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05
Nov |
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Jesse |
We are proud to announce that Shopify now integrates with Google Product Search (formerly Google Base). Using this free service is a great way to increase product promotion and discovery. We recommend every eligible Shopify store to opt in to this service for optimal exposure.
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16
Sep |
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john |
Just in time for tax season, we've added the ability to download your orders in CSV format for any given month or quarter.
From your Orders page, select the "Export Orders by Month or Quarter" link. By clicking on the relevant icon links, Shopify will create a zipped CSV file of all your orders for the given month or quarter and email it you. You can also select a specific month or quarter by selecting the 'Other' icon. |
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09
Sep |
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edward |
Shopify is having an App Developer meetup September 25th. Come join us in IRC in the #shopify channel on irc.freenode.net at 2:00PM EST and talk with some of the API AppStore developers about how you can turn some ideas you’ve got floating around into a moneymaker sold on the AppStore. For more about building Apps, see http://www.shopify.com/developers/ Unsure about IRC? Jump over to the web-client, choose a nick for yourself, and join the channel. (Update: the title was mistakenly set to September 19th. Please disregard the old date.) |
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26
Aug |
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James |
Among all the people who use Shopify, there is a huge spectrum of background knowledge and expectations. Some sign up because they want to start selling something right away. Shopify is great for them because they can choose one of our beautiful themes and get going without any hassle. Others are web designers who need to create the perfect theme to showcase their clients’ unique products. Shopify is great for them too because it gives them complete control over a theme’s code. But what about people who just want to change some colors or add a custom logo to the site, but don’t know HTML or CSS? What if you’re a designer creating that perfect theme, but you want your client to be able to make some predictable changes in the future? This has been an issue with Shopify for a while, and we’re pleased today to announce new features which will empower both shop owners and designers in some really exciting ways. The theme settings form
We have been thinking about the problem of theme customization for a long time, and we’ve looked at a lot of other products to see how they’ve tackled it. Eventually we realized that the best way forward was to let theme authors use their existing HTML and Liquid knowledge to make their themes as customizable as they wish, in the way that makes the most sense for that particular theme. A designer can now include a file called settings.html in a theme. The HTML in this file contains form inputs (text fields, drop-down menus, checkboxes, and so forth) which are wrapped up in a form and shown at the top of the theme editor screen. Shopify juggles the HTML a bit before showing it to the user, and this makes it easy for dynamic controls like color pickers to be included by the theme author with nothing more than the addition of a CSS class on a text field. The names given by the theme author to each form input correspond directly to properties on the new There’s a lot of potential here beyond what we’ve already done with the standard themes, and we can’t wait to see what the Shopify design community comes up with. Liquid assetsPeople have wanted this one for a while, and it’s finally here: now you can generate your CSS files using Liquid. Just put a The generated file is only updated when either its source Not only does this dovetail nicely with the new settings forms, it also provides theme authors with an easy and powerful way to write CSS that doesn’t become a headache to maintain. Snippets
Another new feature which goes well with theme customization is snippets. Snippets are like mini-templates which can be included at any point within another template, or even another snippet. They live in their own folder within the theme and can be managed straight from the theme editor. Snippets are great for keeping a theme’s code organized, especially when you want the user to be able to change whole chunks of a page through the theme settings form. As an example, a theme author might create a number of snippets to go in the shop’s sidebar, such as a product collection or blog feed, an “about us” blurb, and a notification of seasonal sale prices. They could then be easily swapped in and out with a few drop-down menus in the settings form. Alternate layoutsOne layout not flexible enough for you? Now you can create alternate layouts in the theme editor which can be associated with different templates by using the layout tag within that template. If your multiple layouts have a lot in common, you can use snippets to keep from repeating yourself. Alternate templates
Sometimes one of your products or collections is just so exceptional that it deserves a style all its own. Or maybe your blogs and pages communicate such diverse messages that each should have its own look and feel. This kind of thing used to be a hassle for theme designers, but now it’s easy because you can create alternate versions of your templates to be used in specific circumstances. Just as with alternate layouts, you can create these template variants from the theme editor. And when editing a product, collection, blog, or page, you’ll find a drop-down menu in the sidebar to select which template it will use. One more thing…Being able to generate stylesheets from Liquid is a huge win, but CSS files aren’t the only theme assets you can generate with Liquid. Check this out: on/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always" width="480" height="270">I think you’ll agree that with these improvements to Shopify’s theme system, web designers have an incredibly powerful creative platform at their disposal. More information on how to use these new tools can be found on our wiki: |
