AgoraCart Pro version 5.5.000, the enhanced version of the popular AgoraCart Open Source ecommerce storefront platform, is now available.

Enhanced features include search engine aware URLs, speed enhancements in dynamic category building and creation of cart session files. 50+ new database fields have been added for customization of order management and future expansion of the AgoraCart order management modules. A new and cleaner look for the web based manager also come with version 5.5.x

More details on the changes from version 5.1.000 to version 5.5.000 can be found at:
http://www.agoracart.com/version_updates.html

Links to the purchase of AgoraCart Pro version licensing, which supports the AgoraCart project directly, can be found by visiting:
http://www.agoracart.com/proforum.htm

NiftyPay and NiftyPay to Play payment processing services have been added to AgoraCart 5.0.x and AgoraCart Pro 5.1.x as standard and freely available gateway options for AgoraCart users.

NiftyPay is unique in that it will allow a merchant to accept credit cards, echecks and PayPal payments securely and without the need to use multiple forms in AgoraCart or any other order script for that matter.

NiftyPay to Play is a low cost option for small or new startup merchants that want to have more control over their payment processing options but desire low or non-existent monthly fees. NiftyPay to Play has the same features as the standard NiftyPay, but without the larger financial commitment every month and/or to sign up.

You can find more information on NiftyPay at www.NiftyPay.com

The Echo payment gateway is now available to current Pro members for use in AgoraCart Pro version 5.1.000 and above.

Thanks to the leg work of an AgoraCart user, named Chad (CDC Warrior), completion of the gateway was expedited. As a result, Chad earned a complimentary lifetime membership to the AgoraCart Pro web site.

Information on becoming a Pro member in order to access AgoraCart Pro is available at: http://www.agoracart.com/proforum.htm

The long awaited AgoraCart version 5.0.000 is available to the general public. Version 5.0.000, an open source ecommerce solution. offers significant improvements over the prevous 4.0K-4b version, including CSS (cascading style sheets) design controls, greatly enhanced order management, drop-in templates and button sets with online manager/selector, international shipping with the new USPS (United States Postal Service) module, ability to have layout/header/footer files per category just by dropping them into the html-templates directory of the store, and more security. Version 5.0.000 is has a nifty module updater that allows you to update core program files that are typically not customized by most users, which results in easier upgrades saving store operators a lot of time and hassles.

This is a quantum leap forward over the previous version that was released in late 2002. There are so many features that have been updated that it does not look much like the AgoraCart of the past.

Downloads are only in tarball forms: .tgz and .tar.gz. Semi-automated installer and upgrader scripts will be available by mid-October 2006.

Check out the new version. You can dowload the new version on the download page at AgoraCart.com

We are proud to announce that USA ePay has sponsored the development of a new payment processing gateway package this past week. This new payment gateway is a great addition to the payment gateway line up that AgoraCart already supports. The new gateway is available now for AgoraCart version 5.1.000 Pro and will be available to 5.0.0 users when that release/version is ready for the public. Gateway files for version 4.0K-4b will also be available within the week for users of the well established 4.0K-4b series offered by thousands Cpanel based web hosting companies.

About USA ePay
USA ePay is a full-service ECI and Retail certified payment gateway which supports the First Data Nashville, TSYS [Vital, Paymentech and Global platforms. USA ePay, is a PCI compliant gateway and is certified with the Visa USA CISP and MasterCard SDP programs. The gateway supports the Verified by Visa and MasterCard SecureCode programs. The USA ePay gateway also carries the basic features of Address Verification System, CVV2 and CVC, Recurring Billing and a free developer’s library on their website. For more information, please visit www.usaepay.com or call 866.USA.EPAY (872-3729).

Howdy,

Cpanel has enhanced the interface that installs and manages initial installations AgoraCart from within the Cpanel environment.

If you have access to the latest and greatest versions of cpanel via your hosting account, you will find the ability to upgrade your store as Cpanel updates their core files, the ability to move or copy your store to another directory (duplication and moving with the click of a link), and a cleaner interface.

All in all, it's very nice and adds more functionality in managing your initial AgoraCart based store installations.

Mister Ed

After a year of discussion and study, and in anticipation of the AgoraCart version 5.0.0 release, the manuals and documentation for AgoraCart, a ecommerce shopping solution, has been moved to a wiki format at AgoraCart.com . The new wiki format will allow users of AgoraCart to contribute to and improve, in meaningful ways, the much needed documentation.

Powered by MediaWiki, the existing manual pages and guides were converted to wiki format earlier this month. The new wiki format will allow users of AgoraCart to contribute to and improve, in meaningful ways, the much needed documentation for the Open Source software project.

The new location of the manual and guides is located at:
http://www.agoracart.com/agorawiki/

Experienced users of AgoraCart are encouraged to contribute to the manuals and/or make a request to become a moderator of the documentation to maintain it's integrity. Editors are standing by, so all skill levels of the written word are welcome if any person wanting to contribute needs assistance.

In the end, the new documentation format will be a giant step forward in making AgoraCart easier to use for those that are newer to online marketing.

K-Factor Technologies, Inc is pleased to announce that the long awaited AgoraCart Version 5.0.0 Release Candidate One (5.0.0 RC1) was released today, February 18th, through it's membership program. Agoracart is an Open Source based shopping cart targeting small businesses and runs on Linux/Unix based servers.

This intial Version 5.0.0 release has been three years in the making and includes massive feature overhauls such as: improved UPS and USPS shipping, order management, better navigation, improved organization of the online management features, increased security, a new template structure that allows for complete customization or use of standard templates, a thorough CSS implementation, a version upgrade manager, and many more features.

AgoraCart supporters and members may download a copy of the cart distribution and install file at http://www.AgoraCartPro.com in the members only download sections.

Release Candidate One only comes with the Offline payment gateway enabled. Other gateways are to be updated and added with each Release Candidate.

The final Version of AgoraCart 5.0.0 is slated for release in March 2006 and will be available for free download at http://www.AgoraCart.com .

Today marks the 5th year AgoraCart.com has been online.

Originally the site was rolled out as the only authorized tech support site for the Agora.cgi Shopping Cart project. After the original domain name (agoracgi.com) for the project was hijacked for domain aftermarket speculation by Network Solutions, AgoraCart.com became the new online home for the project in 2002. The project was subsequently renamed from Agora.cgi to AgoraCart shortly thereafter.

Since becoming home to the AgoraCart Shopping Cart project, which is Open Source Software written in the PERL programming language, AgoraCart.com has seen dramatic growth in unique visitors, now topping 928,000 as of today. Though these metrics are small compared to some sites, it was never imagined that the site would become so popular, let alone that the shopping cart would become a popular ecommerce mainstay worldwide.

All of us involved in the project, from keeper of the code to the many volunteers working the various user forums would like to thank all those that have supported the project financially and with time contributions as well as for supporting the service providers that promote and use AgoraCart. Thank you for helping AgoraCart become a success.

Release Candidate 1 (RC1) for version 5.0.0 of AgoraCart is very close to being a reality. Despite set backs and under estimating the time needed to develop and recode certain features, RC1 is tentatively targeted for release by end of January 2006.

AgoraCart 5.0.0 RC1 is not a beta version, and is fully capable of running in a production environment. However, it is missing some features, mostly gateways. Layout refinements will also need to be made prior to the final release.

Some features, such as the static page builder, froogle exporter, and the "buy now" button generator will be released at a later date.

ME