Blog Directory

So, if you are new to the world of programming, coding and web development, then it does make sense to start teaching yourself by utilizing all the free resources available online. Forget about all the complicated setups and cold command prompts and say hello to these 4 online places for instant and interactive lessons to teach you the programming languages, website and app development, tips and even best practices of the industry top professionals.

To make learning easier, I have gathered here top 4 resources for you to learn the code free online. Let’s kick-start the path into programming and coding today.

CodeAcademy

Codeacademy is no doubt a famous learning source to teach you to code interactively. All thanks to codeacademy’s helpful interface and well-structured courses. Opening the main page, you can already start seeing and tasting the programming right away with its attractive on-screen console. Pick any of the courses that Codeacademy offers which includes Web development, PHP, Javascript, JQuery, Python, Ruby and APIs.

In every lesson that codeacademy gives contains a panel that explains necessary code and interaction. Another advantage of the panel is that it allows you to write acceptable code and then it checks if you are doing right or not. Not to worry about the mistakes you make while coding as both the instructions and code panel will warn you about the errors and will give you hint to solve. Learning with codeacademy will make you feel like as if there’s a teacher sitting right beside you.

Khan Academy

Khan Academy, although not structured like other resources, but it does offer an open playground for everyone, particularly who are interested in learning drawing, animation and user-interaction with code. It doesn’t offer any specific programming language to learn, but the coding technique can be applied anywhere since all the languages share the same programming pattern.

First, join the basic programming courses to learn and understand the basic concepts and then discover the code to after the video tutorial to clear the doubts.  With the Khan Academy tutorial, save your modification as a spin-off to enjoy and customize. There are hundreds of spin-off from one lesson in one course, so you can imagine well the community size of Khan Academy .

SQLZOO

SQL is the language designed to save and retrieve the data from the databases. Learning with SQLZOO will kill the boredom for you to learn SQL happily with its interactive interface and smileys.

There is nothing really deep or impossible to learn or explain this straightforward language, the site will make you learn how to replace the variables and some more advanced queries. One biggest drawback about this tutorial is the shortage of hints, answers, and forum, so you can probably get lost if you are failing to answer any of the quizzes.

Code School

Once you are done with your basic learning and wants to expand your skills and capabilities, Code School is the best place to learn from. Unlike other interactive sites, Code Schools give you an in-depth learning and training to make you an expert with the help of industry’s best practices.

The courses offered in CodeSchool are categorized in 4 main parts which are:

•         Ruby
•         JavScript
•         iOS
•         Html/CSS

Most of the courses offered are free and few of them are about $25/month for the entire course.

Good Luck

Missed any or know any other resources better than those above one, then do let us know in the comment below. Also share your experience about these resources as well.

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This type of attack occurs when the developers fail to check data validation functionality in those areas of the website where the data from external sources can be inserted into the website. The attacker can easily add their own SQL statements in unprotected SQL queries which utilize data submitted by the user to check for something in the database.

For example:

An unprotected statement would be something like this

An SQL injection query will result in the following attempt:

The result generated here will be true, and thus the content of entire table users would be displayed.

[related_posts]

In the SQL injection, attackers gains access to all the information in the database such as passwords, usernames, emails, and some other sensitive information.

How to prevent it?

• The data should be validated, verified and cleaned up before entering it into the application
• All the confidential information like passwords must be encrypted using SHA1 or SHA;
• Technical information has technical details which can disclose security vulnerabilities to an attacker; so for safety purpose, it should be removed from error messages;
• An attacker looks for error messages to hack information like database names, usernames and table names, therefore,  disable error messages or create your own custom error messages;
• Limits the permissions granted on the database, since, fewer permissions will  result in fewer chances of hacking attack;
• Use stored procedures and previously defined cursors to abstract data access so the users cannot directly access tables or views;
•  Avoid using words such as ‘insert’, ‘update’, ‘drop’, and ‘union’ from being added to the database, as these all being words can alter tables and databases.

Remote File Inclusion and Remote Code Execution

The violation of this security measure will allow malicious or even unknown third party to run any code on the web server or on the client side and can even lead to other hacking attempts.

