Themes for Prestashop 1.7

UPDATE: (December 2, 2016) Theme Maker now supports Prestashop 1.7. Create your own theme! (click here)

Create your theme for Prestashop 1.7, choose from our modules and pack it into a single ZIP file. Install it on your eshop in 1 step and you are done!

That is what is coming in a just a few days! Follow our Facebook page if you are interested in the brand new editor and modules that we have developed.

Our goal is to offer 99% of what you need when starting a new eshop - great themes and useful modules. In just a few days we will update our website.

UPDATE: Theme Maker will support Prestashop 1.7 by the end of November 2016!

Prestashop 1.7 is on the way, there's no doubt. But what will it mean for current eshops? Can you use your current themes and modules? Let's have a look.

UPDATE: November 8th: PrestaShop v1.7.0.0 is out!.
UPDATE: October 27th: PrestaShop v1.7.0.0 RC 3 is now available for download.
UPDATE: October 10th: PrestaShop v1.7.0.0 RC 2 is now available for download.
UPDATE: September 20th: PrestaShop v1.7.0.0 RC 1 is now available for download.
UPDATE: August 29th: PrestaShop v1.7.0.0 RC 0 is now available for download.
UPDATE: July 18th: PrestaShop v1.7.0.0 Beta 2 is now available for download.
UPDATE: July 5th: Test LIVE demo of PrestaShop v1.7.0.0 Beta 1 here
UPDATE: June 1st: PrestaShop v1.7.0.0 Beta 1 is now available for download
UPDATE: May 24th: PrestaShop v1.7.0.0 Alpha 4 is now available for download
UPDATE: April 24th: You can preview Prestashop 1.7 DEMO here: http://www.denieuweprestashop.nl (not working anymore)
UPDATE: April 4th: PrestaShop v1.7.0.0 Alpha3 is now available for download, but of course, it's not suitable for production yet. If you want to give it a try you will have to follow this installation tutorial.

What we do know about the release date of Prestashop 1.7

In this article from Prestashop you can find out a claim, that the new version of Prestashop should be released in the Q1 2016 which is almost over. It was written in September 2015 and so it's very likely that the developers couldn't estimate the release date exactly.

In this post from February 2016 Prestashop team promised the release in the upcoming weeks and gave us much more insight about the changes.

This is the latest statement from Prestashop about the release date:

There is no set date for the stable release, yet, other than “when it’s ready”.

Read more on the official Prestashop blog

My personal guess is that the release of the stable version will be around end of the summer.
UPDATE: Prestashop sent an email to all developers that the stable version will be available this fall.

Benefits for merchandisers

• New default theme should be very simple, but that should give the power to edit it any desired way
• Prestashop 1.7 will simplify the workflow of new product creation
• Improved back office, focused on the most common tasks

The functionality from the view of your customer will basically stay very similar.

You want to start an eshop. Should you wait for Prestashop 1.7?

There's no reason to wait for the 1.7 version, since we still don't know when exactly it will be released.
Most importantly - your themes and modules will need to be updated to run on PS 1.7. It will take time for developers and designers to tweak their modules and themes, also a lot of testing.

In my opinion it's better to stick with Prestashop 1.6 for now, unless you can wait for a couple of weeks, possibly months.

Why to choose Prestashop 1.6:
- works very well, many bugs have been already fixed
- there are thousands of modules you can choose from
- you can easily find any question on the community forum
- will be officially supported only several more months after the stable release of 1.7

Why to choose Prestashop 1.7:
- new technology, seems like it will be easier to create new themes
- we don't know the release date
- there still will be bugs at least in the first releases
- very narrow selection for modules and themes at the beginning
- the editor in Presta Theme Maker for Prestashop 1.7 will be great! :)

You already have an eshop. Should you upgrade?

Themes will need to be rewritten, so they will not work after update. Modules will still work (most of them), but the developers will need to rework CSS and JS and possibly also the code.

There will be a lot of work ahead of us all.

Prestashop team answered question about compatibility of 1.6 themes with Prestashop 1.7:

We’re not sure at this point if 1.6 themes will be compatible with 1.7.0.0. We have huge plans related to the Starter Theme and we do not want to sacrifice good software design in favor of backward compatibility. So for now we’re not holding back.

But the question is: If everything works for you now, is there any valid reason to upgrade?

...we think 1.7 users will be mostly for new stores, not upgraded ones.

We know it's hard to upgrade, and we know our community doesn't like to upgrade. We're confident that the various choices we introduced in 1.7 will help keep PrestaShop in the heart of merchants and developers alike. Yes, it's a big bet, and we will win it in more than a couple of weeks. Trust us, we want to do good for the community!...

Check the version of PHP on your hosting

Prestashop already announced in June 2015 that PrestaShop was moving to PHP 5.4. In case your eshop is running on an older version of PHP (5.3, 5.2, ...) you will have to upgrade, otherwise the new Prestashop 1.7 will not work correctly.
You can follow these simple steps to check the PHP version by yourself.

- Create a file "info.php" and put this code into it:

<?php
phpinfo();
?>

- Upload it to your FTP
- Open this file in your browser (example.com/info.php) and check the PHP version
- Delete the file

How about the default theme?

Here we can find screenshots of the new default theme. Actually the installation will include two themes.

• Starter theme for developers/designer (more information about the starter theme to be found here)
• Default theme for immediate use 

Both themes should be simpler and contain only the necessary features for a proper ecommerce theme - as little CSS and JS as possible.

That all sounds great, because it will allow developers to create new themes more freely and creatively.

Prestashop 1.7 - Default Homepage

Prestashop 1.7 - Default Product Page

Presta Theme Maker is getting ready for Prestashop 1.7

Yes! I'm working very very hard on a new editor which will offer many more options and still keep its simplicity.
Please follow my FB page to get the newest updates, or subscribe to my newsletter at the bottom of the page.

And here's a "sneak peek" picture of the new editor (it will support also fullscreen mode)

Conclusion

Prestashop 1.7 will bring many great improvements, mainly from the technical point of view which might bring more stability and speed. It will be easier to create new themes. On the other hand, it will cause most of current themes and modules to stop working and they will need to be updated which will cost time and money.

What do you think about the new update? Do you plan to update to Prestashop 1.7 as soon as possible, or will you keep Prestashop 1.6?

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