Widgets to add to your shop

[cerberus]

Hi all,

A few maybe interesting widgets to add to your shop, they have loads of all different types, they do free ones or paid (the free have restricted amounts of views / plays).

https://elfsight.com/widgets/

Maybe have a look, I have added a couple to my extra pages, see below, (youtube gallery and audio player), yes I know its a shop, but maybe it may give the customers something else to come back to your shop for ?

Screenshot 2026-10-03 012936.png

Screenshot 2026-10-03 013018.png

And here is the code for the back button if you need it and the two images needed for it.

Code: Select all

  
  <a href="javascript: history.go(-1)">
    <img src="https://ADD YOUR URL TO IMAGE HERE/back.png"
         onmouseover="this.src='https://ADD YOUR URL TO IMAGE HERE/backhover.png';"
         onmouseout="this.src='https://ADD YOUR URL TO IMAGE HERE/back.png';">
</a>
  

back.png

backhover.png

(button image size is 150px by 30px)

[burt]

Non Techy

I wonder if it's wise to distract customers with unrelated `stuff` on your site (as you rightly say, it's a shop - for selling stuff)?

Videos are excellent for customers. I imagine videos would be interesting if made by you (your team), of your shops stuff. EG clothing try on videos, or how to videos, or whats in the box videos or packing up a customers order or whatever. IE videos and so on that actually helps your bottom line.

Open for discussion!

More Techy

Using 3rd party hosted widgets is "easy", but remember;

Third-party script cost
Each widget loads external JavaScript and its own assets. That affects page speed, Core Web Vitals, and any cookie/consent handling. Some widget Embeds may set cookies, so if you're subject to UK/EU rules they must sit behind your consent mechanism.
Dependency risk
If the service changes pricing, limits, or shuts down, the pages break.
Lock In
Once you get to a `I've used this so much` tipping point, you can't (easily) change to a new service.

The `Lock In` point is something that we talk about so much - but on a broader/higher level (eg getting locked in by Shopify). Your post has made me realise there are so many levels to this idea of getting locked in. Thank You!

--

The Back Button idea is old fashioned - sometimes not a bad thing, but in this case...it's not ideal - it fails when there's no history, it uses inline handlers, and the image has no alt text and can't be translated. Maybe look into the Phoenix Navigation class and a Bootstrap styled button.

[cerberus]

Hi burt,

Understood, I still have a lot to learn, so lots of experimenting going on

I will look into the back button Phoenix Navigation class and a Bootstrap styled button at some point, there is so much to learn.

[burt]

The `Lock In` point is something that we talk about so much - but on a broader/higher level (eg getting locked in by Shopify). Your post has made me realise there are so many levels to this idea of getting locked in.

https://www.reddit.com/r/PhoenixCart/co ... _mentions/

I expanded on the `small lock-in` point in this post at Reddit.

[cerberus]

They do lots of other widgets that will "lock" you in to their system if they become very useful, I avoid them, just stick with the widgets that it does not matter if you end up removing them as that will not affect your shop.

So no widgets in your main shop like contact widgets, banner widgets etc, but silly extras on your extra pages should be fine, and easily removed without affecting your shop.

Yes I agree no widgets that can "Lock" you in to their system, just not good