Moonfruit v6 Beta – are we nearly there yet?
We know this will disappoint those of you waiting for the next phase of our v6 rollout, but we’ve had to revise the schedule to account for extra work needed to make the next release as robust as it can be. We really appreciate that many of you depend on Moonfruit to reach your customers and process sales - our aim, as always, is to develop the best product to allow you to do this.
We’d like to assure you that we’re doing everything we can to bring the next releases and upgrade option to you as soon as possible. What we don’t want to do, however, is jeopardise the quality of the new coding that will support your new v6 sites and the features they’re set to benefit from.
Software development involves complex and sometimes unpredictable processes and we admit this journey has been more complicated than we first expected it to be.
To put things in context, we’re creating a brand new product and it’s therefore a huge undertaking. We’re updating code that hasn’t changed in 10 years and the new code we’re writing will live for an equally long time, so we need to build a solid foundation for it.
The Early Access Preview (EAP) that many of you have been using (and enjoying – see below for what people have been saying) has flagged up some additional issues that will be ironed out for the next release.
To push the new software out before it’s ready would run the risk of you suffering with major bugs and other technical issues. We’re future-proofing the software to prevent you from experiencing these further down the line.
Revised rollout
Beta release: Late-February
- Shop
- Drop-down menus
- New templates
- Mobile view options
- Login widget
- Snippet widget on the Page Master
Upgrade Beta release: Late March/early April
- Convert/Upgrade existing sites from v5 (Flash) to v6 (HTML5) - (*expected delivery April)
- Enhanced HTML Snippet widget in v6 - (*expected after Upgrade Release)
Other features including improved forms and the blog will follow.
What you’ll get with the Beta release in late-February:
Feedback on the v6 EAP so far:
More than 3,000 sites have been created using the v6 EAP to date and the feedback so far has been incredibly positive and encouraging.
Here’s what some of you have been saying:
"The nature of v6 is just fantastic. With the web pages being loaded so much faster, my browser is loving me. In fact, I think we’re going to be dating tomorrow night and perhaps we’ll grab a byte to eat"
"I’ve just had a fiddle around and I have to say this is looking spot on! You pull this off....it’s going to be an insane tool!!!!"
"One of my sites has been picked up by Google within half-an-hour of submission which is brilliant"
"The text box is BRILLIANT - worth the update for that alone!"
"Looking good so far and love the fact that you can choose the font style for the menu"
"I'm very grateful to have upgraded recently and feel honoured to be experiencing the EAP. The features presented in this first release are already sufficient for my plans. Everything's perfect, thanks!"
"I already absolutely love Moonfruit. As a one-man-band, I couldn't have created such a large site without it. It's always been a compromise that it's been flash based (one I was willing to accept) - so the introduction of HTML5 is just brilliant. Well done!"
"I love the new menu options and that the feature can be easily edited in the page master. The preview screen tab is in the perfect spot, that is, off of the site’s real estate versus having to exit out of the old one to uncover the upper-right corner of the site"
"If I consider everything that Moonfruit has to offer, it's well worth the wait!!"
Create a v6 (EAP) website
Remember, if you want to create a v6 website now, you can do – you just won’t be able to include a shop or blog at this stage (you will be able to with the forthcoming releases).
Here’s what Nombo Parfo, our v6 (EAP) competition winner managed to create with it: www.solarsystem.moonfruit.com
Related posts:
Early Access Preview for HTML5-powered Moonfruit v6
New Lightbox gallery now available
Comments
Thanks for the update. The only thing I'm after right now is HTML snippets to work on the page master. This is the only thing holding me back developing in the EAP. Is this now going to get fixed in the end of February release?
HI, thanks for the update, it's much appreciated.
Can I ask if there will be a login widget in the updated version at the end of Feb, or will members / admins still have to log in through the main Moonfruit site?
Many thanks.
Not surprised!
More chance of Gran Turismo 6 being launched on time than Moonfruit sticking to a launch date.
You should build more wriggle room into your estimates and it would be nice to see you launch something early or on time!
Keep up the good work, but your HTML5 service is way overdue. Perhaps start work on the HTML6 version now...
Goodbye moonfruit! Alternatives here: http://www.sitebuilderreport.com/
Surprise, surprise. I've been telling all our users that HTML 5 was coming to our site in early 2013. I should have known better than to believe your unrealistic hype.
Try setting achievable objectives, it's common sense business to set customer expectations rather than blag us.
Thanks MF
I find it odd when people critise Moonfruit on their deadline for the new release. The fact is if you are using Moonfruit, you lack the technical knowhow to build and code a website yourself, so you rely on Moonfruits excellent software to save you the trouble. If you had any idea how complicated what there are trying to achieve is, you'd be more patient.
Anyway good stuff Moonfruit, looking forward to the update!
Thank you for the update. Will the new V6 Moonfruit have an option for a slideshow. I know there is one for a gallery, but I use the slideshow option quite a bit and am curious if that will also be added to V6...
Thanks!
'Mobile view options' does this mean setting it to 'Desktop' option makes the site viewable on apple products not using flash? That's what most of us and our customers are screaming for.
btw our customers are going mental knowing there is an even longer wait.
Happy to see the mobile options that are going to be included with the new version release.
I do hope you can get this delivered this month as I would like to use Moonfruit more on clients sites as it's quick and easy to use. At the moment I have been forced into using another provider that's using HTML5 but their system is not as feature rich as the Moonfruit system.
The update is much appreciated, thanks moonfruit. Whilst I'm eager for the roll-out of HTML5, I don't want it to be before it's been fully tested and the creases ironed out as much as is possible with a launch of this complexity. My main request is that we're kept in the loop. As I've mentioned elsewhere, I'm going to try re-building some sites with EAP now instead of waiting for the next version, and I wish I'd known sooner how far off the next version was going to be and then I would have re-built some sites with EAP weeks ago! Anyway, good luck to the team who are behind this re-coding and re-building - I couldn't do it and I'm grateful that somebody else can, in order to provide me with the means of easily building great sites myself. I'm sure that the full version of HTML5 will be absolutely awesome so I'm willing to be patient. Well OK, I'm a little impatient but hey, I'm only human :P
Hi Andy, yes the Snippet widget will be available on the Page Master in this month's release.
Sejleverton, yes a Login widget will be provided.
Hello disgruntled. The current v6 (HTML5) development we are doing (as we've highlighted above in our article) is addressing many of the issues raised in the review.
Christa, a slideshow is definitely on the agenda but not immediately.
DJ, once customers start using v6 then the Desktop view will be in HTML5, so they'll be the same on any device.
Thanks JH, yes we do anticipate doing our release later this month. We just didn't feel pushing it out earlier (to meet the original deadline) was in the best interests of our customers.
And hi Lotusleaf. We'll do our best to improve our comms. I think we're now better placed to get more releases out the door more regularly. So updates on our progress should be more frequent as well.
Thanks,
Walt
Thanks for the reply Walt!
Moonfruit is simply obsolete as a service. Anyone who has a serious business interest in providing websites that are view-able on all devices is best advised to bite the bullet and move on. Your business could fail by April due to lost opportunities and Moonfruit failed deadlines and promises won't pay your bills. If Moonfruit actually cared about it's customer base and their interest they could have joint ventured with an existing provider to launch the html5 services desperately needed by their users. You simply are not in business if your site can not be viewed properly on all devices.
We have 70+ sites with Moonfruit all of which now have to be built again elsewhere. Wix.com have 26,756,521 sites built using their platform as opposed to 5,712,270 built using Moonfruit. That's 5 times more satisfied users than Moonfruit. I now understand why. Moonfruit have never met any of their launch deadlines and are unlikely to have a V4 conversion product by April. It is far more likely to be July/August or later.
It pains me to have to leave Moonfruit and start over but it's the only way my businesses can survive. What a disappointment. Shame on you Moonfruit for lying yet again to us users and forcing us to wait in vain and fail in business. After Yell bought Moonfruit last year from Wendy White for just £23 million it's clear that they have no idea how to run the company. Wendy now plans to spend her time bringing up her 4 and 7 year old children and to travel to Morocco, etc. Wendy sacking staff in a bid to save money prior to the Yell deal has obviously taken it's toll and users are now seeing that first hand. From The Independent: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/b...
Hello,
I welcome the HTML version as it pays to have some concurrency between the web and mobiles sites, especially with the ability to see such on flash devices and the ability to edit the mobile site...
I am curious though, at present there is no shop facility and it is scheduled for this month end. if we currently have sites under the V5, will we be able to transfer the existing content to the HTML version... ?
