Status update on TPL Edit - Our new theme engine for the future of e-commerce

Art. no. 216463011 09 Jun 2025

This is a report on where the TPL Edit project stands today and what you can expect in the future. We go through our timeline and future steps, current projects and client collaborations, the work we've done so far, and what parts we're working on right now. Our goal is to give you a picture of where the project stands today and what's coming next.

Timeline and future steps

We have some customers who, as of 28 June 2025, will be required by law to have accessible websites. As this involves some changes to our existing themes, we will make these changes in our new TPL themes. These themes will be available to all customers. However, we do not have a "hard" launch date but will roll out the updates gradually.

We have put a lot of effort into developing TPL Edit to identify the right requirements. Since the start of the project, we have explored different technical solutions and decided on the path that best meets, for example, our performance and availability requirements, but also the company's internal needs. We have also tested and adapted the platform in real customer projects to ensure that TPL Edit meets actual needs rather than just theoretical specifications or wish lists. So we will continue to work for a while longer, at least over the summer, to make sure we build the right solution.

After the summer, the next milestone is a closed evaluation with more customers involved, and then an open beta, and development of more themes. We don't have a date for when the closed evaluation and open beta will happen - it depends on the feedback we get along the way.

Current projects and client collaborations

Right now we have two active projects where we use TPL Edit to build pages. The first project is a simple website for one of Textalk's other products, Prenly. The goal of this project was to get basic technology in place and tested in the real world, without having to spend time on webshop functionality.

Our second project is a real webshop with a lot of customization for a customer with unique needs. The goal of this project is to make sure that TPL Edit is flexible and versatile and doesn't have to stay within the confines of a standard solution. This theme does not have an editor, but is customized as needed. More information about this customer will be available once the project is launched.

We are now in the starting blocks for our third project. In parallel, we are now developing a tool to make settings in the theme without code, as well as a default theme that will be available to all customers.

Through these projects, we ensure that TPL Edit is of high quality and adapted to real needs.

Interface development and technical benefits

Work on developing a good editor for themes is in full swing. One requirement we have for our new theme editor is that you should be able to see the results of your changes immediately, which means that every time you make a change to the theme, you will immediately see how it affects your store. A graphic editor is a prerequisite before we can start opening up TPL for Abicart to more customers.

For those who are curious about the technical side, we can tell you that the new themes are more traditionally web-based, which means that it will be much easier for you to customize HTML and CSS without having to understand the inner workings of the theme engine. You will have direct access to the source code via the browser, and you will be able to edit the themes using knowledge of HTML, CSS and a simple template language called Twig. Unlike today, you won't need to master technologies like JavaScript, React or other frameworks.

Conclusion

We look forward to offering you a more powerful and flexible platform with TPL Edit. However, there is still some way to go before it will be visible to the outside world. Stay tuned for more updates and don't hesitate to contact us if you have any questions or concerns. We have worked hard to ensure that TPL Edit meets all modern requirements and your needs, and lays a good foundation to stand on for many years to come.