Remote file inclusion caused by a website susceptibility which lets the hackers to deploy malicious file on the web server. This can happen because of improper use of require() and include() functions if the register_globals directive, is ON, allowing the user to initialize variables remotely.  These remote variables can be used to include malicious or unwanted files from remote locations, and if the allow_url_fopen is enabled in php.ini, then remote files can also be uploaded to the site’s server via FTP or HTTP from any remote location.

How to prevent it?

• Turn OFF the register_globals directive. Luckily, in advanced versions of PHP, it is by default OFF. If you want the directive to be ON for some reason, make sure all variables are properly initialized.
• There are some other PHP directives which can be used to avoid this security breach, which includes: allow_url_fopen (by default turned on) which controls whether to include  remote files and should be turned OFF and allow_url_include (by default turned off) which controls whether include_once(), include(), require() and require_once() commands are able to include remote files into the code.
• Enabling safe_mode which tests user ID permissions before opening any file.

• Always validate user input and be careful with the data retrieved from remote servers or locations. To stop it, first, ensures that all files included are locally hosted and don’t ever accept files just like that unless necessary.
• Restrict user permissions to help you stay protected from this security threat.

Cross Side Scripting (XSS)

Cross Site Scripting is one of the most common forms of hacking  Hackers use a legitimate site’s vulnerability to forcefully makes the site to do certain things. In XSS, the hacker infects a web page with the malicious client-side script and whenever a user visits that page, the script gets downloaded into the attacker’s  browser and executed. The pattern of XSS attack is depicted in the diagram below:

How to prevent it?

• To stay protected from XSS, use escape functions, specially escape characters which comprises of HTML and JavaScript syntax like ‘>’ and ‘<’ or convert these into HTML entities, (for example, < would become this < ).
• Sites like forums, where users posts HTML links, an alternative syntax like bbcodes (this is so common on forums) and can be used in order to overcome the escaping of HTML characters.
• The htmlspecialchars () function identifies any output you do not want as a HTML output and converts it into plain HTML entities, for example: ‘&’ becomes ‘&’ and ‘”‘ (double quote) becomes ‘”’;
• Do always check and test the website before launching it.

Session & Cookie Hacking

The session and cookie hacking can’t violate the database or the web application itself, but it can affect user accounts. A session is an entity triggered when users establishes contact with any web server and consists of some period of interaction between users and web application which may be authenticated using security measures like a username and password. In all this session, the web application stores a cookie or file on the user’s’ browser, which contains information about the session such as users’ preferences, authentication data, unique codes or shopping cart information and more.

How to prevent it?

• To prevent hackers from setting session ID’s prior to login, ID’s must change after sometime, therefore, the session_regenerate_id() function must be used every time the user logs in, assigning them a fresh ID
• The risk can be minimized by revalidating a user who is going to perform important or sensitive tasks like resetting the passwords .
• If the user password is stored in a session variable, it should be encrypted by using the sha1() function.
• If the web application contains sensitive information like debit and credit card numbers, then using an SSL or any other secured connection to avoid session and cookie hacking

Directory / Path Traversal

Directory aka Path traversal is a method of destroying web applications by accessing the files from the document root directory which allows attackers to view restricted files and interact with the web server by executing commands. This hacking attacks happens from the browser and get done by entering URL into the address bar which helps to let  out of the root directory and into the main server directories. This attack can also be done through input portals on the front end of the web application.

How to prevent it?

• Validate and clean all the user input and remove all the suspicious data and filter out metacharacters;
• Don’t ever store sensitive configuration files inside the web root.
• If a suspect request any file to made, build the full file-path and all the characters in the path should be normalized (e.g. change %20 to spaces);
• Careful programming on the web-server should be done. Make use of security software, patches and vulnerability scanners.

Security is an important phase in all the process. In this blog, I have mentioned here the top five PHP security measures to follow. Still got questions or need more information? Do comment below.

The useful way a Drupal can be utilized is by creating an e-commerce website. In this blog guide, I am going to use Drupal 7 since it is one of the widely used versions of Drupal. The two ways through which a Drupal e-commerce website can be made are:

• By using Drupal Commerce
• By using Drupal Commerce kick start

Drupal Commerce

Drupal commerce is not just a framework. It is an application since it is made on the ideology of what can be built using it.

