Kartris v2.5 is now on Codeplex and will be on the Microsoft Web App Gallery shortly. You can download the latest version from our downloads page.
Responsive mobile-friendly interface
Combined with a suitable skin, the Kartris front end will format according to the screen size and device type the page is running in. You'll get an idea of the effect if you view this site on a mobile device, or even just shrink your browser down to simulate a mobile phone's screen size. A responsive interface has several benefits over a separate mobile interface:
- Only one set of code to maintain which handles all types of devices
- A richer experience on mobile devices which aren't served a second-rate, cut down interface missing features considered 'non-essential'
- No alternative mobile site address or URLs needed - you can sync links from your desktop mobile browser to your phone (most major browsers support this now), and they will work on both devices
- Support for multiple device sizes - a responsive site doesn't just mean mobile or desktop; you can customize and tweak the design for a range of devices based on screen size, so tablets, mobiles, laptops and desktops can all have an optimized experience.
- Touch support - elements such as the slideshow in Foundation are touch-enabled, so you can swipe them back and forth, as well as clicking the forward or back buttons
By using Foundation as a basis for our responsive design, you can use the growing range of built in Foundation widgets and other tools in your pages, as well as draw on an established community of support for your visual designs. See foundation.zurb.com/docs/ for further information.
Bitcoin
Another hot property over the last year has been Bitcoin. While undoubtedly subject of rather a lot of hype, it's certainly a fascinating concept that opens up huge possibilities for e-commerce. The system is peer-to-peer, and allows anyone to transfer Bitcoin currency to anyone else running the software for virtually no cost. The only information needed to send a payment is the recipient's Bitcoin address, so it's possible to make payments (at least for online/downloadable services) without needing to give any street address, or even any name. Aside from cutting down the time needed to checkout, it also opens up the possibility of micro-payments and anonymous payments.
There are various gateway services that provide Bitcoin processing for businesses, but we've opted to build native support into Kartris. This way, you accept Bitcoins directly to the Bitcoin software, so there is no need to pay any ongoing service fees to third parties. You need to have your own server as the Bitcoin client needs to be accessible to the web site; when an order checks out and the customer selects Bitcoin as a payment option, Kartris creates a new Bitcoin address on the Bitcoin client software. Customers are informed to send the amount of the order to this address. A script on the server (which is provided with Kartris) polls the client software to check for incoming confirmations (the process the Bitcoin network uses to validate transactions). You can set the number of confirmations you want to receive before you accept an order - typically 3 or 4 is more than enough. The process can take a few minutes to confirm a payment, but once confirmed there is no possibility of charge-backs. You have the Bitcoins, and the transaction cannot be reversed.
Currency handling
We've also improved currency handling; currency is now set during the install/setup routine. You can also change the default currency easily from the back end either in the tax/regional wizard, or the currency page itself.
There are various other minor improvements and bug fixes too, but we expect the responsive interface to be the big driver to upgrade.
You can view the demo of the new version at http://demo.kartris.com/.
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