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Storefront review and completion plan

Status: implementation in progress. Requested by Angel after reviewing dev.embeddedera.com. This review changes the completion criteria: a running backend and passing fixture tests are insufficient for a usable storefront.

Verified findings

Reviewed deployed origin HTML with the dev Host and forwarded HTTPS header, WordPress theme/page inventory, bootstrap and business portal source. No store configuration or customer data changed during this review. No authenticated customer walkthrough or rendered mobile screenshot test was completed; those remain required.

  • The active theme is the uncustomized Twenty Twenty-Five 1.5. The footer literally contains “Twenty Twenty-Five” and “Designed with WordPress.” The reported 2025 is theme branding, not a verified copyright date defect.
  • Eight footer links (Blog, About, FAQs, Authors, Events, Shop, Patterns, Themes) target #. They do not navigate anywhere.
  • Navigation contains the published WordPress Sample Page with fictitious bike messenger/XYZ company text. The title remains Sandbox Store. EmbeddedEra branding and the Light/Dark/Auto control are absent.
  • /notes/, /cart/, and /my-account/ return the shop HTML with HTTP 200. This is a routing failure that status-only link tests miss. Query-string Cart/My account pages respond correctly; empty-cart Checkout redirects to Cart, which is expected.
  • Privacy and Refund/Returns pages are drafts. They are not usable published policy pages. No verified support/FAQ/quote workflow exists.
  • Three fictional products exist. Assembly is marked quote-required but is an unavailable simple product, without an implemented quote workflow.
  • My Account presents a second WordPress login after the development Google gate. Company Inventory appears only for linked accounts; unlinked accounts receive non-actionable “Contact support” text. B2B is a prototype, not a demonstrated customer portal.
  • Stock is fictional; cards, ERP allocations, carrier/printer connections and real recovery email are incomplete. Visual remediation cannot make those live.

Evidence: /home/angel/store-build-artifacts/store-review-home.html; repository scripts/bootstrap-wp.sh, plugins/ee-business/ee-business.php, and CAPABILITIES.md. The earlier capability matrix explicitly left branded/mobile UI pending; that should have been made prominent in the preview handoff.

1. Repair navigation and routing first

Inventory every header, footer, product, account and policy link with its intended destination. Configure stable WooCommerce permalinks and Apache rewrite behavior together; preserve redirects from existing query links and check B2B endpoints. Unknown URLs must return a useful actual 404, not a copy of the shop.

Replace the auto-generated navigation and remove Sample Page and unused starter content. Proposed customer navigation: Shop, Engineering Notes, About, Contact, My Account and Cart. Engineering Notes goes to https://embeddedera.com/notes/; About and Contact go to their existing company-site pages. Internal project notes go to https://notebook.embeddedera.com/projects/embeddedera-store/ from a clearly labeled staff-only preview area, not the public customer menu. Add the existing staff Home destination in that area. Verify destination access and content, not just HTTP status. Confirm during walkthrough whether Angel’s “notes” refers to Engineering Notes or the internal notebook; accommodate both with distinct labels.

Acceptance: no placeholder # links (valid in-page anchors remain allowed), no Sample Page, no incorrect shop fallback; each visible link reaches the named page on phone and desktop.

2. Complete the EmbeddedEra presentation

Use an EmbeddedEra child block theme on the existing supported WordPress base, retaining native WooCommerce catalog/cart/checkout blocks. This avoids paid builder dependence and keeps source editable. Apply the established brand guide: logo, copper accent, dark palette, system fonts, spacing, Light/Dark/Auto remembered under ee-theme. Customize header, footer, catalog, product, cart, checkout, account and 404 templates as a coherent set. Remove theme/vendor promotional credits, use EmbeddedEra LLC identity and current-year copyright, and retain a compact development notice that does not cover controls.

Start with the existing block theme rather than introducing another theme subscription. If implementation proves the parent imposes extensive overrides, reevaluate a standalone block theme before accumulating brittle patches. Keep changes versioned and reproducible, including database Site Editor overrides that could mask deployed templates.

Acceptance: brand consistent across all templates; readable at 375 px; keyboard focus, contrast, form labels and light/dark states checked; no overlapping banner or horizontal scroll. Deliver a complete visual preview before proceeding to provider integration.