Drupal commerce lets you build from scratch and takes an in-depth knowledge as you have to configure every aspect and module of it.

Drupal Commerce Kickstart

Drupal commerce kickstart is a Drupal distribution. Distribution offers site features and functions for the specific site since a single download contain the Drupal core, shared modules, themes, and pre-defined configuration. Making it possible to quickly set-up complex, use-specific site in fewer steps if you are installing and configuring elements individually.

This is very helpful for any user who wishes to kick-start their e-commerce website and run in short period of time and do not wishes to go in depths of Drupal.

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I am going to use Drupal commerce Kick start in this blog after all this is specifically for users who are new to Drupal. So let’s not wait and dive right into it.

A distribution is installed in a similar way as of Drupal’s core installation. The step involved in the installation of Drupal Commerce Kickstart are:

• Download Drupal Commerce Kickstart
• Decompress the downloaded file
• Create Database
• Commence installation
• Configure set up details
• Configure site details
• Configure store
• Get Started

Download Commerce Kickstart

Check the Commerce Kickstart site and read the whole page. The download links can be seen on the bottom of the page. Click on this highlighted link to get more detailed download links.

Here you will get an option to download the distribution with or without the Drupal core. I am downloading it with Drupal core as it is the simpler method. This will install the distribution along the Drupal core. The installation is done in the same way as the Drupal core would.

Decompress the Downloaded File

Decompress the file you downloaded into the website’s root folder. And ensure to place the entire folder, and not to forget the hidden .htaccess file.

Create Database

Go to database manager and create a new database.

Don’t forget the name you keep for the database and remember it during installation of the distribution.

Commence Installation

Once you are done with this, open the web browser and navigate to the root folder (as we are building the website on the root folder, go to http://localhost/). If you follow these steps rightly and get the things correctly done then you will be presented with this screen (below).

Agree to all the terms and click on the “let’s get started”

Configure Setup Details

After verifying all the requirements, a “set-up” database screen will pop up. Here you have to set up your database name. The name should be same as you set earlier for the database created in the database manager. Set the database username and password as well.

Fill out all the required fields and click on the “save and continue” button.

Configure Site

This will install Commerce Kick start 2 and a configure site screen will appear.

Here you have to enter your site information, site maintenance account and server settings. After filling out all the required details, click on the below blue button.

Configure Store

Now, time to configure the store. You will get an option to download the demo store, but do remember once you install the demo store, you cannot remove it without reinstalling the entire site again.

Additional features will also be presented to enable modules which allow various functionalities like setting slide show for front page, enabling of social media connections etc. Set all these options according to your choice and proceed to the next step.

The screen will display a simple progress bar, indicating the import of contents on your site.

Let’s Started

Once you are done with this, you will be transferred to “Get Started” screen, where a short intro of the website you created will be given to you. And if you got any queries then navigate to the “help” tab.

Conclusion

That’s all. You are done! You have finally created your first Drupal commerce site. This above guide is for beginners so we used a distribution with Drupal core which is already included in it. This is the simplest method to install Drupal commerce kick start. I hope this blog guide will help you.

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• Magento 2 is no doubt a better and faster option. So if your store is newly launched and has no traffic then it’s high time for you to migrate now.
• If your Magento 1 performance is satisfactory and things are going fine with it then there is no such need to do the migration. Magento 2 has just launched and it doesn’t mean that Magento 1 has lost its worth already. Magento has made an announcement that it will support Magento 1, however, they won’t release any more Magento versions, themes or extensions. That means you can use Magento 1 for some more time instead of migrating too soon.
• Avoid the upgrading process especially if there’s any important season coming up for the e-commerce store. In some popular shopping seasons like Christmas, Black Friday, New Year, it would be such a bad idea to change your website configuration because it will cause maintenance and downtime and you can never know when things go wrong. SO NO RISK
• Another important point to note is that whichever theme and extension you are using should be available too for Magento 2. Magento 2 is newly born, although the Magento community is quickly upgrading its latest version’s extensions and themes as Magento 2 is not compatible enough with everything. So if you got any important Magento extension then make sure first that it is compatible with Magento 2.

The Migration Plan

Here is some brief overview of the steps involved in the big data migration and transferring of your site from Magento 1 to Magento 2.

