Mirasvit Last Updates — October 2024

Another fall month has come and gone, and it was a very productive one for our company. The support team worked tirelessly to handle your requests, gathering valuable feedback and suggestions, while our developers analyzed them to improve our products continuously.

As a result, several of our modules received new, helpful features this October. For example, Search Ultimate now allows you to exclude out-of-stock products from search results, Layer Navigation got an upgrade for a better user experience when interacting with filters and product categories, and Banner Slider now includes the ability to schedule banners with specific start and end times.

Let's take a closer look at these and other updates.

Table of Contents

• Search Ultimate
• Layered Navigation
• Advanced SEO Suite
• Google Page Speed Optimizer
• GDPR
• Advanced Product Feeds
• Product Labels
• Banner Slider
• Admin Bookmarks

Search Ultimate

🔥 Option to Exclude Out-of-Stock Products from Search

When a potential customer searches for something specific in your online store, they're not interested in products that are no longer available. They want to find items they can buy right now.

That's why we've added the ability to exclude out-of-stock items from search results in the Search Ultimate extension, making search results more relevant and the user experience more satisfying.

To activate this feature, go to System > Search Indexes > Products and set "Exclude out of stock products" to "Yes."

As always, when working with the Product Index, don't forget to reindex to apply changes.

If you restock an item, it will automatically reappear in the search results for customers.

🔥 Enhanced Navigation on Top in Autocomplete

We improved product filtering directly within autocomplete, making the interaction more convenient for shoppers since they no longer need to go to the product page from search results.

Please note that this feature works only if "Search Autocomplete Layout" is set to "Full Size" and "Fast Mode" is "Yes" (Fast Mode is available for Sphinx search and Elastic engines only).

Enable these settings in Store > Configuration > Mirasvit Extensions > Search Autocomplete > General Configuration > Appearance, and Store > Configuration > Mirasvit Extensions > Search Autocomplete > General Configuration respectively.

Moreover, to make a product attribute appear in Layered Navigation within autocomplete, enable these options:

• Use in Search
• Visible in Advanced Search
• Use in Search Results Layered Navigation

Enable them in Stores > Attributes > Products > YourAttribute > Storefront Properties.

Layered Navigation

Layered Navigation took the lead in October with the most updates. Let's see what new, valuable features were added.

🔥 Clean Up Old Sequences (Used Filter Combinations) by Cron

We've added an optimization option for the quick navigation table (mst_quick_navigation_sequence). When there are numerous attributes/options in the store, this table becomes very large, negatively impacting performance.

With our update, the least-used records (least popular) will be deleted from the table monthly via cron.

Enable the option in Stores > Settings > Configurations > Mirasvit Extensions > Quick Navigation > General > Cleanup filters history.

🔥 Added SEO Description Field to Brand Page

Our developers also paid attention to features that enhance SEO.

Specifically, we added an SEO description field in the Search Engine Optimization section. Filling this out allows Google to get more detailed information about your brand, thereby improving page visibility. You can even choose whether to place this field at the top or bottom of the page.

Add the description in Content > Mirasvit Brand > Brands > YourBrand > Search Engine Optimization section.

🔥 Show Option Count if Filter Label is Longer than Sidebar Width

If a label in your store exceeds the sidebar width, part of it will be hidden, with the end of the line displaying the count of products.

It might seem like a small detail, but every little thing contributes to the overall impression a customer gets when interacting with your website.

This option is enabled by default and does not have a separate switch in the settings.

🔥 Added Ability to Precalculate Filter Option Counts in By Button Click Mode

This update for Layered Navigation is relevant if your filters work in "By Button Click" mode.

Let's say a user is searching for a product and selects three to four filters before clicking "Apply Filters." Previously, the sidebar would not update as new filters were chosen, potentially showing outdated counts for options, and the user might end up with zero results.

With this new feature, the sidebar will update as each filter is selected, immediately displaying only the relevant counts. It's another plus for the user experience of your store.

Enable this option in Stores > Settings > Configurations > Mirasvit Extensions > Layered Navigation > Options counts precalculation.

Reminder: Filters Applying Mode must be set to "By Button Click" for this feature to work.

Advanced SEO Suite

🔥 Added Ability to Set Description and SEO Description in Brand SEO Templates

An example of how changes in one module can be used to improve another, ultimately providing a stronger effect.

Now, in the Advanced SEO Suite, templates have the ability to generate a Description and SEO Description for brand pages generated via Mirasvit Layered Navigation. These new fields support variables, allowing unique content for each brand page to be created automatically.

You can also choose where to display the SEO Description block on the page.

Note: The brand page template will be available only if you have both Advanced SEO Suite and Layered Navigation extensions installed in your store.

Google PageSpeed Optimizer

We have improved the Google PageSpeed Optimizer extension's handling of image loading. This includes both product images and background images, which now support webp format and Lazy load. As a reminder, Lazy load allows images to load gradually as the page is viewed, which positively impacts the page load speed when a customer opens it.

