The Cons of Magento
While we are self-professed Magento-lovers, we are also willing to provide an objective view of the eCommerce platform we’ve supported since the beginning. This is part two of our two-part series in which we will cover the cons since we discussed the pros of Magento in yesterday’s post. Below each con, we also provide the best solution, so don’t get too worried about getting scared off by the information below.
Speed: One of the main complaints people have about Magento is its speed. Magento has been known to be quite slow, however, we’ve never experienced any problems with its speed (this may suggest that Magento is only slow in the hands of less-experienced developers). As we discussed yesterday, Magento was designed to be the most extendable eCommerce system available, which is still the case today. In order for the system to work efficiently despite the extensions added to it, the system was created in such a way that isolates each feature so that changing that feature (via an extension) does not affect any other part of the system. The result of which is an immense number of files in many different folders.
The solution: Get a good host that specializes in Magento eCommerce sites. As would be expected, if you try to use Magento on an incapable server, of course it will be slow. If you have a dedicated server and your site still runs slowly, the problem is likely due to a custom theme, a custom query, or your extensions.
Documentation: Magento, as an open source platform, falls victim to the typical issue of not being well-documented. There are manuals for Magento available for purchase, but may not be of much use because the system is full of unique terminology.
The solution: If you’re having trouble with the administration side of running your site, you should look into Magento-specific training. Find a firm or developer group that has extensive experience with all the versions of Magento. Orange Collar Media is one such company that can help you get the most out of Magento.
Updates: We talked about the large community and the timely and on-schedule release of updates yesterday. While this can be a definite pro of Magento, it can also be a downfall because of how often updates are released since an update will sometimes cause something that was functioning just fine to have a glitch after installing the update. Sometimes, this is because the site was not created following practices Magento thinks should be used. Other times, this is due to Magento changing a file or folder name that no longer allows an extension to function properly.
The solution: Hire an experienced development team to make sure that your Magento site is always using appropriate extensions and is developed using Magento-suitable practices. Also, if you’re worried, go through your upgrade process in a separate development environment with a Magento expert available to make sure the glitches are fixed before your site goes live.
Complexity / Cost: One of the other complaints we hear about Magento is that it can be too complex for people who don’t have much development experience. In addition, if you’re interested in creating a more extensive online store, you’ll likely need to use Magento Professional (starting at $2,995 per year) or Magento Enterprise (starting at $12,990 per year). If you need a large store and you don’t have any development experience, using Magento would require you to spend money on the yearly costs, as well as on the web development firm you hire to create your store.
The solution: Make Orange Collar Media your go-to Magento developers. With our dedicated developers and experienced project managers, we’ll keep your costs as low as possible by giving you exactly what you need and nothing you don’t.
For more information about Orange Collar Media’s expertise with Magento eCommerce platforms, please email or call us toll free at (866) 262-1517.
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