APW - Major Upgrade

[APW]

APW Major Upgrade

This coming weekend (26th - 27th August) the APW website will be receiving it's first major upgrade.

Aside from a few minor cosmetic changes, a load of new features and technologies will be added further setting apart what we offer online and to make things even more user friendly.

Some of the new features to look forward to:

* Select and view products by Manufacturer/Vendor
* Gift Certificates
* More detailed order tracking, and partial shipment advise
* Product Review - Allowing you to add reviews on our products
* Wishlist - You can add favourite products to a wishlist
* Newsletter, either monthly or quarterly advising of new products, soon to be released products and special customer only offers
* Save all - the ability to have your cart contents be remembered even if you close your browser
* Multiple product images, including the ability to have a large pop-up image for a higher level of detail
* Product inventory levels on select products (i.e. 7 in stock)
* Related products - something that is available now but is being improved further. Having similar or other recommended products displayed wth select products
* Shipping - more available options and price reductions to select regions

On top of these new features, the security protocols and protection measures will be further enhanced, optimised by our use of up to 256-bit Secure Sockets Layer encryption.

Once these upgrades have been loaded and the changes made we will also be adding several more manufacturers and brands to our inventory list, many of the products in question have been requested by customers on several occassions.

With almost 2000 products already listed, we intend to have the largest range of aquarium products in Australia with access to several brands that have previously not been available to the Australian hobbyist.

During the upgrade procedure some features or aspects of the websites functionality may be unavailable. Any such issues will only be temporary and have no affect on data we already have securely stored.

Thank you.

[Mulisha]

WOW that's alot of new features :P :P

One other thing will you be getting a Phone Number to be contacted on or will it be by email still?

Thanks and and can't wait for upgrade 8-) :wink:

[marg]

Looking forward to the upgrade.

I too am hoping that it will include a Telephone No. for contact.

Sometimes if you are a bit unsure about a product it helps to talk to the supplier.

marg.

[goldfish]

yeah it will be awesome to see a revise website!

[samir]

could the drop down menu go straight to the link without having to click on go ?

[APW]

This upgrade has been several months in the making. Small things like the drop down menus can be looked at, and if easy to do changed to a dynamic format.

In regards to phone support, that may happen soon, however some organisational changes need to be made first.

[DR.V]

APW was a bit slow when uploading the page, can you improve this as well ?

For example when clicking the "next page" button ...

I dont think its my internet connection problem.

Good luck.

[APW]

APW was a bit slow when uploading the page, can you improve this as well ?

For example when clicking the "next page" button ...

I dont think its my internet connection problem.

Good luck.

We use both a 512kbps & 1500 (T1) connection and page loads are instant. The server logs don't show any latency over a few milliseconds, so any delays must be net related or connection speed.

We are looking at ways of reducing some of the image files, and the use of larger pop-up images should reduce loads marginally as we will reduce the description pics (if you want to see a large pic, that will be optional).

[Mulisha]

APW was a bit slow when uploading the page, can you improve this as well ?

For example when clicking the "next page" button ...

I dont think its my internet connection problem.

Good luck.

We use both a 512kbps & 1500 (T1) connection and page loads are instant. The server logs don't show any latency over a few milliseconds, so any delays must be net related or connection speed.

We are looking at ways of reducing some of the image files, and the use of larger pop-up images should reduce loads marginally as we will reduce the description pics (if you want to see a large pic, that will be optional).

Sounds good and i have ADSL 1.5 meg and sometimes like DR.V said they do take a bit to load when clicking next page etc.. :oops: :oops:

When you click on the products and go through main menu it's fine just the "next page button" can be a lagg sometimes. Don't mean to be rude just thought you might wanna have a look at it while the site gets a overhaul 8-)

Thanks :P

[DR.V]

Yeah, thats what I mean, I also got 1.5M cable.

I mean 1.5M is pretty fast for just viewing a website.

Just my opinion tho.

[goldfish]

hey the website is down at this moment man!

[Proteus]

hey the website is down at this moment man!

Online here.

[APW]

There have been several small outages today as various aspects of the database and backend layout have been updated.

In regards to page load times, that will be rectified, however that will take some time as the entire library of images is re-loaded in a new format (currently there are over 4350 images stored on the website).

Aside from the new features, the most popular products will all be refreshed, then gradually all products will recieve an update. This will be to make each listing totally dynamic, but to also reduce the actual filesize which will greatly assist in a speed increase.

The other good thing about this, which no other online store has done before, is to get feedback like this and use it. Once all the upgrades have been completed (which will probably be on Tuesday the 29th or Wednesday the 30th now for the visible changes to kick in) the server is to undergo an upgrade as well. Currently we run Dual Xeon Hyper Threading Enabled processors with 256MB RAM, we are looking at increasing the RAM to either 384MB or 512MB plus increasing the Bandwidth. That is part of the benefit of owning the server the site is hosted on. We were not going to do this for several months, however if some people are having load issues we intend to do everything we can to improve things at our end.

[APW]

The updates and upgrades will be occurring tonight at around midnight Sydney time.

We expect there to be a few outtages and the layout may look a little strange whilst new templates are being installed.

In regards to maximising the efficiency and speeding up page loads, the server upgrade has been scheduled for late September.

Thank you

[APW]

Just so people know, some of the screen layouts at the moment are a liitle wonky as a lot of files need to be overwritten.

All the new features have been added, and many of them are able to be used (related products, wishlist, reviews, large pop-up images, et).

An example can be found HERE (http://www.aquariumproductswholesale.com/cart.php?m=product_detail&p=1370)
(please excuse the background colour mismatch, and block misalignment)

[APW]

Most of the bugs have been ironed out, however there are 2 issues which are being worked on currently.

The Direct Deposit option has vanished, however we will always have this as an option to our customers. (until rectified, just select Cheque or Money Order and place a comment in the remarks field, we will update it at this end).

Also, when logging in a warning screen comes up saying that the connection may not be secure. We can assure you 110% that it is, it is just the first order review screen that this is happenning in, after that everything is running smoothly.

Thank you

[vince]

well done, mate.

Looks more like big companies overseas or even better.

Considering APW is not even 1 year old, for what you are doing now is just amazing.

Congratulations!!

[APW]

The upgrade is nearing completion.

Most of the new features are visible or are able to be used.

One of the new features is the product layout. Less items are shown on one page which will increase page load times, and there is the option to order an item from the index, instead of having to open up the product description (this was asked by several regular customers).

Products reviews are starting to pop up throughout the site which will assist others in making a decision regarding a specific product.

Following is an example of the new, uncluttered layout.

Thank you