Blesta 3.0: Packages (video)
Packages in v3 are very similar to packages in previous versions, with a lot of additional functionality. The goal in redesigning packages for v3 was to facilitate addons, allow for quantities, provide for better organization of packages, and support specific pricing in multiple currencies (Rather than relying on currency conversion, which Blesta can do too).
A few notable items..
- Limited quantities supported! If you only have 100 of them, when they are sold they’re gone.. no more orders can be placed.
- Package Groups are new, Standard and Addon. Addon groups can be assigned to Standard groups, making their packages available as addons to the packages within them.
- Addon packages are just like normal packages and can be provisioning. An addon for an “extra 10GB disk”, could make an API call to add the disk space, without any staff involvement, assuming the module supports it, of course.
- Prices can be specified in multiple currencies. Set a 1 month term to 10 USD, and a 1 month term to 8 EUR and the client will be invoiced the price in their preferred currency, whatever that is.
- Package emails are no longer combined with the welcome email template that contains account registration details. A package welcome email is sent out separately when the service is created, allowing for more flexibility and control over service creation emails.
- Cancellation fees have been added, which are assessed if a service is canceled early.
The video is below, as usual you can make the video full screen, and be sure to turn on your sound!
Blesta 3.0: Client Themes (video)
We hear it all the time, people love the simplicity of Blesta. Part of the challenge in v3 was to add a lot of new functionality but at the same time maintain and even improve on the simplicity and ease of use of Blesta. The last thing we want is a cluttered interface displaying links to things most people will never use, which is why all the more advanced functionality is hidden under a tiny link called “Settings”. It’s also why non-core items have been delegated as plugins. If it’s a plugin, it can be uninstalled — get rid of those unnecessary links, get back to productivity!
Today’s video is on Client Themes, which can be created and selected under that tiny link, Settings. Selecting one of the themes Blesta ships with, or creating a new theme lets you quickly and easily theme Blesta to match your website without editing a single line of code. Of course, you can still dig down into the markup if you want to for a more complete integration, but it’s no longer a necessity for a unique, non cookie-cutter, client area.
Gradients! Need I say more?
The video is below, as usual you can make the video full screen, and be sure to turn on your sound!
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Blesta 3.0: The Marketplace
Blesta v3 was designed with a major emphasis on developers. We know that when others can easily write their own extensions on our platform and make powerful new features available to the market, it makes our product that much better.
We expect a lot of these 3rd party extensions will serve niche markets, and others will compete directly with or extend functionality we’ve built.
With all we’ve done to support developers, the issue becomes about getting their hard work in front of Blesta users. By no means have we created a closed system that forces a particular distribution channel. Our focus is the user experience, and what we’ve built is right up that alley. It’s much easier when users can find extensions quickly and easily, see ratings and feedback from others, and install with a click of the mouse.. all within the application.
So, we built The Marketplace.
The Marketplace is built right into Blesta and should be available at launch. Developers can list their extensions on The Marketplace if they like. It’s not a requirement and extensions can be installed manually but we think the exposure and ease of installation makes it the right place to be.
We’ll have a lot more on The Marketplace in the future, so stay tuned.
If all goes according to plan this next week, I may have another video for you on the client area!
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Blesta 3.0: Staff BCC Notices (video)
In software development, this is where things start to get really exciting for me. Thousands of hours of planning, research, and development all coming together into a single product. I feel like we’re entering the home stretch, even though our next release is in many ways just the beginning of what will surely be plenty of fantastic, feature-rich updates and extensions.
The video today focuses on a rather small feature: Staff BCC Notices. But, this feature is representative of how we approach both permissions and usability. In terms of usability, staff members can subscribe to only those client emails that they want to receive a copy of with just a few clicks. In terms of permissions, the client emails they can subscribe to are specified as part of their staff group so staff members may only opt-in to notices that they have been given permission for. This might vary depending on the staff role, billing or sales, for example.
The video is below, as usual you can make the video full screen, and be sure to turn on your sound!
Friday Ramblings
I’ll have another post on Blesta, probably next week. If there’s something in particular you’d like me to touch on or want to know about, email me at sales and I’ll consider it for my next post.
It’s Friday afternoon and we are starting to wind down for the weekend, so I think I’ll just reflect on the past couple weeks.
Last Thursday a short while before noon the power went out in the whole building. The power was out for several hours, and we were on generator power. I didn’t realize that the generator doesn’t power the lights, or some of the wall outlets.
I sent out this tweet.
This picture doesn’t quite capture the creepiness of it all. I was unable to capture the subtler red glow in the furthest reaches of the building, or that rambling squiggly-squaw sound that zombies make. Maybe I imagined that last part. I did, right?
It was kind of exciting, the generator kept everything critical up and running (Like blesta.com) and we didn’t have to refuel it. The power eventually came back up and everything switched back over like it’s suppose to.
There was only one problem. My linux computer was plugged into an outlet that was not on generator power, and my battery backup ran out of power.. and it would not boot back up. Dead. On top of that, one of the hard drives was making a cyclical click or screeching sound. Not good.
Being the sort of guy that backs up everything, I thought this would be no problem. A couple new hard drives, kick off the R1Soft restore CD and I’ll be back to normal in a few hours. Nope, the R1Soft backups are corrupt. Well, not the /boot partition, just the / partition — that’s like everything I need. They let me down, big time.
It was a long night, or early morning depending on how you look at it, but I was able to recover everything from the drives with a little linux shell magic. I did have to do a fresh install of the OS, but an upgrade was long overdue anyway. I had my data back.
Someone will ask, so I’ll tell you. Blesta code was never at risk because it’s in several different geographic places at all times.
Do you have backups? Multiple backups? Backups of your backups?
Alright, I hope everyone has a great weekend. v3 alpha is rapidly approaching.. looking at the tasks and there are only a few left. Stay tuned. If you’re a developer and there’s something you want to build on v3 for personal or public use let me know. You might be eligible for the alpha.