X-Cart just came out with their new 4.2 version in beta today - doing some testing now to see how it looks. The big changes include many features we have included in our stores for over a year now, but it will be nice to have them in the stock install as well. Highlights:
- CSS (tableless) layout
- Dimensional Shipping
- Search Engine Friendly urls out of the box
- Fully customizable META data
- Pre-Auth availability for credit cards
- Dynamic thumbnail generation
So the only 'new' features for our clients would be the dimensional shipping and pre-auth/capture functionality - everything else on that list we already include in our custom stores.
So the big question everyone will be asking is, should I upgrade? The answer is - it depends. First, I do not recommend using a new release until X-Cart deems it 'stable' which is usually around the .8 or .9 release. Even then it is better to let it go a few more versions to work out ALL of the bugs. Both the 4.0 and 4.1 versions were not really 'stable' until well after they were deemed 'stable' by Qualiteam. Once 4.2 does become stable, the only reasons to upgrade are if you need a new feature such as dimensional shipping or pre-auth functionality. If you are one of our clients, the other features are already included in your store, so there is no reasons to spend the money or the time upgrading. If you are running a stock version of 4.1, an upgrade is always recommended to stay on top of the latest technology. This release will certainly address many of the issues that have been handled by third party add-ons in the past. So the bottom line is, wait for a while and see how this release shakes out before upgrading.
A few new site launches this week as well: