Reflecting on Magento

The last couple of weeks I have been building an e-commerce website using open source software Magento. The most important factor about Magento is the ability to change absolutely anything in the code to suit your own requirements meaning anything is possible.

The one problem with this is the well-known steep learning curve that comes along with the software where even the simplest of tasks become hours worth of online investigation. The lack of one-to-one support results in the scouring of forums, chat rooms and blog posts until you find your answer, which when people have their own problems to deal with, can mean that help is not top of anyone’s priority.

However, as with any new technologies if you persevere with it you will doubtless reap the rewards. Having come to the end of my first Magento endeavour and having learned some important lessons from the process it is clear to see that this is the way forward. As OS becomes more and more accepted as the standard for Web 2.0 technologies, it’s hard to see anyone reverting back to un-evolving software.