As many of you will have read, I am a fan of Datafeed Studio, especially since version 2.8 when Martin Wood introduced an API to the script.
That change really opened up the platform in my view, enabling users of the script to host a massive product database (I have run up to 5 million products on a basic VPS hosted on tsohost without Datafeed Studio breaking a sweat) and created the ability to promote your range of products on as many WP installations as you like, all from one Datafeed Studio installation.
Datafeed Studio v3.0 was released earlier this week and I am excited by the changes. The author (Martin Wood) has certainly listened to my request to focus more on the API and especially the WordPress side of things to offer greater flexibility over the presentation layer. That comes in version 3.0 where you have a range of price box styles to choose from with GUI configuration options.
I found a performance tuning issue in v2.8 and reported it back with the fix that allowed me to drive 5m products – which was implemented in 2.8.1. Martin hasn’t stopped there and also looked at other areas for performance tuning on remote sites. Version 3.0 now incorporates remote site caching rather than using bandwidth to make calls to the full Datafeed Studio install … that will also shave a few milliseconds off the page load times, which could be important as Google now considers page load factors when determining ranking.
But potentially the biggest and best feature is the ability to create freestanding WordPress sites by exporting the product data from your Datafeed Studio install to create individual product posts on your WordPress site or any other site that uses the MetaWeblog API … that includes not just WordPress, but Joomla and MSN Live Spaces and potentially many more platforms.
Important Upgrade Information
Version 3.0 is a major upgrade and comes with a new pricing and licensing structure. If you are an existing V2 (or earlier) Datafeed Studio customer then you will need a new license BEFORE to upgrading to DS V3.
if you purchased V2 in 2010 then you are entitled to a FREE upgrade to DS V3 Pro. If you ordered prior to 2010 then there is a charge of £49 for a new license, should you choose to upgrade.
To obtain a new license send your existing ‘license.txt’ file to support along with the email address the license is registered against to start arranging the payment/delivery of a new one.
Once you have your new license the new version of DS can be installed in the usual manner (see the README.txt for full details).
Purchase Options
Full details on purchasing options can be found here.
The range starts with a FREE version limited to 2 merchant feeds and a single Datafeed studio install. This replaces the prior trial version.
A further two versions are available in Lite and Pro forms at £99 and £199 respectively. License restrictions are detailed on the Order Page.
I’ve just obtained my own Pro license – review to follow when I have installed and tried out v3.0 for myself.
If you have experience of v3.0 already, then why not add your own feedback?
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