Review the Site

Take a good look for the availability of the deisred extensions and themes. Ensure that they are available in Magento 2. Also, do look for unrequired extensions you can drop, along with the database asset you need to migrate or any else asset to drop.

Planning for Infrastructure

Check out your hosting company whether they have the required capacity to host your Magento 2 site without causing trouble and also if they can sustain and support your Magento 2 site when the traffic scales up.

Create a Magento 2 store

Create the fresh installation of your Magento 2 and after the installation is done, back up or dump the Magento 2 database as soon as possible.

Now, start the installation of your required extensions on the fresh Magento 2 store.

Steps for Migration

Install Magento migration tool and ensures that it has the access for both the databases of Magento 1 and 2 to start the migration process.

Stop all the cron jobs and activity in Magento 1 admin panel. And don’t start or resume the activity unless the whole migration process is completed and your Magento 2 site goes live.

Transfer the media files from Magento 1 to Magento 2 manually and use Magento migration tool to migrate all the settings to Magento 2.

Use the migration tool for the complete transfer of Magento 1 database to Magento 2. Though both databases have different structures but the migration tool knows how to transfer properly, so your data remains accessible in the installation of Magento 2.

But if you are using any extension which uses its own data and has different database structure for Magento 2 then while transferring it to Magento 2, use the mapping files which comes with the data migration tool.

Once you are done with the complete database transfer, do reindex your Magento 2 site.

And lastly but not the least, do conduct a thorough testing of your new Magento 2 site.

Post Migration Steps

Now it’s time to migrate the data which uses incremental updates.

Once you are ensured that all the data has been completely transferred to Magento 2 and everything is working fine then it’s to make take your Magento 2 to live now. For this, put Magento 1 site first on maintenance mode, stop migration tool, start Magento 2 cron jobs and point the DNS load balancers to the new production hardware. And voila you are done!

The flowchart displayed down here explains the steps for migration.

This is just an example overview of the overall migration process to help you plan properly.

Best Practices to Consider

Here are some best practices to keep in mind.

• Create a duplicate of Magento 1 database and connect Magento 2 to that duplicated database before migration. This is because if you by mistake or accidentally gets connected to the Magento 1 live database, you will lose your Magento 1 database too and it will be unrecoverable.
• Once you are done with duplicating the Magento 1 database, keep only essential data and erase all the unnecessary. Like recently viewed, compared products report, old promotional rules, logs and order quotes are some unnecessary things.
• Stop all the other irrelevant activity except order management activity in Magneto 1 admin panel before starting the migration process. If any change is made after creating a duplicate then those changes will not be transferred to the Magento 2.
• Avoid any code change during migration process. Migration time is not the best time to fix things or make any changes. Hold all these things till the migration process is fully completed.
• To boost up migration performance, set the <direct_document_copy>1</direct_document_copy> Option in the config.xml. But make sure that both the Magento, 1 and 2 databases are located in one MYSQL instance and the database account can access each database.

Now let’s give you an estimate of the professional Migration process time. Any Magento store hosted on VirtualBox VM, CentOS 6, 2.5Gb RAM, CPU 1 core 2.6GHz environment, with database of around 177k products, 355k orders, 214k customers can take around 10 minutes to migrate settings and 9 minutes to migrate the data, and the Magento site has to remain in maintenance mode for few minutes to reindex the Magento 2 site and to change the DNS settings.

Migration Tool v/s Manual Transfer

The migration tool can be very helpful for migrating the data and settings to Magento 2. But not all your data can be transferred with this tool. There are basically three types of data which need to be transferred manually.

• Media
• Store Front Design
• Access Control List (ACL)

Installing the Magento Migration Tool

Before installing the migration tool, ensure you have covered all the above steps. Once you are done with all this, use below instructions to start the installation

Log in to the Magento site server as a user with the access to edit and create files

Go to Magento 2 root directory and enter the command (below) to update the composer.json file first

composer config repositories.magento composer https://repo.magento.com

Now enter the (below) command to access the current version of the package.

composer require magento/data-migration-tool:2.0.0

The command will install the version 2.0.0. Of the package. If you want to use any other package, you can set the version in the command.

Wait till the dependencies are installed. Once you are done, enter these below two commands to install the migration tool.

composer config repositories.data-migration-tool git

https://github.com/magento/data-migration-tool-ce

composer require Magento/data-migration-tool:dev-master

When these commands will be run, it will ask you for authentication keys. For the public key, enter the username and for the private key, enter the password.

This will install Magento migration tool on Magento 2.

In this blog, I tried to explain whether if it’s a good decision to migrate to Magento 2 or not. Also, an overview of the migration process is given in this blog with some tips and best practices for the migration process. Follow this blog to clear your mind for creating a migration plan of Magento 1 to Magento 2.

Zend is one of the popular PHP frameworks. In all the cases, the performance of the Zend framework is completely dependent on the hosting of the project. In various cases, managed cloud hosting is considered the best option for the Zend framework.

Many users don’t know how to install Zend framework 3 on cloud ways. Here’s how you can set up your Zend framework 3 on cloud hosting by following our complete detailed guide of Zend framework hosting on cloud ways.

An Introduction to Zend Framework

Zend is an open source PHP development framework. Zend supports object-oriented programming and consists of a huge library of components and packages which can be installed and used independently. Zend framework is the most stable and latest version which supports PHP 7.

Let’s start with the installation process.

To setup the Zend framework on the cloud, you need to make an account. Arpatech provides managed cloud hosting services which are robust and the most reliable hosting service for website owners and e-commerce stores. If you do not have your cloud account, get your managed cloud hosting here.

Create a Server and an Application

Log in to your cloud account and create the server. Fill in the server and the application details. Select PHP stack as the application and provide your application name. Server name and other project details. Select your cloud provider, scale the server size according to your requirements, choose your location and launch the server. In less than few minutes, your cloud server and your application are ready to work.

Launch SSH Terminal

Since your application and server is ready, open the server now by clicking the server name.

Next, click on the Launch SSH Terminal button, as displayed in the screenshot below.

Log in with the username and the passwords provided in the Master credentials.

How to install Zend 3

To install the Zend framework 3, go to the application folder, to go to the application folder, type the following commands.

cd application
ls
cd your application name
cd public_html

Type these following commands in order to start the installation of Zend framework 3.

composer create-project zendframework/skeleton-application

The installation of Zend framework 3 will start and you can see the process on the screen.

Several seconds later of installation, a dialog box will appear asking you the question: you want a minimal install? (With no optional packages) Y/N.

After answering the question, it will ask you about component installation. The installation will generate prompts for individual components and you can answer to them according to your requirements.

Next, the installation will ask you which file to inject, but for now, do not inject anything and select 0 for all.

 Please select which config file you wish to inject ‘ZendDeveloperTools’ into:

[0] Do not inject
[1] config/modules.config.php
[2] config/development.config.php.dist
Make your selection (default is 0): 0

Finally, the following prompt will display on the screen.

zf-development-mode enable
You are now in development mode.

At last, the whole installation process is over now, it’s time for you now to launch the application from the menu.

Click on the launch application.

Don’t forget to append the /skeleton-application/public/ to the URL.

And you are done. Your Zend framework 3 development application is now live.

Wrapping up

In this tutorial, I tried to tell you in the easiest way as how to setup the Zend framework 3 on cloud hosting. I hope that you find this tutorial a helpful one. Do comment below if you are in seek of any help or would like to take part in the discussion.

According to a study, web agencies believe that a website UX is a weakness for clients. We are here to help you understand what exactly today web design trends are is and where you should be focusing and utilizing your skills to make a compelling, appealing UX design. I have compiled here some tips and tricks for website design, website optimization, and the UX. Let’s not wait anymore.

14 Stats that will make the case for smarter website and UX Design

General Web Design Stats

• Two-thirds of people would prefer reading something beautifully designed rather than some plain text.
• According to a study, 40% people would close the site and stop engaging themselves with the website if the images will take too much time to load
• Half of the site users think that “thorough contact information” is one of the most important elements which is missing from most of the company’s websites.
• Many people will stop engaging themselves from the websites if they find it unattractive and unappealing
• 50% of the website visitors will stop navigating through the website if they find no contact or location information.

