The Beta Program is an ongoing testing and quality assurance program designed to verify that updates are production-ready before being released to the public Shopp community.
What do I need to participate?
- Own a Shopp update key (single-site or developer) and have a copy of Shopp
- Significant programming experience (particularly with PHP and JavaScript, MySQL experience a plus)
- Be familiar with debugging procedures to trap bugs
- Be able to file comprehensive bug reports on the issue tracker
- Have a development site (non-public test site) for WordPress to test pre-release versions of Shopp, not a live production site processing real orders
- Must be responsive in testing new releases quickly so releases are not held up by slow reports
- Willingness to work directly with Jon (the author of Shopp) via instant messaging (AIM, Skype, Google Talk or website chat)
How will the beta work?
You will be provided access to a download page to get pre-release versions of Shopp that you can install on your experimental WordPress install. You’ll be required to manually update pre-release versions as the auto-update only works for official releases. Other resources will be provided to assist your testing.
What’s in it for you?
- An upgrade to your existing key to a special QA key that provides auto-update support for official releases to an unlimited number of sites (like a developer key!), and access to the pre-release downloads
- All of the add-ons – every single one of them comes with every pre-release
- A working relationship that will give you access to priority support and bug fixes
- Inside knowledge of my plans for the plugin and the direction it will head
- Higher consideration for your feature requests since you’ll know more about how and why I do things and where things are headed
- Support from me to help you make money from custom consulting on Shopp installation and customization by being part of my recommended support consultants (the Shopp Developer Network) if you wish to provide these services
- My sincere appreciation and gratitude for helping the project be successful – not sure how much that means to you right now, but hey, I think it’s nice.
- …and the best reward of all, a far better e-commerce solution for your needs because of your contributions.
An upgrade to a special “QA” key and access to all of the add-on modules (for free) for testing and your own production uses. Your participation in the beta will also help you build a connection with Shopp’s author so you’ll get a direct channel of communication for priority response to your questions and problems.
Sounds great, where do I signup?
In order to be considered for the Beta Team, you’ll need to apply by filling out the short Beta Application form. Applications will be reviewed within a day or so and if you’re accepted, you will be contacted with login information for the issue tracker.