Additionally, I am concerned about SEO optimisation and the use of being able to edit the individual page URLs to include more keywords that will get our individual page rankings higher whilst you are re-designing the new version could you include this also and the ability to add sub, sub categories without them showing in the Facebook shop. For example, if I add a shop category to my menu bar at the top then add products from the shop, these will automatically show in the Faceebook shop. Can you include a function that allows us to edit what products we can and can not show in our Facebook shops... ?
Thank you very much..
Billionaire, I think you should get your facts straight before you go spitting venom about moonfruit, which you've done elsewhere as well.
1. According to the Independent article, the sackings were prior to 2004 when the dotcom bubble burst.
2. The number of sites built bears no relation either to live sites or to paid for sites, and to correlate the number of sites built to satisfied users is frankly utter nonsense.
3. Moonfruit has not lied. It has given aims and targets. Disappointing as it is, dates have never been fixed. EAP was a test version. The tests showed that some of the coding was flawed. Isn't that what tests are for? And it's taking longer than expected to put the flaws right. Disappointing, yes. Lies, no.
4. Not everybody has the same expectations of moonfruit as you do. Many users don't need a shop, don't want a blog, aren't resellers and are quite happy with what they've got. They just want a decent looking web site which is easy to build.
5. I'm a reseller and I know exactly how many people view my clients' sites on mobile devices. For some sites, it's as low as 5-7% of the total visits. There will probably be similar numbers of people who can't correctly view HTML5 sites because they haven't updated their browsers. For you it's no doubt different, but please don't assume that just because you're seriously affected by the delay, that everybody is and that there's going to be a mass exodus. It sounds more like wishful thinking on your part because you've fallen out with moonfruit and you want everybody to know it.
Moonfruit will succeed without your 70 sites because it's a fantastic sitebuilder product. If you could have found a better one before now, you would have been off long ago. Moonfruit has got flexibility and features which are simply not available elsewhere. So you can talk moonfruit down all you want, but by the time you've built 70 sites elsewhere at great expense, the likelihood is that next phase will have been released and the rest of us will be reaping the benefit. I'm sorry if this sounds harsh, but if you must spit venom about suppliers which customers such as me are happy with, then you must also expect at least one of us to put forward an opposite viewpoint. I don't take kindly to anyone who tries to affect *my* business by running down my suppliers, particularly when I'm happy with them. Expressing frustration is understandable. Deliberately spreading malicious propaganda and inciting others to follow you to a package which has got HTML5 and precious little else, is little more than irresponsible sour grapes.
I want to build a members site once this launches, will their be an option for members to sign up and login ?
Hey Moonfruit
Thank you for the update. Looking forward to the release! I just have a few questions in regard to the release at the end of the month;
1. Can I add the shop to the current v6 (html5) site that I have already built?
2. Is there a reason why my current html5 site is not being found on google? Will the SEO improve?
3. Will the only payment option still be paypal for customers?
Many thanks,
MMN
I always knew the release would get delayed till March/April time... What would Moonfruit be without disappointment and awful planning?!
Terrible news. I'm thoroughly disappointed, I know it's a huge task and that's fine but I'm not happy that we've been told the release date for Jan/Feb and it's been extended to Mar/Apr, it will probably delay further!!
And this is not the first time, the v6 Early Access Program was also delayed for months, last year! If you give a date, you as professionals, should stick by it!
It's awful considering amateur sitemakers such as WIX have released HTML 5 site-building and MF are behind! Sort it out! I'm gutted. Once again, disgusting scheduling!
I think if more people read Lotusleaf's post they would be more informed and advised. To repeat slightly, Moonfruit is running a TEST product here. The clue is in the word "beta".
If Moonfruit was to announce "it will be ready when it's ready" think how many more complaints they would they get. They have given rough guidelines to time schedules but have also said these could change due to the nature and complexity of the work. Moonfruit are not Google with 1000's of employees on the case 24/7.
I would rather wait a bit longer to have a solid, workable platform than throwing 'below the belt' remarks at them to get it done asap and run the risk of more problems for you and them.
The way some people are commenting you would think Moonfruit disabled your sites and said "yeh we did, so what!"
Take a breathe people, it is coming but cut some slack to the MF team who have provided you with the tools for your sites, the support for any questions regarding building your site and the respectful and polite responses they have given here inspite of some of your ways of posting your "feedback" to them.
Loyalty should be a two way process after all too people.
Thanks Moonfruit! Looking forward to the v6 beta. The early version, even with its limitations, has worked well.
Keep up the good work. As a reseller I am thankful for your careful and deliberate work. Not one of my present clients (still on flash) has complained as your product allows me to give them an outstanding website at an incredible cost. Version 6 will just be icing on the cake.
It will be a great day when the transition is over and we can all just relax while we design and deliver outstanding websites for our loyal clients.
I am separated from the Moonfruit team by an ocean and several time zones, but I feel a personal relationship with the individuals at Moonfruit as we have battled thru this together.
Blessings,
Bob
Thanks all for you support. We're very close now to getting out V6. It includes the render switch to HTML 5 for tablet but you'll also experience performance and UX improvements.
We know we couldn't have done this without you our customers and community. The last 12 years have been a long journey. At every key point it's been this community which kept us going. As referred to in the Independent article in 2001 after the dotcom crash the team went from 60 back to 2. The only reason we built the business back up was because our users at the time asked us to keep going. They believed in MF enough to pay a subscription at a time everything was free! You have been the life blood of the business ever since and we do not take it for granted. There is nothing better than seeing the businesses, causes and crafts you create with our products. You surprise us and keep us on our toes. And @Billionaire you've obviously been a customer for a while and are part of this community too. We're sorry you're disappointed and will be sorry to see you go. It would be worth checking back though in Mar/Apr because V6 is the launch of a kick-ass new platform.
Personally I'm not going anywhere (don't believe everything you read in the papers!). Wouldn't mind going to Morocco on holiday though one day! Hibu(Yell) continue to invest in us and keep Moonfruit autonomous. Our work here is not yet done...
Wendy
Fantastic, I'm glad of the feedback as my design plan is moving into the shop building phase.
Keep up the good work and I can't wait to get up and running at 100%.
So far I am very impressed with the ease of building a site, I've played with Dreamweaver and Frontpage in the past and this is by far the easiest tool I have used. The results so far are meeting my expectations, I now hope the rest of the build surpasses them.
Best wishes to all you guys at Moonfruit working hard behind the scenes. You Rock!
Phil
www.philipkingphotography.co.uk
Thanks for the update Moonfruit!
And a big woohoo for the drop-down menus coming out this month! Thank you! I was going to potentially have to launch my new site with a fudged structure to account for the lack of drop-down menus, but now it should all work out nicely! (Just as long as the drop-down menus appear above html widget windows rather than under them, we will be cooking on gas!)
Please ignore some of the more disgruntled users and continue to keep the rest of us posted with regards to progress, communication is key when it comes to happy customers and we'd rather hear about some of the issues you're facing than be kept in the dark with no idea of timeline.
Keep up the good work!
Moonfruit - you're doing a brilliant job - don't be disheartened by any negative comments. It's a big, complex job and problems will arise - it's the nature of the beast. You're keeping us perfectly well informed and I'd much rather be patient and wait for a robust, useful product than suffer frustrations down the line.
I often build CMS sites which can be tricky, time consuming and frustrating at times. Whenever I come back to my Moonfruit Sites I am always impressed by how much I can achieve and so quickly. I've looked at many different website builders - and for the price and functionality - to me Moonfruit is unbeatable. I wish you luck with all the extra coding and look forward to using V6 whenever it's ready.
I can't believe some of the comments on here... especially Millionaires....
I don't think people understand how difficult it is coding content managed websites, let alone coding to convert a flash website into a html5 website - It involves some of the best developers in the world to achieve this, so Moonfruit clearly do care about their product & their customers to even think about implementing such a massive change.
Sure i've made a few comments over the years when little things miffed me, i've even constructed a large website in html myself and host it myself, however I have still continued to pay for my moonfruit account because it really is fantastic software and makes life so simple when wanting to chuck some websites together quickly and still look professional.
Looking forward to the final release of V6 - it is going to be incredible!
If anything, people should be saying thanks to Moonfruit for all the hard work they have put in time and time again.
#thanksmoonfruit
keep up the good work Moonfruit, we all need you for the great looking sites we create with your software. Yes, we are desperate for HTML5 but when we get it, Moonfruit will once again be, by far the best site maker out there.
ps - in my experience your customer service is second to none!
To Wendy,
One of the posts writes,"Wendy now plans to spend her time bringing up her 4 and 7 year old children and to travel to Morocco, etc."
