BOULDER - Superheroes, sports teams and Disney seem to draw children to a Web site. Combine that with the ability to virtually decorate a pair of Crocs, and it is Web heaven for kids.

Jibbitz, the charms designed to snap into Crocs shoes as decoration, joined with Boulder-based Slice of Lime to add more kid-friendly features to its Web site. The new features, incorporated into a function called the stylizer, improve on the site's original shoe-decorating function.

The animated stylizer, which launched in October, allows users to select backgrounds, colors and straps for a pair of Crocs. They can add a combination of Jibbitz for an original creation, said Kevin Menzie, founder and chief executive of Slice of Lime.

"The idea was to create a site that is engaging to kids but trustworthy enough for parents to click that buy button," Menzie said. A shoe doubles as a shopping cart, allowing parents to buy their child's creation.

Slice of Lime first connected with Boulder-based Jibbitz a few years ago, Menzie said. Jibbitz creator Sheri Schmelzer asked Slice of Lime to help Jibbitz with its original Web site.

"We actually built the whole Web site in about a week," Menzie said. They included an interactive piece similar to the current stylizer but with fewer functions. Then Slice of Lime watched Jibbitz take off.

"Within three months they were selling crazy amounts of Jibbitz," said Jeff Rodanski, Slice of Lime creative director and partner. "Within a year they sold a million."

Jibbitz sold so well that Niwot-based Crocs bought the company for $10 million in 2006. Jibbitz is now a wholly owned subsidiary of Crocs Inc (Nasdaq:CROX). When Jibbitz wanted to enhance the animated functions of its Web site, it came back to Slice of Lime.

"Kids and adults just found the original experience to be very engaging," Menzie said. "They brought us back a second time to do what we had done in the past - only even better."

The shared history between Slice of Lime and Jibbitz made the site development easier.

"We worked with this client before, so we kind of knew what they liked. They trusted us," Rodanski said.

Curtis Floth, Web operations manager for Jibbitz, said the partnership was a good fit.

"They understood our system. They were able to easily and quickly figure out what needed to be done - what enhancements needed to be made," Floth said.

Slice of Lime, in business for almost eight years, strives to build a sense of teamwork with its clients while building their Web sites, Rodanski said, and the company has carved out a niche working with startup companies.

"We start off any client with a big strategy session," Rodanski said. The company analyzes its client's goals and needs and help the client build a business strategy. Potential clients often bring up Jibbitz when talking with Rodanski.

"A lot of them say, 'Can you do something like you did with Jibbitz for us?' "

Jibbitz's product line has more than quadrupled since the original Web site. In addition to the Jibbitz charms for shoes, the company now offers other items, such as wrist bands and cell phone charms.

To accommodate new additions, Slice of Lime linked the Web site to the Jibbitz database. When a new piece is added to the database it is immediately accessible on the Web site.

"It's a big deal because we didn't want to put them in a situation in which adding a new product would mean reinventing the wheel," Menzie said.

New features - such as the user's ability to drag and drop one piece at a time onto a shoe - background scenes and the ability to choose straps improved on the old idea, Menzie said. These are all things that help generate excitement for kids when they use the site.

"The idea of building something gets kids excited, and when kids get excited, that's when mom and dad spend money," Rodanski said.

The new design also allows kids to share their creations with others through e-mail or by printing them. This leaves the door open to adding a social-networking component later, Menzie said.

"What we really wanted to do is allow them to design the shoe and then print it out and put it on the fridge or e-mail it to grandma," Floth said.

Floth said traffic on the Web site increased since the stylizer launched, and Jibbitz plans to add more features.

"We've got a lot of enhancements for the stylizer planned."