Wordpress and Magento Development

Oct16

Magento: Beginner’s Guide (Book Review)

I have been humbled by the good people at Packt Publishing. For some reason they think I’m an authority, so they decided to let me review one of their new books, Magento: Beginner’s Guide, written by William Rice.

If you’re not familiar, Magento is a fresh and promising ecommerce solution. A leading feature of the software is the core is 100% open source. Of course there are many plugins, themes and other customization features which range in price from the altruistic ‘free’ to the enterprising ‘thousands of dollars’. But in the end, if you’re looking for a robust ecommerce solution and aren’t afraid to get your hands dirty, look no further than Magento Commerce.

This is a hefty book, weighing in at 300 pages. I’ve read the official Magento User Guide, and although it is informative, I feel that it is somewhat dry. I’m eager to flip through the ebook they sent me to see if there are any ‘between the lines’ tips and tricks to liven up a Magento project I’m working on.

Jun29

Create a New Email Template in Magento

Emails are a big part of the online world, so it follows that a professional ecommerce site should have professional email templates. A full-featured ecommerce solution is what you’ll find with Magento, an open source solution for selling products online. Magento provides a system to keep the more basic contact times with your visitors smooth and carefree. With open source comes great customization (and complexity).

This tutorial will guide you through the steps to create a new email template in Magento. Specifically, you’ll create the email that your visitors will receive when they sign up for your newsletter.