Opinions wanted: SWFA.com

[J]

Hi friends!

As many of you know, I do custom software and consulting. I've been trying to focus on the firearms space for the last bit here.

We recently launched the new site for SWFA (https://swfa.com). These guys sell TONS of shooting stuff, but most notably the SWFA SS long range scopes that are recommended by top shooters here so frequently. They can also get just about anything you might want for an optic at a great price.

Check out their site, let me know what you like, what you don't like. We are looking to improve it in the eyes of the shooting consumer, aka you all. Our ears are open.

Also, shameless plug.... SWFA is a great group of people who truly support the firearms community. They support me as a client. I support this site with hosting, licenses, etc. If you are looking for something particular on-line, give them a look. The better they do, the more free money I have to put into this site.

Thanks everyone!
--J

[Sawin]

Great plug! Thanks for sharing!
I will go spend some of my christmas bonus on their site in the next couple of weeks; I'm certain of it.

[Rumline]

I clicked on "Riflescopes" and the results are pretty overwhelming. 3181 results sorted in reverse alpha order? (Guessing since Zeiss is first) I suggest there be sub-categories to drill down more. For example, when I click on "riflescopes" from the main page I wouldn't expect to get reflex optics at the same time. Clicking "Optics" from the header bar is much better, and I feel like the "riflescopes" link on the main page should link to that page. But after you click "hunting" or "tactical" for example, you get dumped into the same huge database dump of products...1081 and 930 respectively. There has to be a better way to group the scopes logically than just by brand or price.

I guess my preference is for more of a "department store" kind of organization that is more browsing-friendly, rather than feel like I'm perusing the inventory through a SQL web interface.

Regarding the filters, I suggest a slider system that lets you choose the magnification range, instead of a drop down list of 1.0, 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 1.5, 2.0, 2.1, etc as the minimum magnification and a similarly-stuffed list for max magnification. You could even have one scale with two slider bars, for min and max on one interface, kind of like how airline sites handle departure time windows. Also the more commonly-used filters should be pre-expanded and the others grouped below. E.g., magnification, price, reticle. I would also like to see weight added as one of the filters (maybe with another slider).

[MarkCO]

Hmm, they carry a lot of stuff I never knew they had. Will have to shift some sales to SWFA from Midway...hey, they rhyme.

One thing I really like about Midway is their "price per unit" and "Rating" sort options. Sometimes I want the best (pheasant loads), sometimes I want the cheapest (3Gun loads) shotgun shells for instance.

I will poke around on it more over the weekend, but for now, that is one suggestion.

Thanks!

[CS1983]

It would be neat if you had a bargain page which showed all categories of clearance/closeout/promotions/demos etc. a la Cabela's Bargain Cave where deals are collated and sub-categorized. I don't think you need to clutter the main categories with those items.

I just happened to glance up and saw "Sample List". That might be misleading for those unfamiliar with SWFA, and they might think that's a list of samples available for dealers or something as the main focus for purchases is below in its own visual space. If those were in a Bargain or "clearance" section, it would be more obvious.

When I go from Index > Rifle Scopes, I'm presented with a flood of options which are a bit overwhelming. But if I go from Index > Optics, I'm given fewer options which help me decide where to go (tactical, hunting, airgun, etc.). As such, there's not really any continuity IMO about navigation; going from 1 broad category to drilling down immediately could be a big jump for a user but going in successively more specific steps might be a little easier.

Overall, it looks like a great site and is definitely better than their old one.

[Skip]

I like the look and feel of it!

There are a lot of repeats in the products (subtle differences) that makes for lots of pages. It might make sense to consolidate by model and then chose options. For example, there is one entire page of Trijicon RMR offerings but it's really just one model with different specs/options.

I also looked at ACOGs and had a half page of OOS models as the first options that appeared. I don't know if a sort makes sense or not (default to in stock and then secondary by relevance/price/name).

[J]

Great feed back all. A bunch here are already in the back log for improvements. A bunch are also new. Keep them coming.

[Rucker61]

I was able to click to the Burris 4-20x XTR II scope fairly easily, although I picked "target" as the category first and ended up at the 8-40x product page.

If this were my page, I'd want links on the product specific page to:

1. Accessories Iike rings, covers, etc.
2. link to other products by the same company
3. Ability to select multiple products to compare specs.

[Honey Badger282.8]

The scrolling banner on the home page makes the links below jump on mobile. Maybe make the banner the same size?

[vossman]

Pretty clean and simple format, I really like it the way it is. Well done.

[brutal]

Always like to see the breadcrumb link near the page top so I can find my way back, but when using it there, all the search options get dumped.

On the upside, at least the back button works and goes back to the filtered results page!

Also might be good to have same brand/family show as other choices when hitting an item.

I seem to recall the old site also had suggested items for the scopes like compatible mounts and such.

ETA: looks like another member mentioned a few of these already.

[fairrpe86]

My personal preference is to have an expanded menu, or mega menu (without fly-outs) on the main page. It seems to let people navigate easier and reduce the clicks required to reach a particular page. Just my $.02

[Marine24]

I've been shopping at SWFA for a number of years and big fan of their SWFA lines of scopes. Assume your update include their Samplelist.com, which is where they sell they used, demo...etc products.

Navigation is better on both sites compared to what they had before. Filters are very logical and typically the specs you want to search on. I've grown accustomed to their previous website, so took some retraining to get used to this one, but definitely an improvement.

[Wulf202]

Fix the forced mobile viewing. I hate that, I understand it being default but I can get it to go into desktop mode on my phone to even try the categories that a computer user gets. It makes me go elsewhere

[kidicarus13]

https://swfa.com/swarovski-2-16x50-z8i-30mm-riflescope-6.html

$29,999?!

[J]

Sorry. No longer working with them. Maybe they will see this anyways.

It was an amicable split, and I still whole heartedly endorse them. Great guys and great supporters of shooting sports.

[izzy]

What are you developing the site with? I haven't done UI work in a long time and their making me use react on all these projects at work right now. I'm still not sold on it, might take me a while to like it. The one thing I noticed about the swfa site is that it's pretty slow. Guess it doesn't matter one way or the other now that you don't do work for them any longer.

[BladesNBarrels]

https://swfa.com/swarovski-2-16x50-z8i-30mm-riflescope-6.html

$29,999?!

At least you get free shipping!

[Poke]

[J]

What are you developing the site with? I haven't done UI work in a long time and their making me use react on all these projects at work right now. I'm still not sold on it, might take me a while to like it. The one thing I noticed about the swfa site is that it's pretty slow. Guess it doesn't matter one way or the other now that you don't do work for them any longer.

Sorry. Don't discuss infrastructure of public sites. Especially on a public forum where any potential bad doers could find info in Google.

If you want to chat frameworks and react in general, I'm happy to do so. Let me know.

That said. I'm a big fan of react.

Now, THAT said, I haven't done a ton of direct development in a couple years. I'm senior management at a development agency. So I love it from a business perspective... From profitability to risk management to availability of talent to testability and quality. Not a ton of direct developer interaction from me. I did development for a lot of years, from juinor to lead roles, but never in react. I do like it in theory with it's componentization and all that jazz, putting on my Dev hat.

But my developers (50+ of them) all love it.

[izzy]

Fair enough. I just haven't done a ton of front end work since 2006 or so, things have changed a whole lot.