If this is true about you making your priority bringing up your children, I say, "Good for you!" None of us have deadlines more important than our children and family. Knowing this makes me happy to wait on v6.
Blessings,
Bob
Can you confirm that the metatag issue will be addressed in the late Feb release? I want to flip my main site late Feb (pain I've got to start again vs convert but never mind), but I'm concerned that if the metatag issue is not addressed my google rank will suffer due to missing keywords, site description etc. Thanks.
Will there be website translation now????
Keep up the supreme work, Moonfruit! :-) I love you guys and gals.
One question: will the meta descriptions display in search engines with this new release?
I admire your hard work and am very excited.
Thanks!
What monitization options are there? Can we plan out google adsense and have three adverts on a page? I'm asking here as my email to Moonfruit has gone unanswered......
Can I ask what the "Enhanced HTML Snippet widget in v6" in the Upgrade Beta Release is and how this will differ from the 'normal' snippet widget.
Moonfruit you seriously need to re-consider the development team you have. Your dates keep slipping- this is not good news.
Just wanted to say to moonfruit how glad I am that you're taking your time to get it right in the end. I've just been reading the comments on Wix's facebook page - OMG LOL! Here's an example: "Guys, you REALLY need to sort the HTML editor out, 80% of it doesnt work and is unbelievably frustrating." And there's lots more where that came from on Wix's facebook page, and also about the (lack of) support as well. I've also been reading a lot about HTML5 generally, and I can get a feel for how complex it is, although I've only touched the tip of the iceberg. Rather you than me, your tech guys are amazing! Anyway, keep up the good work, and obviously I'm hoping for new releases sooner rather than later, but it's more important to me that you don't launch before you're as sure of it as you can be.
@Craig.
>SEO optimisation: It’s being considered but isn’t currently planned.
>Sub, sub categories and FB: Not exactly sure what you're asking here. But sub-categories is something we may consider in future, if we can be sure it won't over-complicate the interface.
>Ability to display/hide certain products in the shop: Sounds like a good idea and one for us to consider.
@Elliot:
>Membership. Login is coming for Site Owners and Site Admins. Sign-up for members will be reviewed down the line: we found only a few of our customers used that feature. We may include the ability to 'add' members but that will also be part of our review.
@MMN:
>Adding shop: yes you will be able to add shop pages to a v6 website later this month.
>SEO: We’ve had reports that the v6 sites are indexing very well though we will be fixing some meta data bugs.
>Payment options: Yes. There is a growing list of features for the shop that we will be working on this year, which includes adding further payment options.
@ScoobyPoo and LM:
Yes. The metatags should be published into the the HTML.
@Girl of Steel:
We haven't got any immediate plans to provide translation options.
@Iancaseley:
AdSense is not something that we'll look at supporting immediately. But we will review down the line.
@JJ:
The Snippet widget will be better integrated into the software and provide several pre-configured options. We'll provide more details closer to the time.
And just to reiterate Wendy's comments above: thanks again for all the comments of encouragement and support.
Walt
Hi iancaseley,
We have now replied to your email.
Thanks,
Richard
Walt,
Maybe not the right thread for this,
In regards to the future of the shop - are there plans to be able to use diff variant boxes? At present while it allows 50 variants it is all on one drop down box.
For someone running a ticket website where there is many dates, times - the ability to add different prices to different times with different prices isnt possible under the current shop. looks strange with a 50 drop down box for people to go through it.
Was wondering what updates for the shop are being implemented?
Great work as always
If you have a Moonfruit site and not upgrade to v6 do you automatically upgrade? I don't want to delete a site to change it again.
@Dino, makes sense and we'll certainly look at that after we get the bulk of core features out in v6. Shop improvements are on the roadmap. Thanks for the comments.
@Sarah, I'm not quite sure what you're asking but I'll try to have a guess. If you build a site in v5 (Flash) you won't be forced to upgrade (to v6), and it won't be automatic. When we do provide the conversion option in March/April customers will be given a choice to upgrade (HTML5) or remain on their existing (Flash) site. But you will have a choice.
Hope that answers your question.
Walt
Do you know when simple forms will be added? my contact page looks rather bare without one. Thanks, Star
Lotusleaf, Clearly your business knowledge is poor as is your judgement in a feeble attempt to address me and not Moonfruit. The Independent article clearly indicates that Moonfruit sacked 60 of it's employees including the founder's own mother-in-law. Businesses don't take such drastic action whether it be 2004 or 2024 if they are successful. I'm proud of Wendy! I think she's a true success story and she's done a fantastic job. The new owners however do not have her entrepreneurial spirit and drive. Though they could afford to buy the business it does not mean that they know how to operate it. The html5 updates should have been the main priority as their competitors were already able to provide that level of service. Sadly, the business is not currently meeting customer demands nor is it able to fulfill the promises that it makes as a service provider and meet the deadlines that it indicates to it's customer base.
92% of ALL small to medium sized enterprises fail within a 10 year period and if your business is in the habit of providing a substandard service it too will fail. Unless you are optimised for html5 that's precisely what you are providing.., a substandard service. As for your suggestion that we operate a re-seller business that is as unsuccessful as yours, you stand corrected. We are not re-sellers. We operate 70+ sites that were built for our own commercial interest. We, like most businesses, operate as a going concern. That means that we are profit making and our commercial interest require that we maximise all opportunities. More and more businesses today choose to build their own sites as services such as Moonfruit, Wordpress, Wix, 1&1 MyWebsite, etc make that an extremely viable and profitable prospect. The challenge comes however when a provider fails to deliver on their service promise and consistently disappoints its customer base. You are clearly deluded if you think that the number of sites built by Moonfruit as opposed to Wix does not have a direct correlation with the number of satisfied users. Are you off your medication? Did you fall and hit your head? That's like suggesting that though fewer people eat pooh as opposed to quality food that there is no correlation between the number of satisfied food eaters and pooh eaters. What would you choose to consume and irrespective of what you choose, you're still talking crap.
I would simply rather have seen Moonfruit be honest last year about the launch dates for html5 and suggest that those who are in absolute need of properly optimised sites seek service elsewhere. We have no desire to leave Moonfruit and to start over elsewhere. We only found out about Wix through this blog and the various other unsatisfied Moonfruit users. I simply live in hope that Moonfruit works around the clock non-stop until they get the job done. This would be particularly smart for Moonfruit for given their exemplary service in most other areas their competition would not be able to compete. In future Lotusleasf address your comments to Moonfruit and not me.
Thank you for your comments Wendy! Congratulations and keep up the good work! I'm anxiously awaiting the launch of V6.
Hey Billionaire, are you planning to write a novel soon?
Good grief, billiionaire, you've changed your tune somewhat since your earlier post! You've obviously looked around and realised that moonfruit is the best platform there is, and that although Wix may have been ahead of the game to start with, it hasn't kept up with the times according to its many dissatisfied users. I don't know what makes you think that I suggested you were a reseller - not that it matters too much, but it's best to get one's facts right. I don't feel the need to respond to your personal insults - they say more about you than they do about me. And sorry, but I'm afraid they won't stop me from taking issue with the sort of comments that you made in your earlier post. But now that you've done a complete turnaround, it seems that we're on the same side after all!
Hi, when will the basic form be introduced?
I am a moonfruit loyalist to the end!
Thanks
Jose
HAHAHAHA!!!!!! hahahahaha!!!! oh well firstly, I too am proper loyal to Moonfruit, they really are a fantastic organisation, the code they are working on is super difficult so good luck to you all! And again thanks goes out to the likes of LotusLeaf always dedicating his time to helping people out, good show!
But, there is one thing I have to say! Billionaire (or Mr Ironic perhaps), seriously, if your that annoyed, why dont you just write the website in hardcore HTML! Have you ever tried? Have you ever tried wordpress! I used wordpress, tried to change a theme and THE WHOLE SITE IS NOT BLOCKED WITH A WHITE SCREEN OF DEATH GRRR, so can you imagine the amount of problems moonfruit have to overcome to do this? A little gratitude goes a long way! You know what they say, if you cant say it face-to-face, dont say it at all. Saying that, I hope you instead use your wealth of experience, and help moonfruit out perhaps :o) Thats what im doing.
For any newbies reading this, moonfruit is a dream to use, and once the next HTML release comes out in a few weeks, it really will convert you, moonfruit is BY FAR the easiest out there, and the support forums are great too! I made my first website with moonfruit back in 2001, so I think I can really, a big thankyou to moonfruit and all of you!
@Jose, if it helps, Jotform will allow a 100 form per month option until the release of forms come, hope it helps!
