IndieCommerce Monthly News and Tips

Here’s a roundup of news and tips shared by IndieCommerce staff with program participants in the October “IndieCommunication” newsletter.

System Upgrade to Drupal 7

On November 1, the IndieCommerce team will begin a “Code Freeze” on installation of Drupal 6, which means feature requests will no longer be processed and only essential bug fixes will be implemented. The freeze will improve system stability and ensure that all IndieCommerce sites are operating smoothly during the holiday season.

During this time, IndieCommerce staff will begin working on an upgrade to Drupal 7, a more powerful and efficient platform offering many themes that are responsive in design. The upgrade will also provide an opportunity for the overhaul of some problem elements:

• Search will be completely rewritten, with code restructured to provide more accurate results, and the plan is to include Predictive Text and a “Did You Mean?” function.
• Book data processing will be improved as internal scripts are rebuilt to output information more accurately to alleviate the problem of missing covers and author bios and pub dates that are not correct.

Work will be underway behind the scenes this winter, and IndieCommerce will remain on Drupal 6 through the spring with the Code Freeze in place until Drupal 7 has been implemented. Stores are being asked to hold off on creating a custom theme until the new platform is released.

The new system will be rolled out in small batches and will be beta tested by volunteers. Extensive training and help materials will be provided by ABA staff, and when the rollout is completed, all IndieCommerce websites will be better than ever before.

Biblio Integration Now Available

In September, ABA announced a new partnership with Biblio that gives IndieCommerce stores the ability to include used book inventory on their sites. Stores that opt to create an affiliate relationship with Biblio.com can provide their website visitors with instant access to millions of used, rare, and out-of-print books from more than 5,000 independent booksellers worldwide. Learn more.

IndieCommerce Institute Help Materials

Help materials from the main session presented at the IndieCommerce Institutes in New Orleans in September and San Francisco in early October are available at ictraining.indiebound.com. The session materials, which are geared toward members with a working knowledge of the IndieCommerce interface, are divided into four main topics: New Feature Overview; eCommerce 201 – Order Processing; eCommerce 202 – Custom Products; and How to Improve Your Site – Design Tips.

Booksellers with questions about any of the materials can contact IndieCommerce staff by phone or e-mail. Winter Institute 2014 attendees can also set up personalized, one-on-one consultations with IndieCommerce team members.

In the spirit of the IndieCommerce Institute’s Advanced Seminar, stores are encouraged to visit this special thread in the BookWeb.org forums to submit their sites for review and provide feedback for other stores.

New Developments

Message Center

An ABA Message Center has been added to the administrator toolbar. When there’s news regarding IndieCommerce, the menu item will appear in red for a week; site administrators are encouraged to click on the link for more information. This feature will work in conjunction with the monthly “IndieCommunication” newsletter to keep stores informed regarding recent updates.

ABC Best Books Catalog

The ABC Best Books Catalog is now available on all IndieCommerce sites. To create a link to the catalog, stores should use the path:  holiday/ABC/index.html.

For a review on adding links and more, see the October 25 issue of “IndieCommunication.”