Any plans to upgrade the solr to 4.0 alpha? On Thu, Aug 9, 2012 at 4:34 AM, Nick Rosser <[email protected]> wrote:
> OFBiz User Community, > > We are pleased to announce a new release of demo sites, with many > enhancements and features, to our site at http://bigfish.salmonllc.com. > As always, the best way to see what it's all about is to visit the site, > click on "demo" and play around with both an eCommerce implementation and > the Admin Module. > > > Significant feature enhancements since the last release are as follows: > > ** Many, many small enhancements and fixes, in both the eCommerce and > Admin Modules > > ** Check-Out: enhanced features to control single-page-checkout; > guest-checkout; multi-step-checkout; credit-card-required; store credit > card for future use etc. All configurable of course via the Admin Module -> > Admin -> System Parameters. > > ** Product Detail Page: ability configure a "recently viewed" component. > This will display a history of previously viewed products in the > product-detail page. > > ** Product Loader and Feeds functionality: we have defined many incoming > and outgoing BigFish feeds that our clients can use for daily interaction > with BigFish from their existing ERP solution. The primary feed is a > BigFish Product Loader -- clients can use either an XLS or XML format file > that is used to initially load and subsequently update the entire product > catalog. We are finishing up writing some scheduled services so that this > process can be more automated. Outgoing feeds include Customers (registered > users); Orders; Catalog Requests; and Contact-Us events. Incoming upload > feeds include Product Catalog and Order Status changes. > > ** Real "variant" intelligence: SEO-Friendly-URLs are now generated to the > variant level. So, for example, www.retailsite/apparel/**special-blouse > can now have several variant extensions such as > www.retailsite/apparel/**special-blouse-red > etc. This is useful for both SEO purposes and email campaigns (since the > exact variant link can be put in the email, customer clicks on it, and the > proper color variant is displayed initially) > > ** Product Listing Page: we've expanded the sort options to include "Most > Viewed" and "Best Sellers". Available options offered are maintained as a > system parameter. > > ** Expanded Content Spots: in the Admin Module -> Content section we've > added many new content spots. These can be used to provide lifestyle > content on all the category listing pages, special recurring content on the > product-detail-page (such as standard social media links) etc. > > ** New Admin Screens: Maintain the backend OFBiz Shipping Charges and > Scheduled Jobs via the BigFish Admin Module. > > ** Admin Module Skins: we created a GunMetal-Grey css skin for the Admin > Module. Ability to create and upload your own skins is now available in the > Admin -> Tools section. > > ** Multi-Site: we've made some progress in being able to support multiple > Product Stores. The initial challenge was to allow for product catalog and > all associated content to be segregated by Product Store. This is now > complete. Next steps is to move forward and create the actual catalog and > content in order to demonstrate this. > > ** DIV-Sequencing: we've spent a ton of time on a concept we're calling > "DIV Sequencing". Basically each component on a page, say the Product > Detail Page, maps to a DIV/Class in the CSS. Some clients may want image + > product-name + color-selector + add-to-cart-button + full-descriptions + > ratings-and-reviews. Another client may want product-name + image + > full-descriptions + color-selector + add-to-cart-button. The DIV-Sequencing > feature allows retail clients to pick and choose which elements should be > displayed in a particularly page and the actual sequence they should be > rendered in the mark-up. This significantly simplifies the styling changes > required in the CSS to get the final look-and-feel since the basic layout > is setup by the DIV-sequencing. This has applied to all of the key pages. > The Div-Sequences are maintained in the Admin->Tools section of the Admin > Module. > > ** Docs: we've loaded up our specifications, useful for getting some > insight into our process and approach > > ** NEW CLIENTS: We are anticipating announcements for a couple of our new > clients being launched on the BigFish platform. Getting production ready > has proven to be quite