In Icecat Release Notes 190-191, we are excited to share updates on several significant developments aimed at enhancing user experience and functionality within our platform. Firstly, we highlight the advancements in image cropping service development to the transition of product pages to Server-Side Rendering (SSR). The team has been hard at work implementing a range of improvements designed to streamline processes. Furthermore, we would like to highlight the improvements on data accuracy, and empower our users with enhanced capabilities. For additional details, please refer to the previous Icecat Release Notes.
In our ongoing sprints, we are excited to share the progress made on the development of our Image Cropping service. This service promises to enhance user experience and streamline image management within our platform. Here’s a recap of the significant milestones achieved during this development phase:
With these developments, we are making significant strides toward delivering our users a seamless and intuitive Image-cropping service.
We are happy to announce the commencement of the transition of our Icecat.biz product page to SSR. So, this strategic move aims to enhance performance, improve user experience, and ensure seamless accessibility across various devices. Here’s an overview of the significant accomplishments during these sprints:
The objective of this development effort is to enhance the loading speed of the product page. Initial progress has demonstrated a twofold decrease in page load speed. However, our goal is to accelerate this process further. Subsequent developments aim towards achieving this objective. As we continue this journey toward SSR implementation, we remain committed to delivering a robust and user-friendly product page experience.
In our ongoing sprints, we have initiated a new development process aimed at enhancing the accuracy of product data within our platform. This initiative focuses specifically on refining the description block of products, where we’ve encountered challenges with preset language accuracy.
In short, Icecat has 79 languages in which product descriptions are available. For one editor to independently identify all 79 languages without proper expertise in each of them is challenging. So, recognizing this obstacle, we started a quest to find an external library capable of accurately detecting the language of the text. After thorough testing of multiple libraries, we discovered one that yielded an impressive 96% accuracy rate in language detection, with the remaining 4% primarily associated with Japanese text.
While we continue to seek a solution for precise Japanese language detection, significant progress is ongoing. In the latest sprint, we developed an API tailored for real-time verification of manually entered descriptions and bullet points by editors. The forthcoming sprint will witness the release of UI development, seamlessly integrating the API with the front-end for enhanced usability.
Furthermore, we have anticipated scenarios where descriptions and bullet points are added via auto-imports. To address this, we’ve developed weekly delta reports to notify our editors’ QA team of any discrepancies between the language set in the description block and the language detected by the selected library.
We are excited to share the progress we have made during our recent sprints as we near the final stages of development for our new Reporting Engine. This initiative marks a significant milestone in our ongoing efforts to enhance the reporting capabilities within our Product Information Management (PIM) system.
Over the past sprints, our dedicated team has been hard at work developing a robust REST API to facilitate seamless interaction with scheduled reports. This REST API allows users of our PIM system to effortlessly create scheduled reports directly within the new reporting engine interface.
We’re pleased to announce that users can now take advantage of this feature, empowering them to schedule and automate their reporting tasks with ease. Whether it’s generating weekly sales reports, monthly inventory summaries, or ad-hoc analytics, our new Reporting Engine provides the flexibility and functionality needed to meet diverse reporting needs.
In the upcoming sprint, we’re excited to unveil the next phase of our Reporting Engine upgrade: the user interface for managing all available scheduled reports. This intuitive UI will streamline the process of monitoring and managing scheduled reports, allowing users to effortlessly track their reporting activities and make adjustments as needed.
With these enhancements, we’re committed to providing our users with a comprehensive and user-friendly reporting experience.
In our continuous efforts to enhance the user experience within our PIM system, we are excited to announce several improvements to the PIM search page. These enhancements, implemented over the last sprints, aim to streamline navigation, improve search functionality, and provide users with greater flexibility and control.
To address user confusion and improve usability, we’ve refined the “Language” filter on the search page. Previously, users encountered issues when implementing the “Language” filter without selecting the corresponding “Asset” filter. To mitigate this, we’ve temporarily disabled the “Language” filter. It will now activate automatically once the “Asset” filter is selected, ensuring a more intuitive filtering experience.
Based on user feedback, we’ve introduced a page jumper at the top of the search results table in addition to the existing bottom page jumper. This adjustment allows users to navigate through search results more efficiently, regardless of their position on the page. Additionally, we’ve consolidated search results settings under the “Settings” icon, providing users with easy access to filters for column display and product quantity per page.
Responding to user requests, we’ve incorporated brand information as an additional column in the search results table. This enhancement provides users with valuable brand insights directly within the search results, facilitating quicker product identification.
Our team has refined the search logic to enhance accuracy and efficiency. Users can now search for products by product code, even if there are discrepancies or misspellings in the entered code. This improvement ensures that users can quickly locate desired products, regardless of minor errors in input.
In our latest sprint, we’ve expanded multilingual support for the PIM search page. By implementing tokens, we’ve enabled seamless translation of the search page into different languages. This enhancement caters to the diverse linguistic preferences of our users, enhancing accessibility and usability.
With these enhancements, we’re committed to delivering an intuitive, efficient, and user-friendly search experience within our PIM system. As we continue to gather feedback and iterate on our platform, we look forward to further enhancing our search capabilities to meet the evolving needs of our users.
In our recent sprints, we’ve made significant strides in re-engineering key aspects of Icecat’s product management and operational infrastructure. These developments underscore our commitment to innovation and continuous improvement as we strive to provide our users with the best possible experience. Here’s the overview of the latest enhancements:
We’ve re-engineered our approach to product merging, leveraging the recently introduced Copy Product functionality with an additional policy for merging purposes. This streamlined process ensures greater efficiency and accuracy in managing product data across our platform.
We’ve initiated the development of automatic channel partner assignment based on brand owner responses, we’ve laid the groundwork for a more seamless and efficient partner management system. During these sprints we have developed a swagger schema and logic for default brand partner authorization requests.
Improving the validation of titles received through the Media API, we’ve expanded the range of accepted symbols, allowing API users to push a broader spectrum of data. This enhancement enhances flexibility and usability for our API users.
Adding Arabic (Egypt) and English (Egypt) to the Icecat repository, we’ve broadened language options for export files and real-time information monitoring on icecat.biz. This expansion caters to the diverse linguistic needs of our global user base.
Integrating PCF type of request into Icecat Category statistics, we’ve empowered users with comprehensive product download statistics, enabling better insights and decision-making.
Completing the migration of our Redis cluster cache, we’ve fortified our infrastructure for improved performance and reliability.
Continuing the development of Editor Journal and Product History features, we’ve enhanced data recording capabilities, now capturing information on product names, description blocks, and technical specifications.
We upgraded PHP Cassandra modules, mitigating compatibility issues and bolstering performance and security, ensuring a robust and reliable system.
We’ve implemented Two-Factor Authentication (2FA) on SSL VPN to enhance security, safeguarding sensitive data.
We’ve updated to Clickhouse version 24, which resolves technical issues which we had with the previous version.
We completed the development of a health monitor, which provides real-time insights into critical aspects of icecat.biz, ensuring optimal performance and reliability. These developments represent our ongoing commitment to innovation, efficiency, and user satisfaction. As we continue to push the boundaries of what’s possible, we look forward to delivering even more value to our users in the future.
Review our blog for continuous updates as we work towards innovating and elevating your Icecat experience. Your feedback and support are key drivers behind these enhancements.
Read further: Icecat, ecommerce, PIM, product catalog, release notes