Moonfruit: Please do review the 'Membership' feature for V6.
"we found only a few of our customers used that feature. We may include the ability to 'add' members but that will also be part of our review."
THIS IS NOT GOOD ENOUGH.
Although you say only a few people use this feature... I am one of them! I have spent the last 3 years of my life building and developing several membership based websites which are finally doing very well and looking great. However I can't even upgrade my site to V6 when the time comes because there will be no membership options (the people complaining here - I hear you .. but at least you can upgrade in April unlike me) and as you aren't even sure if there will ever be membership options and it certainly does not appear to be a priority then I guess I should either pay a designer a huge amount of money to redo my sites or start from scratch with Wordpress.
So when everyone else is enjoying the benefits of V6 I will be stuck with V5 and losing customers who already complain that they cant sign in to the members area on iPads etc.
I have been designing sites with moonfruit for almost a decade and I have always been delighted with your service and really don't want to have to start all over again. Im a reseller and also have clients who have Members areas and who want their sites in HTML5. It doesn't seem fair that you would offer this in V5, let us build Membership based businesses (years of my life spent developing), and then leave us behind when it comes to moving forward with V6.
As sad and reluctant as I am to say this, I think it might be time to do a Wordpress course, slow down my moonfruit reseller biz and move my member sites somewhere they can be viewed properly.
Its taken about a year of waiting patiently to get to this point might I add.
If you can give me a date, or confirm that you WILL be bringing the Membership feature to V6 then I will continue to wait patiently ... but without this it would be a foolish business move to sit around and hope.
I am so sad to have to abandon my beautiful moonfruit sites and potentially hand creative control over to someone else or just begin from scratch elsewhere. Do you have any suggestions for what I should do? Time = Money.
So conversations will probably realistically happen in June. Probably best off re-making my site.
Suggestions:-
Can we please get a proper undo button that actually undoes anything you last did? Right now, the undo button does not work 99% of the time, and the 1% it does it won't work for all things you can do.
More font control - the ability to change the font size, boldness, underline, italics within the same text box.
Thanks!
I'm sick of statistics, Ive tried the competitors and I'm prepared to wait.
Keep up the good work Moonfruit, you'll deliver and I'm confident the results wont disappoint.
I'm sorry, some of you who are being understanding towards Moonfruit's lack of decent planning because some of us actually pay a lot of money to run several sites with MF and expect better!!
I'm still furious at this delay! Terrible, terrible scheduling... I will now be falling behind on many projects thanks to Moonfruit's false promises. Wendy, sort it out!
I think lotusleaf is a MF staff member! He's always buzzing around the place, defending Moonfruit and his knowledge seems to be a bit too much!
He hops on every forum thread/blog post and answers queries before any visible admins do. Hmm...
And don't answer by saying you 'love Moonfruit'... I think he's a little mole! ahaha It's probably Walt or Wendy playing at it again!
I'm here again, HappyChappy! I do seem to have a high profile, don't I :lol: To put you in the picture, I use the forum as a way to relax when I want a break from website building or other computer work, and I've spent most of the last 24 hours re-building one of my sites from scratch in V6. I learn a lot from the forum (hence what you regard as my encyclopaedic knowledge!) which helps me with my own sites, and if I'm around, I'm happy to try and help someone else if I can. It's not the first time I've been accused of being a moonfruit insider, but I'm really not! I've even been known to voice complaints myself, but frequently it turned out it was something I'd done wrong myself so I think at least twice now before complaining! Love your username, by the way :D
Hey Moonfruit, why did you delete my comment
I have built several websites using Moonfruit and encouraged others as well. Technology is on steroids and smart phone / pad / notebook advances happen seemingly on a day to day basis.
Moonfruit programmers, I for one am cutting you some slack. I cannot even imagine the undertaking of taking wagon train code that is obsolete and incompatible with new technology.
You need to get this right so users can have confidence in the product that we are investing time and money into. I'm still on board but this is crunch time. My customers will abandon me if you do not nail this.
I can only echo the previous comment made by Webmaster.
I've been a customer for a long time now Moonfruit, and I've been patient, whilst paying you decent money every month, in my expectation of HTML5 implementation.
Enough time has elapsed. It's now or never. I won't be renewing any payments unless there is firm, displayable progress made. The browsing habits of the world are changing and any significant development I want to make with my projects is being drastically hindered by this issue.
I really don't want to go looking for alternatives, I really enjoy using the site. But this is a deal breaker.
Would it not of solved the problem if you could just keep your flash website and have the redirect option to a mobile site when viewed from a tablet or mobile device?
MABS operates for the whole community in Spain. The website is in English, and my major need is for website translation, so the wider community - mainly Spanish, French, German and Dutch - can view it in their own language. Will your html5 allow Google Translation? According to your answer to @girl of steel, it won't. I We would therefore HAVE to move the site.
Good morning Rod, it has been stated above that there are no immediate plans for tanslation, however I have integrated a workaround at the bottom of my HTML5 site by using microsoft's translator tool: www.wingsuitfly.com
@MrSystematic Moonfruit always deletes comments they dont like
Star Khechara and Jose: Forms are due after we deliver the upgrade option. You can however add an HTML Snippet widget and then use Wufoo (www.wufoo.com) to set up a form for your your site.
Billionaire: Moonfruit have been honest. Our release dates were simply underestimated. The operation to refactor our entire code base to provide better quality code with inbuilt flexibility was bigger than anticipated. Missing a deadline and disappointing customers is never good. But we felt it was a better outcome for customers long term than producing poor quality and inflexible code that would limit us in the future.
EllaJames: I've ensured your comments are passed on to the Product Director. For us the priority is providing those features in SM6 that benefit the widest number of users as quickly as possible. We are still pre-Beta so the SM6 is still in development and features will continue to be added. Could you detail what specific elements of membership are critical to your requirements. That may help us prioritise developments down line.
Guy: We expect the HTML5 upgrade to go out late March/early April as highlighted. Regarding Undo and Font Control, thanks. We are still in Early Access Preview so we know we still have a lot of work to do on the Editor.
MrSystematic: Sorry not us - our junk filter parked your comment and one other. They're both published now. Oh and thanks for the additional Forms suggestion.
Webmaster and George: Our priority has been to ensure we do 'get this right', by building solid but flexible code that will enable us to more rapidly deliver new features on a more regular basis.
Phase One: The mobile options will be independent of the HTML5. And available to Flash users (SM5) so you will be able to redirect your site on mobiles.
Rod McF: If you mean will our SM6 sites (in HTML5) be available to a visitor to use Google Translate. Yes, it's possible though it's not something we've tested as yet. Being able to deliver the software in another language (for a Site Editor) is not something we have planned for the immediate future.
Tom: You are very much mistaken. 'Always delete comments we don't like'?: Well we've kept yours, and several others that have been critical of our timetable. Removing negative comments is not in our DNA as we do value our customer's feedback.
Finally, just a reminder to ALL users. Forums and blogs are places that emotions can run high. We simply ask that everyone please refrain from personal attacks in your responses. Be critical but be constructive, debate or defend your view or position, but be professional. Personal attacks cripple any reasoned argument, and they make you sound like a lunatic.
Play hard, but play fair. Thank you.
Walt
Moonfruit please can ensure you deliver a basic search functionality? It's essential users are able to search the site by key words?
I'm sure other would vouch for me on this.
@ WALT
As EllaJames said we DO need membership features, no other website builders offer the membership features you do at the moment! We need members to be able to sign up and login just as they do now to page restricted pages, even better would be to have members pay for their membership, just like we do to moonfruit.
Really hope you guys take this feature more seriously
METADATA/KEYWORDS?
currently don't work and i've been told they will be activated in the next release, is this true???
please let me know, its very important.
Been with you guys since 2001. Been through every high and low.
I actually feel quite bonded with the company!
You just take as long as you need. Yes, we need HTML5, but I have absolute faith you will deliver in the near future, and it will be spot on like it always is.
Much love.
I would add my kudos to those already given about how wonderful the html 5 release is and I appreciate all of the hard work it is taking
Question: MEMBERS FUNCTION, ability to make all or part of a website private, sign in function with username and password. Please do let me know what is planned and when on this front. I have surprising numbers of people who need this feature for clients and to protect their proprietary information from being copied easily.
Thanks so much.
Oh, I just saw an earlier post I missed about Membership function. Please, do take that seriously. There is so much copyright infringement on the internet that it is one of the very few ways to help protect material as well as allow other private discussion and sharing. I use the feature and have clients who do too. Please consider its inclusion, and do let me know what the plans are. I already started a site that needs this function before I realized this feature was not planned and may have to move it to another platform...I would rather keep it here but am willing to wait a while.
