Magento Tutorial Requests

I’ll start . . . I would like to see some step-by-step tutorials (with visual reference, if possible) on the following topics:

-- How to create a new position / block on any given page and the corresponding css rule/class
-- How to move items around the page (such as navigation menus)
-- How to create dynamic static blocks (with links, effects, etc.)
-- How to add sample "players" for sampling a music or video download

Tutorial about how to:

• Enable or install the PHP Hash extension on Servers
• Enable or install InnoDB for MySQL

Thanks!

Tutorial about how to:

• Enable or install the PHP Hash extension on Servers
• Enable or install InnoDB for MySQL

Thanks!

I’ve never even heard of those two things. (Of course, I don’t consider myself a "techie" by any stretch).
What do those two things do?

I think you work on Magento already? The PHP Hash extension is a requirement for Magento to even be installed and some servers and vServers do not have this one activated. Hosts for dedicated and virtual private servers mostly refuse to do anything on clients systems, so when there would be a tutorial about how to do this, people can do it, simply said.

The InnoDB storage engine is also requirement for Magento and needs to be activated in the MySQL via PHPMyAdmin, without it people get errors in their systems or the sample data can’t be installed. This is one of the points rarely mentioned in the forums as people may think all hosts have this one working on their servers.

I also can’t do such stuff, but I am not against letting pros do this for me, other people, who have spent all their money on a new MAC, may want to get it solved on their own, saving the money for a pro.

i don’t think

i don’t think

obviously

I’ve never even heard of those two things. (Of course, I don’t consider myself a "techie" by any stretch).
What do those two things do?

That’s because there is no such thing as the first one. It’s PHP Hash FUNCTION! and the second one is extremely unlikely to cause you any problem unless you have changed the default configuration of your SQL or you are using a very old version of MySQL. Infact they are both unlikely to cause you problems.

Please take everything Whoo tells you with a grain of salt. It’s often totally wrong.

Whoo why not do everyone a favor and stick on topic for a change? The thread is for magento tutorials not SQL or PHP reconfiguration.

Now, get some education and do not spam threads with useful information with your stupid comments. You should not even open your mouth when you do not know what I talk about, it may be out of your capabilities to understand, as so often.

THANKS!

This type of response is not permitted on Joomlart…. kindly be careful in future…people who insult other members on this forum will be banned!!

Thanks MfcPhil. About time somebody in an ‘official capacity’ came down on those that abuse this forum for the sole purpose of racking up a few credits.

Abuse and Bad Advice should not be allowed here.

This type of response is not permitted on Joomlart…. kindly be careful in future…people who insult other members on this forum will be banned!!

Thanks mfcphil,

I am not a Moderator, and I do not want to be, because I do want to exercise the privilege to both praise of criticize depending on the situation, and at times even defend Joomlart when I felt that Joomlart is maligned for the wrong reasons. And, if I criticize Joomlart, it is not to malign Joomlart, it is more because I like some of the templates that they create and hope that they make them better.

Even Tom, who is perhaps one of the most ardent supporters of Joomlart initiated this thread because there is a lot of room for improvements, especially in the Magento templates — that is much much more expensive than the JA templates.

There is a fine line between criticism and personal attack. I can be very sarcastic and vehement myself, and do not have any qualms to participate in a "street fight" here when I thought it needed toi be done. But to my knowledge, I do not resort to name calling or personalizing the attack, even if my responses can be very sarcastic and vehement.

I apologize to Tom that his good intentions in this thread has been hijacked, to discuss this issue. But, it has to be done.

I am seething inside because, for more than a month now because Hung and the Moderators have let wooohanetworks venom fester all over the forums. And, for some reason, when Scotty, who has been one of the most helpful here in the forums, has been unnecesarily maligned (Scotty’s motives for helping being questioned and ridiculed) to my judgement by wooohanetworks.

Consider what happened in this very innocent thread:

JATC Standard Membership
http://www.joomlart.com/forums/showthread.php?t=29216

with a member asking a clarification. Its focused went down the drain when Scotty pointed the irrelevance

http://www.joomlart.com/forums/showp…27&postcount=9

of wooohanetworks

http://www.joomlart.com/forums/showp…25&postcount=8

point to the topic. I do not have to quote it here, but read wooohanetworks

http://www.joomlart.com/forums/showp…9&postcount=10

the decision of ShannonN to report this:

http://www.joomlart.com/forums/showp…1&postcount=12

and more rather despicable attacks from wooohanetworks

http://www.joomlart.com/forums/showp…1&postcount=14

Hung responded to the topic, but I am not sure if wooohanetworks was warned privately that his behavior, as shown in the above responses is not condoned in the forum.

