Table of Contents
StoreFronts FAQs
We will be transitioning these into better documentation, but for right now while we’re in Beta we’ll be using this FAQ for StoreFronts related questions/answers.
Q: How do I get the Storefronts into my account?
A: If you do not see the Storefronts appearing in your account, first make sure that you have the "new U.I." active on your user login by logging into your account then navigating to the Home page and clicking on the Banner there. (If you d not see the banner then you already have the new UI configured for your user. If you have the new U.I. but do not see the StoreFronts menu option on the Main Menu, email support@ultracart.com (providing your UltraCart MerchantID) requesting that it be turned on for your account.Once you see Storefronts beta on the main menu, click on it then scroll down and click StoreFronts listed on your left hand menu, you may still be using the older UltraCart UI. If your screen does not look like this, then click on the upgrade banner shown on your dashboard.
Once you see StoreFronts on the main menu, click on it then scroll down and click on the "Install Storefronts into my UltraCart Account" button to perform the initial install of the Storefronts, which will take approximately 45-60 seconds to complete..
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A: This is all done under the pages Pages tab of StoreFronts.
Q:
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Multi-domain support?
A: It’s possible to extract the theme and then upload it to the other StoreFront. We’re still working through some of the longer term maintenance issues that will be common for merchants to encounter.
Q: Multi-domain support?
A: Just like the legacy catalog, a StoreFront can have a few additional host name aliases. The templates have integrated support for canonical so that search engines don’t penalize you for having the exact sample content on multiple sites.
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Q: Are there other dynamic template capabilities (ie. Blog Posts)?
A: We have not implemented a blog module or a store locator module. Both may happen in the future.Yes, the themes support an integrated blog module.
Q: What's the route for building themes to be used in the UC repository?
A: Once we get our hands completely around the life-cycle management of the theme, developer guidelines, and theme specifications we will be publishing further details. It’s important to achieve a very hardened initial template which can serve as the foundation for derivative templates to build on to reduce the amount of maintenance work required if issues come up early onIf you are interested in building a one off custom theme we recommend starting with one of the freely available themes. If you have further interest in developing themes to sell in our theme gallery, please contact support@ultracart.com and request permission to our GitHub repositories. You can fork our GitHub projects and start building off a solid foundation without having to reinvent the entire wheel. Our GitHub repositories will be publicly visible in a few months.
Q: Is there a 3rd party marketplace for themes?
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Q: How far back does browser support go for the underlying system?
A: Our initial theme, Mr Teas is compatible all the way back to IE8 is currently supported. And yes, we hates it. We hates it alot.
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. At this point in time though, that browser is no longer supported by Microsoft and receiving security updates.
Q: Pricing?
A: We have not published any changes to the pricing of the platform at this time.
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Q: Can someone do a storefront and use other checkout options such as a two page checkout?
A: No, right now the StoreFront checkout that is implemented in the Mr Teas theme is Most themes implement the standard single page checkout and multi-page checkout. If you want to implement something different then the Checkout REST API is still applicable and can be implemented within the StoreFront system just like the catalog systemcheckouts. The Trial theme provides a more advanced REST Checkout API based two page trial experience.
Q:What if we just want to enable the responsive single page checkout?
A: All of our themes have an option for "Checkout Only Mode".
Q: If we use
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A: Yes, you will see a StoreFronts (beta) appear on the left hand side of your navigation bar in the new few days if you attended the webinar. When you choose to install storefronts the system will create two of them <merchantid>.ultracartstore.com and <merchantid>.ultracartdev.com. You can work with both of these StoreFronts without impacting your current production site.
Q:What if we just want to enable the responsive single page checkout?
A: Our developers are putting the finishing touches on an option for the stock theme to be “checkout only”. This will allow you to use the responsive theme build into StoreFronts with an existing site. The same method for enabling the single page checkout still applies (Configuration -> Checkout -> Single Page Checkout) or adding &singlePageCheckout=true. Keep in mind that responsive checkouts work by having lots of CSS and JavaScript to make theme seamless. So you’ll have to start with the stock theme for StoreFronts and make adjustments to the various templates to “brand” it like you’re site.
Q: If we use the storefront, do we use the catalog?
A: If you’re an existing catalog user, you can think of StoreFronts as catalog 2.0 on steroids. The velocity templates will look familiar to you within StoreFronts. We’ve radically simplified things with StoreFronts by making almost everything a file on the file system, allowing themes within a StoreFront to make development and maintenance easier, and using meta data from the templates to drive the user interface that the merchant interacts with. Gone are the days of the end user having to read through templates to know what they should name an attribute or piece of multimedia. Beyond that we’ve also implemented a very functional and robust responsive stock template. Responsive websites that are friendly for every type of computing device are the future and we believe a good starting point is critical for merchants.