tricky given the normal integration efforts that are > involved in going live with an eCommerce site. See the Product-Loader and > Feeds section above! > > Comments, questions always welcome! > > > Best Regards, > Nick Rosser > [email protected] > O: 516.742.7888 x221 > C: 516.901.1720 > >> >> On 5/3/2012 1:28 PM, Nick Rosser wrote: >> >>> OFBiz user community: >>> >>> A quick update for the BigFish eCommerce project. For more details >>> please visit http://bigfish.salmonllc.com. The best way to view what >>> this is all about is to click on the "Demo" link and play around. The >>> Fashion House and Electronic Store demos show the majority of features that >>> are available. >>> >>> Significant feature enhancements since the last release are as follows: >>> >>> ** Many small enhancements and fixes, in both the eCommerce and Admin >>> modules >>> >>> ** Rotating Carousel: Fashion House and Electronic Store both have >>> implementation examples. Content maintained in Admin Module (Content / Home >>> page spots). >>> >>> ** QuickLook on Product Listing Page (PLP): prototype available, still >>> needs some tweaks to control the transition >>> >>> ** Product "Variant" enhancements. Check out the Fashion House demo at >>> http://bigfish.salmonllc.com:**8082/online/control/main<http://bigfish.salmonllc.com:8082/online/control/main>. >>> Click on Apparel / Blouses. Play with the "swatches", works very well in >>> Product Detail Page. Also integrated into the SOLR facets. On the Fashion >>> House demo execute a site search for "pink" -- you'll see the pink variant >>> image of the "3/4 sleeve button down". Search for "white" and you'll see >>> the white version. Works nicely. >>> >>> >>> ** Mega Menu. Both Fashion House and Electronic Store demos have >>> examples of overriding the standard navigation drop-down with a more >>> expansive "mega menu". Content managed in Admin Module (Content / Product >>> Category Content). >>> >>> ** Under the covers (CSS): we've spent a lot of time consolidating and >>> cleaning up the CSS, for both eCommerce and Admin. For adopters this should >>> greatly simplify styling for your desired look-and-feel. Tools in the Admin >>> Module (Admin / Tools) to store new style sheets and switch CSS files. >>> Currently working on alternate styles for the Admin Module (for some reason >>> folks don't seem to like our classic "in your face orange" styling!). >>> >>> ** Admin Module, enhancements to support all additional features, >>> enhanced Order Status changes (on the Orders tab). >>> >>> >>> ROAD MAP ... >>> >>> For a complete list of features, what's coming soon, and our road map go >>> to >>> http://bigfish.salmonllc.com/**bfFeatures.html<http://bigfish.salmonllc.com/bfFeatures.html> >>> . >>> >>> There was some previous interest in the multi-site capability of >>> BigFish. We've made some baseline changes to control the separation of >>> Product catalog, and the Admin Module understands this separation. We have >>> a clear idea as to how to separate out the other content (home page, static >>> pages etc.) and will be implementing this shortly. >>> >>> NEW CLIENTS ... >>> >>> The community may be interested to know that we're working on two client >>> implementations, both decent mid-sized companies. Our general sales >>> prospecting efforts are beginning to pick up some momentum and we typically >>> have 2 client demos each week ... obviously hoping that we will be >>> converting some of these into real clients over the coming weeks and >>> months. We've also found that the BigFish solution stacks up quite well >>> when comparing to Magento and other pay-for competitors. We don't have any >>> particular "white papers" or similar documentation but obviously the price >>> point is a very attractive feature. In terms of integration we are >>> leveraging our custom software history as a way to ensure prospects of our >>> capability and our ability to implement a robust, stable, expandable and >>> flexible solution. The rich functionality of the OFBiz baseline is key here >>> -- and every BigFish implementation is by nature an OFBiz implementation so >>> hopefully this will bring more attention to the OFBiz project during the >>> rest of this year. >>> >>> As always, comments, questions, suggestions are welcome! >>> >>> -- Thanks, Deepak Agarwal, Paxcel Technologies Pvt Ltd. Hartron Complex, Sector 18, Gurgaon, India. E-Mail: [email protected] Mobile: +91 9910322604