MEMBERSHIP FEATURES FOR V6.
I need ideally everything you offer now in V5 (for members) but most importantly just a login form that takes members to pages that only members are able to view. An area in the site where I can store members information (names/emails), just as there is now. If there is that feature it doesnt matter how simple it is - I will be so very happy!!!.
A bonus: The ability to add a my payment processors code to the site, so when a new member pays for their subscription they automatically get access to the members area without me having to give them access by hand. (Im not expecting this anytime soon but it would be great ... just putting it out there ;).
As a reseller I also need a login form for my clients to be able to sign in through their website so they can edit the site themselves. I cant really design sites for people without offering them the ability to edit their own sites and Im not sure how to let them login and edit without a login form.
Thank you moonfruit... V6 is brilliant!
Ahh... This is disappointing, but I cannot say that I didn't expect it. I was hoping to start a small web design business once Moonfruit released it's HTML 5 variant. I've been a customer for years now, and have watched Moonfruit grow.
Some time back, I was excited to see the new branding, targets, direction - I believed that this would be a real cornerstone for the company - especially when acquired by Yell. The new shop functionality, talk of HTML5, new templates, new customer service system, mobile device compatibility - these are all steps in the right direction but there are still basic elements people are crying out for - perhaps one being dynamic image headers with links for a homepage call to action.
Well, I cant wait any longer and so have taken the plunge and begun to work within Wordpress. On the plus side, I get to learn a little code, and some new skills. I wish moonfruit all the best and hopefully their new investment will help them bridge the gap sooner rather than later.
Thanks
Hi Walt
This was posted in a previous thread however not answered due to this new thread.
Just a couple of questions:
1. Like others, I would like to know when HTML5 will be released. Are we hours, days, weeks, months away?
2. With the shop, will there be an option to allow customers to select multiple product selections - e.g. will a customer be able to select a photo size, then select the type of frame, then select a frame colour? At the moment the only option is a drop-down list that can be very lengthy depending on how many variables are offered.
I look forward to your prompt response.
Regards
Andrew
Athena, EllaJames and Elliot: Thanks for the comments, we are taking them seriously and we will be reviewing membership.
Andrew: The beta release is due in a few weeks, the upgrade option due late March/early April. We will continue to add features regularly throughout the year to meet the needs and demands of our customers.
This also applies to the Shop which we will continue to improve, including things like multiple product selection. It may take us some time but improvements for many features are planned with SM6 for 2013.
Thanks
Walt
Afternoon...just wondering if V6 will be available for all of the moonfruit template websites when its active in a few weeks?
I've been holding off doing my website as there aren't enough designs yet for the EAP.
Thanks,
EBTH
Have had a look at V6 but just not enough stuff on there yet for it to be useful to me, what is there appears to work fine.
I suggest everyone settle down or go elsewhere, some of the posts are a bit pathetic. I do not really want to have to read your whining, useful feedback, good or bad, is required thats all.
The delays are extremely frustrating, but the MF interface is worth it. For me its just dollars, I need to be able to create some of my sites quickly myself with out the cost of developers, with MF I can do that. Like everyone though I need to work in HTML5.
Developing this type of software is incredibly complex and takes time, there is no way around it delays are inevitable.
Patience is require from all concerned.
Hi EBTH, we'll be looking to triple the number of templates available with the v6 Beta release in a few weeks. Most of the v5 templates will be upgraded and we'll be adding a few more new ones also. With each subsequent release through the year (and there will be many updates) we'll add more and more templates to the v6 platform. So hang in there a little longer.
Thanks Kevin. We're hoping the influx of calories from our recent cake bake day, and more caffeine will help speed up the coding. Seriously though, we are pulling out all stops to deliver v6 Beta within two weeks.
Walt
Please the membership functionality is vital ASAP, as I reseller I need to give logins to my clients so they can edit but restrict access to certain pages (so the groups member category is vital to me). Fingers crossed it will make it into the Feb / March release. Thanks and good luck. We are all counting in you. Jumping ship is not a option as I have way to many sites...
I too desperately need a password protected members only page, as a client has specified a VIP/members only area to be included on their site - will this functionality be included late February?
Also, will site owners be able to edit their HTML sites without having to go through something that has the Moonfruit branding on it?
Many thanks guys.
I'm a diehard moonfruit loyalist, but am concerned what will happen if Yell doesn't succeed in renegotiating the terms of its debt with creditors (for which it is failing to meet minimum repayments).
Will we be able to have more than one blog per site, any time soon? As this would be very helpful for me.
Thanks.
Will the SEO be affected when we upgrade our flash sites to HTML? Or will it remain exactly the same as before?
Loving Moonfruit! Cant wait for the next update! Woo Hoo!!
AH! For those of you wanting to restrict pages, you could set the page to not be shown on the menu, then send people the link to the restricted page via email! Just a suggestion as a makeshift fix until its updated, im in the same boat and too need logins and stuff, but I know moonfruit, i guess their working super hard on this right now, keep it up! PLUS, if i find a way around the logins il let you all know
Hi,
Please can you tell us when we will get the Forms? I'm having to pay 3 party organisations fot this facility which is really unfair.
This is critical part of any website and we need this. The form needs to be able to capture information and send the details to an email and also send and automatic response email to the end user
Paul, I had the same issue but found that Google Drive works well for forms and you can just embed the for with the HTML widget and it's FREE.
@ScoobyPoo and C - We do appreciate your concern, as Walt has mentioned above, we are taking your comments seriously and will be reviewing the membership tools for V6.
@Ed - We are working towards the conversion not having a negative effect on your rankings. We are aiming for the conversion to keep your SEO exactly the same.
@Paul - Forms are due after we deliver the upgrade option. You can however add an HTML Snippet widget and then use Wufoo (www.wufoo.com) to set up a form for your your site.
Thanks guys for your comments and feedback on V6 release. We have been able to put together an FAQ for V6, please see link below.
http://moonfruit.zendesk.com/forums...
HTH
Juli
Hi Wingsuiting,
Thanks for your concern, but we aren't going anywhere. We're well aware of what's happening with hibu (Yell) and Moonfruit's future is secure. So we hope you'll be a diehard MF loyalist for a lot lot longer.
@Nikki - There won't be any changes to the blog for a little while yet. We will keep you posted.
HTH
Juli
Hi, I think the HTML 5 release is great. Faster and Better than Flash.
The only thing I am waiting for now is roll down menus then everything will be perfect :) Can't wait until the end of Feb!
These mobile settings also look pretty good.
Thanks Moonfruit Team!
Linden
Its now a year since you announced it What is taking so long and why are you not keeping us informed! Other sites such as wix.com have it sorted Why cant you ?? Incredibly frustrating not to mention bad for business both yours and mine !!
Hi DHB.
The Moonfruit code for sites has been developed over a period of 10 years. The V6 project is to take 10 years worth of work and code and to translate it into another language, from Flash/Flex to HTML5. Although at face value this may seem like an easy switch over, in reality everything has to be rewritten, new features developed and, done in such a manner that it will serve as well for the next 10 years and beyond.
Unfortunately with a project of this magnitude, the first few mile stones that we can announce to customers are few and far between. We do appreciate our comms could have been improved between Releases 1 and soon to be Release 2. This is something we are working to rectify for future releases.
This Blog post is however, up to date with information with no changes to the above roll out plan to report.
HTH
Juli
You say you're reviewing membership tools, does that mean they're in the offing, or not planned until more ask for it?
It might be a better idea to give us a bullet point list of what will be included in the next releases, and when, so members can make an informed choice as to whether to stay, and what sort of websites they can create for paying clients with the current HTML features. As it stands, i will now have to take at least one of my websites elsewhere, which is a shame.
I'm also a big fan of Moonfruit but my patience is wearing thin.
There is a lot of "coming soon" but I'd like to know how soon as I've to turn business away due to Moonfruit being out of date.
Also, is there any news on new slideshow widgets?
I've searched all over the place and cant get anything good that works with MF.
Please make these sad times a little more exciting with some launch dates and not more "coming soon" messages xxx
Is there anyway of launching the 'Redirect To Mobile Site' any earlier?
http://phaseonesecurity.co.uk
@ C - As Walt has already mentioned above, we have run analysis on the usage of the membership features, to find that only a very small percentage of sites use this. While we appreciate that you, and others that have posted here do use this, we must ensure that features and additions to the software benefit the largest proportion of customers possible. It is for this reason we are prioritising other features ahead of this, and will look to review the membership tools in the future.
