TCB Journal

Last week we opened Catalog 3.0 alpha 1 up to guests and users of TCBCORP.COM. You can now find it at http://www.tcbcorp.com?working_module=catalog

Features Available:

• Navigation on the Left side that allows you to easily browse every single product without having to hit the horrid “Back” button.
• Track Back on the top gives you a quick reference to what products you are viewing
• Highlights on the Right side of the Pre-Product pages give you a quick reference on new and random products we offer.
• Product Options on the Right side of the Product page lists out most every option available

With a tool this advanced and simple you are equipped with Ideas, Options, and back up with a advisors to get you exactly what you are looking for.

Now it is time to design YOUR own and let US :

So today, I have been working on the Product page.

This page is design to dynamically work with our order page and list all the acceptable options. In order to do this we are querying a dynamically generated list of option tables based on the job_option_registry which is referenced by the Product Line/Product Type association.

I found out today that though we designed in a registry to link association of options we hard coded the Labels of the options into the application. So I added a job_option table to the database today so that we can hold a “Label” and “description”.

After implementing the table, I focused on separating “Product Options:” and “Usage:” in the listing of the options. So that when the application lists these options the user can see what the option includes and where they can use it..

Next on my list of things to do is to grab the items that the options include.. some of these will be simple such as, Colors will list: red, green,blue. But, Fabrics will list: cotton twill and then te colors associated with that fabric.. so this can be a challenging feat.

Previously I had talked about having these steps:
1.) Department – Some of you already know at TC&B we offer more custom product than just ball caps.. This step allows you to find those products you are looking for.
2.) Product Types – Within the departments we have Different Product types. I.E. within Headwear you will find Baseball caps, Cowboy hats, Beanies, Visors, and more…
3.) Products – This is a gallery of all he example products available and will list the options for the product selected.

So far, number one is layed out with everthing working except promotions and Anything is possible space, Number two is layed out with everything working except the “anything is possible” promo replacement, and number three has everything except the option lists.

With that I am giving access to our alpha page exclusivly to those receiving and reading this message: http://www.tcbcorp.com/?working_module=catalog&test=index_3

Progress is going well we have the navigation up and running as well as the random image loader. Next task is the Items page.. it shouldn’t be too hard though we will be pulling in options from this point on.. Also to make is the quick reference panel on the right side of the page. Here is a quick screen shot of progress.

Here is an overview of the future catalog. The goals of this new catalog is to help you get ideas and understand your options for the product you are wanting to create. This catalog will take you through two steps before showing you examples to help give you an idea to build your custom cap from.

Three Steps include:
1.) Department – Some of you already know at TC&B we offer more custom product than just ball caps.. This step allows you to find those products you are looking for.
2.) Product Types – Within the departments we have Different Product types. I.E. within Headwear you will find Baseball caps, Cowboy hats, Beanies, Visors, and more…
3.) Products – This is a gallery of all he example products available and will list the options for the product selected.

This page is set up with three basic columns:
A. ) Navigation – This will always show the first two steps so you can always jump to the third step at any time of your browsing without hitting your back button.
B.) Step Information – This will be the area that contains the Options of the step you are in.
C.) Ideas / Options – We want to keep you informed to as what is available.. this third column will display some promotions and products, or if you are on the 3 step it will show you the options available to this product.

Sketches

We have gone through a couple of version of our product catalog. After adding a preliminary list of users we have decided our design is not working. I am going to be researching other catalogs throughout the day, in hope to find what you as our client would be comfortable using. So that you may see exactly what we are good at doing.

Please comment if you have any catalogs that you really like..

I have been working on grouping our catalog Items together at tcbcorp.com while viewing the group we can now setup different styles for the groupings here are some examples: