Introduction

A question that most people ask themselves when a new version of their software is released is “If I update, will I still be able to use my documents, or will I have to restart everything?”

We understand that the prospect of having to re-do all your work is not attractive, and that is why we always try to guarantee full compatibility with at least the previous version of our software.

As you know, WebSite X5 software adheres to all the best practices, therefore we can safely say that all the projects created with the previous Evolution 8 version can be opened and updated with the latest Evolution 9.

Obviously, given the considerable quantity and quality of the improvements  between the two versions – we are talking about over 200 new features  in Evolution 9! [LINK] – it may be that the upgrade affects the original projects in some way. So you need to be able to identify possible alterations and modify where necessary, so that you have your work always under control.

Updating an old project with the new software could be a good opportunity to review old websites , restyle them where necessary and give them a fresh new look by taking advantage of the new features now available that can give even better results than before.

Opening and converting documents

Updating a document that was created with WebSite X5 Evolution 8 is simple: just start the new Evolution 9 version and use the Import option in the Project Selection window to import the IWP file of the project you created with Evolution 8.

At this point, the software has to re-create the entire site: unlike Evolution 8, the new version Evolution 9 generates the website when the project is opened. So you will have to wait a few minutes until the program has finished creating all the necessary files for the site , then it will convert the old software into the new settings of version 9.

The conversion and file-generation procedure only runs the first time you open an old project with the new software. After this first time, the updated project will subsequently be opened immediately.

Settings that need to be checked

When you have opened and updated your project, you'll need to check for any changes before publishing it online, because obviously the settings and features of version 9 will not always correspond to those in version 8.

Pay particular attention to the following areas:   

1. Page code
2. Language management
3. Template selection
4. Text object
5. SlideShow Object and Image Gallery Object
6. Graphic Editor
7. Shopping cart
8. Blog
9. Sending e-mails

1. Page code

WebSite X5 automatically generates the page code: version 8 created the code in XHTML 1.0 Strict, but the new version 9 creates the code in HTML 5 + CSS 2.1/3, in line with the latest web tendencies.

This transition means that some of the meta tags added by version 8 to the HEAD section of the pages' XHTML code are now obsolete. These meta tags are:

<meta http-equiv="Expires" content="0" />

<meta name="Resource-Type" content="document" />

<meta name="Distribution" content="global" />

<meta name="Robots" content="index, follow" />

<meta name="Revisit-After" content="21 days" />

<meta name="Rating" content="general" />  

Version 9 does not include these meta tags in the page code any more but, as they could be modified by the user, they are kept during the conversion of projects from version 8 to version 9.

Our advice is, given that these meta tags no longer have any real use and could cause errors during page validation, it could be worth your while to delete them from the Enter code to customize your website HEAD field in the Expert section of the General Settings window.

2. Language management

In WebSite X5 version 9, language management has been completely overhauled. In the previous version 8, text added automatically by the program was taken from an .INI file (one for each language): in version 9 all the translations of automatically-inserted text are in a single  XML file, that can be edited using the options in the Language Content Management window.

Over time, the community of WebSite X5 users has produced .INI files for many languages, and it may be that with the release of version 9 not all the languages that were present in version 8 are immediately available. If the project you want to update happens to be in a language that is not yet available for version 9, it will be automatically replaced by the English language. It is, however, possible to add the language directly in the above-mentioned Language Content Management window.

3.       Template selection

The default template gallery for WebSite X5 Evolution 9 has been completely updated: the oldest templates have been removed, some have been revised and many new ones have been created. Furthermore, each template is now available in four different styles, instead of the previous four color-ways, introducing not only variations in the color palettes but also specific elements and settings.

The Custom Template section has also been improved with new features.

These improvements could have consequences on upgrades from version 8 to version 9:

• The chosen template has been maintained in version 9 - check that the style attributed to the template is the one most similar to the color-way selected in version 8.
• The chosen template is still present in version 9 but has been modified - check the modified version and change it if you don't like it.
• The chosen template is no longer available in version 9 - you have two possibilities in this case: a) take the opportunity to give your website and new look, and choose a new template; b) use the Custom Template option to recreate the old template. You can recover the images that were used from the installation folder of version 8.
• You used a Custom Template in the project created with version 8 – check the settings, in particular for websites with vertical menus because now you can change the settings for the menu area.

