008 16:19:34 +0000http://www.tinyqueen.com/blog/noreply@blogger.com (Tiny Queen)Blogger21125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3036262999644314622.post-118909824173185019Wed, 23 Jul 2008 03:37:00 +00002008-07-22T22:37:55.975-07:00I 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 http://www.tinyqueen.com/blog/2008/07/restrict-access-to-product-page-in-miva.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Tiny Queen)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3036262999644314622.post-5048314479372974165Thu, 03 Jul 2008 04:26:00 +00002008-07-22T21:33:33.497-07:00Ok, 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 Merchanthttp://www.tinyqueen.com/blog/2008/07/happy-mid-year.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Tiny Queen)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3036262999644314622.post-8598135434830730595Fri, 08 Feb 2008 06:08:00 +00002008-02-08T07:58:48.564-08:00Time 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 ofhttp://www.tinyqueen.com/blog/2008/02/picture-is-what-you-make-of-it.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Tiny Queen)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3036262999644314622.post-5374755877001705552Sat, 19 Jan 2008 03:13:00 +00002008-01-18T19:23:37.394-08:00The 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 http://www.tinyqueen.com/blog/2008/01/how-catchy-are-your-headlines.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Tiny Queen)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3036262999644314622.post-7741951531298955779Mon, 07 Jan 2008 19:04:00 +00002008-01-07T11:38:42.079-08:00 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 http://www.tinyqueen.com/blog/2008/01/1-mistake-when-building-website.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Tiny Queen)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3036262999644314622.post-5833989022320070641Wed, 02 Jan 2008 12:58:00 +00002008-01-02T05:23:06.578-08:00 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 http://www.tinyqueen.com/blog/2008/01/new-year-new-website.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Tiny Queen)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3036262999644314622.post-3166336735800228869Wed, 14 Nov 2007 05:21:00 +00002007-11-13T21:39:59.781-08:00 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 http://www.tinyqueen.com/blog/2007/11/read-your-way-to-better-website.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Tiny Queen)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3036262999644314622.post-6970384490367211631Wed, 07 Nov 2007 06:12:00 +00002007-11-06T22:22:29.777-08:00 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 http://www.tinyqueen.com/blog/2007/11/wow-october-was-incredibly-busy-month.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Tiny Queen)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3036262999644314622.post-174756807729070811Tue, 09 Oct 2007 05:35:00 +00002007-10-08T23:05:08.738-07:00 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 http://www.tinyqueen.com/blog/2007/10/whats-in-color.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Tiny Queen)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3036262999644314622.post-6606808770918486506Sun, 30 Sep 2007 21:40:00 +00002007-09-30T14:43:23.709-07:00I 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!http://www.tinyqueen.com/blog/2007/09/nifty-stuff-for-free.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Tiny Queen)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3036262999644314622.post-8227305915727530784Fri, 21 Sep 2007 05:50:00 +00002007-09-20T23:17:01.500-07:00We (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 http://www.tinyqueen.com/blog/2007/09/internet-may-be-more-public-than-you.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Tiny Queen)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3036262999644314622.post-6992710496099603379Wed, 19 Sep 2007 04:11:00 +00002007-09-18T21:21:01.644-07:00 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 http://www.tinyqueen.com/blog/2007/09/so-how-much-of-your-own-website-do-you.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Tiny Queen)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3036262999644314622.post-6638927525760153720Mon, 10 Sep 2007 21:43:00 +00002007-09-10T15:04:30.775-07:00I 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 http://www.tinyqueen.com/blog/2007/09/great-read-for-geeks-r-us.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Tiny Queen)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3036262999644314622.post-674226621261384139Wed, 05 Sep 2007 14:55:00 +00002007-09-05T08:21:09.494-07:00 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,http://www.tinyqueen.com/blog/2007/09/vana-blog-of-week.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Tiny Queen)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3036262999644314622.post-1832500914463532709Mon, 27 Aug 2007 15:29:00 +00002007-08-27T21:42:25.335-07:00 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 http://www.tinyqueen.com/blog/2007/08/three-way-mirror-for-websites.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Tiny Queen)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3036262999644314622.post-8328741431185386740Tue, 21 Aug 2007 06:50:00 +00002007-08-21T00:07:34.135-07:00As 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. http://www.tinyqueen.com/blog/2007/08/is-real-cost-of-fraud-registering-with.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Tiny Queen)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3036262999644314622.post-9019665841742057137Fri, 17 Aug 2007 05:26:00 +00002007-08-16T22:41:32.583-07:00Well, 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 http://www.tinyqueen.com/blog/2007/08/have-you-backed-up-your-web-site-lately.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Tiny Queen)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3036262999644314622.post-3073899946930039861Fri, 03 Aug 2007 05:54:00 +00002007-08-02T23:08:09.471-07:00...everyone needs a vacation now and then. I'm off for a week of fun in the sun, and (gasp!) I'm leaving my trusty laptop at home. I almost can't believe I'm going to spend a whole week doing nothing, with no computer attached to my hip. I will be checking email from time to time; after all, you can't take a girl completely away from her connection to the wide wide world, but otherwise, I http://www.tinyqueen.com/blog/2007/08/i-love-my-work-but.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Tiny Queen)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3036262999644314622.post-7987431118647142205Sun, 29 Jul 2007 18:31:00 +00002007-08-27T21:56:48.049-07:00One of the nice things about living where I do is that my patio is basically an extension of my house, and in fact it's my favourite place to work -- peaceful, lush and green, and plenty of birds and other little critters running around to entertain me. There's a trellis that runs over the patio, and the lizards like to skitter back and forth up there along the beams like it's their own personal http://www.tinyqueen.com/blog/2007/07/some-unexpected-creative-input.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Tiny Queen)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3036262999644314622.post-8891506069098350017Wed, 25 Jul 2007 14:17:00 +00002007-07-25T07:17:59.602-07:00One of the historic criticisms of Miva Merchant has been the number of steps it takes to get through the checkout. Ask people whether or not they want to create an account. If they have an account, make them log in.Ask for shipping and billing information.Throw some upsales at them and hope they'll bite.Find out how they want to pay and what method of shipping they'd like.Get their payment http://www.tinyqueen.com/blog/2007/07/one-p.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Tiny Queen)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3036262999644314622.post-8959638011242393325Mon, 23 Jul 2007 17:59:00 +00002007-07-23T20:05:13.746-07:00There's been some animated discussion over the last several days on the Miva 5 User Group Forum about the use of Search Friendly Links, with some thought-provoking input from some of the "heavy hitters" in the Miva and ecommerce marketing communities. Just exactly what is this hype all about, though? Well, let's start by taking a look at what we mean by a Search Friendly Link. A regular Miva http://www.tinyqueen.com/blog/2007/07/search-friendly-links-in-miva.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Tiny Queen)