Releases/4.5.0beta

= Screencast =

Length: 4:07 minutes

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= Revamped Store Front Design =

Check out the completely redesigned store front that ships with the 4.5.0 beta release. Beautiful, isn't it?

It includes


 * a clean layout,
 * interactive roll-overs,
 * a grid and line view switch for lists,
 * image carousels,
 * tag clouds,
 * support for user-generated content (UGC),
 * easy social media and multi-media integration,
 * cross-sells of related products,
 * and more.

= Sample Themes =

As examples, the new store front comes pre-equipped with two themes. Switching themes in the administration area is not yet supported in 4.5.0 beta, hence you might want to modify config.inc.php and change this line $this-&gt;sTheme = 'azure'; to $this-&gt;sTheme = 'basic'; = Theme-specific Settings =

Each theme can now provide specific settings regarding layout, features and images. A typical layout option would be "Display cart on left side" or "Display cart on right side". Image options would allow to set the size of thumbnails. Features such as vouchers, gift wrappping could be enabled or disabled per theme.

Find theme-specific settings in the administration interface at Master Settings -&gt; Core Settings -&gt; Theme.

= AJAX Magic with jQuery =

The new eCommerce front end uses AJAX and JavaScript technology to enhance usability. Especially in an online store where data may change on a simple input it is unnecessary to reload the complete page for getting the result of your changes. We decided to use jQuery as the standard JavaScript library. Writing JavaScript code should be fun, shouldn't it?

= Preparations for Modules and Themes Installer =

Template and module developers can use yet another cool new feature for their modules: We are preparing OXID eShop 4.5.0 perfectly for the future use of themes and a module installer. The aim is clear: download and install the module needed for your business case with a simple click. With the 4.5.0 beta, we will show the basis so you can get an imagination of how it will look like in the final version.

To make your modules and themes ready for the installer, all you need to do is to ensure that they utilize the "template inheritance" feature that we introduced with this beta release. Read on to learn more.

= Template Inheritance =

Smarty as a template engine is proven and will further be used. Of course we were tempted to use Smarty3 as it has been beta for a long time and comes with some very nice features. We tested very meticulously and found some issues that deemed to be not good enough for OXID eShop 4.5.0. Primarily, the performance of Smarty3 was very bad. So we decided to go for Smarty2 - and implemented one of the most interesting features of Smarty3 into OXID eShop 4.5.0: the "template inheritance".

Now we have the best of the two worlds: The reliability and performance of Smarty2 and Template inheritance of Smarty3. Also, we are prepared to easily switch to Smarty3 as soon as it is good enough.

= Themes Resources for Developers =

We have set up a new page in the Wiki about themes, where we will collect all information such as where to obtain and how to develop, configure, share or sell themes for OXID eShop. Keep watching that page for new tutorials, screencasts and more which we'll also announce on our news channels.

= More Great Enhancements =


 * Unlimited multi-lingual shops: In the past, OXID eShop was only able to serve max. 15 languages due to limitations in the MySQL database. We've changed things in OXID eShop so that this limitation does not affect multi-lingual shops anymore.

= Get Involved =


 * Bug Tracker: Help us squash bugs in 4.5.0 beta and report them in our bugtracker.
 * Feature Request: Let us know your good ideas how to further enhance the functionality included in this beta.
 * SVN: Get the latest development code to get an idea how development proceeds.

= Stable Release =

Our goal is to release the stable version of OXID eShop 4.5.0 in the first quarter 2011. Probably even in February.

= Stay Informed =

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