No MMUI Please!

Miva Merchant ships with a default look-and-feel called MMUI – the Miva Merchant User Interface. It’s there because it HAS to have SOMETHING, right? But it was never meant for public consumption…the developers always assumed people would replace it with an actual design. But many retailers didn’t replace it – either they didn’t have the skills, they were cheap, they were lazy, they didn’t know better, or whatever – but lots of stores used it. And have been since year 19-whatever. Miva Merchant has since released a built-in CSS skin that is better, but still very basic, and yet this MMUI (see image, right, under the big red X) is still around on the web. You’ve probably seen it and groaned.

So I wanted to take this chance and showcase a bit of what CAN be done with Miva Merchant. Although I’d been planning this for a couple of weeks, in a timely coincidence, Chuck over at Merchant Tutorials posted about common Miva Merchant myths and the very first one is that the cart is limited in it’s look and feel. Let’s debunk that right now.

1. Green Tree Coffee & Tea

Green Tree Coffee & Tea

2. smallfri.com Birth Announcements

smallfri.com Birth Announcements

3. DJ Shadow

DJ Shadow

4. California Caviar

California Caviar

5. Mad Cat Toys

Mad Cat Toys

6. Bee Global

Bee Global Candle Studio

7. Mezzetta

Mezzetta Mediterranean Food

8. Rusty’s Off-Road Products

Rusty's Off Road Products

9. Arcadia Publishing

Arcadia Publishing

10. Michael’s Finer Meats and Seafoods

Michael's Finer Meats and Seafoods

One small caveat just for the sake of transparency: Mad Cat Toys is out of our clients at NetBlazon. But the design is completely the work of the owner, Dale Carlson of Propaganza…we just did the backend programming. So I’m not sneaking in a self-backpat or anything. Also, thanks to Scott from Sebenza for pointing us in the direction of Michael’s Meats, a site I hadn’t seen before.

Got any other examples of truly beautifully-designed Miva Merchant websites? Post them in the comments below!