NOTE: As with version 8, each time the template is changed, WebSite X5 re-creates the contents of all the pages, adapting them to the new settings. If the document is particularly large, this process may take some time. We advise you to create a test document of 2 or 3 pages, in which to try out the graphics for the website. When you have got what you want, it is easy to copy the template settings to your real document.

4.       Cell format

The cell format is one of the elements that may have a great effect on the quality of the site's graphics, therefore in version 9 we have improved it with lots of new and interesting features.

When upgrading from version 8, you should consider the following changes:

• If you set a Gradient Background you can no longer set a double gradient, and the diffusion is expressed in pixels and not as a percentage.
• The option to adapt the background image to the cell size is no longer available because it is not correctly supported by all browsers. As an alternative, we have created the Fit to Cell Background option which offers a very quick and flexible  way of obtaining the same result, especially if used in conjunction with the new Styles Library.
• The cell title has been changed and the Title as Image option is no longer available. Version 9 proposes three options: title, title image and cell legend, so check any cells where you might have used the old option.

NOTE: A well as new options in the Cell Format section, version 9 now also lets you work more precisely on the inner and outer cell margins, for even more control over the page layout.

5. Text object

In version 9 of WebSite X5 the biggest change to text objects is to the linefeed, which has been increased and calculated so that it remains the same even when displayed in different browsers. Increasing the linefeed means that the paragraphs and pages are longer, so you should check the page structure in updated projects.

6. SlideShow Object and Image Gallery Object

In WebSite X5 Evolution 9 the SlideShow Object and Image Gallery Object have been merged into a single Gallery Object, which can contain both videos and images. In addition to the ones already present in version 8, new types of galleries and slideshows have been introduced, and new transition effects between one video/image and the next have been added (replacing the previous ones that were only compatible with Internet Explorer). If you have used SlideShow and Image Gallery objects in your original project, check the settings after upgrading to version 9.

7. Graphic Editor

In the built-in graphic  editor of WebSite X5 Evolution 9 we have changed the order of the sections and, consequently, the order in which filters and effects are applied. This change gives you a wider choice of graphic settings and shouldn't change the settings of version 8, apart from some rare cases. Check the settings for your images and, if necessary, use the graphic editor to correct them.

8. Shopping cart

One of the many improvements to the shopping cart is the separation of shipment and payment method management. If your original project includes an online store, check that the settings for the shipment and payment methods are still correct. Remember that now you can apply discounts, set minimum order quantities and separate VAT values for each product.

9. Blog

In version 8 the blog template was chosen from a limited number of specific  blog templates. In version 9, the template you choose for the website is also applied to your blog, including any customization to the header and footer.

You can now also choose graphic settings for the toolboxes on the side of the blog window, change the type of toolbox and the order in which they appear.

If your project has a blog, check the settings after upgrading and take advantage of the new customization possibilities.

10. Sending e-mails

Finally, WebSite X5 version 9 includes alternative methods for sending e-mails (useful for the E-mail Form Object and Shopping Cart), although the default method is the one already used in version 8.

After updating your project from version 8 to version 9, check that the e-mails are sent correctly and, if necessary, contact your web space provider for more information on which methods are supported by the server that publishes your site.

Conclusions

We have now gone through the 10 points that we believe you need to pay attention to when upgrading your project from version 8 to the new WebSite X5 Evolution 9. As you can see, updating a website is not a particularly long or complicated process, and in many cases all you will have to do is a few simple adjustments before going back online.

Our advice, however, is that you check through the whole site, making sure it still looks good and is working properly. As we said at the beginning, this could be a good time to stand back and take a critical look at your project: there are so many new and exciting features in version 9 that it could be well worth your while to try some of them out. A site that changes is a site that's alive, and when you make changes and improve your site, you'll encourage visitors and search engines to come back again.