
Magento is a complex open source platform which can provide an excellent experience both for owners of web shops and their customers. However, Magento development doesn’t come that easy. Although downloading and installing it is pretty simple, if you are a beginner there are a few things you must know.
First and foremost, it is highly risky for a beginner to tamper with the core Magento files. Even if he manages to make all the changes work the way he wanted them to work, next time he upgrades Magento, all the changes will be lost. The ways to manage what you need without changing the core code are the best ways to do things.
Secondly, in Magento there are certain rules to be followed. If you try bypassing them, you may save some time, but this can result in time-consuming error-repairing efforts after you tampered with the core files and something went wrong. Â Magento contains many elements which follow their own rules and are interdependent. Those rules are not that difficult to follow as they are difficult to discern. And rules also have exceptions which must also be learned.
The best starting point is Magentocommerce web site. There you will find tutorials, advice, and a useful and enormous community forum to help you.
Other sources may also prove valuable such as Alan Storm’s blog and You tube. Believe it or not, you tube contains a plethora of videos which explain how certain things are done in Magento. But you must be careful and picky, because not all web material is good. This also goes for forum advice. Try finding trusted resources recommended by Magento community as best there are. Google everything you don’t know or you are not sure about. Before doing anything the best thing is to find out as much as you can about it. If you avoid some basic mistakes, you will start learning Magento development by applying the knowledge you’ve gained from different sources.
Choose the right extensions. Magento extensions are extremely important part of developing a Magento web site because they can shorten the time required for making a single web site significantly, since there are so many of them on the market offering a wide scope of functions. Choose those that offer all the functionalities you need, a money back guarantee period and which have many positive reviews. Allow yourself the time for testing. If you have problems with it, first turn to the company that makes that extension for programming support. If this fails to harvest results, just get your money back and try another one.
Try choosing the best Magento hosting as well. Magento has special needs regarding the server, and if they are not satisfied, your site will load really slow, which makes customers leave before even seeing anything.
These are just some of the things beginners must pay attention to. We hope it has been useful.