3. Finish shopping and listing management

Create useful product layouts for stocked boards, kits and quote-only work: images, specifications, downloads, variants, availability, lead time and clear purchase/quote action. Implement a real quote request path for assembly rather than displaying an unavailable purchase item as if quoting works. Finish search/filter/sort and empty/error states. Use WooCommerce's existing product editor for create/edit/duplicate/preview and bulk updates, with a documented quick workflow; avoid building a second product CMS.

Define field ownership: ERP controls SKU/part mapping and sellable quantity; storefront controls approved merchandising copy/images. Resolve pricing ownership explicitly before synchronization. Prevent manual stock edits from competing with the future ERP feed.

Acceptance: staff can create and revise a representative listing without code; a shopper can find an item, inspect it, change cart quantities, and complete an isolated test order. Validate browser checkout with real interactions, not just an API request.

4. Make business accounts usable

Provide an explicit Business Account entry and a company access request/onboarding path. Separate staff Google SSO from the eventual public customer account model; do not auto-link a customer to company stock by trusting an email suffix. Design company membership, requester/viewer roles and approval with clear authorization. Include inventory ready/reserved/in production, freshness, available-to-request quantity, release requests, tracking, quotes/POs and company documents as staged features. Replace raw numeric-ID administration with searchable staff controls. Show next actions for unlinked accounts and stale inventory. Implement pending-quantity presentation and duplicate-submit protection while preserving server concurrency checks.

Acceptance: demonstrate two isolated company accounts, viewer versus requester, stale/empty stock, partial release and duplicate request; no cross-company data or document access. Prove actual sandbox ERP allocation separately from the current snapshots.

5. Connect commerce operations and launch requirements

After the visible flows work, connect ERP catalog/reservations, payment provider test mode, check/wire reconciliation and credit/deposit policies, then shipping rates, international packages/customs, label purchase and physical printer. Add staff views for payment/stock holds, failed jobs and reconciliation. Finish cart consent/recovery/restoration and transactional mail using safe delivery testing before real messages. Complete customer policies, taxes, accessibility, backups/restore, monitoring, updates and order reconciliation. Keep the Google development gate until an actual public launch is ready.

Acceptance: one demonstrated end-to-end test order from storefront to ERP reservation, valid payment state, label and printer; unpaid check/wire orders remain held; retries cannot double-charge, double-reserve or buy duplicate postage. International and failure cases require separate acceptance. Provider accounts, product data and business policy inputs remain dependencies; physical check deposit cannot be promised fully automatic.

Definition of a review-ready preview

Every visible link works and reaches the correct content. No starter pages or vendor-theme branding remain. Shop, product, cart, checkout and account share the EmbeddedEra design. Browser tests cover desktop and 375 px mobile, keyboard operation, console/network errors, forms and feedback. Record screenshots and a concise pass/fail matrix. Public HTTPS and authorized Google entry must be exercised alongside origin tests. Internal fixture tests supplement this walkthrough; they do not replace it.

The next implementation batch should cover phases 1–2 and the browser validation framework, then deliver that coherent preview. Subsequent batches complete shopping, business accounts and live integrations. No calendar estimate is asserted before the theme/routing work is scoped from browser evidence.

Platform references

Implemented checkpoint — 2026-09-19

Branded child theme, functional navigation/permalinks, real 404, native cart/checkout/account styling, and customer/staff footer separation are deployed to the gated preview. Browser checks passed at 375/1440 px. Native test checkout reached confirmation; unpaid check order was cancelled afterward. ERP-linked battery preview has no price, no sale stock and an enforced purchase block.

Business registration, staff review/approval, company isolation, request, hold, cancellation and revocation passed a 14-check real browser walkthrough. Browser testing caught and fixed autofill password-meter layout movement and inline script encoding that disabled release requests. Business requests remain advisory. Draft policy destinations now point to an explicit development notice, not fabricated production policies.

Still open: real battery price/photo/identity/transport documentation and counted sale quantity; Google-to-WordPress staff SSO; approved public policies; ERP ownership/reservations; provider credentials and integrations; real reminder delivery; shipping eligibility and physical printer acceptance. AH JWT Auth 2.4.0 was inspected, not installed; key refresh and authenticated acceptance require further work.

  • 2026-09-19 final checkpoint: source commit ff5acda, working tree clean. Native business browser rerun passed all 14 checks including no phone-page horizontal overflow; final navigation 136/136, B2B remediation 57 assertions with no skips, two concurrency cases passed. Leftover fictional browser memberships revoked after tests. Notebook and SOP-035 main deployment completed; preview remains Google-gated and cannot accept real purchases.