Spinsoft Website Builder. Version 1.03.08

18th September 2007


Update Notes

 

New Membership System!

 

One of the biggest changes in the 1.03.08 update is the New Membership System.  This is an entirely new way to handle permissions for your website, it has been simplified, while giving you even more control.  The main change is that policies are now handled at the item (page, file, product) and you can now give product discounts per product category or even per product if you desire.


As well as a change to the policy system, the way member groups work has slightly changed.  Each group now has their own set of resources which will show on the new 'my_resources' page, these can be pages, files or links.  Groups will have exclusive access to any resources you give them, and can access them no matter what.  There is also a new 'welcome' page which shows when a member first logs in, and the HTML text on this welcome page can be customized per group if you desire.


Browser Cache No Longer an issue:  We have applied some new technology to the way the website builder files are handled, so that your browser will download the new versions of the files when they change.  This means you should no longer have to clean out your browser cache when we apply an update!   We will be applying a similar technology to the website front ends in the future, so that there are no caching issues when you change your templates.



Here is a complete list of compiled changes for the 1.03.08 update, with the most recent changes in red.



Interface Changes

  • General
    • Added tabs to sections such as File Library, Pages and Content etc.  These tabs allow you to switch between settings, policies, history and other information about the item.
    • Added history information to items such as pages so that you can see when they were created, last modified and by who.
    • New Wizard Interface icon added to the top menu bar.  This toggles the wizard on and off.
    • New feature request/bug submission form icon added to the top menu bar.
    • New security added to the login to protect against Session Fixation attacks.
  • Rich Text Editor
    • Added a new Image Verification feature to the form builder.  Simply add this to your form and visitors will be required to enter the dynamic letters on the image when submitting a form.  This can check if the user is human as opposed to automatic robot crawlers, and should help prevent form spamming.
    • Added a Clear Image button to insert image and insert background image so they are easier to remove from tables (mainly when creating newsletters).

Front End (Website) Changes

  • When a user logs in they will be directed to the new 'welcome' page.
  • A new 'my_resources' page has been added.
  • When special member pages are in the menu, these menu buttons will be hidden until a member logs in.  This is useful as you generally don't want to show buttons to pages the user has no access too anyway!

Base Module

  • Admin Settings
    • Updated the admin settings to the new settings style (as used in product, ecommerce module etc)
  • Pages and Content
    • Page policies are now handled at the page with the new system. 
    • Policy types include the page access policy.
    • By default each page will use the page category settings, which by default allows access to all pages in the category.
    • Added the new special pages to handle the donation checkout.  These pages are donation, donation_payment, donation_confirmation and donation_summary.  If you have the e-commerce module and want to take donations, simply link to the donation.php page from anywhere on your site!
  • File Library
    • File policies are now handled at the file with the new system
    • Policy types include the file access policy.
    • By default each file will use the file category settings, which by default allows access to all files in the category.
  • Form Manager
    • Added the option to skip empty fields, if they are not entered in the form they won't show in the email/log if you tick this option.
    • This is a new section which was added to the Base Module.
    • Track any existing forms by entering the reference id from the form in the rich text editor.
    • You can change the name of the form you are tracking, this will be used as the subject of the email when you receive a form submission email.
    • Add post submission formula to your forms (this means the calculations are done after the form is submitted and sent to your email/log - so the visitor can't see the calculations).

      You can add as many formula as you like, and they can be quite complex!
    • Added a logging feature so you can have your submitted forms stored inside the website builder instead of emailed to you (or you can do both).   When logging received forms you can mark them as read, mark them as replied and remove them.
    • Added basic statistics for your forms, such as number of times submitted, the number of warnings people are getting when submitting forms and failed submissions.  This can be useful to tell if you need to make your form easier to use, if people are getting a high number of warnings.
    • A new setting when tracking a form, allows you to force image verification.  This was a new feature added to forms in the rich text editor which prevents forms from being automatically submitted with spam.
  • Template Design
    • The inital settings for tables/order tables have been updated so they look nicer when you first create a template.


