i-BikeShop System Upgrades & Updates
This page details the last 40 system upgrades and updates that have taken place to the iBS system.All new features added will be listed, plus any system modifications.
SHOW ALL UPGRADES
- General System
- updated 2017-06-21 17:28:25
Free DV SSL rollout to all sites where requested. - General System
- updated 2017-03-31 13:02:44
FAQ Widget extended to give UP TO 20 independent FAQ's
- General System
- updated 2017-03-30 15:18:30
FAQ Widget added - General System
- updated 2017-03-27 23:33:48
Extended inline editing option to all fixed pages.
Primary page heading and the main body content can be edited independently directly on the page. - General System
- updated 2017-03-27 17:40:29
Inline editing of template regions added. - Products
- updated 2017-02-06 17:27:02
New "markers" for the product page templating:
{CROSSSELLING-RELATED} Inserts Related products and related categories
{CROSSSELLING-BOUGHT} Inserts Premium Cross Selling - People Who Bought also Bought
{CROSSSELLING-VIEWED} Inserts Premium Cross Selling - People who Viewed also Viewed
{CROSSSELLING-CONSIDER} Inserts Premium Cross Selling - You Might Also Consider
- Data Importer
- updated 2017-02-01 15:06:06
New Data Import/Export system for Product relationships added. - General System
- updated 2017-02-01 01:21:34
Seanic Retail EPoS Integration upgrades:
Auto Synchronisation
Auto Clearance
Auto Archiving - General System
- updated 2017-01-17 23:11:32
Offers area MOVED from /offers.php to /offers/
*NEW* Clearance section added; gives customers single point access to all products set to "Clearance" status in a site.
It works identically to the offers page, so if the defined number of products is breached, the page will split itself down into categorised groups. - General System
- updated 2017-01-17 03:11:41
Steve of Caffeine Injection has come up with a great idea and it is the first of what is likely to become a number of "Widgets"
Widgets will be easy to deploy and require little admin.
The first Widget is ready to use:
GALLERY WIDGET
The gallery widget will display a panel of up to 16 images.
Simple to use, in your Media Manager you should find a *new* folder called "gallery". If not, simply create a new subfolder in the main media manager folder and call it "gallery"
Upload the images you want in your gallery into the gallery folder.
On the page you want your gallery to appear, enter the marker "{WIDGET-GALLERY}" in the position you want it.
Hey presto, your images *should* appear.
CONDITIONS:
You must upload AT LEAST FOUR images for the gallery to display.
The gallery will only display MULTIPLES OF FOUR, up to a maximum of 16
If your gallery folder contains more than 16 images, only the most recent 16 will be used.
The newest image will display top left of the gallery grid and the oldest goes bottom right.
Try to remember to set resize parameters on the images you upload. They should be no bigger that 1200px x 1000px and would be better a little smaller for page speed.
You can only have ONE gallery, however you can display the gallery on more than one page.
The gallery can be inserted into ANY standard fixed page or homepage configuration, any brand and any product page.
It will NOT work if you insert it into any of the pages in the fixed pages editor detailed as "Core Template Inserts"
- General System
- updated 2016-09-30 01:09:00
Product Filters Filtering for Brand and Price temporarily removed whilst conversions to HTML5/Responsive were completed.
These filters now returned, along with an additional filter for "Year".
In PREMIUM subscriptions, custom filters added. - General System
- updated 2016-09-30 01:06:53
Google Taxonomy updated - Products
- updated 2016-08-15 00:53:11
Any brand can now be assigned as a "parent" of any other brand.
Doing so affects a few things, depending upon setup within the child brand(s)
Each brand you assign as a child (by telling it to have a parent) has two options:
Suppress/Show Listings - which will hide or display the child brands listings on the parent brand's "brand" page
Display own/parent's name - which will govern whether the child brand's products are listed using it's own name, or the name of its parent
Deploying these options:
Can be done within the Brands Add/Edit screens
Can be done within data import/export
What it does:
Brand Page(s)
Only PARENT brands will display on the brands page
Clicking onto a brand which has children will display the categorised listing and a2z listing for that brand, along with a list of it's child brands, with or without the child brand's categorised and a2z listings (depending upon the setting for the child)
The child brand can be clicked through from the parent brand page.
Product System pages:
Any product listed against a child brand where the child brand has been told to adopt the name of it's parent will display with the parent brand's name rather than it's own.