What’s your story????
http://www.joomlart.com/forums/showp…2&postcount=20

Not one Moderator intervened. Or, if wooohanetworks has been warned privately, instead of changing his tone, he felt emboldened and insinated himself all over — not helping but leaving irrelevant comments comments, and more so, unless he does not fully understand the nuance of some words, rather very demeaning:

I have summed this up on Saturday for those feeling insecure with the update process:

http://www.joomlart.com/forums/showthread.php?t=30293

By Gosh, "… for those feeling insecure with the update process:…" If sharing our problems here in the Forum is considered insecurity, this forum will be very short. And if people like Chris (questbg), heeded such advise and made feel that way, and hid his "insecurity" (not to made to feel stupid), he would not have learned as much as he did in such a short period of time. But because he was more honest of his situation, he learned quite a bit to become one of the members who have contributed a great deal of his time to help others here, in the Forum. In fact, he is doing it more also in private because other members who cannot correspond well in English opted to communicate with him in private.

The above insinuation of rather derogatory implications is a pattern in many of wooohanetworks responses, as already pointed out by Scotty and implied by Chris. [I can provide more examples if needed.]

I believe that Hung thanking wooohanetworks promptly and profusely for posts that was not even his original work, but lifted from the suggestions first pointed out by others (but not linked for proper attribution):
Problem with the JM Mesolite Demo
http://www.joomlart.com/forums/showthread.php?t=30285

may have emboldened wooohanetworks further. Here’s the kicker:

P.S.: This is a post to the JA Staff concerning an issue with the JM Mesolite Demo. Be so kind and leave this thread clean of Non-JA Staff responses, this issue is properly addressed now and should be solved soon! I also PMd MiCCAS to have a look! Thanks.

In other words, wooohanetworks, believes and acts as if he is a Moderator, who can order other members what to do in the Forums. I cannot find it now, but if I am not mistaken, regular Members, even Developers must not impersonate and arrogate to themselves the duties of a Moderator.

If indeed it is only intended for Joomlart staff and MiCCAS, why not just send it to them in private correspondence? Why the grandstanding? To top it off, the stuff covered by the post is not even his original idea, but already presented in another post — not linked properly, as is the right and decent thing to do.

I don’t expect others to do it themselves, but whenever I learned something in this forum, and share it with others, I make it a point at least to name the original person who helped me, and when I can find it, even include the link so that they original source is thanked properly.

If this is rather long, I make no excuses. I am reinforcing with proofs what Chris alluded to more delicately:

Thanks MfcPhil. About time somebody in an ‘official capacity’ came down on those that abuse this forum for the sole purpose of racking up a few credits.

Abuse and Bad Advice should not be allowed here.

and quite succinctly. Well, he is the English guy, who has better command of the language, and I am the Asian guy raised in a culture that tells long stories or talk in riddles to drive home a point.

This response is not a personal attack, even if I named a specific culprit. We are all human beings with our own biases and flaws. And, at times, I overstep the bounds. It was not intentional nor done out of malice. And, if I do, I must be reminded of my mistakes.

It is time that Moderators must act.

Cornelio

To go back to Tom’s intent here, I must request again, perhaps more nicely this time, that joomlart make every feature work.

The cost of each JM template is even more expensive thann the cost of an operating system. If course there is potential total customers difference that needed to be considered, but in the long run, even if Joomlart makes only a few JM Templates, if they are fully functional and easy to use, there will be many who will want to use it.

I got that impression reading the response from Magento site that Hung linked in another thread.

The key to an easy to use product would be the tutorials, some of them already stated by Tom.

I would add, more thorough discussion on the Magento features, perhaps

how the price comparison
how to create more orderly categorization (and subcategorization)

since this is a Commerce site

how to include the final purchase extensions

There is not talk about it but a Commerce site needs to be more secure, or the website owner can be in for greater liability suits more than what may perhaps ever be earned by the a small Mom and Pop operation.

Identity theft is unfortunately quite real. Unless you contract a larger firm to deal with the financial transactions part completely, keeping a database of clients personal information is a very great risk, financially and legally. Even if the safer alternative is taken, there is a need to provide tutorials on how such can be achieved.

Security however begins with the access to the website (registration and login), and eventually the permissions or access allowed within the site.

All these require proper guidance.

