When designing and building this web store it was the nature of the products being sold that presented the most challenges. See, selling oils, vinegars, and spices by weight and volume in different containers, or in no containers at all, over the internet is not something most shopping carts and out-of-the-box solutions can handle. This niche market requires something unique, something custom, a solution that can help customers to find the products they want and purchase them in an easy, intuitive, and attractive manor. We are confident that this is that solution.

For us building the web store for Crescendo meant re-imagining the shopping experience. We researched, and white boarded, and thought hard to come up with ways to reproduce the natural and effective shopping experience you get from walking into a Crescendo store and here is what we came up with:

1. Visual: walking into a Crescendo location you are immediately treated to a feast for the eyes, oaken barrels, spices you can see and smell, and a soft and inviting Mediterranean colour scheme. For the web store we matched this by using super high resolution and high contrast images of the base ingredients to really make the different varieties of oils and vinegars “pop”, we had macro photos taken of all the herbs and spices so you could see them as if you were there, and finally we took the mediterranean colour scheme and expanded it with warm and appealing background images.
2. Selection Process: when you are buying an oil or vinegar in a Crescendo shop you first select your liquid, then you are able to select from a wide variety of containers. Your container selection determines the amount of liquid you purchase as well as adding a decorative quality to the purchase. For the web store we built an intuitive system that guides you through this very same process of first selecting a liquid and then selecting the desired container, all the while keeping you apprised of the final price and amount of product being ordered.
3. Information: when you are in a Crescendo shop you will never be overwhelmed by information, but you also will never leave without knowing all of the important information about your product, how to care for it, and how to use it. This same philosphy was applied to the website through the subtle use of info buttons for the products description, origin, acidity and other important information, the FAQ page for answers to common questions, and the Recipes section for all sorts of amazing ways to use Crescendo products to make amazing meals.

So by identifying these, and other, essential features of shopping Crescendo and ensuring they were preserved in the web store we at Rev Software hope that customers find their experience online as pleasant as their experience in store. Well maybe not quite since we can’t offer samples online .

This website and the accompanying web store is our largest and most important web development to date. It is our opportunity to showcase what we are capable of. We encourage all of our readers, and anyone who enjoys amazing food products and fantastic service to head over to Crescendo Canada’s Web Store.

I only hope people enjoy shopping Crescendo online as much as we enjoyed building it. I would also like to extend a very big thank you to Elvira and Daniel of Crescendo Retail for providing our small company the opportunity to create this website.

Each time a new project rolls around it seems I am questioning my choice of technology, do I want to do this using J2EE, which I know, or maybe I should take this opportunity to learn Ruby and give Rails a try or how about ASP.NET? This train of thought, while helping to diversify my skill set, has left me wondering if maybe it is time for me to focus, to pick a language or technology stack and really immerse myself in it until I am satisfied that I know enough to tackle something new.

The other side of this coin is that as more and more languages and frameworks arrive on the scene, the scope of the problems that each is meant to tackle is becoming increasingly focused. This means that programmers are most effective when proficient with a number of “tools” rather than a single. You wouldn’t drive a screw with a hammer, so why force a project in a language that might not be best suited to solving the challenges the project entails? Then again if you are constantly language hopping will you ever truly recognize the “right” tool when you need it?

Much to learn; little time to learn it all.

I would be interested to hear how other programmers handle this delema.