4.7.0 Beta: new “Light Responsive” skin and improved Checkout workflow, In-context Checkout by PayPal, major revision of AOM, Smarty 3.x upgrade
Greetings to those who keep an eye on X-Cart 4 Classic development! We’re happy to introduce the new branch of X-Cart, it’s 4.7.x. We took decision to start with Beta, as it contains a number of serious changes. Please expect the stable version in a month or so.
New “Light Responsive” skin and improved Checkout Workflow
We’ve added a new modern skin into all packages of X-Cart Classic. Your store will look elegant. Of course, it’s responsive, thus – mobile ready. Neither too fancy, nor overloaded – simplicity is in trend!
We’ve also removed the “continue” button under the column with personal info of the customer on checkout page – it should make the checkout procedure smoother and more user-friendly, hence improve the conversion rate.
In-context Checkout by PayPal
PayPal has announced the launch of a new feature recently, it is aimed at simplifying the checkout flow for your customers. Evolved from the well-known “Express Checkout”, the “In-context Checkout” decreases the number of clicks to 2 (or 3, if the buyer is not logged in to his PayPal account). A user will NOT be taken to a PayPal site to complete the transaction — it all happens right on your website. Moreover, right on the page the customer was viewing, as it opens a minibrowser above that very page. In case of a successful transaction, the order confirmation is shown to the customer, otherwise he is redirected to a regular checkout page to try again.
See below how it looks. The video is shot in the store based on X-Cart 5, so the layout is a bit different, but it gives you a very good idea of how quick and easy such a checkout is:
Custom order statuses
The new module is available within packages “GoldPlus” and “Platinum”, and its title is self-explanatory: the module enables the admin to create “custom order statuses”. To add a new one, go to “Settings” – >”Order statuses”.
Major revision of AOM
Advanced Order Management is a very important feature. Customers tend to order the wrong items or change their mind and call with the request to change this or that in the order placed. The functionality is very and very complex and even complicated, so the faults and bugs were inevitable. But the moment of the profound revision finally came.
- Payment method surcharge is now editable too
- The shipping method name can be modified now too.
- Module re-factoring related to profile fields, taxes, discounts and other features was done.
- The second address line (Address Line 2) could not be removed. It was fixed.
- Discounts and taxes calculation was incorrect in particular circumstances – now rewritten too.
- Email validation on the edit customer information page was added
- And more, see detailed changelog here or inside the distribution package.
We keep thinning out the bug-tracker, the AOM-related issues in particular, so by the moment of stable release there will be more fixes and improvements.
Smarty Upgrade
The release of a new branch is a good reason to upgrade Smarty from v. 2 to v.3, 3.1.21 to be exact. This version is more flexible, convenient and secure. It should also be a bit faster. Finally, you were asking for it, weren’t you? 😉
Your feedback is welcome
Changes to the License Agreement applicable to v.4.7.x and higher
We promised to continue developing and supporting version 4 and we stand by our word. The developing process requires resources on our side so we have to change the license agreement in v4.7.x to ensure that we will be able to provide you with the new versions and new features in future.
All the X-Cart stores based on version 4.7.x will get one year access to free upgrade packs within branch 4. After that the upgrade license fee is to be paid to get the upgrade packs.
All the stores based on versions 4.6.6 and earlier can download upgrade packs without any charge at any time, but as soon as you install a fresh 4.7.x version or upgrade your store to 4.7.x, you automatically agree with the new license agreement.
As usual the license upgrade will be free for all customers who purchase our professional upgrade service.