Is it difficult to create your own Magento design?

[benjihubbs]

I'm looking into building an ecommerce site using Magento, I know the basics of web design and can create a pretty basic site, but how hard is it to create your own 'theme' using Magento?

Can it be done without extensive specialist knowledge of the software?
Has anyone built their own Magento store without the aid of a designer?

Thanks

 

[mrsmcy]

I downloaded the free trial yesterday to have a play and didn't find it the easiest to change the look and feel. I think it depends on how different you want it to look from the original template or downloaded templates I've got a basic knowledge too but have decided to go with a developer to do ours.

I would say time is a big influence, we need our new site up pretty quickly but if you've got a lot of spare time you could probably work it out with trial and error, forums and google!

Someone needs to design a system like magento with a design bit like photoshop where you can design it but it would then write all the code perfectly and search engine friendly!! They would make millions!!!

 

[Josh_Farmer]

I'm looking into building an ecommerce site using Magento, I know the basics of web design and can create a pretty basic site, but how hard is it to create your own 'theme' using Magento?

Can it be done without extensive specialist knowledge of the software?
Has anyone built their own Magento store without the aid of a designer?

Thanks

Magento is one of the hardest ecomm softwares to create designs for, its mainly due to the complexity of the software.

 

[benjihubbs]

I have a quite a bit of time, but have found Magento's structure to be completely different from any of the other eCommerce software, which is why I didn't really know where to start

I don't really want to go to a developer: a, because of money and b, because I want to do it myself.

Can anyone recommend other eCommerce which has the professionalism of Magento, but the ease to adapt it?

 

[fisicx]

Here's how to do it: http://www.magentocommerce.com/design_guide/articles/working-with-magento-themes

PDF here: http://info.magento.com/rs/magentocommerce/images/MagentoDesignGuide.pdf

 

[mrsmcy]

I have a quite a bit of time, but have found Magento's structure to be completely different from any of the other eCommerce software, which is why I didn't really know where to start

I don't really want to go to a developer: a, because of money and b, because I want to do it myself.

Can anyone recommend other eCommerce which has the professionalism of Magento, but the ease to adapt it?

Have you looked at Bigcommerce? I found it really easy to adapt and they've got lots of features as standard. They did have issues with uk VAT but seem to have changed that. They have 24/7 support too.

I also found 3dcart really really easy to change but was put off as I read they don't support pop3 emails and you have to log onto their system to check them which wouldn't work for us.

 

[benjihubbs]

Have you looked at Bigcommerce? I found it really easy to adapt and they've got lots of features as standard. They did have issues with uk VAT but seem to have changed that. They have 24/7 support too.

I also found 3dcart really really easy to change but was put off as I read they don't support pop3 emails and you have to log onto their system to check them which wouldn't work for us.

Hadn't heard of either of those thanks, but was really looking for something without a monthly subscription.

 

[WorldofBooks]

Depends how much experience you have in design generally. It is tricky to get used to all the folder paths and structures. If you have a good knowledge of HTML, CSS and PHP then you should be fine.

 

[NuBlue]

Try BigCommerce or Shopify if you want easy to edit. They are about as easy as it gets.

 

[edmondscommerce]

If you are comfortable with CSS you might be able to achieve quite a lot simply by customising the stylesheet.

If you want to do more in depth customisation though then yes, get ready for a steep learning curve.

 

[magarethayes]

If you have little bit experienced in php only then you would be able to create your site.

 

[Bartko]

There is 100's of ready made templates on the market (free and paid for) why not to use one of them as a starting point?

 

[twikamltd]

If you're looking for something much easier to skin, try Cubecart if it meets your requirements, as others have said, Magento is a much trickier one to customise.

 

[j600com]

Magento is known for being very complex in comparison to other shopping carts. Most developers struggle with it let alone DIY.

 

[anjamitu]

We have a website shopping-cart-hub.com which helps the Web Developers, Web Designers and Web Programmers to Shell their work and earn money and Buy the others works as your need.

 

[wryrych]

Hi,

do you mean Megento CE or Go? Now I’m working on our Magento Go custom theme. I don’t have experience with Community Edition, but I heard that they are a little different. As for Go, you have to count with its limits – you can’t change the DOM structure so you must rely on theirs. Though it is difficult to stand out, if you know CSS, overwriting rules, you can do pretty much.

Since I can’t post urls, take a look at sparrowbike [dot] gostore [dot] com. There is much to be done, and I have not tested it in other browsers than Firefox.

And we’ll migrate to CE eventually. SAAS is only a temporary solution.

Hope this helps