In the past, Joomlart has used the argument, that it is beyond their scope to deal with issues outside the "template", a refrain argument espoused repeately by oohanetworks in numerious response posts: "Go to the Magento site"

I do not buy that cover from Joomlart. If you want to sell a car, and the buyer ask you a question, you do not respond with: "Sorry, we just bought that part or that is not our product, you have to ask the manufacturer."

To relate this back to the discussion: Magento is open source, more than likely even if you go to the original sites and creators, they may or may not provide an answer. JM Magento templates, uses the Magento software, and is sold at a premium price ($200 per template, if you do not want restrictions).

At that price, if a customer is not happy, (s)he might demand his(her) money back, as threatened here:

Attributes error
http://www.joomlart.com/forums/showthread.php?t=30338

not good for public relations, especially so since Joomlart is just starting the Magento templates.

There are easy solutions to these: fully functional template Demo, well-written manual and tutorials for further details. Compared with the JA templates, there is room for more improvements for the JM series (not that the JA. templates are perfect themselves).

Cornelio

Are there any Magento tutorials?

Let’s start with the one that walks through the setup and integration of Joomla and Magento.

Isn’t there a Joomla user bridge that’s needed? What are the settings? What else… does Magento run in a wrapper (and does it behave in a wrapper?), or is there a way to make it a component? I can’t find much info.

Let’s start with the one that walks through the setup and integration of Joomla and Magento.
I can’t find much info.

Joomla and Magento are not intended to be integrated.

Joomla and Magento are not intended to be integrated.

Scotty,

What is the CMS used by Magento? Is JM Mesolite, the template, still a Joomla CMS? I was wondering if Magento is an extension to Joomla, or bridged to Joomla, like the Coppermine PhotoGallery could be presented, or a different animal altogether.

Cornelio

Different animal altogether!

They are completely independent of each other. Magento is its own CMS. It can, and has been, integrated with Joomla but they are fundamentally completely separate CMSs

Magento actually hasn’t been integrated with Joomla -- not like VirtueMart is. The JFusion plugin is, more or less, a bridge for user registration purposes, so if you have other parts to your store based on Joomla, the user can cross over and maintain the same login.

at least, that’s how it’s supposed to work

Now we’re getting somewhere.
-- Magento doesn’t install as a Joomla extension
-- Magento installs in a folder seperate from Joomla
-- Magento has CMS features of its own
-- Through a Joomla extension from JFusion users can be "mirrored"

I’m going to assume that Magento’s design doesn’t lend itself to running as a Joomla wrapper.

The only way to make a Joomla & Magento site begin to look seamless is via templates. And even then it’s going to look and feel like two different products mashed together. That’s not necessarily a bad thing. Unless you want your shopping cart to look 100% native in every way.

Can anyone point to their Joomla & Magento website? I’d like to see.

‘the user can cross over and maintain the same login’

I would call this ‘integration’. OK the core framework is not integrated but the user ‘experience’ is.

I see now there is an ‘enterprise’ edition of Magento which is commercial. Hmm yea, a ‘pro’ version and a ‘free’ version me thinks. They may not be admitting it yet but that’s were it’s heading.

I see now there is an ‘enterprise’ edition of Magento which is commercial. Hmm yea, a ‘pro’ version and a ‘free’ version me thinks. They may not be admitting it yet but that’s were it’s heading.

Announcing the Magento Enterprise Edition -- $8,900 USD
Posted by RoyRubin on Wednesday, April 15, 2009

Today marks a major milestone for Varien and Magento with the release of the Magento Enterprise Edition. The product is a culmination of months of work and countless feedback from our community, partners and customers. The commercially licensed Magento Enterprise Edition software is the premium grade Magento product. It is geared towards larger companies and includes additional features, including ROI specific features, not available in our open source, Community Edition product. In addition to features, our Enterprise Edition will include SLA based support with guaranteed response times, warranties, indemnification and soon, PA-DSS certification. Learn more about the Enterprise Edition product and compare product editions.

With the launch of our Enterprise Edition, it is important to note our commitment to the open source, Community Edition product. The release of the Magento Enterprise Edition aids us by allowing us to focus on the distinct groups of Magento users, small or large, and to engage each according to their needs, and now, contribute more time and resources to the success of each. More information regarding our community and open source initiatives is detailed below.

We invite you to join us for a webinar presenting an overview of the Magento Enterprise Edition on Tue, Apr 21, 2009 9:00 AM -- 10:00 AM PDT. Registration and additional information can be found at https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/827869995 (VOIP Available). We do expect to have an online demo available shortly as well.
Pricing

The Magento Enterprise Edition is offered through an annual subscription. Pricing starts at $8,900 USD for a single server environment -- contact [email protected] or complete the contact form for more information.

