Every business entity that wants to go online has to create a website where the customers interact with the business and where the sale/ purchase take place. This website is the face of the business for the respective customer who has come to trade there. It is thus important that this face of the business be made presentable and be easy to navigate so that the customers do not face any operational troubles. This is where e-commerce store mock-up designs play an important role. The mock-up gives the business owner an opportunity to plan in exact detail, what the store will look like and what will be the best possible option for them to proceed.
This is happens as an e-commerce store mock-up design is a sample of what an online store can look like. The developers prepare these designs to give a clear and real view to the businesses that are looking to establish their own store. The mock-ups are important for two major reasons that are:
- They let the user know how the details will pan out in reality, and
- They brings focus and attention to all the details, hence facilitate feedback for modification before actual store is launched
The mock- up generally displays the layout of the actual website. The preparation of the mock-up may be divided into stages. Based on the stages the mock-ups can be classified into types, for example- a wireframe and a prototype. However, there is only minor difference between the two, which is why the terms are used interchangeably. There also seems to be no exactly consolidated definition of what each of these terms entail. A brief view follows:
Wireframe: An e-commerce store mock-up design may refer to a wireframe that displays the functionality of a website. The wireframe is the representation of the page layout including the schematics of the content and data placement, the whole page layout and the interface elements like the navigational system.
Prototype: A prototype is advancement over the initial wireframe. The wireframes differs from a prototype only in the sense that is just displays the functionality, while the prototype enables testing by inducing actual functions.
Another way to classify mock-ups is based on the fidelity. Fidelity represents the degree to which the respective mock-up reproduces the real world simulation of the website. In this sense, a wireframe is of low fidelity as against a prototype, which is of high fidelity. There are also different fidelity levels within the wireframes and prototypes.
These definitions and classifications apart, a mock-up in the most general and common sense of use of the term is- a conceptual representation that employs some static simulation of the interface. A mock-up is prepared with a lot of effort and in a lot of detail. The e-commerce store mock- up design must be prepared in accordance with the tastes, preferences and opinions of the owner as well as in accordance with the respective industry. It is also important to prepare a good mock-up for it is the foundational basis of how the actual website will proceed to real implementation.
