Review: Magento Beginner’s Guide
Over the past year or so, writing for Milk Your Money has led me on an impressive journey through the wide spectrum of topics surrounding personal finance, the economy and money in general. I have met some awesome people and have learned much more than I would have previously imagined. This path has led in several directions, sometimes in several at once. One of the methods that proves itself over and over in some shape or form is the idea of taking control for yourself and making money on your own terms. We can break this down even further and apply a digital twist. Meet Magento, the open source ecommerce system written primarily in PHP. Where is the best place to start? At the beginning of course! William Rice has recently (as of March 2009) written a guide that takes a beginner through the initial process of setting up and operating an online store. He doesn’t suggest that you are going to put Amazon out of business, but if you are committed and dedicate the time and resources you will be able to sell with some level of success.
General
One of the overall themes that William Rice maintains is that it is important to plan in the beginning as much as you can in order to save a great deal of time later down the road. As a reader, I can see the advantage to reading through this guide several times before even downloading the application. There are quite a few key things that need to be clarified early on in the process.
Another important tone that the author threads through the guide is thoroughness. While only a fraction of the features are covered here, the essentials are discussed in full along with common errors that people have made in the past that you should avoid. Some parts may seem tedious, but they are no less important. You will have a much deeper understanding of how the system works as well as appreciate it much more.
Pros:
– The biggest positive aspect of this book is the fact that it is so accessible. Its written for the user in terms that are easy to understand and fosters a curious attitude.
– Of course my favorite aspect of this book is the absolute thoroughness of the topics covered. Some might see this as a negative and somewhat boring, but this isn’t the latest Harry Potter book: its a guide to setting up an extremely powerful content management system for an online store.
– The topics are quite literally everything you need to know, step-by-step.
– The structure of how the information is presented is also well done, although the headers could have been a little more formal, AT the end of each chapter there is a recap and the actual steps are displayed.
– Pictures are in color (at least the copy I received is) and while that might seem trivial, I think it makes a difference. I have even seen quite a few Photoshop books that are in black and white.
Cons:
– I do have a few things about the book that I would have changed. For starters, I was somewhat disappointed at the boundaries in the scope that book carved. It might have just been a matter of having some experience with PHP (and IT in general) that I was chomping at the bit for more. This could be construed as a positive thing but it was frustrating.
– I also thought that there could have been more explanation for some of the fundamentals for a beginner. Explaining image sizing for example is an important aspect that any web designer in any capacity should understand and grasp firmly. It would have taken just a decent a paragraph or two but the author was almost too strict in sticking with the scope of the book.
– One other shortcoming I want to point out is that there a lacking in customer theory in that I would have liked to read more to get inside the customers head as to why things are the way they are and why. This could be argued that its simply a trial and error endeavor and this is just the way it is. Its also out of the scope of a beginners book and hopefully there will be a little more “user science” in an advanced version, if there is one.
– Design and customization could have been addressed more although, again, this is the beginners guide.
My Wish List for an Advanced Guide:
- Multiple pathways for payment (eg, can a payment be split in two different accounts)
- What is the patching process?
- Batch processing for products?
- What if the product is simply downloadable? Can you remove all shipping options?
- More on themes/skins/customization
- More of the features that make Magento so popular.
- What is the user thinking?
Summary:
It might seem as though I was harsh but over all I am very pleased with this book and if I were serious about setting up an online store this would be an indispensible resource to get started. Pick it up if you are committed to starting an online store.
Interview with the author:
MilkYourMoney.com: What is your background with PHP? How long have you been using it?
William Rice: I’ve been teaching software and writing software manuals since 1988. In college, I minored in computer science but my degree, and experience, is in technical writing and training. I’m a technical communicator, but not a programmer. So, my experience with PHP is from the user’s side. I very occasionally modify some PHP code to make a web-based application do what I want. But I haven’t crossed the line from user to programmer, and I’m not likely to any time soon.
MYM: What do you like the most with this language when using it for ecommerce as opposed to others, like for example .NET?
WR: I like the incredibly wide choice of hosting services that PHP-based applications give me. The LAMP platform–Linux, Apache, MySQL, PHP–is so common that I never need to worry about finding a host who has the right combination of pricing and features.
MYM: What successes do you see with people picking up Magento?
WR: Let me draw a parallel here. Blogs have enabled millions of people to express themselves and connect with others. I think that soon, most people will find it almost as easy and inexpensive to set up a great looking, full featured online store. Online stores probably won’t be as popular as blogs, because more people have something to say than something to sell. But, even if online stores are only a fraction as popular of blogs, that creates millions of entrepreneurs. And Magento is helping to make that happen.
