Goodbye to Non-Responsive Magentas! Features to Be Found in Latest Magento Themes

Responsive websites are sort of a must-have these days. An overwhelming passion for having a responsive website made everyone want a design that will fit any portable (or not) device.

Rather discreetly we’ve dropped production of non-responsive Magento templates. As you can see in our Magento themes collection the badge responsive appeared from time-to time and now it’s glued to each and every template.

It's been a while since we told you about new features in our templates, so listen. We'd like to tell you about the differences between responsive and non-responsive, besides the obvious one. At this very moment another modernization stage is coming to an end, and we’d like to share some info about new features.

1. Twitter Bootstrap.

Twitter Bootstrap was implemented into all types of templates, so as into Magento. The templates of the version 1.8 will use Bootstrap 3.0.

2. Side Mobile Menu

Since great amount of people browse the web using their tablets or smartphones, the idea of a slide out menu was borrowed from apps. This is a pretty user-friendly solution since everyone got used to swipes and that’s how this menu works.

3. Live Search

There is no need now to know an exact name of the product, just type first letters and the search will offer you some options.

4. Checkout Adaptive Page

Previously we had to sacrifice on the desktop version. The products were displayed via a narrow column in the left part of a screen (to make it look good on mobile devices). From now on we are transforming the table to make it look good both on desktop and mobile screens.

5. Drop-Down Cart

We've slightly restyled to look of a cart drop-down.

6. Adaptive Slider - Camera Slideshow

Since the templates are responsive, they should have a slider that will adapt to the width of a page. Adaptive Camera Slideshow was a good solution to serve this particular purpose.

7. Multilingualism

Out templates have four languages built in: English, German, Spanish and Russian. With minimal actions site owners can also add their own languages. We allow the presence of other translations, ensuring that the design will not fall apart because of way too long phrases. You can see this on a live demo of any latest template.

8. Text Icons (Retina Ready)

All icons were replaced with text icons, apart from the stars showing rating of the product.

9. Product Comparison

In the sidebar, instead of a simple list you can find images of products added to the comparison.

10. Labels New and Sale

You can also add labels like New and Sale to the sections with new or special products, and they will be translated into your language.

11. Responsive (Touch) Carousel Page Product

12. Swipe Gallery for Related Products

In Magento, this block is called "YOU MAY ALSO BE INTERESTED IN THE FOLLOWING PRODUCT(S)". It's located on the product' page. This swipe works only on touch devices, the buttons are available only on desktop.

13. Show / Hide Column Module

In mobile layouts, an accordion is a simple and effective way to hide content. With its help you can save some space without sacrificing links.

14. Cloud Zoom Gallery Page Product

This cool module adds a zoom on mouseover to your Gallery photos.

15. Tablet Mobile Drop-Down Menu

In the tablet layout the best alternative for a menu is an accordion. Since the amount of space on the page is limited, hiding menu items into the drop-drop works better than anything else.

16. Grid / List Product View

You will have two possible options for presenting your products: in a form of a list or a grid.

17. Sidebar Slider

This is one of the newest and really popular features among our customers. In the side slider you can place top products or whatever you find appropriate.

18. Online User Guide Documentation

At this moment, documentation is ready to move online. But still we provide customers with an HTML version.

19. Some Other Notable Things

• Advanced CSS3 and HTML5 animations and transitions for theme elements
• Cross Browser Support (IE 9+, Safari, Mozilla Firefox, Chrome, Opera 9+)
• Google web fonts
• Back to top button

* * *When speaking about Magento templates, we should also mention the recent CMS update. On September 25, the new Magento 1.8 version has finally arrived. We've already provided all the necessary compatibility testings and switched our Magento themes to version 1.8.

The innovations include:

• Enhanced Tax Calculations. Key improvements touch upon taxation, mostly Canadian.
• Functional Improvements. There were made over 350 improvements, which touched upon the cart, import and export, Web API components and payment methods.
• Performance Improvements. Improved page load time. Improved performance of the admin panel for stores with large number of products or orders.

* * *There is always some room for improvements, and the better the product is the more pleasant the customer is. So if you have any questions about the range of new features or about Magento in general, the comment section is waiting for you to drop a line.