Like most companies, we do not publish our roadmap, although we do except this is frustrating from a customer's point of view. If we were to do so, this may lead to confusion and potentially setting unrealistic expectations. Roadmaps are subject to change, to accommodate requirements and priorities. For example, we had planned to make changes to the mobile version at a later date, but we found the demand for this warranted increasing it's priority and including this in the next release.
While we will always endeavor to provide features to benefit as many customers as possible, unfortunately there will always be a small number of people that will be disappointed.
@ MrBorry.
The slideshow is a feature we will look at adding, however, this will not be immediately and unfortunately not something we have a date for.
Regards,
Juli
I have to agree unfortunately Moonfruit, it's one delay after the other and you're kidding yourself if you think it isn't having a massively negative effect on your business. You should be recruiting the right skills to get the job done on time, the costs involved will be much less than the business you must be currently losing.
For anyone that needs slideshows (incomprehensible that moonfruit haven't managed to implement such a basic feature!) http://www.photosnack.com/ and before you ask I can build websites in HTML so I know what is involved!
@Tom i totally agree, it's getting really frustrating how the most basic of features like simple slide shows/snippets are not included. It's frustrating that we have to PAY 3party organisations like Photosnack for a functionality that we should be getting in our subscription
Ive given up of asking now- no one listens and Julie keeps coming back with her copy/paste replies
Thank you for your feedback. We do understand that when publishing details of a plan with an target, it can be misunderstood and interpretted as a confirmed due date with a deadline. We have attempted where-ever possible to emphasize that dates given are an estimate, that are subject to change to accomodate additional development time.
As I have mentioned above, feature lists have be carefully selected to ensure that the greatest amount of customers benefit from feature releases, however, there will always be a small number of people who are disappointed. Slideshows are on the agenda, currently other features are more in demand and are taking a higher priority.
@ Tom.
I am sorry if it seems like we are repeating ourselves. The situation has not changed and we ensuring that we respond to individuals in case they have missed any information in the above comments. The list of features to be released is as follows.
Beta release: Late-February
Regards,
Juli
Also just to confirm. after spending 6 months since your V6 release, your implementing 3 new functionality? really?
something doesnt seem right
Hi,
Can you confirm that the ability to set your own global fonts will be available in the next beta release?
Ok everyone....First Moonfruit has been a part of my website design for over 10 years. I have been a very happy and loyal customer since. This is a huge undertaking and I'm sure you all must agree it will be one for all of us that use moonfruit to develop sites. With any software upgrade it does take time. I have been exploring other sites for html5,wordpress, zoomla and so forth and the do have quite an extensive features however I can see Moonfruit even bigger than they are IF they adopt the same no programming approach. I think if Moonfruit can some how have something like extensions such as Joomla then Moonfruit will take off!
I am looking for some sort of widget that will translate my whole site. I have a site for the developmentally disabled and some of our clients are spanish speaking. That is one of the features I like about Joomla. I hope that will be part of the "enhancements" once full version of v6 is rolled out.
Also, I would like Moonfruit to consider using another company for paying for our membership. Many of my companies use American Express. You will get more corporate buy in if you accept this card.
Thanks! And keep your head up...BUT we really can't wait for the new version. Please keep us updated!
@ H - We are working on the ability to set a default font for the site.
@ thegirlofsteel - thank you for your feedback, we do appreciate it. We will pass it on. Although it hasn't been tested yet, now sites are displayed in HTML, 3rd party translators (such as Google) should work. The card payments we accept are dictated by Worldpay, but we will bare this in mind.
Thanks,
Juli
Getting pretty desperate now... Moonfruit we all really need v6 asap. At least 20% of our website visitors are now using iPads - which means we're losing business by the bucket load! I'm not bothered about a blog or shop functionality, I just want HTML5! Like most other customers with existing Moonfruit sites we can't jump ship in fear of losing our Google Rankings etc so we have to hold on and on and on...!
Please make SLIDESHOWS a priority. I would think that a majority of users need the tool. It will be very clumsy if it is not built into Moonfruit v6.
I agree Bob, sideshows should be a priority. I'm currently using a 3rd party solution (at additional cost), Although it works it's not perfect and it should be part of the basic moonfruit package.
How are the priorities for development set?
Maybe it would be a good idea to ask the users what they think the priorities should be via a survey or something? I would think that slide shows would be high on the list.
I am new to Moonfruit and love what I have done with the flash version. My question is when the html5 V6 rolls out will there be a way to convert from flash to V6 without having to recreate the whole site?
I have tried building a V6 beta version but it is lacking the critical shop and contact form elements I need. I tried wufoo for the contact form but dont like having a third party involved with my emails.
Dear Moonfruit,
Please inform us when we might expect a slideshow widget for v6. I don't have a single v5 website that does not have slide shows. This is a major problem if it will not be available.
Thanks,
Bob
@ Bob - We are looking at adding the slideshow, unfortunately other features are taking priority. We will keep you posted.
@ Yvonne - The release planned for end of March/Beginning of April will allow you to convert your site to V6. Forms won't be released just yet, so in the mean time you will need to use a 3rd party. The Shop will be going out in the next release.
HTH
Juli
Thanks Juli,
I have looked for HTML5 alternatives for slideshows and haven't found anything that offers the stability and flexibility of Flash. I've also investigated Moonfruit's competitors and they are experiencing complaints about HTML5. It seems that I am going to have to simplify my sites to adapt them to HTML5. It is good that Moonfruit will offer both HTML5 and Flash based tools to build our websites.
The bottom line - I am going to have to rethink the design of websites I will be converting to HTML5. Is this correct?
Bob
^ I've seen complaints about HTML5 on the Wix site, and some users there have said it's because they haven't updated their software since they launched it about 18 months ago. I don't know how true this is. They've certainly announced software updates, but I wouldn't be surprised if they got HTML5 out fast in order to steal a march a year or two ago, but that they either didn't do a thorough job of it, or they didn't put the infrastructure in place to enable deep updates. One of the reasons why I'm satisfied to wait for moonfruit is because I think they're at least doing a thorough job of it so that they can do deep updates as the technology moves on.
About re-designing our sites - I'd be very surprised if the conversion process is as easy as pressing a button and hey presto, my sites look exactly the same in HTML5 as in Flash. I'll be delighted if that happens, but I'm not banking on it, and for that reason, I'm starting to rebuild my sites in HTML5 now. Maybe the sites which have been built from templates and where the structure hasn't been altered much will be OK. But all my sites are built from Blank, many use non-standard typography which may not be available in HTML5 (it isn't with the EAP version), and most have many layers. If my sites don't convert satisfactorily, I won't see much point in complaining about it. I've got the option to stick with Flash or to go elsewhere. If I went elsewhere, I'd have to rebuild anyway, so I might as well rebuild with moonfruit, and I might as well start doing that now. I'm exceptionally pleased with the sites that I've built with HTML5 to date - it's just brilliant seeing them on iPads and in Google preview, so the sooner I can rebuild some of the others the better, even if it means having to modify the design.
There's not been much comment about SEO. I've put tons of time and effort into on and off page optimisation techniques which eventually got me on Page 1 of Google for my preferred keywords.
So my question is - What happens if I build a site from scratch?.. I assume this means starting all over again with search engine optimisation, that would set me back at least a year! But if I wait and let Moonfruit convert my site over to HTML5 at some point, does this mean basically my site ranking wouldn't be affected.
Please Please Moonfruit I think we all need some guidance on this SEO/RANKING issue, thank you.
David, if you wouldn't mind some reassurance from me, a user and reseller. A couple of days ago I launched another HTML5 site for a client. Within a couple of hours of submission to Google, it had the first two entries on the first page for its main search term. Although I'd set the metatags, Google hadn't picked up the Description and Keywords, although it had picked up the title. What Google did was pick what it considered to be relevant text from the page, and put that into the description. So although the metatags aren't yet working correctly, it isn't preventing Google from picking up the site. Moonfruit will be able to put you in the picture with regard to timescale for the metatags and whatever else they need to do, but it really isn't making any difference, at least not to my sites.
Hi Moonfruit team and blogger folk!
Can someone just let me know if I can try out HTML5 for my website? I'm confused - can I test it out yet or am I waiting until April when it's all (supposedly) hunky dory?
If I can try it out right now can someone explain how to switch it over please..? Many thanks, Freddie
Moonfruit what is the exact date the mobile version will be ready?
do you think with the V6/html5 it will improve page loading speed and the "jumpiness" (for lack of a better word) of the various pages? Currently to go from one page to the shop or blog page is very jumpy.
