Checkout Pages Eval-very good article link

Hey this is a totally great article-everybody who has an online checkout should read it. if you are not sure your cart is optimized, this will let you know the answer.

E-Commerce Site Design: Checkout Pages
By James Maguire
February 13, 2006


No area of e-commerce site design gets nearly as much attention and concern - even angst - as checkout pages. An online merchant building its checkout pages is like an artist laboring over their masterpiece: everything has to be laid out precisely right.
Is it the right amount of steps? Is it clear enough?
This concern is justified. The checkout pages are where shoppers type in their beloved credit card number. The all-important checkout page is the very core of e-commerce.
To review the design guidelines for these critical pages, E-Commerce Guide spoke to Jakob Nielsen, a leading Web usability guru who has conducted extensive research into checkout page design.
Nielsen, to be sure, observes that checkout pages have improved over the last few years. "On the other hand, I see so many sites that continue to make the same mistakes," he says.
With that, the sage Mr. Nielsen rolls up his sleeves and talks about what every well-designed checkout page must include.

the rest of the article continues at http://www.ecommerce-guide.com//article.php/3584596

That's a great article. I especially like it when they talk about shopping cart abandonment. I am of the school that if you are asking people to fill out a reg screen of data just to find out what the total is with shipping for one item, you are doing it wrong.