iAuto v.3.0 Is Released

Finally! It's been a challenging week for our team, but we are at the end of the release process now, prepping up for the work ahead on the new release of iAuto.

We have managed to develop and include every functionality we have originally planned to include into the release. It took a reasonably big planning, implementation and testing effort on our developer's team to come up with an extremely useful upgrade of our system, Smarty (tm)-based template management system. We realized that our existing template system was very unflexible and not very usable as far as changes and modifications to templates are concerned.

This new template management system allowed us to optimize the code while integrating it with the classifieds engine, and gave a number of new opportunities to iAuto users, including:

* the ability to easily alter the look and feel of the website
* a tool to create localized versions of the software
* the ability to easily integrate classifieds engine's functionality into the existing websites
* familiarity with Smarty templates saves time and effort for web designers in modding templates for iAuto

We've introduced a number of other changes as well, including a new WYSIWYG editor to replace the old one that didn't perform very well, and streamlined the publications section turning it into a useful . The full list of new and existing features can be found on our Features page.

Our work with our existing customers and our potential customers on adding and implementing features requested has been extremely useful. Special thanks to Mr. Joe Martin from http://www.xtremeautotrader.com/ for his highly valuable comments, suggestions and recommendations that helped make our product better. Particularly, the entry batch processing functionality and mods to the way features are shown have been implemented based on his request.

Also, we've received a number of useful comments and feedback via our web site, and all the requested features are carefully identified, evaluated, prioritized and planned to be included in the future major and minor releases of the software.

To order your copy of iAuto v.3.0 Standard ($519) or Special ($219) Edition today, please visit our Order page at http://www.iautosoftware.com/order.html.

For iAuto Standard Edition owners, upgrading is extremely easy. Please contact our Sales Dept at sales@iautosoftware.com, and we will email you the download link. For iAuto Special Edition owners, upgrading is very easy and it costs only $49.95. Here's what you need to do. To order your copy of iAuto v.3.0 Special Edition today, please follow the link below:

Order iAuto v.3.0 SE Upgrade

In any event, we've already updated our demo with the new version, and you can check it out from our Demo page.

Look forward to your comments, suggestions, ideas and feedback

New iAuto release, v.3.0, is coming soon

We are progressing towards the end of the current product development cycle and are expecting to issue a final release of our new version, v. 3.0, at or around Monday 25 Sept.

We are going to make an announcement on our website and we will send the new release announcements to those who have previously inquired about the new release. The new version is going to have a new Smarty template system that will allow users to modify the look of the website much quicker and easier, as well as provide greater flexibility in terms of applying own or custom design templates to the actual software.

Of course, many bugs and minor system improvements accumulated since the last version's release have also been included in the software, improving the overall stability of the system.

iAuto Product Updates

It's been a while since we last posted into this blog, although there has definitely been a lot to write about.

First, we've added a few great functions into the software code. For instance, we enabled batch processing of ads/listings by the admin, changed the visual appearance of listing details and options and implemented the long-requested presentation of the listing options. Now, the system just lists options instead of giving an annoying "yes/no" status for each option.

Second, we've fixed some English language issues, i.e. capitalizations, certain system messages, etc. We'll continue on with this work and will have many, if not all, those errors fixed in the new release.

We've done some other changes and if any of our current buyers eligible for upgrade are interested in obtaining a copy of the software with the new functionality, please contact our Sales Dept.

v.3.0 Update

It seems that in order for us to preserve the quality of the product development process outputs, we need to push back the release date from 6 Sep '06 to 25 Sep '06.

Even though we do not like these developments, we feel that compromising the quality to meet the deadline is not an option. Based on the XP philosophy we're implementing now for the development process, the quality must not be sacrificed, and reduced functionality and timeline extensions are the only viable alternatives our team has.

New Minor Release Available

We are proudly announcing that a minor release of iAuto, iAuto 2.0.5, is now available. We added a couple of new features such as improved search result display and several visual ehnancement and minor features that improve the overall functionality of the software. Any of our current clients that require the update please contact our Sales Dept.

Future Membership Plans

We've had a meeting to discuss the future of the membership plan system to be implemented in the upcoming releases. We've reviewed the membership plan options and variations that are requested by our current and potential clients.

The new functionality will give the webmasters additional flexibility as far as making money off the vehicle classifieds websites generated by iAuto.

iAuto uses Smarty

The next release of iAuto, scheduled for September '06, will present a totally refactored version of iAuto software. The software will have a new template system based on the Smarty "template/presentation framework" (quoted from here), which will allow users to easily change the look and feel of the software, incorporate their own templates and integrate the software into the existing websites.

Just as a reminder, all buyers of iAuto Standard Edition are eligible for free lifetime upgrades of the product, so make sure you visit our blog and website for news and status updates of the product development process. All buyers of iAuto Special Edition will be able to purchase an upgrade to the new version for only $49.95.