2.3 Handsome Hippo Beta 1: Release and Highlights

This week we’re happy to announce WC 2.3 “Handsome Hippo” beta 1 is available for testing.

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Since 2.2 we’ve had a humongous 1389 commits. You can view the changelog here and see what we’ve been busy working on: https://github.com/woothemes/woocommerce/blob/2.3.0-beta-1/readme.txt#L133

Before going into the features, developers should be aware of the following changes which we’ve been covering in other posts:

1. Changes to the coupon system – http://develop.woothemes.com/woocommerce/2014/12/upcoming-coupon-changes-in-woocommerce-2-3/
2. Changes that affect theme authors – http://develop.woothemes.com/woocommerce/2014/11/attention-theme-authors-frontend-changes-ahead-in-woocommerce-2-3/
3. Changes in Email templates – http://develop.woothemes.com/woocommerce/2014/10/2-3-emails/
4. Chosen has been replaced with Select2 – Chosen is still registered in WooCommerce for now, but plugins should migrate to Select2 as soon as possible (select2 has a larger community behind it).

Aside from the countless fixes and tweaks, here are a few of the key features in 2.3.

An Overhauled UI

James Koster has been busy closing UI related issues in 2.3, and UI was the main focus of the release. We’ve updated the user interface on both the front and backend of WooCommerce.

On the backend, settings have been re-organised and perform better on hand-held devices for an all round improved user experience.

On the frontend there are several UX enhancements such as the undo-remove-from cart link and responsive table design as well as a fresh, modern look which meshes more fluidly with the current design trends of default WordPress themes.

Changes to the UI have been covered in more detail in this post.

A UI for Webhooks

Webhooks were introduced in our API in version 2.2 but where hidden from view (and only added via the API). Claudio Sanches has been busy fleshing out a UI for the Webhook system in 2.3 which will allow adding, removing, editing and viewing logs for webhooks.

Webhooks make it easier for 3rd party apps to integrate with WooCommerce so the way should be paved for some interesting new services in the future.

Geo-Location Features

Whilst implementing solutions for the infamous EU VAT Changes, it became apparent that some users require that prices be shown to users with their local taxes reflected in the store. Therefore I began work on a geo-location solution for core.

In 2.3 we’ve introduced a geolocation class which optionally allows you to set the default customer location to their actual location which will affect both:

• Taxes shown to the user
• The default state of the country selection box during checkout

The class uses MaxMind’s geolite database, has fallbacks for several API based geo-location services, and works locally by using some IP lookup services when required.

Unit Tests

Although early days, some of our contributors, including new boy Barry Kooij, have been working on adding Unit Tests to WooCommerce. The code coverage should increase over time, but this is a big step forward in 2.3.

Downloading the Beta

Download 2.3 Beta 1

If you find a bug with the beta, please ensure you prepend the ticket title with [2.3] when submitting the issue to GitHub, or at least mention what version you are using in the ticket description.

Also when reporting anything to us:

1. Describe the issue in detail, with a system status report
2. Don’t report issues with extensions, only core
3. Don’t report issues with themes
4. Report bugs, not feature requests

Thanks!