New features in the upcoming CS-Cart release

The next CS-Cart release is on its way to make us and our clients happy with a set of new shiny features. And while we are waiting for it to come, I am going to give you a short preview of some of them.

New look-n-feel of the admin panel

Administrator area is an essential part of any online store. We do our best to keep the admin panel in CS-Cart an easy yet powerful tool. And we also want administrating to still be fun for the users.

The new admin area design is aimed to present all store functions in an elegant and smart manner while having a nice stylish look.

All tools are now easily accessible through a multi-level drop-down top menu. In the old navigation one had to click on a tab to see the sections inside and at the same time all sections of the tab were being shown even after the desired one had been entered.

By using the new menu navigation we managed to avoid unnecessary clicks and displaying of the information not needed at the time, which in the end has led to better usability.

The Design and Administration tabs have been moved higher along with the Settings section which had been too big to be a subsection of the Administration tab and has been turned into a full-blooded top-level menu item. Now these three elements logically form the Configuration group.

The redesign also touched the bottom menu, which has been narrowed to free more space for content though obtained two elements migrated from the top – language and currency choosers. They have been moved to give room in the top for more often used items.

Improved search in the admin panel

There is a significant change made to the search in the admin panel.

Currently there are three separate search areas (Order ID, Product code and User) for the user to choose.

We now have extended the number of the areas and also put them together. No need to specify where you want to search — give it a request, it will find everything that fits.

For instance, entering “com” as a search request will return customers having “com” in their names or emails, products containing it in its product code, title or description and all orders having the requested characters in the customer’s name or email.

The search box has taken place on top, with the other often used items.

New payment processors integrated: CardSave Hosted, Rocketgate and Merchant Warrior Express

We already support over 50 payment systems and we are happy to announce that three more payment processors will be available since the next release. Customers will be able to use CardSave Hosted, RocketGate and Merchant Warrior Express besides all the other payment services.

This post is only the first part of the features overview. The second one is coming very soon, so do not change the channel. You are welcome to suggest what you would like to see in CS-Cart on our forum and please be free to share your opinion on the coming features in the comments.

Stay tuned to our blog and Twitter to get the freshest news and announcements and to learn more about CS-Cart at first hand.