Q: Could you touch upon adding new products to your site.
A: Sure, Items must exist in your UltraCart account first, then when you are ready for them to move out onto your storefront, you can simply select them in the Item Assignment area. The new StoreFront admin panel is integrated with the upgraded item editor to make adding items simple. Under the admin panel click Page -> New Item. This will open the item editor in a new window with the StoreFront page already assigned. The new item editor allows you to handle all critical aspects of item configuration on the first tab (including multimedia and inventory controls).
Q: How do you add the Mug back to the slider?
A: You simply start typing the item id in the field and when you see the item populate underneath the field, click it. It will add itself to the slider.
Q: Want to move it around in the field to a different position?
A: Simply drag and drop it where you want it to be.
Q: Will you be demonstrating any changes to the checkout/cart pages?
A: The checkout is functionally similar to the existing single page and multiple page checkouts. We've made everything completely responsive, updated all the UI elements, and everything is jQuery based. We will go further into the checkout and customization during the development webinars.
Q: How will products with options render on the product information page?
A: The Mr Teas theme templates are coded to handle options and variations on the item pages. There is a theme setting that controls whether options are displayed on the item page before it's added to the cart.
Q: Are you able to cancel auto-orders from the StoreFront MyAccount area?
A: The MyAccount area still lacks the customer facing functionality to manage auto orders and wishlists. These are areas our developers will be working on in the very near future.
Q: Will there be REST cart customizations available, or is the checkout completely out of our hands?
A: You can implement a REST checkout within StoreFronts just like you can the catalog system, but you might find that having the ability to adjust the layout of something like the single page checkout velocity template may satisfy your needs. Future templates may be published that are REST based as well for specific niche industries.
Q: Would we be able to create our own themes? Or do they need to be based off the existing/future ones?
A: Sure, you can create your own theme, back them up to ZIP files, and import them into other accounts. We would recommend you leverage the tremendous amount of work that our developers have done with the Mr Teas theme as a starting point. This first theme is build on top of the popular industry frameworks like jQuery and Foundation to make a robust responsive template that has been tested on a tremendous different number of browsers across desktop, tablet, and mobile devices. We would encourage you to first see if you vision can be accomplished through CSS and minor template edits to a stock theme.
Q: Will beta customers get grandfathered in to the live program for providing feedback etc. as usual? Or will there be a charge for continuing to use StoreFront after beta has finished and the platform goes live?
A: There have been no announced changes to pricing. We're unleashing some serious power into the platform with plenty of unknowns and as such we aren't making promises in that arena. What we are promising is that during beta you have more of a chance of shaping and molding the platform as early adopters before the user base grows.
Q: Can this be integrated with a Word Press site?
A: StoreFronts is not a word press plugin. One of our partner companies is working on a WP Plugin that should enter the market in a few months. More on that will be announced when they're ready.
Q: Great technical features, but virtually no product marketing. Extremely simplistic product display area with no real room to sell the product and talk about features, benefits, etc.
A: The sample store does come with basic attributes configured on them, but the templates are coded to handle a large amount of information to display including: extended description, multimedia galleries, reviews, etc. Merchants can also introduce new attributes into the design such as a "specifications" attribute and add an additional tab to the item layout where they display even more information. We aren't promising a starting template to handle 100% of all the needs of every single merchant, but we're trying to give a rock solid responsive foundation where you can build the future on without having to reinvent every. Nothing will prevent you from building out the areas of the item page for your business needs.
Q: Is it possible to customize the Upsell After pages in the theme?
A: The Upsell After pages will follow the same look and feel as your StoreFronts theme.
Q: Are there going to be slugs for item details page URLs instead of using the item ID, since it's not always possible to use SEO-friendly item IDs?
A:
Q: How do you freeze the page element?
A:
Q: What is the process of migrating from dev store to production store?
A: The process has not been set yet.
Q: How will editing CSS directly work with integrated template options in UlraCart Backend?
A:
Q: Can we build and save our own themes?
A: Soon.
Q: Can you save new templates?
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the storefront, do we use the catalog?
A: If you’re an existing catalog user, you can think of StoreFronts as catalog 2.0 on steroids. The velocity templates will look familiar to you within StoreFronts. We’ve radically simplified things with StoreFronts by making almost everything a file on the file system, allowing themes within a StoreFront to make development and maintenance easier, and using meta data from the templates to drive the user interface that the merchant interacts with. Gone are the days of the end user having to read through templates to know what they should name an attribute or piece of multimedia. Beyond that we’ve also implemented a very functional and robust responsive stock template. Responsive websites that are friendly for every type of computing device are the future and we believe a good starting point is critical for merchants.
Q: Could you touch upon adding new products to your site.