I hope that when the new shop is included, they have the vat option to the billing.
After all it is a shop.
any nearer to next release
@ Blackshaw - We have had reports that V6 sites are ranking very well. We will be fixing some meta data bugs that we hope to push out. A new site built on V6 will need new SEO, we are hoping for site conversion that SEO will be unaffected in the conversion.
@ Freddie - At the bottom of the blog post is a link for you to try our EAP V6. You can use this to build a new site in HTML5, as and when updates and releases are made you can add to your V6 site.
@ Yvonne - In short, Yes. Flash sites are generally slower to load, so V6 sites should be faster. The jumping is also due to Flash, so this shouldn't be an issue.
@ Victor - Unfortunately this is not something that will added when the shop goes live on V6. It is on our wish list though.
@ Onyx - We will be able to let you know 24 hours before the release goes out.
HTH
Juli
as mentioned ealier last month moonfruit have not intention of makng a html release at the end of this month, we will still be waiting in april for this, hence no update and it near release date again and all has gone quite,
When can we expect HTML 5 Conversion option to go live?
"Beta release: Late-February" - Wooo hoo any day now! VERY exciting to finally have the choice of site to view when mobile site is loaded!
@ Robo - We will have this released by the end of the week, we will be able to advise exactly when this will be 24 hours ahead of time.
@ Charles - Conversion of existing sites to V6 will be in release 3, we're aiming for end of March/ early April for this.
HTH
Juli
3 days then !! We all know that it simply isn't going to happen because you would have made an announcement by now ;) who else is with me on this point ?
Hi, when all these releases happen, will we be able to use coupons in our shops as I would really like to reward loyal customers. Thanks
Hi all,
I am relative newbie to MF, but have built three sites now and looking to add a whole lot more.
I do love MF and just like everyone else I am waiting in anticipation of this new html version. I share many of your frustrations concerning some of the current limitations and like others, hope the members login & features are updated and improved as soon as you are able. I think the member areas are becoming increasingly important as the web moves from 'billboard' to integration & interaction. So PLEASE make this a priority!
But lastly my congratulations go to those at MF who seem to diligently and patiently work away in in the face of some quite irate comments from the MR Angry's of this world.
Big up to MF and those staff who answer our (sometimes) quite stupid questions or patiently explain their current position regarding the release.
But I bet it will be wicked when if finally comes.......
John
@ Sarah - I'm afraid that coupon codes will not be going out in this release.
@ John - Thanks for the feedback, we're all getting pretty excited about the release too. We're doing some last minute regression testing and some relieved faces are starting to appear, we're looking good for the end of the week.
HTH
Juli
Hi, Do we know if the forms feature will be in the next update, I need to be able to allow customers to register an email address via a submit button, I have tried a third party one but it has adverts. Or has anyone got ideas how to get around it (I don't really just want an e-mail link)
Thanks
Steve
Hi Steve - I'm afraid forms are not going out in the next release. For the time being we are suggesting using Wufoo and our HTML snippet widget.
HTH
Juli
@ Steve - try www.jotform.com it has zero adverts, and is free for up to 100 submissions a month. It is even much better than the old Moonfruit forms!
Looking forward until the end of the week for the next release :D
With the log in widget we will then be able to create admin accounts for our clients?
Hi this is almost end of Feb any news about release ? or Schedule changed again ?
This is unbelievable! How much longer do we have to wait for html5??? Every month you put it back another month! Meanwhile we are all losing potential visitors/customers. I won't be renewing my domain name through Moonfruit next time, i'll go somewhere that actually keeps up with technology!
I am really looking forward to adding a forum onto my newly created forum for my local town. I have done it in the HTML5 version and the community wants to get the forum up and running. Is this going to be availble when the release comes? any idea when this will be? Thanks
@Andrew - The Login widget will be available with tomorrow's release. This will allow you to Login directly to your site without having to go through moonfruit.com
Member/Site Admin options are something we are working on currently and will be released further down the line.
@KAYA - You can find details on tomorrow's release here: http://bit.ly/YDPsWQ
@Sarah - We do not currently have plans on adding a Forum widget as part of our Software. You can however use our HTML snippet widget to add a Forum to your site.
- Andrew
Hi All,
Some of you thought this day would never come! But we can confirm that we will be doing a software update tomorrow morning. The whole business is quite excited about getting this release out the door as we know how many of you have been patiently waiting for the additional functionality. As part of tomorrow's release, the following features/updates will be included:
-Shop Functionality
-Link button & Drop-Down menus
-Pagemaster, background & global text default styles
-Metadata bug fix
-Login Widget
-Mobile Redirect options (V5 & V6)
-Chatango & Wufoo Form added to HTML Snippet Widget
For more information on tomorrow's release, please click: http://bit.ly/YDPsWQ
We will publish a new article tomorrow with more detail on the new features in this release, so please hang in there for a little longer.
Thanks
- Andrew
Hi,
Great news, relief etc etc... Couple of quick questions to MF / community.
1. As I'm going to be rebuilding my existing site in v6 and then directing the domain away from v5 to my new v6 I want to be sure there are no blips from the google analytics and google webmaster side of things. In the services editor tab its easy to set up webmaster / analytics for the 1st time, but when I tried use an existing analytics and webmaster account I get stuck (I simply want to embed the old them in the new site). Google don't let you generate a copy of the html for an existing webmaster domain / analytics (or not that I can find anyway). So what do I paste into the google boxes in the services tab? Any tips on this and how I can seamlessly migrate my old site to my new html5 site from the google analytics / webmaster standpoint?
2 . I don't see a pop up gallery / slide show in the release notes. Any recommendations for a widget while we wait for MF to add?
Thanks.
Thanks ScoobyPoo.
We've discussed this at length and we think that once Google has verified your site address or domain then it considers it verified. So you should be fine to build your new site and migrate the domain. Obviously we have the upgrade option happening in late March/early April but you sound keen to push ahead with your new site. If you have concerns about the verification (and losing traction with Google) please open a ticket with Support and they should be able to migrate the Webmaster code across to the new site for you.
With regards the pop-up gallery, well there's still a long road ahead for us, and we'll be busy this year producing more functionality and features for the v6 product. There are some great products you can insert into the Snippet Widget like Issu and CoolIris. Have a look at our HTML Snippets FAQ on this.
Thanks
Walt
By the way folks, we do have a new Blog out!
Some of you may be using an RSS reader to keep up-to-date with this article on how v6 is going. If you are then please do pop over to the new Blog (The Moonfruit v6 Beta has landed - get your shop on!) which went out today after our release this morning. There should be plenty of goodies to keep you happy!
Thanks,
Walt
1st of all am grateful for release - thanks MF guys and girls for all your hard work
Im currently testing the new release to show my colleagues what we are now able to do in html (they ha
However I have 1 problem and am hoping you can help
On the page master, I have a horizontal menu bar. I would like to be able to have a solid white box behind it. I have done this but it does not appear in either preview website or after i have logged out
So, I have made the buttons white instead but unfortunately does not look so nice. Am I doing something wrong?
actually I cant get boxes or lines to work at all
Hi- your dropdown menu and link, fonts are all extremely buggy. They dont save teh styles and look extremely off when viewed outside the edit mode. Please look into his
@ onyx - This is a known issue which we are looking into with our Test and Development Team.
@ Tom - I have replied to your comments via the new Blog post.
By the way guys, more comments and information can be found on our newest blog post.
http://www.moonfruit.com/blog/post/2013/02/28/V6
HTH
Juli
I am fed up with our site looking so bad on iphones. You had said that old sites would be switched to v6 in January. This has not happened. Can I copy my old site pages easily and build a new site in the v6 software or do I have to build a whole new site from scratch?
V6 Doesnt Have a Members Option? Like a Login Widget?
Hi,
Personally I can't wait to convert my Flash site (www.mylondonexchange.com) to HTML5 so it's ipad and iphone compliant.
Keep up the good work Moonfruit.
Pete
"The release planned for end of March/Beginning of April will allow you to convert your site to V6. "
Is this still on track? Thanks :)
Hi ryankt13,
Please see our more recent Blog post: The Moonfruit v6 Beta has landed
Our plan continues to be for release in April. When we have an update with a more specific date, we'll let you know. Keep an eye on the Blog for new posts going up.
HTH
Juli
" Upgrade Beta release (ability to convert existing sites from v5 (Flash) to v6 (HTML5) - coming in April"
Thanks I saw that now towards the bottom. I overlooked it the first time reading it. Ya, don't worry I check the blog everyday so see if anything new about the releases have been added :)
WHEN in April can we expect the ability to convert our sites? Just wondering as hoping to launch my business soon, and unsure whether to delete my site and start again with V6?
