Magento 1.9 – what’s new?
05.07.2014
Angelika Siczek
Not so long ago a new version of the Magento 1.9 platform has been released. In addition to many improvements, the new version brings some new features as well. The new functionalities include a new fully responsive store template available in the basic Magento installation. In addition to the availability of the store on tablets and mobile devices, increasing the speed of operation on these devices, the introduction of the responsive version also involves profits in the form of better optimization of SEO, because Google prefers stores adapted to display at different resolutions.
Among the new functionalities, cross-border prices can also be mentioned. This functionality is to be a support for sellers engaged in international trade within the European Union. It enables the presentation of consistent prices to clients located in locations with different sub-rates. In the case of operations in several countries, customers are given the same price irrespective of differences in tax rates in the countries concerned.
The new version of Magento also has support for PHP 5.4. The Zend library has been updated to version 1.12.3, and improvements to the ordering process have been introduced. Customers have access to Bill Me Later a PayPal service where the customer does not have to pay immediately for purchased goods. It is similar to using a credit line. In addition, if the customer repays his commitment within six months, he will not be charged any interest. If you use PayPal Express, you can also offer other payment options to clients if their card is rejected.
The new 1.9 version also improves safety. The potential threat of XSS attacks when creating variants for configurable products has been eliminated. For security reasons, the .swf file from the basic Magento distribution has been removed. The security of the billing agreements has been strengthened. The potential gap in the session found in the order process in the store has been removed, and many minor fixes have been introduced to help secure the store properly.
Other changes include the exclusion of the Google Optimizer – this feature was considered obsolete because Google abandoned its further development. Two new options have been added to prevent clickjacking attacks. The attack of this type consists in the attacker placing a transparent side other than the one in which the user currently clicks. In this way, the user can enter his or her confidential data, such as the credit card number of the field, which are actually on the hidden layer, thinking that clicking on the buttons on the site, in fact, transmits its data to the attacker. By using an additional X-Frame-Options header, we can prevent the display of iframes on our site.
An amendment was also introduced to validate credit cards, an error in earlier versions of Magento caused some groups of credit card numbers to be considered invalid.
Display of fixed and dynamic prices for bundled products has been improved, and rounding problems have been corrected in case Fixed Product Tax option is enabled, also the calculations for amounts in correction invoices have been improved.
AMENDMENTS IN STORE AND CART:
– The user can update the number of products in the mini-cart in the customer’s panel,
– Pop with the recommended minimum price now works correctly,
– The client’s registration date now works correctly,
– Switching between stores while browsing the product now works correctly,
– Setting the option None in the warehouse with the administration panel does not automatically exclude all products on the store,
– Gift codes are sent only after the purchase of the product,
– The customer who is trying to log in to another account with other permissions is rejected,
– Fixed a problem with the use of 100% discount on the order,
– Customers are no longer redirected to the home page if they have permission to view categories,
– The discount amount displays the rule for products with custom options set,
AMENDMENTS IN PROMOTIONAL RULES:
– Basket pricing rules are applied correctly to configurable products,
– The two catalog rules applied to one product now work correctly,
– A user with read-only permissions cannot write rules in the administration panel,
In addition to the above, a lot of improvements have been made, a full list of changes can be found on the Magento website.
