10 Reasons Why X-Cart 4.1.x is an improvement.

After finally getting enough time to sit down and really evaluate the latest release of X-Cart version 4.1.1. I've found many advantages to this new release compared to its little brother 4.0.

1) All images are now able to be storred via the File System, this includes, Manufacturer images. Not to mention the ability to easily copy/paste image urls into your products, and simply check a checkbox "Upload all remote images to the selected image repository (database or file system):" Found in the Images Location menu to pull these images off a remote server and store locally. This is a huge plus if you ask me, as I'm even doing such for a client now with version 4.0.x!

2) I had mentioned this previously in on the X-Cart forums. The ever growing include/func.php has now been cut into smaller segments, which will defiantly help in memory optimization, speed and security. Previously even admin based functions where loaded up on the customer side, sitting in memory not doing anything for the customer but taking up room like an obese person on a bus. All segments have been moved into include/func/.

3) Detailed Images popup is now integrated. It's not my exact code but does perform very similar to the code I had posted previously for 3.5.x and version 4.0.x. This can also be disabled easily now for those who like to display detailed images on the same page, especially those whom hate popups.

4) "Maintenance Agent" & "Logging Options". Gives you the power of a cron'ish type setup but with relevant X-Cart data. Such as receiving a daily email of all order status changes, or sending a log of payment processor errors to better help us identify any errors within our stores and fix them quicker. Site statistics can also be sent periodically as well. This is one feature I really think can help alot of us.

5) System Fingerprints. Ah, finally something that will make modding and upgrading life easier. I've not really had a chance to test this feature as much as I would like to but I do know it will defiantly come in handy down the road, especially once it comes time to upgrade. Basically allowing you take a snapshot of your existing PHP and TPL files so that you can easily compare what has changed, etc. So those of us who like to tweak X-Cart as much as possible, be it with home grown code or 3rd party commercial mods.

6) Express Lane Checkout. Defiantly an improvement on the previous versions, however it may not fit everyones customer base, it is defiantly a good start and a much needed improvement to the out-of-box checkout system, ultimately increasing customer conversions! Which we all like :)

7) And/Or Logic control on searching. Even though X-Cart's search is still very premative. I know this was a mod I saw quite often in peoples search.php files, as an OR logic will return alot more hits than an simple AND logic. Somethings however I'd like to see is Stop Word lists that are editable, Fuzzy Matching, Spell Checking, Thesaurus, Proximity Matching, and keyword indexing to help build more relevant results. This day and age, I think search has become everyones vital tool, and will need to be looked at closer by the X-Cart team. However, OR/AND Boolean Operators is still a much needed improvement.

8) No more session sharing between admin and customer logins, so your not logged out from the customer side soon as you login to the admin. I know I hated this! :)

9) The ability to import way more data via CSV than before!

10) ...And My personal favorite. HTML and CSS is now W3C Valid! Now the search spiders have no reason to stray away from pages X-Cart generates. Defiantly a huge improvement. I can only imagine the hell the Qualiteam guys/gals went through to make this happen. I know I spent atleast 3 months creating the CSS Template that was available for 4.0.x, and it was only CSS valid, not HTML W3C Valid. skin1/customer/home.tpl has greatly been reduced and cleaned up, It is the base file most use in re-designing their X-Cart, atleast Its where I do :)

All-in-all, I hear most mod developers saying this should of been X-Cart 5, instead of a sub-version like it was, as ALOT of systems have been re-written and thought through more closely.

See for yourself, use www.mysqldiff.com and compare a 4.0.x DB to 4.1.x and you'll see the many changes, especially in indexes to help speed up X-Cart even more.

Two thumbs up for me. I don't plan on using 4.1.x however for atleast a few more bug fix releases, It was around 4.0.5-7 that a stable, usuable release for 4.0.x was starting to be used more widely. I wouldn't recommend upgrading yet, but I would defiantly start looking into routes to take once you've used 4.1.x enough and feel its suitable and stable enough for your bussiness model.

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