- Products
- updated 2016-04-08 01:23:48
Previously, super categories were a simple grouping mechanism, grouping together a number or master categories, but with no distinct URL for the contents of a single super category.
The option to link to a supercategory has now been added. This means a supercategory may now be a menu entry in its own rights.
Details for the permalink for each super category are displayed in the super category editor screen (if you have them enabled. - General System
- updated 2015-03-19 14:48:48
Content Inserts enables you to create chunks of html/content which can then be deployed to any number of pages by inserting the #TRIGGER for the content.
Examples of usage might be for section menus where the sub menu for a section is repeated on a sequence of site static pages. Deploying the menu as a content insert means future edits to that menu only need to be carried out in one place with the changes immediately being applied to all pages carrying the trigger.
Content triggers can be deployed anywhere in the site EXCEPT existing template content insert panels. - General System
- updated 2015-03-14 02:02:40
New option within the Product Page Layout editor to have the finance pop-over within a TAB. **HTML5 CSS3 upgraded and new sites only. - General System
- updated 2015-02-10 00:00:00
A few weeks since this was deployed but Two enhancements to the integration with Seanic Retail EPoS;
Supplier forward stock availability.
If running the "supplier" branch in Seanic, some feeds from supplier may contain next available delivery projections.
If you enable the option, the site can read these advance dates and re-enable items for sale with the projected date displayed to customers. If you have Seanic and are not running the supplier integration, talk to Sean.
Manual Order data transfers.
Until recently, data for your order was transferred at the point you complete a transaction In the website. Seanic then updated its stock levels and stored the transaction.
Now, if you enable the option, you can have control over when that data is transferred. All transactions will arrive into Seanic in the Customer Orders section.
If enabled, you will need to manually initiate the data transfer for every order (one button click when reviewing the order). Once transferred, the data cannot be transferred again (preventing duplicate transactions in your till) - General System
- updated 2015-02-09 23:53:38
"Clearance" status products:
When a status of Clearance is applied to a product it will now display its pricing in an on offer style, but with a label of "To Clear"
The To Clear price will be either RRP, Normal or Offer price, whichever is the lowest.
Media Manager (HTML5/CSS3 sites only)
Media manager now has the option to apply width and float style commands to the image embed tags.
Widths are native, 100%, 50%, 33%, 25%, 20% and 12.5%
Floats are none, left and right
This will reduce the need to hand adjust image tags before embedding.
- General System
- updated 2014-12-19 17:51:21
I have added a new tool to the spring cleaning armoury.
When products and brands are deleted from your site, all the images that once belonged to those products are left behind. Gradually, over time, the volume increases and these old images are simply using up space on the server serving no purpose.
The new tool(s) I have added are:
Within "Media Manager"
The numbered folders are all brand folders. The number corresponds to a brand in your site. Where the brand has been deleted, no brand name is displayed with the numbered folder.
rnNow, instead, a red bold "[DELETED BRAND - KILL?] message is displayed which, if Kill is clicked will permanently delete that folder and all its contents.
As a numbered folder only contains images uploaded via product editor for that (now deleted) brand, this action is safe to undertake.
Within "Configurations & Maintenance"
New option "Remove Orphaned Product Images"
There are two selections within this area;
1) "Kill images for deleted brands"
This is the equivalent of clicking all the "KILL" links shown on individual folders within media manager at the same time.
2) "Kill images for all deleted products"
This option (not selected by default) looks at every image uploaded into the numbered brand folders and cross references the database to see if that image still belongs to a product which still exists within your database, regardless of status. If the image does not match a product entry it is deleted.
rnThis second process will take significantly longer to perform and on sites where the process has not previously occurred *may* time out. If it does, simply restart the process. - General System
- updated 2014-10-28 00:45:14
Further to my last update regarding the ability to disable left or right hand blocks from displaying on the homepage...
Homepage Admin: Auto Random Products (panels 1 - 6)
Homepage Admin: Product Highlights
Both the above have been extended to take advantage of the space released by disabling blocks.
Now, when BOTH sets of blocks are disabled on the homepage, you will be able to deploy random products in a "4-Up" layout, ie four equally spaced listings per row AND the Product Highlights panel will additionally offer a fourth column, enabling up to 12 product highlights in a 3rows x 4cols layout.
Available in all subscription levels.
NOTE: This only applies to sites once they have been upgraded to the HTML5/CSS3 format - General System
- updated 2014-10-20 14:01:47
As I am now 11 sites in to the site upgrades for HTML5/CSS3 and responsive layouts, a few common requirements have emerged which have led to me making some fundamental changes to the platform templating architecture:
BLOCKS ON HOMEPAGE
The left and right side panel blocks are now display controllable.
Standard homepage layout has always been LEFT BLOCKS - HOMEPAGE CONTENT - RIGHT BLOCKS
Standard page layout has always been LEFT BLOCKS - PAGE CONTENT
ie the LEFT BLOCKS were ALWAYS there on the homepage, but could be disabled on all other pages or just the product pages.
RIGHT BLOCKS were ALWAYS there on the homepage. This panel is NOT available on any other page.
NOW:
Right blocks panel can be disabled from being displayed on the homepage
Left blocks panel can be disabled from being displayed on the homepage
With both left and right blocks enabled, the primary template architecture dictates 5 equal columns (20% per column) distributed as 20% - 60% (ie 3 combined for homepage content) - 20% (right blocks)
On other pages, the 5 columns are maintained but with a split of 20% - 80% (ie 4 combined for content)
With either left or right blocks disabled, the architecture sets to a FOUR column format;
25% left blocks - 75% content
or
75% content - 25% right blocks (homepage only)
25% left blocks - 75% content (all other)
The above probably makes no sense at all!
In brief,
you can now disable left blocks from displaying on your homepage
you can now disable right blocks from displaying on your homepage
templates will adapt to utilise the space in a more practical way.
NOTE: This only applies to sites once they have been upgraded to the HTML5/CSS3 format - General System
- updated 2014-10-20 11:50:49
For all sites running with Finance checkout, the examples panel/popup has been improved to now display:
a) All finance packages a product qualifies for with lowest monthly payment and lowest cost of borrowing highlighted
b) Other finance packages that the product would qualify for as part of a larger order (upsell)
I have also rebuilt the full finance examples page similarly. - General System
- updated 2014-10-10 23:24:47
I've added a new option for all NEW voucher codes you create from now on.
Previously, vouchers could be redeemed even when other sales promotions had been applied.
The new option (available to Standard and Premium subscriptions where the vouchers system is available) enables you to implicitly allow OR disallow voucher usage where a sales promotion has been activated.
The option is to disallow usage by default and all existing voucher codes have been set to disallow.
Interactions with Sales promos:
Buy One Get One Free: Any product assigned to B1G1F will disable usage if added to cart
Buy 1 get one half price: Voucher will disallow if item quantity is greater than one.
Buy 2 get one free: Voucher will disallow if item quantity is greater than one.
Group Saves: Voucher will disallow if item quantity within the group is greater than one.
Multi-Buy Discounts (price decreasing at quanity break points): Voucher will disallow if any multibuy is triggered
Link Saves (Buy two related products to save x% or £x.xx): Voucher will disallow if both items in a link save are selected
Category Link Saves (x% off items in category X for buying item from category Y)): Voucher will disallow as soon as a linked saving is applied
Value Linked Discount (x% value of item X in other free goods) (CATEGORY Based): Voucher will disallow as soon as a linked saving is applied
Value Linked Discount (x% value of item X in other free goods) (PRODUCT Specific): Voucher will disallow as soon as a linked saving is applied
Reward Discount (£x.xx in other free goods) (CATEGORY Based): Voucher will disallow as soon as a linked saving is applied
Reward Discount (£x.xx in other free goods) (PRODUCT Specific): Voucher will disallow as soon as a linked saving is applied
Free Delivery (Item Only) (Edit System Icon): Voucher will disallow if item selected
Free Delivery (Complete Order) (Edit System Icon): Voucher will disallow if item selected
PLEASE NOTE: ONLY new voucher codes created from now onward have the option to allow them with sales promos. All existing codes have been set to the default disallow. - Products
- updated 2014-08-28 00:39:38
Product Editing
Over time, many brands get too large to successfully edit in one pass.
I have added the option to load based on year such that only a limited part of a brand can be loaded. - General System
- updated 2014-07-10 01:51:05
NEW Features: (ALL Subscription Levels)
Automated T&C's emailing Ability to have part or all of your terms and conditions emailed to customers with their order confirmation emails. You may select individual entries from your current terms and conditions to be included.
Inclusion of a model returns form emailed to customers with their order confirmation emails.
"Cycle To Work" checkout This is a clone of the standard checkout but marked as Cycle To Work in order admin screen to differentiate from normal checkout methods.
Order Status "Returned & Refunded" Addition of an additional system Order Status "Returned & Refunded". Once assigned to this status and order will disappear from back office as if completed BUT the order values will be reflected as refunded in order stats.
