Partner Release: Shuup Ecommerce version 1.0 with a New Open Source License OSL 3.0

A lot has changed in Shuup and its related services since the previous open source build, version 0.6.0. If you’ve checked out the source code online recently, you may have been wondering what was up with Shuup’s Open Source version. The code was kept hidden as the Shuup team got ready for this 1.0 release.

They put everything they had into polishing the product for this release and it shows: countless, caffeine-fueled all-nighters and a great deal of blood, sweat, and tears.

There are just way too many features to go through here, so please visit the Shuup 1.0 changelog for more information. All the necessary links can also be found at the end of this document.

• This is the same license as used by Magento and Prestashop
• Contributors, partners, and addon creators are encouraged to profit from their creations

To us, Shuup is the perfect foundation for scalable e-commerce, and are excited to see it move to OSL-3.0. The Open Software License 3.0 gives the perfect mix of freedom and control and is used by other major open source ecommerce platforms.

It does require contributors to use copyleft, but also allows Shuup addon creators the freedom to select their own licenses for their addons. Commercial use, distribution and sub-licensing of Shuup is allowed as long as the source is disclosed and the same license applied.

• Shuup License Page
• Open Source License 3.0
• OSL-3.0 Explanation
• OSL-3.0 tl;dr

• Fully functional marketplace for addons
• First addon contributions from the Shuup community!
• Many addons built in-house by Shuup to be added

Soon:

• Addon developers can sell and charge for their addons
• Addon highlighting and promotions
• Sales reports for addon sellers

Now that Shuup is OSL-3.0 licensed, the community should activate more than ever, and the Shuup marketplace has been prepared for this. The marketplace was merely a display for add-ons before. Now, it is possible to register as an addon seller to upload your own addons to be shared in the marketplace. Shuup marketplace has already received their first contributions. We at Anders are excited to see more outside addon contributions that bring value for our clients! For added convenience, the Shuup team will also transfer their own in-house built add-ons to the marketplace in the near future.

Shuup Marketplace now supports free add-ons only, but Phase 3 on their marketplace development roadmap allows for the selling of add-ons. Phase 3 also includes more tools for addon creators to follow their marketplace sales and to boost them through promotions. Stay tuned for more details by subscribing to the Shuup newsletter at https://www.shuup.com/

• Cloud is fully enterprise ready!
• All shops to be updated to 1.0 in the next couple days

Shuup cloud will also get the latest add-ons and is now a full-fledged platform for enterprise level e-commerce. 1.0 will be added to all cloud shops and new shops will be opened on top of this updated version in the next couple days.

• Fully groomed documentation
• Lots of examples of procedures
• Structure updated and layout improved

Shuup documentation was not at the level it should have been at. It was missing examples on how to add new features to Shuup and the structure was wrong in many ways. The layout was not in line with other merchant documentation either.

With the new updated documentation structure and added examples, it is much clearer to understand. There will be many more examples coming from Shuup soon. For the new documentation visit http://shuup.readthedocs.io/en/latest/.

• Brand new wizard for starting up
• Addon creators can add addon steps to starting wizard!
• Improved home view for important tasks and functions
• Addon creators can add addons to the home view for users
• Brand new guide for home and product views

Shuup merchants were baffled after the first login and usually lost their interest in the product then and there. This problem was addressed by adding a wizard system which provides merchant an easy way to begin using Shuup for the first time.

If you are an addon creator, your addon can also provide new steps to this wizard flow. This way, you ensure your addon can be configured when the shop admin is being fired up for the first time. All payment and shipping methods should include this wizard.

Another problem when starting, was the lack of overall guidelines in admin. There was not enough hand holding. To ensure a better experience for merchants, they added an improved home view. Merchants can revisit it to see that all the important tasks needed to make the shop productive, are complete.

Addon creators can now allow their addon to appear on the home view as well.

A guide was also added for home and product views, for when the merchant visits the view for the first time. This guide can also be reactivated at any time.

• Caching has been added for prices reducing bottlenecks
• Active cache – no need for manual re-indexing or purging!
• Much more to come!

Even though Shuup’s performance was good before, they improved it even further. For big enterprise clients, complex pricing systems could become a bottleneck. To resolve this, a cache for prices was added. The duration of this cache can be determined from settings. Unlike some other major enterprise ecommerce platforms, the cache is active, meaning the merchant doesn’t have to do manual re-indexing or cache purging.

