Spiritual Bookstores on the Net by Mary Montgomery- Clifford

transitionsbookplace.com Apple computer was started in a garage. In 1989, the first location of Transitions Bookplace opened in a former one-car garage that had been converted to retail. This nugget of information came from the "Transitions' Story" section of this bookstore's site. That's what so great about surfing the Net. It's possible to find out information that gives character and flavor to a retailer - especially a retailer with as uplifting a message as Transitions. Transitions Bookplace and Café, at 1000 W. North Avenue, is unique among new age spiritual bookstores in that bright lighting and sedate décor are favored over the deep red and purple colors and rococo styling that is traditional in this genre. I believe this concept is a giant step forward. It takes a lot of the hocus pocus out of New Age practices. The décor says "This is normal stuff!" and provides an atmosphere that is comfortable to new age veterans and neophytes alike. Transitions extended this concept, first when they opened their Learning Center at 1750 N. Kingsbury last summer, and again this spring when they launched the transitionsbookplace.com web site. Like their store and learning center, the site has a crisp, clean, easy-to-use design. The site's main flaw has nothing to do with style or navigation. Unnecessary use of frames is a big no-no among web developers and this site uses frames bigtime. But, more about that later. One of the things that is so frustrating at many book sites, amazon.com included, is the lack of content description for many of the titles. Think about your trips to physical bookstore locations. If you're like me, many of your purchases are based on the catchy copy on book flaps and back covers. When I chatted with Transitions' Site Designer Miriam Thompson last May, I found out why the lack of book descriptions on the Web is so prevalent. Chalk it up to having to deal with the distributors who develop the listings used at Internet sites. It's up to the sites to create their own descriptions; with up to 50,000 books and other products on line, that is a monumental endeavor. The Transitions site is making slow but steady progress in this arena. Last May, for example, the "Personal Growth" section contained 13 recommendations and only one review or description. By July, that section contained the same number of recommendations and six reviews or descriptions. Bravo! Two other major sections on the Transitions site are "Bookstore Author Events" and "Learning Center Workshops." These are great, although I'd like to see a bit more information about the entries - at least as much as appears in the newsletter or Learning Center guide. Another suggestion is to provide links from these sections to the book list/order area. An alternate idea would be to provide a book search area right within the sections. Right now you have to remember the book title and type it in the "Book Search" area on the home page. I understand that this problem will be rectified in the future. The Transitions site is a young one with lots of potential. One of the sections, called "Gifts," is still under construction. If you've ever visited Transitions Bookplace, you'll agree that this promises to be special. Another feature I'd like to see at the site is an area with short interviews with the authors who speak at events and give workshops. This would be both a public service and a stimulus for potential participants. All in all, transitionsbookplace.com is worth a visit and a bookmark.

eastwest.com Both East West Bookshop in Mountain View, California and their web site, eastwest.com, are a good deal older than Transitions Bookplace. East West Bookshop has served the San Francisco area for over 30 years. The site was already going strong when I first logged onto it in August, 1998. That's not quite ancient history in Internet terms, but it is a long time. The site carries an inventory of more than 50,000 books, audio tapes and videos. A nice touch is the fact that eastwest.com gives customers additional products free with each order. These include titles from authors like Louise Hay, J. Donal Walters, Robert Rabbin, Karen Hamaker-Zondag, Marie Herbert and Terah Collins. The site, however, has the same problem with reviews and/or product descriptions. They seem to be few and far between. In fact, I'm beginning to see more descriptions on the brand new Transitions site. The "Events" section is well designed. It would be a great thing to check out if you're traveling to the Bay area. If you're not, the section is still worth a visit. Check out the "Articles & Interviews" link. That takes you to a wide selection of interviews with and articles by authors and speakers. There is also an Archive area where earlier interviews and articles are stored. For example, the Archive area contains a marvelous interview called Emptiness and Compassion: Stephen Levine Talks on Ram Dass. Levine spoke of the aftermath of Ram Dass's cerebral hemorrhage and the fact that this great spiritual leader was able to see the necessity and the power of the dharma as applied to his situation. As a Chicagoan, I probably will continue shopping at Transitions Bookplace (the actual store and the site). However, I plan to include an East West Bookshop event in my schedule the next time I'm in San Francisco. And the articles and interviews, alone, make this site worth visiting again and again. It's certainly worth a bookmark.

About Frames When I received my certification as a web designer and developer, my teachers stressed that frames, if used at all, should be used with great care. For example, it can be advantageous to use frames in your "Links" section. That way, your guests will be more inclined to stay at your site instead of surfing away. Many framed sites are clumsy in design and difficult to navigate. And only the individual frame, not the whole page layout, can be printed at one time. There are frames on every page of the Transitions site and on about 50 percent of the eastwest.com pages. Both sites are easy to navigate and there is nothing wrong with their look or design. So then, what's the problem? My reply: Directories and Search Engines. It's hard enough getting your site into the top 100 selections on these babies without giving yourself a handicap. Frames are a handicap. There is a lot of evidence that many of the robots that scour the Internet for key words, meta tags and titles, routinely ignore frames. After looking at transitionsbookplace.com and eastwest.com, I went to goto.com, infoseek.com, exite.com and altavista.com, and typed in the phrase "spiritual book store." I clicked on a number of sites in the top 40 selections. None of them used frames. Don't get me wrong, it's still difficult to make the top 40 at these sites and there are a lot of other tricks of the trade that can also help. But, don't put a strike against your site by overusing frames. End of lecture. Please feel free to contact me via my e-mail address (monty764@aol.com) or via my web site (www.montymedia.com). For example, let me know if you have a favorite (or not so favorite) site that you'd like me to review. I love hearing from you. Mary Montgomery-Clifford is a certified web author and developer. Her company, Montgomery Media Enterprises ("Freelancing with Finesse!"), specializes in public relations, events, promotions, writing project and web authoring, development and publicity. Contact her via e-mail at Monty764@aol.com, by phone at 773-235-8821 or at her web site at www.montymedia.com.

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