UPDATE: The new user role interface has been removed from this release and it's going to be launched at a later date.

We're announcing a new Haiku O.B. release, scheduled for next Monday.

R169 includes lots of enhancements, bug fixes and overall improvements. Three highlights of this release include the wish list requests that will help customers better manage their online business: special characters in product & catalogueue names and the ability to send an email campaign to multiple lists. In addition to these great improvements, we've streamlined various user interfaces, added extra overage packages and fixed many critical bugs. 

Special characters in product and catalogue names

With this release, we're sticking to our commitment of fixing top wish list items and will be releasing one great enhancement that will help customers achieve better SEO and save time while creating and managing products or catalogues.

You are now able to add catalogues & products containing special characters in their names, directly from the BC Admin interface. In addition, we've also updated our import/export and API functionality to make sure customers can take advantage of this feature outside the Admin UI.

The product URL will automatically be generated based on the product name having the special characters replaced. To take full advantage of this feature, users will need to have SEO friendly URLs turned on, otherwise the system will use the dynamic product URL (catalogueRetrieve.aspx)

Send email campaign to multiple lists

This enhancement is another wish list request that will give customers using our email marketing feature more flexibility when managing mailing lists.

We've updated the email campaign wizard so that customers can now choose to send the campaign to all customers, one or more existing mailing lists, or to a new list. When selecting to send to multiple lists, customers will simply mark the check box next to multiple existing lists or customer reports.

Upon sending, the system will automatically search for contacts present in multiple lists, remove any duplicates and make sure that each subscriber receives the email once.

Spam moderation workflow - preview

To help customers reduce spam and unwanted posting on the forums, we are starting to test a spam moderation workflow for forums. Thus, in this release we're enabling this feature for websites with more than one forum (to be extended to all sites in an upcoming release).

If required, Creatiq can update your forum layouts to include a report spam link (using a system tag) to allow forums visitors to report a thread or comment as spam. Site Admins can then moderate these reports from the forum Adminconsole user interface and delete unwanted comments.

Minor enhancements

• For all existing and new sites, we enabled APIs and removed the option to disable them. This has no effect on the site behavior, and now APIs are readily available on any site in case you'd like to use them.
• Based on customer requests, we've added new overages packages 2000 MB w/ 10% discount and 5000 MB w/ 20% discount.

Issues fixed by R169 release

• Fixed a series of encoding problems causing web app items, web app, forum, email lists, affiliate programs and gift voucher names to be displayed incorrectly in Admin user interface
• Fixed a problem causing multi-screen templates to not render correctly for web app items (bug id: 2963406)
• Fixed spelling errors on the overage engine and multi screen feature (bug id: 3017345 & 3010433)
• Corrected a problem preventing product attribute cost to be added to order total (bug id: 3010227)
• Updated the list of users receiving payment failed email notification. Starting with this release, the email goes to the payer of the order and to the site Admin users if the invoice method is Customer. (bug id: 3011040)
• Updated the cart behavior so that it adjusts the prices for products in cart when a wholesale customer logs in or logs out (bug id: 2567277)
• Updated the Admin login form to prevent against a potential XSS vulnerability (bug id: 3017298)
• Fixed a problem with our shopping cart generating an invalid order status and preventing the system from triggering workflow notifications (bug id: 2650309)
• Fixed a bug causing an incorrect currency display on multi-currency websites: (bug id: 3011662)

Enjoy!

Welcome to my two-part series entitled “Not Another Twitter Article” where I’ll first catch you up to the Twitter basics on what is Twitter and how to use it; and then in part two I’ll help show you ways it can benefit your business, as well as some popular tools to augment your overall Twitter experience. There’s been many posts written about Twitter over the past year or so, so I’m here to bring you the cream of the crop and make it all ridiculously easy.

When I first heard about Twitter, the only thing I could think was “Oh geez, not another social networking gizmo to keep up with.” You know how it is - there’s always something new, always something to learn and figure out how to integrate into your daily life just for the sakes of keeping up with the times (and with everybody else). So finally I took the plunge to see what all the fuss was about and I was actually quite delighted that I did. Twitter isn’t just “another social networking gizmo”, it’s something all it’s own; and something I’ve come to appreciate when I do my own daily Tweets.

What is Twitter

For starters, let’s be clear on what Twitter isn’t. Twitter isn’t another facebook, it isn’t another MySpace; and it definitely isn’t another Linkedin for that matter.  Twitter is considered a micro-blog. Most of us know what blogs are by now, and if you don’t, think of a blog as a modern-day journal - with the exception of about millions of people that have access to it because it resides on the internet.  

When using Twitter, your posts are allotted up to 140-characters or less. You can follow other people's posts (affectionately referred to as "Tweets") by clicking the “follow” button on their profiles - or they can follow yours.

There are many ways and reasons to use Twitter and many people have found that it is a vibrant, active community where they can connect with like-minded people quickly and efficiently for both business and leisure.

How to use Twitter

1. First, go to http://www.twitter.com/signup and join. Pick a meaningful username and after the super quick sign-up, you’ll be brought to what I like to call the Twittersphere where you will see people from all over the globe tweeting away.


2. Say you’re reading someone’s Tweets and you dig what a particular person is saying. Just click on their name to view their profile and click the “follow” button to start following them. This is similar to adding someone to your friend’s list on other networking portals. Tweets from the person you’re following will now appear in your Twitter, and if that person has the option selected, he or she will also see your Tweets. You of course also have the option to get Tweets from people that are following you.

What not to do on Twitter

There are definitely ways to abuse Twitter and get an instant reputation for being a less-than-useful Twitterer. Here are a few don'ts to keep in mind:

1. Especially when it comes to business use, don't spam. While Twitter doesn't push information out like email, you can still be annoyingly spammy by being too commercial or by having too many auto-posts that lack your human voice. People will un-follow you quickly if they feel you are not really there.


2. Don't be too self-seeking. Yes, you are supposed to be posting your heart-felt Tweets to answer the question "What are you doing?" However, Twitter has evolved beyond this question to include many more facets of dialogue. People are fine with self-promotion but balance it with generous and meaningful Tweets as well.


3. Don't be afraid to put your questions out there via your Tweets, and the more people you have as followers, the more quickly you'll get a response.

Bottom Line: Twitter is a useful communication tool and a deep knowledge base. Knowing how to tap into it strategically can mean the difference between a frivolous and a fruitful Twitter experience.

Stay tuned for Part Two of “Not Another Twitter Article” to find out a few savvy ways Twitter can benefit your business, as well as a couple popular Twitter tools to enhance your Twitter experience.