READ MORE:
http://www.magentocommerce.com/blog/…prise-edition/

In a nutshell, Magento has decided to save it’s best upgrades, offerings and third-party development partnerships for those who can afford an $8,900 price tag. I’ve just lost an ENORMOUS amount of respect for the Magento product.

That’s why I have advocated for a long time that website creators must band together

Just consider these numbers:

$8,900 x 10 users = $89,000
$8,900 x 50 users = $445,000
$8,900 x 100 users = $890,000[ <= almost a million US dolllars
$8,900 x 1,000 users = $8,900,000 <= almost nine (9) million US dolllars

If you add the cost of Magento templates (with no copyright restrictions)

$200 x 10 users = $2,000
$200 x 100 users = $20,000
$200 x 1,00 users = $200,000

Imagine investing almost $10,000 before you can start your site..

What have they created that is more powerful and more complex than operating systems of computers? I don’t know the costs of business softwares created by IBM and other software companies but if I spend that much money, I would rather buy it from a reputable company.

I have not really looked at virtuemart or Magento quite closely, but internet commerce in principle is really simple. You have a product, you want to present it to the public. If they want to buy it, there must be a mechanism to sell it and get paid.

Whatever, internet commerce has been viable even without Joomla=Joomlart or Magento templates or virtuemart.

Eventually, it is the product that makes the difference. And, if the buyer is going to trust you with their credit card information and if you are going to deliver. [A skeptic buyer is more than likely to trust big name online retailers already.]

To be frank, if all Magento can do was as shown in the Demo Magento templates of Joomlart, I am not impressed.

But, assuming these magic softwares do make a difference in e-Commerce, as a group of 50-100, it might be possible to hire quite a few programmers to create a proprieetary software starting with Open Source, as well as good Magento templates or act as a group to bargain with template companies to extract a more favorable price. Provided the group does not sell whatever was created, and use the product exclusively among themselves, there should be no issue of breach of copyright ownership

I am glad I did not waste too much time learning the Magento products.

Cornelio

I’m returning my focus and faith back to VirtueMart . . . I’ve been looking through the Forums and there are actually a lot of very cool mods and hacks that people have created that provide additional functionality and professional feel to VirtueMart.

There’s also this nice little deal I arranged for JoomlART members --> SPECIAL DEAL

That’s $8,900 is per server per year by the way!

It’s caused outrage on the magento forums as many of the features that were roadmapped for the ‘community’ (ie FREE) version are now only going to be available in the commercial version.

They brag about having 750,000 downloads and 85,000 forum members. Do they realise that these figures are TINY in the e-commerce world?

I think they have made this move far two early in their development. I think the Magento market will still grow but not as high or as fast now that features will be split between the pro and free versions.

I think JA should have stuck with VM and may regret moving to Magento but hey, they need something to fill their day when we move to one template a month.

I’m just glad I didn’t invest much time in it.

Scotty,

That’s $8,900 is per server per year by the way!

Per year??? So, whoever is a sucker to buy this is bound for life to Magento?

Even Apple, which is charged for having a high margin does not have that much margin. I wonder if they ever read any marketing books.

It’s caused outrage on the magento forums as many of the features that were roadmapped for the ‘community’ (ie FREE) version are now only going to be available in the commercial version.

They brag about having 750,000 downloads and 85,000 forum members. Do they realise that these figures are TINY in the e-commerce world?

For the free version, most likely.

I think they have made this move far two early in their development. I think the Magento market will still grow but not as high or as fast now that features will be split between the pro and free versions.

Even if they do this much later, who is really going to buy this for US $9,800? Not big companies nor small businesses. And, not anytime soon with the world economy sinking so low. Talk about timing.

I think JA should have stuck with VM and may regret moving to Magento but hey, they need something to fill their day when we move to one template a month.

I’m just glad I didn’t invest much time in it.

Well, the understanding when we fought a very ugly battle on this last year was that Joomlart was supposed to devote their time increasing customer support, improving their manual and most important of all, create better templates that are bug free (as much as possible).

In fact, if you try the Demo of the Magento templates, their degree of "completeness" as a functional template does not even approach the first version of the Teline II template when it was first released in April 2008.

Unless that they are paying you big buck Scotty for all your services, as well as a number of members here helping other members — they did not keep that bargain.

Cornelio

I know that on the Magento website (http://www.magentocommerce.com/), they have a manula for sale for $20.00.

I would like to know if there are any tutorials to change the menus or get rid of the language options from the JM Purity template?

Thanks