Can anyone confirm if all the templates and fonts, etc. will come across to v6 when the full version is released. Will the converter (ie. for v5 sites to v6) arrive at the same time as the full release of v6?
Thanks!
@ forevervodka - We will have more news on this next week. We will keep you posted.
@ Ryan - simply put, no. But let me explain. We will be duplicating many of the existing v5 templates - we've done quite a few already - and we'll be adding a lot more v6 specific templates over the coming months to our growing collection. Fonts however are different as we have moved away from Flash based fonts (v5) to Google Web fonts (v6) - though even here we'll be looking to add more fonts over the year. To put things in context, v6 is an entirely new product built from the ground up so it will be different from v5, but ultimately a much better and more versatile product. The conversion process from v5 to v6 is our next major release, followed by the addition of forms, blog and further shop updates etc. So v6 will evolve more rather than be one major release.
HTH
Juli
WHEN will membership options be available on the HTML5 version? My whole site is worthless without them and I thought this update would have all the functionality of the flash version. Since I DON'T know coding and why I pay your company money I figured this was the case and the only reason I have stuck around since the summer and spent weeks and hours avoiding my family to get this shit off the ground and now this? I realize it's a lot of hardwork for you guys, but with so many disgruntled users, obviously something stinks like shit at your company.
HOW BOUT AN E-MAIL TO USERS OR SOMETHING? I never get e-mails about anything regarding this stuff...Am I missing something?
@b - if you subscribe to the Blog, you will get email updates whenever they have something to announce in a new blog. Also, if you subscribe to Moonfruit Announcements in the forum, you will get an email from there as well.
I have just spent 6 montha making a new site to find this blog and find out that I'm probably going to have to do it all over again if i want to make use of new features.
Why doesn't Moonfruit update its galleries, tools, widgets and snippets and so on every time a new template is made, so that users can make use of the things found in new sites? Every time I want to upgrade the look of my site, I have to start completely from scratch to make it look like new and it should not be that difficult. I've mentioned it in the forums before, but there are NEVER any new image tools, photo tools (like image sliders which are hugely beneficial to business websites), video tools, marketing tools(the NEW section still has 2005's social icons and they still look crappy). Can I ask you to take a look at Wix and see how many different things ("apps") you can now put on your website there, and also, they upgraded from Flash to html without such a fuss. I just think Moonfruit has been behind the times for so long, it'll take forever to catch up to web 2.0. I'm quite disappointed.
You said last week 22nd post .145 that you would have information this week on when the ability to convert existing sites to V6 would be rolled out.
We're now on Friday night and no info?!!
This is getting silly now.
When can we convert sites to V6? you are way behind the competition and the mobile redirect doesn't work for tablets/iPad, unbelievable.
Hi Mike, yes we did say that. We will be publishing an article with an update on Tuesday morning as Vicki mentioned yesterday in her blog. We simply wanted to highlight some features we pushed out this week first.
Regarding the Mobile re-direction not working it appears to be working as expected. However, if you're re-directing a v5 (Flash) site as I assume you're doing, then you will see the text only version on the iPad. Obviously, that'll be resolved when we enable the v6 Upgrade. We'll publish a blog on that next Tuesday.
Thanks,
Walt
PLEASE ANSWER MY QUESTION. WHEN DO YOU THINK YOU'LL IMPLEMENT MEMBERSHIP OPTIONS ON V6? THANKS?
@b, there is no need to shout. We have highlighted our timetable in replies to other posts around membership. The Membership feature will be reviewed later in the year. The upgrade, forms, blog will all take precedence.
Thanks.
Is there a date set for us to convert sites to V6?
Regarding post 153. Does this mean that there will be no membership for viewers/staff etc so different pages cant be accessed by different people?
Come on guys where's the information about when we can convert sites to html5
Hi all,
So I come and visit the forum once a week to have a look and see if there's any news on the Conversion option. I'm guessing this is quite a mammoth task for the programmers to undertake, and that other website builders have built their software on newer platforms, but it would be nice to have at least a rough idea of when this might be available - I was hoping like many others this would be towards the end of March/April as suggested..We aren't that far into April i suppose but I am eager to convert my sites.
The one thing I am concerned about after using the V6 is the lack of flexibility. It seems to me very very basic. Will there be better and more functions in the future. Forms was a good tool - using wufoo isn't to my liking if Im honest, and unless you're a bit handy with photoshop or illustrator there's not much in the way of options. The libary of tools seems a bit sparse...This isn't a complaint, but a general question that I hope to get an answer to.
Thanks for your hard work. I wont be ditching moonfruit just yet as I've been a customer for a long while..
@ Murray - It is possible to add administrators to your site to allow access to the editor. We will be reviewing the other membership tools in the future.
Alex, AJ & Dynamix - more information about the v6 conversion can be found on our new blog post. Please see link below.
http://www.moonfruit.com/blog/post/...
HTH
Juli
Does anyone know how you add a contact page on v6?
Hi Kit,
We will be looking to add Forms to v6 after the Upgrade's first phase has been launched.
Using third party forms is a useful patch/tool for many customers while we work towards an integrated Form in v6. We have an FAQ with some suggested tools you could use in v6 in the meantime. Please see link below.
http://moonfruit.zendesk.com/entries/22129802-What-kind-of-HTML-Snippets-can-I-add-HTH
Juli
Anybody any idea when we can start converting our V5 Flash sites to V6 HTML? I've got adverts out in national publications costing me over £1,000 and still it looks crap on Mac, Tablet and Iphone etc! Come on Moonfruit!
Hi Tinderbox,
We published a new blog post, link below, which has more details concerning the conversion tool from v5 to v6.
http://www.moonfruit.com/blog/post/...
HTH
Juli
I'm extremely concerned at how long this V6 is taking. When you consider there is another online website builder called Wix?? that has had this HTML5 feature long ago.
This has been going on for such a long time and while we appreciate what is involved I fear Moonfruit is falling behind it's competitors.
The trial sites are ok but there is a lot of basic elements that are missing which are needed i.e
Shapes - Square, line or rounded square..... What has happened to the much loved circle??
Members with admin facility.
Forms
Image effects - A gallery?? We need a slide show!!
I could go on......
If and when the sites can be converted, what happens to the sites that currently have a blog? Because this feature is going to arrive after the conversion update??
The sites created at the moment in V6 actually do not appear on an iPad as they do on a PC. The tool being used is not showing correctly.
Please don't get me wrong, I love moonfruit but I fear you are lagging behind the rest and fingers need to be pulled out.
I haven't got time to place everything on a wish list because really the features that are on the old V5 sites should really already be a feature enabled on V6.
Hi Martin,
The process of converting to v6 will be one of choice, we will ensure that you have all the information to hand with regards to comparisons for you to make your decision.
We will provide details closer to the time, as to what happens to features not supported in v6.
HTH
Juli
due to the delay in converting to html5, I won't be renewing my subscription. Instead of complaining, I'm let my action do the talking. See you Moonfruit and Hello Wix
You are all awesome... keep up the hard work.
To all the people that are moaning, go and learn wordpress, its not that hard. I did, but still use MF as its a nice thing to offer the punters.
I love MF
I am really liking the v6 site I have created but would like to know if you plan on adding a Blog page element or should I be doing this somehow using a widget (if so, please advise how).
Also I noticed that on an ipad my site runs off the screen despite my setting margins. Any help with this would be appreciated!
Hi Yvonne,
We will be releasing the Blog into v6. We are working on this at present and hope to have this out after the conversion release is live. The conversion release is due before the end of June.
Regarding your ipad issue, I have set you up a support ticket, if you can get back to us there, we can look into it for you.
HTH
Juli
Hi guys,
I know you are hard at work on the v6 conversion, but I was just wondering if there was an exact date yet for when we will be able to upgrade our v5 sites to the new v6?
Cheers.
Andrew
Hi AndrewRainnie,
We are aiming to release the v6 Upgrade feature before the end of June. You can find more information on our most recent blog post.
http://www.moonfruit.com/blog/post/...
HTH
Juli
Hi,
I see on here that there was mention of a login widget in V6. I have been searching and searching but can't seem to find it anywhere. I want to create a members only area.
Could someone please point me in the right direction please?
Many Thanks
Hi Kazzly1,
v6 does not have a login widget as such. When you use the url/login a pop up will appear. You can also link the URL via any kind of link option.
Currently v6 does not include members options, although it does allow for admins to be created and login. We will review the membership features a little later in the year.
HTH
Juli