Product Module

  • Product Editor
    • Product policies are handled at the product with the new system.
    • Policy types include the product discount policy.
    • By default each product will use the product category settings, which by default gives no discounts
    • Discounts can be given to all members, or a custom discount per group, per product.  The new discount system for products is very flexible.
    • Discounts can now be a percentage OR an absolute amount
    • Product names must now be unique


Membership Module

  • Member Settings
    • The member settings is now using the new style settings as used in Product/Ecommerce Modules.
    • A new setting 'Policy System' has been added to change to the new policy system.  Note that once you change to the new policy system you can not change back.  The old policy system will be phased out over the next updates.
  • Member Polcies
    • Once you have switched to the new Member Policy System (in Member Settings), policies will be controlled at the item.  For example select a page and press the new 'Policies' tab.
    • The new policy settings use group inheritance.  So a subgroup of another group will inherit any access that the parent group had.  Group inheritance is also applied to Group Resources, but not to the welcome message.
  • Member Groups
    • New Description Settings, so that you can type a description for the group both public and private.  The public description is not currently shown on the front end but will be in the future.
    • New Resources tab for groups, where you can add resources that will be shown on the groups 'My Resources' page.  The resources will be split into the Group Headings you provide for each item.   Resources use group inheritance.
    • New Welcome tab for groups where you can edit the Richtext they see when first logging in.  This will be shown as well as any default text you include in the new 'Welcome' page which can be found in the special pages folder.
    • The original Subscribed and .Ungrouped groups are now deleteable/customizable like any other groups.  There are no groups with special functions, so you can create any groups you like.

Ecommerce Module

  • General
    • E-commerce module now handles taking donation payments, this was added as a set of pages for the front end (donation, donation_payment and donation_confirm).  The donation checkout procedure has been implemented to use the payment methods from your e-commerce module, and will place a special donation type order.
    • Donations can be viewed by members in their 'My Order' section on the front end.
  • Front End
    • Updated the ecommerce checkout system and the price display.  It will now show discounts, taxes and shipping much clearer and nicer.
    • Updated the ecommerce order system to handle donations as a different type of order.
  • Ecommerce Settings
    • Added a new settings section for the new Donation System, here you can custom settings appropriate to the donation checkout.
  • Order Tracking
    • Update the order tracking system, when editing an order you can now change product names, as well as product options (attributes).
    • When completing an order, it will be set as fully paid and a copy of the completed order will be emailed to the customer.
    • When viewing an order in the 'Order Tracking' section, it will display different information depending on whether it is a normal order, or a donation order.
  • Discounts & Coupons
    • Discounts & Coupons are now applied based on the Product Subtotal including any taxes.
  • Payment Methods
    • Added a new Credit Card payment gateway - MIGS (Mastercard Internet Gateway Service) to the Payment Methods section.


Wizard Interface (beta):

  • The wizard interface has been enabled for use, keep in mind it is currently in beta status and still in development.
  • This new interface allows you to select a desired action such as 'Add a Page to your Website', and then guides you through step by step. 
  • Includes full details for just about everything, each individual entry field has a description of what should be entered, and is highlighted red if there is ever an error with the input.
  • Our unique system allows you to start multiple wizard actions.  When you come back to an action which you already started, all of your settings will be remembered so you won't have to enter them again!
  • You can switch back and forth between complete steps to make changes.
  • A small introductory tutorial on how to use the wizard has been included.
  • Wizard Actions are divided into the relevant sections, such as Pages, Images, Files and Products.
  • The following wizard actions are ready to use:
    • Add a new page to your website, rename an existing page, delete an existing page, edit the contents of an existing page, change the template of an existing page and publish or unpublish a page.
    • Add a new image, delete and existing image, replace or modify and existing image, add an image to an existing page.
    • Add a new product, delete an existing product, modify an existing product and import & update products from a file.

Bugs & Glitches

  • Fixed Bugs
    • Fixed a bug where the Trademark and Euro symbols weren't being correctly displayed on pages.
    • Fixed a bug in template design where float elements weren't correctly remember the width and height.
    • Fixed a bug when saving newsletter issues once enabled, which caused you to have to save twice.
    • Menu buttons with quotations and semicolons will now display correctly
  • Known Issues
    • A bug with product modifiers when using product code prefix and unique codes.  This causes a unique error even though the codes are different.
    • Template saving can sometimes time out when you have a large number of extensions under the template being saved (10 or more)
    • Some very minor IE7 display issues.