Indie Communication
Issue #9: Post BEA Update; New Materials
IndieCommerce Education at BEA

The IndieCommerce sessions held at BEA last week were well attended. Thanks to all those booksellers who took time to visit the ABA Indie Bookseller Lounge to learn about the upgrade.

 

As promised, for those unable to join us, all the documents that were presented at the sessions have been uploaded to the IndieCommerce section of Designs and Downloads on BookWeb.org. The sessions included the following:

 

State of the Upgrade

The FAQ section of d7.indiecommerce.com covers many of the points touched upon in this discussion.  Additionally, Neil Strandberg, ABA Director of Technology, has resumed his twice-weekly State of the Upgrade conference calls. Please sign up here to participate in a call.

 

Preparing Your Site for the Upgrade

While there is no rush to upgrade your site, and cleaning up your site is helpful, it is not required.  This session details best practices on content review, including what to remove, and what not to remove.

 

To read a PDF of the full presentation, click here.

 

Drupal 7: A Sneak Peek!

To aid transition into the Drupal 7 environment, our team has provided a list of commonly accessed pages and where to find them in the new admin toolbar.  The handout also outlines features of the new WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) module, CKEditor.  

 

Click here to download a PDF of the handout.

For a live demo of CKEditor, click here (Note: The demo widget on the CKSource website will differ slightly from the widget  in the actual IndieCommerce installation).

 

Choosing a Theme and Redesign 101

While most stores have the option to keep their current theme, others will select a new theme, either by choice or necessity. This session covers themes plus general best practices and menu organization.  We recommend reviewing the full presentation first to provide greater context for some of the handouts.

 

Click here for the complete presentation in PDF format.

 

Theme Selection Resources

  • D7 Theme Introduction: Includes informational chart of each theme.

  • Overview of Block Regions: Provides screenshots of the block regions available in each theme. This will assist users in selecting a layout with their desired structure.

  • Blank Layout Templates: Blank layout worksheets to help plan the look and feel of your website.  These formats are just examples; feel free to grab a pen and paper to create a custom layout.

Conceptual Resources

  • Menu Structure Worksheets: These worksheets provide areas to help get your menu organized.  Choose what you would like in your main menu navigation, what may be better suited in the sidebar, or even down at the bottom of the page.

  • Best Practices Questionnaire: The migration to the Drupal 7 interface is the perfect opportunity to enhance your site, both visually and conceptually. Our team has compiled a self-assessment questionnaire to help brainstorm ideas, and to define the strengths and weaknesses of your current website.

If you attended any of the upgrade sessions at BEA, or participated in a one-on-one, please click here to take a short survey on your experience.

 

Group 1, Get Ready!

In the second week of May, all stores were mailed a group assignment to give them a sense of where they fall in the migration. 

 

Our team has been performing test migrations, and we're currently working out the last minute details of the new installation.  The upgrade procedure will be explained in full detail to all stores next week in a special edition of IndieCommunication.

 

How will it work for Group 1?

  • All Group 1 stores will be contacted via email in the next 2 weeks with detailed instructions.  Please be on the lookout for email from [email protected].

  • We'll be migrating Group 1 sites based on theme, and will begin with the most popular themes that are active on Group 1 sites.

  • If your theme does not have an upgrade path to Drupal 7 and you are not ready to select a new Drupal 7 theme, your site will be provided to you in the D7 default theme, Bartik.

  • Upon receipt of your site, stores will be encouraged to sign up for an hour-long transition training session. Likely, the session will not take the full hour allotted. There will be multiple time slots available.

  • There will be two stages to each migration. An initial transfer to port all non-order content into the Drupal 7 environment, then all order information will be transferred in a second migration when your Drupal 7 site is ready to launch.
In This Issue
June 4, 2014
Promote Your Edge Against Amazon and Show Love for Hachette

In response to the Amazon/Hachette situation concerning negotiating new terms for ebook sales and Amazon's subsequent shipping delays and removal of Hachette titles, ABA has created banners for your website and badges for social media use to remind customers that Hachette titles are available from your store right now.

 

Banners are available for download in the Designs and Downloads section of BookWeb.org.

 

   
State of the Upgrade Calls Resume

In order to ensure that members continue to have multiple ways to learn about platform upgrade news, we will resume a regular series of conference calls hosted by Technology Director Neil Strandberg.  These calls will inform store owners, managers and website support staff about progress on the platform upgrade, providing an opportunity to discuss "next steps" for stores and address any questions.

 

Please click here to register for State of the Upgrade calls, available through the month of July.

   
Helpful Links
 Drupal 7 Test Site
Follow ABA


Questions?
Email [email protected] or Phone 800-637-0037 x2

Thank you!
The IndieCommerce Team

American Booksellers Association | 1-800-637-0037 x 2 | [email protected] |  www.bookweb.org
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Suite S202
White Plains, NY 10604

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