Developers' Blog

Homebuild 1.6 Update

Tuesday 7th July 2009 10:32 AM

You may have noticed more new features and improvements appearing in your Homebuild site over the last few days. Most of the new features are part of our ongoing improvement of the Homebuild Shop.

Here's a rundown of the changes we've just released.

Shop Sub-Pages Now Allow Formatting

You can now format the contents of these pages just as you would a standard dynamic page. Add images, links, even video... everything you need to help your customers make a purchase decision.

Improved International Shipping and Handling Options

It is now possible to fine-tune your international sales. Set shipping and handling options - including weight tables - for each region of the World to ensure you are charging the right prices for these services.

New Shop Category List Sidebar

We have introduced a new sidebar box for the shop which shows a list of specific categories. This is designed to channel customers to the high-margin or high-profile sections of your shop from every page.

Shop Tree View

Managing your inventory just became much easier with the Tree View. Move products between sections, duplicate them, even move categories at a time with a simeple drag-and-drop interface. Also useful for visualising your entire category sructure at a glance.

Tools Page Sectioned Up

When editing the settings for your shop, you will now notice that the page is divided up into sections, making the various options more easily found, cutting down on scrolling and preventing users from being overloaded with choices.

New Recent Posts Sidebar for the Blog

This change is for the Homebuild Blog. We have added a new sidebar showing recent posts. Now the items in the archive can be reached from any page, and it is easier for users to see what you have been blogging about without digging through old posts.

New Breadcrumbs

A much-requested feature. Add a breadcrumb trail to our site so visitors always know where they are.It appears on every page of your site and you can change the format betweeen plain text, clickable links and drop-down menu in your tools pages (there is a new "Breadcrumbs" page available under the "Menu & Footer" section of the tools menu).

Of course, there are also the usual under-the-hood fixes and improvements bundled into this update, as we try to make Homebuild as stable and easy to use as possible. If you experience any difficulties, please don't hesitate to contact us. And you are equally welcome to contact us with suggestions for improvements and new features as well.