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17
Jul |
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edward |
After listening to early adopters of the Shopify API in the Developer Forums, we’ve rolled out the ability to issue count requests on resources like The count requests look like and take the same conditions and parameters you’d give to the existing find request you’re used to – they just return a count of how many orders, products or other resource you’re querying for. Here’s an example of how to ask how many orders have yet to be shipped: Check out the updated docs in http://api.shopify.com and the open-source shopify_app plugin at Github. |
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30
Jun |
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Dimitri |
Effective use of Google’s AdWords program has been the single biggest predictor of success for new Shopify stores. Virtually all successful stores on our platform use it. We talked to Google about this and they came up with a great incentive program: We will be able to provide all Shopify customers with free credit for their newly created AdWords accounts. Depending on the type of store you have, you will receive either a $25, $50 or $75 credit to get started. To get started, you can get your key in the marketing section of your admin or wait for the emails regarding the promotion that we will start sending out in the coming days. AdWords is a great tool for helping you bring your products to market. You can get your ads running in minutes, reach a targeted audience directly right in the moment when they are actively looking for a related search term and easily track your ROI.
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02
Jun |
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Dimitri |
Shopify is proud to announce the release of the Shopify Platform! For the occasion of Shopify’s third birthday, we are officially announcing two major releases that will make Shopify better than ever – the Shopify App Store and the Shopify API! Shopify App Store The Shopify App Store is another very exciting project that is also released today. It benefits two different groups of people: Shopify storeowners, and Shopify developers.
Shopify storeowners now have the opportunity to add applications to their Shopify store that will allow them to do all sorts of things they have been unable to do before. From custom invoices and sales reports, to pretty much anything else you can imagine! Here’s a sampling of the first few applications that are available:
In order to browse and purchase new apps, you go directly to the App Store, browse for the application that you want, and then simply click Install and presto!
In the near future, application developers will even be able charge for their apps using Shopify’s billing system. This is a big win for users, as any app charges will be included in their regular Shopify bill; and it’s a big win for developers, who won’t have to write custom billing code for their apps. Check out the App Store right now to see all the great things that are on there, and keep your eyes peeled for the new apps that will be released in the future! Shopify API The Shopify API has been in the works for a long time and is finally ready. We’ve worked closely with many pre-launch partners that have made the API very robust and we are proud of the final result. The Shopify API will allow developers to create tools that integrate directly with Shopify, and to create applications which will then be sold or offered for free in the App Store. The API is documented to make it easy for developers to create new applications to be integrated into the Shopify App Store. Interested in becoming a developer and earning recurring revenues from your apps? Check out our Partners page to sign up! You can also check out our press release about this here |
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13
May |
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Dimitri |
Shopify is proud to announce a partnership with PowerReviews!
We’ve been hard at work since January working on an integration of PowerReviews Express™ with the PowerReviews team, and we’re very happy to announce that the integration is now complete and ready to be used by any Shopify store. PowerReviews provides an excellent integrated product review system, called PowerReviews Express for your Shopify store. PowerReviews Express is specifically designed for small and medium-sized businesses, and the current integration with Shopify means it’s going to be easy to include product reviews for your products. Some great features of the Shopify and PowerReviews Express integration include an at-a-glance review summary that makes product research easier, a feature that builds confidence with verified reviews, and the ability for customers to find reviews from people just like them. Having customer reviews for your store has been shown as a way to increase sales significantly, and the integration process is very easy as well. If you want to learn more, go here to see a screencast and learn more about PowerReviews. And here you can request a great white paper that shows some of the benefits of having a review system. Want to give Shopify and PowerReviews Express a try? Sign up here for your 30-day trial account and see what it can do for your store.