Stock Alert Emails Stock Alert Emails which allow your customer to request an email alert when an item is marked back into stock. Enable in Ecommerce Settings.
Cookie Regs Cookie alert (legal/regulations compliance requirement)
Product images "lightbox" Product images "lightbox" with click through from one to the next.
Image Normalisation Image "normalisation" option. This resizes product imagery (including brand, category etc) onto nominally sized white canvases to make all your product imagery the same size. Existing product images are normalized without further input if an image resizing process is initiated within Image Resize Options.
Available to ALL subscription levels once site converted to HTML5:
Image flipping: displays specific variant image when the variant is selected on product pages.
Responsive layout including a mobile/tablet specific version of site for improved campatability.
Available to PREMIUM subscription accounts immediately:
Customer Loyalty Rewards (points)
Available to PREMIUM subscription accounts once site converted to HTML5:
Complete control of product page layout within back office
Optional "Tabs" on product pages (up to 5 tabs) to reduce product page clutter
Product Enquiry/Price Match built in, with configurations (only available in tabbed layout)
Product Reviews built in, with configurations (only available in tabbed layout) - General System
- updated 2014-07-10 01:51:05
HTML5 and CSS3
Core platform converted to HTML5 and CSS3.
All new sites will be developed in HTML5 and CSS3.
Existing sites are being converted FREE OF CHARGE - Products
- updated 2014-03-07 11:49:21
ASCEND RMS EPoS
Semi-integration with your Ascend stock file.
We can now receive an overnight stock file which the system can automatically process for you to keep your stock levels in check. It can additionally (optional) update pricing for you and set/remove offers
As usual, there is NO CHARGE for this to be completed.
Once set up, your site will automatically update once a day, overnight to bring website stock levels in line with your till.
CAVEAT: In order for the automated updates to work, you MUST have manufacturers part numbers or EAN/UPC codes in your site against all products. - General System
- updated 2014-04-28 00:09:57
You may ignore if you are not submitting your products to Google Shopping.
Custom labels are a feature within Google Shopping Campaigns.
The option to use Google Shopping labels is now included for anyone on Standard or Premium.
For more details on Google Shopping Labels and Campaigns, refer to https://support.google.com/adwords/answer/3455481?hl=en-GB - General System
- updated 2014-04-28 00:04:17
Custom labels are a feature within Google Shopping Campaigns.
The option to use Google Shopping labels is now included for anyone on Standard or Premium.
- Shopping Cart
- updated 2013-12-05 23:59:53
Rolled out v12 Finance integration to all I-Bikeshop sites.
Added customisable deposit level options for system defaults and specific finance packages. - General System
- updated 2013-08-21 12:38:45
Seanic Retail EPoS Integration Enhancements
Two new features to the integration with Seanic Retail's EPoS system, available for those running their sites integrated to a Seanic till.
1) Stock information in Order Admin Screens
If the option is enabled, items within orders will be colour coded to tell you whether or not your till is showing stock availability.
Items "in stock" on the till will be colour coded green, and display a bin/stock location if one is entered along with the Branch name where the stock exists.
Items out of stock on the till, or unrecognised will be colour coded yellow and display N/A
2) Supplier stock level automation
This one isn't something that you can just switch on. It involves creating a Branch within Seanic and storing supplier stock levels within it (recommended settings for stock are 0 for supplier has stock and -1 for supplier has no stock)
If your internal branches show no stock, the supplier "branch" is queried.
If the supplier branch carries -1 stock, the variant record will be automatically set to "N" within the website and the item taken of sale.
If the supplier branch carries 0 stock, the variant record will be left alone.
Supplier stock "branch" is also queried in order admin, items out of stock with supplier colour coded red, in stock colour coded orange, both labelled "Supplier Stock"
To use this second feature, you'll need to talk to Sean @ Seanic to discover what you need to do at the till end.
- General System
- updated 2013-08-21 12:35:13
System split into three service levels, LITE, STANDARD & PREMIUM
LITE is a scaled down feature set suitable for smaller retailers who wish to keep costs in check and who do not wish to use Google Shopping or be able to import/export data in bulk. Still no limits on product quantity or categorisation.
STANDARD is suitable for most with an almost full feature set.