🔥 Set High Fetch Priority for Preloaded Images

We've added the ability to set load priority for images using Lazy Load.

When a browser analyzes a web page and begins discovering and loading resources (images, scripts, or CSS), it assigns fetch priority to load them in the best order.

Priority depends on what the resource is and where it is in the document, but the browser's choice isn't always optimal. With our addition, you can influence this process, ensuring customers wait less for pages to load—an improvement Google will notice and reward in search rankings.

Enable this function by going to Stores > Settings > Configurations > Mirasvit Extensions > PageSpeed Optimizer > Image Optimization > Image Lazy Load > Add 'fetchpriority="high"' attribute to preloaded images.

Clear the cache after enabling the changes.

Note: If enabled, the extension will add the attribute 'fetchpriority="high"' to images preloaded according to the config 'Preload first N images'.

🔥 Added Lazy load for background images by CSS classes and Lazy load for background images added in the page builder

The extension now has the capability to load background images using Lazy Load, meaning that these images will load gradually as users scroll through the page rather than immediately when the page opens. This allows the page to load faster and results in higher Google Page Speed scores.

The list of CSS classes related to background images that should be lazy loaded can be configured in the extension settings at Stores > Settings > Configurations > Mirasvit Extensions > PageSpeed Optimizer > Image Optimization > Image Lazy Load > Lazy load background images by CSS classes.

If LazyLoad is enabled for images, backgrounds added through the Page Builder will also be loaded using it.

🔥 Support webp for background images

Using "webp" format helps reduce the size of background images on the site, which also contributes to faster page load times.

GDPR

In October, we also added several new features to the GDPR extension.

🔥 Ability to Reset Cookie Consent After Enabling a Group or Cookie

This ensures that customers are prompted to review and accept updated cookie groups, addressing potential gaps in GDPR compliance for cookies added after initial consent.

🔥 Ability to Track Only Unknown Rejected Cookies

With this feature, the store admin can see only unknown cookies in the rejected cookies list that haven't yet been added to the module and need processing. This will make their work more efficient and comfortable.

To enable it, go to Stores > Settings > Configurations > Mirasvit Extensions > GDPR > Cookie Consent > Track unknown cookies only. The "Track rejected cookies" option must also be enabled.

Advanced Product Feeds

🔥 Added Ability to Convert XML Feed to JSON Format

Our Advanced Product Feeds extension now allows the creation of feeds in JSON format. JSON files are smaller in size and provide faster data transmission, which is particularly important for large feeds.

To convert an existing XML Feed file, open Catalog > Advanced Product Feed > Feeds > YourFeedInXML > and enable "Generate JSON".

Links to both files will be available on the page.

Product Labels

🔥 Added Ability to Display Labels for Configurable Products if One of the Child Products Meets the Conditions

Our developers added a very useful feature to the Product Labels module. Previously, labels could only be displayed for a configurable product if it met the specified conditions.

Now, if any of the simple products meet the conditions, the configurable product will also have a label. This will make working with such types of products more convenient and help draw more customer attention to them.

Banner Slider

The Banner Slider extension gained even more functionality in October with three new updates.

🔥 Added Ability to Set Banner Start/End Times

In previous versions, you could only select a start/end date for a banner. The banner would then appear at midnight on the start date and disappear at the end of the last day.

Now you have the option to set an exact start and end time. This will allow you to deliver your offer to your target audience with pinpoint accuracy.

To set the time, go to Marketing > Promo Banners > Banners > YourBanner > click the "Active from" / "Active to" fields, and set the date and time in the pop-up window.

Please note that this extension depends on cron, so make sure it's running regularly in your store.

🔥 Added Store View Column in Banners Grid

A new column for "Store View" has been added to the list of banners in the admin panel. This is particularly useful for multi-stores, allowing you to see which banner is displayed on which storefront without opening it.

To enable the column, go to Marketing > Promo Banners > Banners > click "Columns," and check "Storeview."

🔥 Improved Behavior for Relative Banner URLs

Our specialists also updated the logic for the URL field on multilingual websites. Now, if a full path is specified in the URL field, the specified page will open when the banner is clicked. If a relative path is specified, the page will open according to the language version of the site the customer is on.

Thanks to these changes, you won't need to create two copies of the same banner if the target URL is the same, just in different languages.

Admin Bookmarks

🔥 Updated UI Library

In the Admin Bookmarks module, we've updated the JavaScript library used for building applications or user interfaces with rich interactive capabilities. Now you can use our bookmarks in the Dashboard and Advanced Reports.

This update enhances the interaction of the extension with the Magento backend.

That's all for the October updates of our modules. We're already starting to think about the November ones. Remember, if you have any questions about using our products, you can always reach out to our support team.