Icecat Studio – Sprint 89 Release Notes

Sprint 89 focused on expanding distribution capabilities, strengthening accessibility compliance, and introducing more flexible publication logic for complex brand structures. In parallel, we continued foundational improvements to Story Builder and AI-powered workflows.

Product Story ZIP Output

We introduced a new Product Story ZIP output format that automatically generates a complete package when a story status changes to Approved.

Each package includes:

• index.html with the story layout
• All media assets (images, videos)
• Bundled JavaScript and CSS files
• Structured folder organization and asset manifest

Generation is handled asynchronously via a queue system with dedicated workers to ensure scalability and stable performance. Packages are streamed directly to storage without memory overload and are stored in a public S3 bucket for distribution use cases.

In this release:

• ZIP generation is automatically triggered for all newly approved stories
• A new entity has been added to the XML and JSON endpoints, exposing a direct link to the generated ZIP package
• ZIP output references are now included in all newly published stories

A new <AlternativeOutputs> node has been introduced in the XML/JSON structure. Within this node, the element contains a field that provides the direct URL to the generated ZIP package.

XML:

JSON:

Next step: enabling direct ZIP package download from within the Icecat Studio UI.

This enhancement strengthens external deployment capabilities and simplifies partner integrations requiring fully bundled story assets.

Framework WCAG / EAA Accessibility Improvements

We implemented baseline accessibility improvements at the framework level to align interactive components with WCAG and European Accessibility Act (EAA) requirements.

This update focuses on:

• Full keyboard navigation across interactive modules
• Consistent and visible focus indicators
• Logical navigation order
• Removal of known keyboard interaction blockers
• Improved semantic behavior for interactive elements

Accessibility enhancements were applied across modules including:

Carousels, Video, Hot Spots (Amazon Premium & others), Q&A, Buttons inside text entities, 3D/AR modules, Documents, and Energy Labels.

These changes improve usability for keyboard and assistive technology users while maintaining existing UI design and content structure.

Category-Based Publication Logic

We introduced category-level publication rules within a brand, enabling more granular control over how Product Story variants are distributed.

Previously, publication logic could only be configured at the brand level. This created conflicts for brands represented by multiple licensors operating independently (e.g., different product divisions under the same trademark).

With this release:

• Publication rules can now be configured per brand + category
• Different Product Story variants (Standard, Premium, Amazon Standard, Amazon Premium, Exclusive) can be published differently per category
• If no category-specific rules exist, default behavior remains unchanged
• No regression for brands that do not require segmented logic

This enhancement prevents publication conflicts between licensors and reduces manual editorial intervention.

Other Improvements & Ongoing Work

AI-Driven Sandbox Image Generation

Work continued on AI-powered image generation in the Sandbox.

This sprint focused on implementing and testing streaming communication to ensure the AI dialogue remains stable and responsive during interaction, preventing conversational context loss in generation flows.

Story Builder v2 – Left Sidebar

Development progressed on the structural refactoring of Story Builder as part of a broader architecture improvement initiative.

The new left sidebar will:

• Introduce a clearer tree structure of the entire story
• Improve module discoverability and search
• Provide more visible module previews
• Align with the updated design system
• Prepare the foundation for future scalability

This work is part of a larger Story Builder modernization effort.

Test Coverage for Live Microservice

Expanded automated test coverage for the Live microservice to improve reliability of publication flows and reduce regression risks.