PREMIUM service levels now have exclusive access to all new features as they are released, for at least one year from release (after which time some features will be made available to STANDARD. Additionally, there are a number of PREMIUM ONLY features;
Product Upgrades, allowing charged for options to be added to any product
Advanced homepage layout tools, enabling considerably greater freedom and control over homepage content and layout. - Google Base (Froogle)
- updated 2013-04-11 14:41:48
New Google Shopping policies coming in on 17th April require me to add two additional data fields to data feeds;
gender
age_group
In theory, these fields/attributes are only required for product being submitted in to [Google taxonomy] "Apparel & Accessories" product groups
To meet the new requirements we've added two new fields into the productRecords table;
gsProductGender
gsProductAgeGroup
gsProductGender can be one of four values: n [not applicable], u [unisex], m [male/mens] or f [female/womens]
gsProductAgeGroup can be one of three values: n [not applicable], a [adults] or k [kids]
All existing product records have been set to "n" for both values.
New products generated through the back office will default to "n" unless set to one of the other options.
======================================================================
WHAT DOES AFFECT YOU IF YOU SUBMIT YOUR PRODUCTS TO GOOGLE SHOPPING
If you do not submit your portfolio to Google Shopping (Froogle) you may ignore this section.
Google's policy changes affect ONLY products which are submitted to any section of the Taxonomy below "Apparel & Accessories" therefore you do not currently need to do anything to products in your site submitted outside this area.
Colour - Colour is now a REQUIRED ATTRIBUTE for all products submitted in "Apparel & Accessories"
Gender - Gender is now a REQUIRED ATTRIBUTE for all products submitted in "Apparel & Accessories" and may be one of the three; Male, Female or Unisex
Age Group - Age Group is now a REQUIRED ATTRIBUTE for all products submitted in "Apparel & Accessories" and may be one of the two; Adult or Kids
======================================================================
WHAT DOES AFFECT YOU IF YOU USE THE DATA IMPORT/EXPORT SYSTEMS
The two new fields have been added in to the data export import tools.
Thus, a complete fields import or export will have two additional columns, positioned immediately before "productCondition" at the end of each row, so if you rely on complete imports or exports, you'll need to revise your files to reflect the two new fields.
======================================================================
gender and age_group have been added in to the google feed file as part of the upgrade, though the fields will be empty/unpopulated for anything carrying the "n" value. After 17th April, these products may cause a Critical Warning in your merchant centre account if not updated to carry the correct updated information. - General System
- updated 2013-02-06 23:48:25
Added Social Networking buttons for;
Facebook "Like"
Twitter "Share"
Google "+1" - Shopping Cart
- updated 2012-10-01 23:16:26
Added facilities for consumers to track ordder status real time.
Tracking does not require customers to register with the site or provide a password. - General System
- updated 2012-09-13 23:03:51
Following a user request, the number of Automated Random Product panels has been increased from 2 to 6.
As previously, you can place each of the six panels in any position within the homepage flow that you wish, plus each panel has four display options: Default, Super Highlights (big listings) or Highlights in either 2up or 3up (2 per row or 3 per row). - General System
- updated 2012-08-29 00:54:20
Brand and Category drop down selectors have now been set to not display initially when editing a product. They are displayed as text only, and with an "Enable Editing" link below which will allow the two settings to be altered.
This is designed to speed up page load time, especially on sites with high numbers of brands and categories, since it is a relatively uncommon event that category or brand would be editied for an existing product.
Second update is to the homepage system.
New optiond to deploy the following systems into a 2 column format, in addition to the existing 3 column format:
Auto Random Products Panel 1 (when running in HIGHLIGHTS mode)
Auto Random Products Panel 2 (when running in HIGHLIGHTS mode)
Product Highlights (previously only available as a 3x3 layout). - Shopping Cart
- updated 2012-08-16 09:13:48
SAVED CARTS: Enable admin to create a shopping cart to pass to a customer via a link, prefilling the customers basket with the selected items. - Shopping Cart
- updated 2012-07-06 00:13:22
Upgrade to the existing "Voucher Promotions" system.
In future, create a voucher which may only be used a single time.
Examples of usage;
Perhaps you want to sell gift vouchers? Create a code unique to your customer and send it to them. If bought as a gift, the buyer just needs to give the code to their recipient.
Perhaps you want to use vouchers to enable Price Match reductions. Send your price match customer a code with a time limit.
Any voucher set up as single use will automatically expire once an order has been completed where that code has been used. - Product Editor
- updated 2012-06-26 15:03:40
New options to set automated resizing parameters (width and height) for product system images added.
For more information you can contact us on: info@i-bikeshop.com