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Recently an update for ASA1 to version 1.3 was released, which contains some significant improvements.
Optimized requests to the Amazon Product Advertising API
First and foremost, speed optimization. This was achieved through the use of a new technology. Before the short codes are processed on a page, ASA1 collects all ASINs used in it and sends them to the Amazon Product Advertising API in as few requests as possible. One request can contain up to 10 products. So if your WordPress page contains 20 Amazon products, with ASA1 version 1.3 only two requests to the API are necessary, where there were 20 before! This is an enormous improvement in terms of website page speed.
This ASIN collection technique is enabled by default and can be disabled using the “Disable ASIN Prefetch” option if you experience unexpected problems.
Improved caching
Beside some bugfixes regarding caching, the new function of variable expiry time has been implemented. ASA1 adds a random value in seconds to the lifetime of the cache for each product. This is a maximum of 10 percent of the configurable cache lifetime. This ensures that the cache validity of several products on a page does not expire at the same time and that the requests to the Amazon API can be better distributed over time.
This new function can also be switched off with the “Disable variable lifetime” option in ASA1’s cache section in the event of unforeseen problems.
Capabilities
Since version 1.3, ASA1 has capabilities. This allows delegating the access rights for users to the ASA1 admin pages. If an editor that is to edit ASA1 collections should not have access to the setup page, this is now possible. The following rights, whose names speak for themselves, are now available: asa1_edit_setup, asa1_edit_options, asa1_edit_collections, asa1_delete_collections, asa1_edit_cache
The new ASA1 capabilities
Personally I use the WP plugin “User Role Editor” to configure user rights (https://wordpress.org/plugins/user-role-editor/).
CSS3 AJAX loading animations
The new ASA1 templates “flat_box_horizontal” and “flat_box_vertical” have been further optimized. They are inspired by ASA2 and contain a basic layout. If you want to customize the design with easy to use options, take a look at ASA2’s features, e.g. on the demo page: https://asa2-demo.de/templates/flat_box_horizontal/
It is now possible to create CSS files for a template in ASA1. It only has to be named exactly as the template, e.g.:
- flat_box_horizontal.htm
- flat_box_horizontal.css
Improvements and fixes
Furthermore, many small things have been optimized and corrected. For example, the debug output in the options area has been improved.
YouTube Channel
In addition, there is now an ASA1 YouTube channel where screencasts for using ASA1 appear.
Conclusion
All ASA1 users are recommended to update to the new version. I would be very happy about your feedback.
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- Black Friday Sale 2023 – 33% discount code for ASA2! - November 22, 2023
I have hoped that you release an coupon code on easter/1. april.
Any Chance for an offer on asa2?
Thanks for your feedback. A spring discount promotion is planned for after Easter. I will announce it here and in the newsletter.
Any news on that promotion? =)
Yes, check out this blog post.
😉