MYM: In your opinion, what is the growth of use with Magento?
WR: The official Magento site, magentocommerce.com, posts download statistics. It’s also interesting to go to google.com/trends and search on the term “Magento.” Try combining it with other search terms, such as the names of Magento’s competitors. It’s very informative.
MYM: How many online stores have you started, if any?
WR: While writing Magento Beginner’s Guide I started, and abandoned, several online stores. That was part of the learning curve. I’ve supported several store administrators since then. I’m looking for someone who would like to partner with me and run my demo store, brew-me-a-cup.com, as a real business.
MYM: Have you considered making videos that run parallel to this guide?
WR: Not yet. The publisher and I are exploring a follow-up book, so that’s where I’m spending my writing time.
MYM: Aside from using this guide, what can a beginner do to be better prepared to use Magento?
WR: Learn and apply good business practices! Magento enables almost anyone with a product or service to sell, to join the commerce game. But it doesn’t change the rules of the game. During the dot-com crash, many people learned the hard way that online businesses are subject to the same rules as traditional businesses: treat the customer well, be honest, keep your eye on the bottom line.
MYM: Are there any plans to write an advanced guide?
WR: The publisher and I are investigating what kind of approach would be most helpful for Magento users: Should the book focus in depth on a few advanced features? Concentrate on solving some specific business challenges that are common for Magento users? Contain basic instructions for as many advanced features as possible? These are questions we need to explore before I start writing.
MYM: Overall, I found your book to be extremely helpful and appreciate your participation.
WR: Thank you.
Again if you are interested in picking this book up, you can get it here or on Amazon.
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Comments
I’m glad to have my book reviewed on a site that advocates financial self-reliance and responsibility. Magento can help people to become entrepreneurs, and thereby take greater control of their future. It fits perfectly with this site’s mission and attitude.
I thought the review was fair and accurate. I sympathize with the “Cons” that Ben listed for the book. They all seem to add up to, “I want to know how to do even more with Magento.” And as I wrote the book, I had to restrain myself from adding too much material. I constantly had to ask, “Where do I draw the line on what to include?”
This is a challenge that many technical authors face. In a small way, when you open your Magento store, and you are writing descriptions for the products in you store, you will face this same challenge. Which details about your products should you include, and which should you leave out? The answer for me has always been this:
Pick a mission for what you’re writing. Include everything the reader needs to know to accomplish the mission. Once you’ve accomplished that, add only those details that are insanely useful and clearly valuable.
In my case, the book’s mission was to enable a new Magento user to create and operate a functioning online store. When you’re writing for your Magento store, the mission for your product descriptions might be to convey the uniqueness of a product, or the usefulness of a service, or the excitement of an event. In any case, once your writing has accomplished its mission, stop there and urge the reader to take action.
The publisher and I have received comments from readers who want to go beyond the basics, and who liked the user-friendly approach of the Magento Beginner’s Guide. The readers want us to use the same approach in an intermediate level book. We are looking into this now.
And on that note, I urge you to take these actions:
1. In the spirit of getting the most for your money, check out the sample chapter from my book that the publisher put on their website: http://www.packtpub.com/files/magento-sample-chapter-3-categories-and-attributes.pdf. Also, the publisher extracted a section from one of the chapters and published it on their website as an article: http://www.packtpub.com/article/creating-tax-rules-in-magento.
2. Whether you buy the book or not, consider taking greater control of your financial future by opening a Magento store. If you have a product or service to sell, even on a part-time basis, Magento can be a powerful tool for your success.
Good luck, and please post comments here or on my blog to share your Magento success stories!
William Rice
http://williamriceinc.blogspot.com/
@David: Unfortunately, I am pretty sure that would violate the trust between MYM and the author of the book. It is extremely in-depth and not free (although the author has a few links where you can get a preview above). I highly recommend it. This book is available at the following locations: here and here.
@William: Thank you for your insight, keep us up to date!
Good review of the book, I enjoyed reading it although I am not sure if there is anything I could really use from it. I did a review and analysis of my experience with Magento here:
http://www.pickledshark.com/magento-ecommerce-complicated-bloated-brilliant/
Can I have your copy of the book if you are done w/ it. I’m interested in updating my ecommerce store, but am unsure of which shopping cart software to use. If I had a book on it… it would really help. Email me if your willing to give it away… I’ll pay for shipping.