The performance of Shuup 1.0 can already be felt and will definitely increase our clients’ satisfaction.

• User flow is now much simpler and tasks have been streamlined
• Simplified product creation
• WYSIWYG editor has been added to all fields for better HTML editability!
• Navigation in admin is improved
• New items can now be added from many different views without navigating to a new page
• List view headers can now be edited
• List views can now include media
• Many elements added to dashboard

The problem with admin according to Shuup, was that there was too much “air” around the elements and it was too “roundish”. Admin was also lacking flow. Creating new items was really complex and many of the fields were too confusing.

For the 1.0 release, they spent lot of time getting the admin to feel more polished, tighter, and effective, if you will. They also simplified new product creation, as it’s something merchants do relatively often. There are way too many features to list here, but you can check the changelog for more detailed information. Or try the admin yourself at the Shuup demo page.

Prior to 1.0, text fields in admin supported markdown. This is pretty handy for certain audiences, but was too complex for everyday users. Shuup now uses Summernote (http://summernote.org/) WYSIWYG editor in all fields for better HTML editability.

The admin menu was overhauled to make it easier for merchants to navigate through all the features available in Shuup. They also streamlined adding new items in certain views, like adding a missing coupon for basket campaigns without being required to navigate away from the page.

List view headers can now be edited even further and list views can include media such as images. The dashboard has a lot of new elements as well, including FAQ, news, sales, and more.

• Editor view has added features
• Plugin fields can be reordered
• Fully functional one-page checkout!
• Metadata is now available for Category, Product, and CMS pages

The Shuup devs added some new features to the editor view to ensure the best possible experience for merchants when they want to edit the frontend. It is, for example, now possible to re-order plugin fields.

They also revisited the one-page checkout feature. It is now fully functional and can be enabled through settings.
Metadata was missing from all pages other than product pages. This was fixed by using the description for meta description value. Metadata is now available for Category, Product and CMS pages.

• Super easy addon installation
• Cloud instances now integrate directly to the addon marketplace
• Addons can be installed straight through admin upload

Soon:

• Direct installation in open source version

Addon installation has been made much easier than before. The cloud version did not have the possibility to install add-ons before. It is now possible as Cloud instances integrate directly to the Marketplace. You can install addons with the push of a button.

In Open Source installations, add-ons can be installed like before, by uploading the addons directly in admin. We are also waiting for the planned direct installation to OS versions.

• API is here!!
• API for products, orders, contacts, and much more
• Complex integration possibilities

Shuup was missing key API’s. 1.0 introduces API for Products, Orders, Contacts, and much more. These additions allow for very complex integrations into the Shuup platform. We are very excited to see what the community can create with these newly opened API’s!

• Child products are now automatically included under the same parent category discount
• Complex campaigns are now much easier to create

Campaigns were pretty good in Shuup and we were happy with all the combinations the merchant could make with the tool. There were, however, a few quality of life improvements made.

Shops with variation products had a hard time creating campaigns as they had to add the child products to campaigns. With complex variations, this could be a tedious task, so they changed the way the campaigns match. It is now possible to add only the parent to the campaign, and all the children will get the same discount. This makes creating complex campaigns for our clients super easy.

• New enterprise features are planned such as multi-shop support, recurring orders, detailed reports, and more
• Shuup enterprise and open source version will use the exact same core!
• All core improvements and bug fixes will be included into the open source version forever!
• Open Source gets the same support from Shuup Core Team as Enterprise

The core team continues working full-steam with adding new features and addons to Shuup. This includes enterprise-like features including full Multishop support, recurring orders, better reporting, and more.

The Shuup Core Team’s daily activities also include supporting the community by any possible means, going through the GitHub issues for the OS version, etc. So rest assured, the OS version gets all the possible support it needs from the Shuup core team.

We already feel that Shuup is the best and most well thought-out platform available, and our clients couldn’t be happier. If they keep pushing development forward at this pace, it will be the ultimate platform for e-commerce. We are excited to see what the community can do with Shuup now that it is fully open source and ready for more addons.

Important links:

• Homepage https://www.shuup.com
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• Twitter