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06
May |
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Cody |
Shopify now has support for the NELiX TransaX payment gateway. NELiX TransaX supports US based merchants processing in USD. The gateway supports many major credit card brands including VISA, MasterCard, American Express, and Discover. NELiX TransaX was founded in December 2006. A quote from their site:
Thanks to Mike Mangino of Elevated Rails for contributing the gateway to ActiveMerchant. |
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29
Apr |
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Daniel |
Designers rejoice! We have just launched a new version of our popular design toolkit Vision including many major updates.
What is Vision?
Updates
Download itHead over to the Vision website and get the latest version |
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27
Apr |
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Jesse |
We are excited to announce today integration with the Aviary Phoenix Image Editor. What is Phoenix?
See a video demo of Phoenix in action. With Phoenix you have all the power of Photoshop without leaving your browser or paying expensive licensing fees. Phoenix gives you the ability to edit your images with brushes, text, and colours, and even lets you work with layers! This image shows you how the integration works on the Phoenix side:
The images below show you where we have added this integration in the Shopify admin. Now you can choose to edit product images, uploaded files, and theme assets in Phoenix and have your changes reflected immediately in Shopify.
Check out Aviary’s forums if you need help getting started and check out their tutorials if you want to become a Phoenix expert. |
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23
Apr |
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Dimitri |
Theme Forest is hosting a great gallery of Shopify themes. You can check out the themes and purchase them here! Once you have a theme, you simply upload it through your Shopify admin panel. Editing and applying it is simple, so you can get your new theme up and running very quickly.
But what if you’re a designer and want to try your hand at making a Shopify theme, yourself? Well, our own Jesse wrote an excellent tutorial for NetTuts.com, explaining exactly how to make a theme, from start to end. You can see the tutorial and leave a comment here. |
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21
Apr |
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john |
We are thrilled to announce the release of one of the most requested features in Shopify: Multiple Options for Products! You can now have products with multiple options, making it easier for you to organize your products and for your customers to browse and select what they want to buy. For example, if you sell jeans you'll easily be able to create a different drop-down menu for the colour/style, another one for the waist size, and another for the length. The front-end of the store would look something like this, allowing easy selection of any option for your product: 
The back-end is streamlined, making it easy to add new variations, change existing variations, or modify the product options. 
We worked hard to make this feature as intuitive and straightforward as the rest of the Shopify interface, and we think you'll love using it. All our current themes have this feature built in, and converting your custom theme is a simple process. See links below for the tutorials. Last week we put up a screencast explaining the new product screen. Here it is again in case you've missed it - Mike shows you all the great new improvements and explains how multiple options work: For additional help, you can check out our Tutorial Wikis below: |
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16
Apr |
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john |
We're excited to announce that we've updated our Product screen in anticipation of a great new feature we will be releasing very shortly. You can check our screencast below to see how we've made our Product screen even better and easier to use. In the second half of the screencast, we sneak-preview our exciting new feature, Multiple Options for Products! We hope you enjoy the new layout, and stay tuned to find out more about our new feature for products. Enjoy! |
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04
Mar |
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Tobi |
Less Accounting is a hosted accounting package that takes the headaches out of accounting. We are excited to announce that Shopify and Less Accounting don’t just go great together, but they now also talk directly to each other: Once you activate the integration in your Less Accounting admin interface, orders will be automatically imported and synchronized once a night.
If you still use an offline accounting package this is a great opportunity to make the jump to online software. |
8
Google Product Search
