Prestashop 1.6 v/s Prestashop 1.7: Prestashop is something of a hero in the E-commerce market. For any brand, this open-source E-commerce platform provides great online shopping features.
Prestashop E-commerce platform offers some extravagant benefits to the end-users. The cost-effective solution of Prestashop is available for free, and it never compromises on quality or security. The PrestaShop team strives to improve the entire shopping experience of users and end customers with each new version and its latest version is Prestashop 1.7. The fundamental goal of PrestaShop 1.7 is to turn the entire process of setting up a business as simple, efficient, and user-friendly as feasible.
Planning to upgrade from PrestaShop 1.6 to the current version, but unsure of the latest features? Let’s see what we can find out! We will look at the differences between PrestaShop 1.6 and PrestaShop 1.7 in this blog to see what we are up against. You will be able to make the best decision possible with this information.
PrestaShop 1.7: A Quick Overview
PrestaShop 1.7 is the latest version of the popular PrestaShop E-commerce platform that lays the foundation for a whole new aim of establishing, promoting, and selling online. It is a significant upgrade from PrestaShop 1.6, with a number of new features and functions, including:
- The main menu has been reorganized.
- A page for creating new products
- The theme system has been completely redone.
- The modules page has been redesigned.
- Symfony Framework
An efficient Product Upload Interface
The Twig framework for Symfony2 includes a brand-new approach to add products to the catalogue. Indeed, PrestaShop 1.7’s UI is significantly superior to that of previous versions.
A considerable effort has been invested into reducing the number of tabs in the product upload interface. PrestaShop 1.7 has just six tabs, whereas previous versions had twelve. Furthermore, the tab’s organization is quite straightforward, making it far more user-friendly.
Modern Translation Mechanism
If you want to make your PrestaShop business multilingual, you will need to add more languages to the admin panel. The issue is that the translating algorithm may cause errors – especially in emails and modules.
Besides, the translation method in PrestaShop 1.6 is inefficient because certain files must be translated one at a time. Moreover, when using the previous translation mechanism, customers frequently encounter issues such as a lack of depth or similar strings. But to your relief, Prestashop 1.7 has a full translation tool for your E-commerce store. The update undoes all the errors of the translation tool that the previous version had.
Improved Sales
The introductions of smart items, as well as module and catalogue administration, are now significantly quicker and more convenient thanks to completely reconfigured modules and sales funnels. The centralized check-out process will significantly improve customers’ shopping experiences. Likewise, by simplifying both front and back-office systems, transactions are substantially enhanced.
Why is PrestaShop 1.7 superior to PrestaShop 1.6?
PrestaShop 1.7 is the 7th major release of the PrestaShop platform. It is also accessible in a whopping 25 other languages. The following are some of the most significant augmentations over prior versions:
Enhanced “Create a Product”
The “Create a product” page has been updated with a new UI, faster action speed, improved shortcuts, and a fresh approach for adding products to a category. In addition, automated management has been modified to highlight the most important elements and enable merchants to complete this activity more efficiently.
Operations team navigation
The back office has been rebuilt, resulting in a much-enriched UI/UX experience that makes navigating simple and reliable. Redesigning the navigation menu played a key role in reducing the efforts for selling and configuring and helped organize the back office smoothly.
Page of Modules
A significant modification to the modules page provides greater module administration on a daily basis. New tabs make it easier to navigate between parts, enabling the user to view installed modules, manage those pending for action, and explore new options that might be fruitful to your organization.
A new default theme
“Classic” is the title of the new and unique default theme. It will give your store a new design while also allowing you to start selling right away. Finally, the product sheets have been substantially improved, and the checkout approach has been fully updated to optimize the purchasing experience. Prestashop has also launched some latest themes that are attractive and help improve the overall user experience. These themes can be downloaded from the Official Marketplace.
Templating Engine – Symfony
There was just one default templating engine in Prestashop 1.5 and 1.6, which was Smarty. Smarty and Symfony’s Twig are the two templating engines available in the latest Prestashop 1.7. This is how they are put to use:
- Smarty is used for front-end themes
- Twig is used for new back-end pages
- Legacy pages are written in Smarty
Modules (both front-end and back-end) can use any template engine they wish, such as pure PHP, Smarty, Twig, or Jade, as was already available in 1.6, although Smarty is the default template engine and using something else instead will involve some developer effort.
When it comes to advancing from PrestaShop 1.6 to 1.7, the process is a little more involved than the normal ‘one-click upgrade’ procedure that many store owners and vendors are accustomed to. Even though the manual upgrade is inexpensive, you may encounter some technical difficulties along the road, particularly if you are not tech-savvy.
And that’s a Wrap!
As we have seen, Prestashop 1.7 has come up with numerous advanced features to help store merchants with better management. When comparing Prestashop 1.6 and 1.7, the latter is clearly the market leader and has already been industry-accepted!
If you are looking for a high-quality PrestaShop solution, then you have come to the right place! iCreative Technologies provides a suitable solution to your requirements. Our PrestaShop development services are simply the best and we use the latest version 1.7 from V1.7.0.0 to V1.7.7.1. Let us know your requirements.
Jainesh Shah
Jainesh Shah is a CEO and Co-Founder of iCreative Technologies Inc. iCreative Technologies is a digital eCommerce agency mainly serving B2B clients across the globe. With over 15 years of experience in technology and business, he is helping his client thrive in this competitive era. He is specialized in eCommerce consulting, creative thinking, generating new business ideas, and delivering end products to market in the digital space. He is working with the vision to help his partner agencies and Clients to grow in their respective businesses.