Interview: The new user account is coming!

It’s been a long time coming, but the hopes of the many are slowly but surely becoming a reality: your user account, where you manage your designs, products and Shops, is being redone with a completely new look and new features! Petra (known to some as “PJA” from the Spreadshirt forum) works in product management as an intermediary between the developers and the users. She explains in an interview what’s new and how you can test the beta version of the new user account.

Hi Petra! You oversee the “New User Area” project; please tell us a little bit about it.  What, exactly, is new and what were and are your goals?

I have been working at Spreadshirt for three years now. During this time there has been a lot of feedback from designers and shop owners who have been yearning for a more modern user area.  An easier way to manage designs and products, more intuitive control and better statistics were high on the wish list. This has been confirmed by our partners in forum discussions and several surveys. After many months of hard work, we are proud to present a beta version of the new user account.

How long have you and your team been working on the realization of this project and what do you foresee in the future?

We began working on the concept for this project in the middle of the 2014. Since October 2014 we’ve been working on its realization. The new partner area is the heart of Spreadshirt, because good content is the foundation of our platform. The realization of the new partner area will happen step by step. In this scope I like to use the following metaphor: 90% of the new partner area is not visible and that 90% has huge dependencies on other areas. That´s why it´s important to realize this project step by step to consider all possible impacts. It’s very hard to explain this whole process and its complexity because it´s extremely technical, but a fast switch from the old to the new partner area is just not possible. Therefore we decided to have a period where both areas will be available and to adapt the individual functionalities one after another.

For the future, we´re working on the possibility of managing designs and products in different folders and categories to make the creation process for products easier, and also enabling the international publishing of designs.

How can our partners help in the scope of the new partner area and what is your appeal?

We want to share the progress with all of our partners and get their feedback – what they´re thinking of it and what they feel should be improved. The feedback of our partners is very important because they are the ones using the new partner area and that´s why they should be happy working with it.

What’s the meaning of a “beta version” and who can test it?

The new partner area is not final yet. This affects the availability of the functionalities as well as the layout and the available languages (currently only English). We are improving the versions continuously.  The test versions are known as “beta versions”. Anyone who gives us his/her user ID of an empty test account can test the beta version of the user area.

How can I create an test account?

1.    Visit http://www.spreadshirt.com/start-selling-shirts-C3598
2.    Click on “sign up to upload designs”
3.    Register with a different email address than the current one used for your real shop
4.    Go to the inbox associated with this email address and open the email “Welcome to Spreadshirt – your login data!”
5.    Click on the link to create your password
6.    Determine a password
7.    Go to http://www.spreadshirt.com/overview-C4 and read your User ID
8.    Write an email to beta_partner@spreadshirt.net. In this email, please provide the ID of your test shop so we can activate it as a beta version tester.

Why is a test account necessary?

The new partner area is currently in the beta phase and has a completely new basement. For us it´s important to test everything under as realistic conditions as possible. To protect your live data and your designs and products, it´s necessary to work with a test account. Furthermore, we are going to revise the new data bank before the official release, which means we’ll be getting rid of your test designs.

To create a test account may sound a bit circumstantial, but it´s necessary to protect your live data and your products. And, as explained, we want your feedback!

Which advantages do I have when I test the new partner area?

The most important benefit to testing the new partner area is using a couple of functions that have been sought after a long time. For example:

• Uploading several designs at once
• Editing several designs at once (e.g. setting a commission or special tags)
• Automatic creation of products which can be adapted with the newest version of the T-Shirt Designer

See for yourself! Watch our YouTube clip and see how the brand new User Area looks, and how its benefits present themselves.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_GSn-xWF0YQ

Here are some functions we´re working currently so they are not available yet:

• Uploading and handling of vector graphics
• Publishing of products in shops
• Creating several products at once

We thank Petra very much for the interview. Now it’s your turn: test, test, test! We are very curious about your experience with the new user account and look forward to your feedback – any and all comments are welcome in both the blog and in the User Forum.  Thank you!