[thelist] USABILITY: ideas on how to handle checkout section of website

[Chris W. Parker]

hi.

right now i'm working on an e-com site that has a standard layout...

(fig.1)
+--------------------+
|       HEADER       |
+-----+--------------+
|     |              |
|  M  |              |
|  E  |   CONTENT    |
|  N  |              |
|  U  |              |
|     |              |
+-----+--------------+

what are some tips on handling the layout/design/functionality of the
checkout section? the one thing that i came up with looks good (at least
i think so) but i'm afraid that it is so different from the rest of the
site that customers might/will get confused and possibly not continue
with their purchase.

it looks like this... (i will make another diagram since i like to make
them. ;)

(fig.2)
+--------------------+
|       HEADER       |
+--------------------+
|                    |
|                    |
|      CONTENT       |
|                    |
|                    |
|                    |
+--------------------+

fig. 1&2 both use the same colors and they both contain a little
aardvark icon at the top left of the screen. however their differences
are that there is no left side gray menu in fig.2, the header is
different (other than the icon and the color), and the content just
plain looks different than the rest of the site.

what would you suggest i do?

1. should i go with the same scheme as fig.1 (header wise) and just
remove the left hand navigation?
2. how important is it for the checkout section of a site to look like
the rest of the site?


thanks for your help.
chris.

p.s. here is a page i made with screenshots at 8x6 so they would fit on
most of your screens.

http://www.swatgear.com/storefronttest2/screenshots.asp