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Website Optimization Stats

• Between the year 2015 and 2016, tablet internet usage grew by 30%, smartphone consumption increases to 78% and desktop internet dropped to 1%.
• Now almost half of the people accesses the internet through their mobile devices. Only a few percent uses internet via desktop.
• 50% of smartphones and tablet owners search for B2B products on their devices.

Usability and User Experience Design Stats

• 50% of any website visitors check the company’s products and services page before checking out any other section of the site.
• On a company’s homepage, 80% of the site visitors wants to see all the important information about company’s products or services.
• On a website’s homepage, 70% wants to see the contact information immediately.
• On the homepage of the website, 60% wants to read “about us” information.
• If a person is visiting the site via a referral site, 60% will use the navigation menu to orient themselves
• While visiting any website through referral site, 40% of the users clicks on the logo to go the homepage.

Know any other interesting stats about website design and optimization, do share them by commenting in the comment section below.

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Free Drupal 8 Themes

Personal Blog Theme for Drupal 8

This free Personal Drupal Blog theme is no doubt a beautiful one and functional too, helping you to give a kick-start to your blogging. This is indeed a beautiful theme with all the desired functionalities in just zero cost.

Zircon

Zircon Drupal 8 theme is a simple, responsive Drupal 8 theme, suits perfectly for a business or a personal website.

Clean Corporate Theme

A corporate website never requires for fancy artworks or decorative elements. Corporate websites are simple and display all the relevant information of the organization/company or business and the products/services being offered. Choose this Clean Corporate theme for your Drupal 8 corporate website.

Drupal 8 Zymphonies Theme

Zymphonies is one of the free, responsive Drupal 8 theme, suitable for all kinds of websites and screen sizes.

Bootstrap Business

Drupal 8 Bootstrap business theme is one of the best business / corporate themes which uses the bootstrap framework to adjust your website automatically on different screen sizes without any extra coding or effort.

Conclusion

Drupal 8 offers a variety of themes which ensures you that your website looks beautiful and offer seamless functionalities to your visitors. I have shared above several free and premium themes which are ideal for your websites and if you think I have missed out any, then do let me know in the comment section below.

Being only the PHP expert is not enough to become an effective Magento developer. While working with/on Magento, many professional experts find themselves out of their depth. Magento possesses a complicated structure that requires an expert understanding of PHP, MVC, and OOP to accomplish things for real-world online stores.

The most important way of understanding the structure of Magento and improving the quality of your Magento store is to follow high-value resources. These resources shared down here includes the top-rated developers and blogs that regularly publish tutorials and educational material regarding Magento.

Follow the Hashtags #

The first and the easiest way is to follow the hashtags such as #magento, #magento2, and #realmagento. Social media brings up the freshest and latest articles/blogs published by the top rated resources. Instead of going through and scrolling down unwanted newsfeeds and timelines, just subscribe yourself to these hashtags on social media platform to get the latest news and tutorials as soon as they are published or released.

Stack Overflow

Stack Overflow is yet another great resource for Magento developers to learn about the new trends of Magento. The vast and huge volume of information on this platform enables the developers to decipher the solution of their Magento problems by reading and following the specific threads.

The real power of Magento is its community people who contribute to the platform and its various components. Magento has a huge list of dedicated developers who regularly contribute to this platform.

Magento Training Websites

Magento development agencies and web development houses are now regularly publishing and updating people with articles and blogs which mainly focuses on the training of developers for Magento. Many professional experts are now preferring these resources because they are created and maintained by certified Magento developers who describes their points in an easy and understandable manner.

Arpatech publishes high-quality Magento articles on its official blog page to tell you more about the latest updates of Magento.

Official Magento DevDocs

Magento DevDocs is a one-stop solution for you to get to know all the Magneto related guides and information. If you are in search of a customized Magento store, look towards DevDocs.

Magento Community Forums

Magento Community Forums, the official community for the Magento people. In this forum, you can get access to a wide network of dedicated Magento specialists sharing their tricks, tips, and all the support you may need.

Magento Stack Exchange

Magento StackExchange is the official Q/A forum for all the Magento users. Whatever question you have in mind or being bugged by, there will be many experts available in this forum to provide you the relevant answers.

