Should I Start Using Magento?

Martin — Thu, 21 Apr 2011 21:15:11 +0000

Should I Start Using Magento?

Just a quick post summarising a few thoughts that I have had and read from around the internet on approaching Magento for the first time. There are basically a few questions that you need to ask before diving in at the deep end:

Have you got the time to invest in learning Magento?
Will you be using Magento on more than one project?
Do your client’s requirements warrant the use of a full e-commerce platform?
(bonus point) Do you have Linux hosting? Because it runs like a fat chav on a hot day on Windows.

Point one is basically saying that, looking at it from a commercial point of view, you are going to make a loss on your first project because of the time you will need to invest in getting to know the system. Skinning a basic theme, or even making changes to an existing template, will take a lot longer than you think it will or should do, and any custom backend development will require getting you head around the over-complex MVC structure, although Alan Storm‘s brilliant tutorials will help massively with this.

Point two is making the point that it may only be worthwhile investing the time in learning Magento if you are going to be using it on multiple projects. If your employer is unsure about allowing you the time to research and learn the platform then it may help to consider the long term gains; if you look at Magento compared to another platform such as WordPress, from experience a basic, barebones Magento site can be developed for around four times the price of a basic, barebones WordPress site. An e-commerce platform is worth a lot more to a client than a simple information site as it will be generating them a tangible income, and any extra features can be justified with projected ROI.

Point three is basically encouraging you to consider other options and make your decision based on circumstance. If your client has a website and wants to start selling a few items then Magento is going to be overkill. Also the same argument of investment of time can be made from the client’s perspective as it is quite a difficult system for them to master and there are a lot of features that they simply won’t use. I know that other developers have had a lot of success with WP E-Commerce which is built on top of a very stable platform and provides a nice, lightweight option.

Point four, did you really expect anything else?!

I love Magento and if you are considering getting to know it I would strongly encourage you do so. I’m 8 months down the line and still learn so much on every project I do with it. I’m still yet to do any large scale backend development but am trying out a few small extensions in my spare time. I was lucky enough to move to a company that were already using Magento, but know from experience that it’s difficult to get the first project in it off the line (my first efforts in skinning Magento were undone by the decision to switch to a Joomla based shopping cart because no-one could get their heads around the MVC structure quickly enough).

If you are starting out then the Designer’s Guide has a comprehensive/fundamental guide to templating, there is a simple/beginner’s, step by step, multi-part guide to creating a theme from scratch on Smashing Magazine but I can’t find it because their navigation and search suck balls, Inchoo are a fantastic bunch of Magento developers from beautiful, sunny Croatia with a lot of useful development tips and the previously mentioned Alan Storm is very good for more advanced stuff.

#postaweek2011 7/52