A: Sure, Items must exist in your UltraCart account first, then when you are ready for them to move out onto your storefront, you can simply select them in the Item Assignment area. The new StoreFront admin panel is integrated with the upgraded item editor to make adding items simple. Under the admin panel click Page -> New Item. This will open the item editor in a new window with the StoreFront page already assigned. The new item editor allows you to handle all critical aspects of item configuration on the first tab (including multimedia and inventory controls).
Q: Want to move it around in the field to a different position?
A: Simply drag and drop it where you want it to be.
Q: Will you be demonstrating any changes to the checkout/cart pages?
A: The checkout is functionally similar to the existing single page and multiple page checkouts. We've made everything completely responsive, updated all the UI elements, and everything is jQuery based. We will go further into the checkout and customization during the development webinars.
Q: How will products with options render on the product information page?
A: Our themes are coded to handle options and variations on the item pages. There is a theme setting that controls whether options are displayed on the item page before it's added to the cart.
Q: Are you able to cancel auto-orders from the StoreFront MyAccount area?
A: Yes, the MyAccount portal provides customers the ability to manage their recurring orders. You can decide whether or not you want to make this functionality available to them on your Customer Profile Settings.
Q: Will there be REST cart customizations available, or is the checkout completely out of our hands?
A: Yes, some themes, such as Trial, use the REST Checkout API to imlement the checkout process. Other themes like Woodland and Fashion use the REST Checkout API to make additional functionality, like the cart snapshot, available.
Q: Can this be integrated with a Word Press site?
A: StoreFronts is not a word press plugin, but you can use StoreFronts in Checkout Only Mode and embed buy links into your Wordpress site.
Q: Is it possible to customize the Upsell After pages in the theme?
A: The Upsell After pages will follow the same look and feel as your StoreFronts theme.
Q: Are there going to be slugs for item details page URLs instead of using the item ID, since it's not always possible to use SEO-friendly item IDs?
A: Yes, you can edit the portion of the URL that is typically the item ID to another more SEO friendly string.
Q: Can the slider feature non-item content—e.g. marketing/promotional stuff?
A: It is not included in the current theme, but you can contact Pro Services to have a custom template generated for you. sales@ultracart.comYes, you can make slides that point to anywhere on your site or even external sites.
Q: I am currently using only your checkout. How can I switch form the current one to this new one?
A: You can't yet. Soon.
Q: In the item edit page & logo upload option, will we be able to drag & drop images into the image field directly in addition to going to an upload page?
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can I switch form the current one to this new one?
A: See our guide on using StoreFronts for "Checkout Only"
Q: So, in typical PHP-based CMS, site structure/hierarchy are basically virtual—in StoreFronts everything actually exists?
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A: Use the preset drop down in the Theme area to go back to the default.
Q: Is there a limit to retrieving an accidentally deleted file, whether time or versions?
A:I guess eventually we'll need to add a time
Q: Can adding elements (like css border element where there wasn't one before) effect the backend system?
A:to the default.
Q: Is there a limit to retrieving an accidentally deleted file, whether time or versions?
A: The recycle BIN located in the file manager goes back 30 days.
Q: Will there be a rich text editor for descriptions?
A:A: Yes, we implement a WYSIWYG editor in most locations of StoreFronts.
Q: How will Screen Branding theme codes apply? For example if I have two storefronts setup, will there a a SBT code to identify from which storefront the order originated?
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there a a SBT code to identify from which storefront the order originated?
A: No, but each StoreFront encompasses all of the functionality that screen branding themes do for the legacy checkout including conversion and tracking. If you're running multiple screen branding themes right now, you can run multiple StoreFronts to replace them.
Q: Will StoreFront feature item-level SEO options?
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Q: What are the conversion tracking capabilities?
A:
tracking capabilities?
A: StoreFronts includes all of the same integrated tracking capabilities of our legacy screen branding themes, plus it adds support for more advanced tracking events on Bing, FaceBook and Google.
Q: Will using StoreFronts allow us to customize our shopping cart page to match the design of our current WordPress site?
A:
of our current WordPress site?
A: Each theme has a defined look and feel. You can modify the colors, CSS or even the templates themselves to match your external site. The amount of changes necessary depends upon the template you're using on your Wordpress site.
Q: Is there a history to revert changes?
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Q: Are mobile sites automatically generated once we setup a StoreFront?
A: No, mobile sites are not automatically generated. You would have to be using a StoreFront theme that is responsive for it be "mobile" or "mobile friendly". However, as of April 2015 there are no other templates than the default Mr. Teas theme which is completely responsive. Our themes are completely responsive. Responsive websites, ones that can present all content to a user regardless of screen size, is the desired presentation type by Google. Having a completely responsive website not only increases your search rank, but also makes it easier for customers to purchase. As of 2016, the average website has 40% of their traffic coming from phones and tablets.