Corporate Magento Training

Training is necessary, especially if you are a beginner.

Join any Magento training platform start participating in different courses to give a kick-start your career growth now.

Popular Magento Blogs

Sharing down here the list of resourceful and popular Magento blogs to follow to stay updated about the latest Magento trends.

• Arpatech
• Magnetician
• Fooman
• MageStore Blog
• Magebase
• Mageworx
• Yireo
• MageComp
• Demac Media’s Blog
• FireBear Studio’s Blog
• Atwix’s Blog

Don’t stop, keep reading

If you are reading this line, well my friend, it means you have done a good job by reading the entire post. I, believe you surely have some favorites too of yours too. Don’t hide. Tell us in the common section below.

Magento is one of the most top-choice platforms for any e-commerce website development. It is considered as one of the leading e-commerce solutions for creating features full online stores. The features, modules, extensions, scalability and customization options make Magento an ideal and a suitable platform for building powerful and robust e-commerce store.

But, choosing Magento for your eCommerce site will not take you anywhere, instead, you need to select the right Magento development company or Magento Developer who not only understands your business needs but also must possess enough experience to offer you the best Magento solution. To simplify things, I have listed down here some of the important key things you need to keep in mind before you hire any Magento development company.

Experience

Before appointing any Magento development company, do consider and check their previous work experience. Look at their previous projects they have worked on, the technical skills, professional capability and the ability of the Magento developers to execute a Magento project successfully. An experienced company can effectively handle the obstacles, troubles and technical challenges faced in between the development process.

Portfolio

Check the portfolio of the Magento development company you are approaching or deciding to select. By looking at their portfolio, one can get a fair idea about the working style and skills of the company’s developers.

You can also get to know about the projects delivered by the company and their commitment towards work and how much dedicated they are. You can even refer to the testimonials of the clients, helping you decide whether the company is capable of executing and delivering the projects to clients’ satisfaction or not.

 Resources

You need to do a full research before hiring that whether the company has skilled and talented resources or not. You should choose a Magento Development Company that ensures your Magento project is in the right hands. The company should consist of certified Magento developers with necessary experience.
The developers should be aware of the latest tools of Magento and can work on the latest Magento versions.

Pricing Policy

Make a proper inquiry about the pricing or packages of the Magento Development Company you have chosen to work with. It is important to have a sound knowledge about the flexibility the Website Development Company will provide in any case of changes required. Also, do ask them whether they will charge for any additional work. The Magento Development Company you choose should give you a proper pricing policy to avoid confusions and misunderstandings.

Quality

Quality should be the first priority to you if you want to build a successful Ecommerce Magento store. Check out for companies who are CMMi certified or have ISO 9001 certification. Because they will definitely and surely will deliver high-quality Magento solutions, ensuring you the stability and consistency, and also the efficient processes.

Communication

Ensure that the company has a proper communication route with you. From the start of the project till the ending phase, one need to be in constant touch with the Magento development team. The project manager or lead who is managing your Magento store should be capable of understanding your requirements and listens to your suggestions for making improvements.

The company should be using best communication channels for the continuous and uninterrupted flow of information. Don’t forget to check whether the developers have good communication skills especially when you choose to work with an offshore Magento development company.

SEO Aspect

Developing an SEO-friendly Magento online store has become a necessity to get recognized and mark a presence in the virtual world. The Magento developer or Magento Development Company, whoever you chooses, should know as for how to incorporate SEO techniques to help your Magento site get higher ranks in the search engines.

Post Deployment Support

Post deployment support is an important one, to ensure you the proper functioning of your online Magento store after making it live. Keep note of one thing that your customers won’t get affected because of any technical or functional issue arises on your Magento site.

Post deployment support is important for improving the performance of any Magento site. Choose that Magento Development Company who provides on-going support and ensures you the 24/7 support whenever you need.

Conclusion

Building the Magento online store requires a vast technical expertise from the developers. In this highly competitive tech industry, one can’t afford to make or neglect mistakes which may lead to the failure of the online businesses. So it is necessary that your Magento Development Company or developer has the required experience and skills to deliver your desired results.

Get in touch with our certified Magento developers here to get end-to-end Magento services including Magento extensions development and theme & template design.