Magento Behind the Scenes - Design Documentation
In this video, Minu discusses the design documentation process and gives a short introduction to Magento’s design blocks. Minu is responsible for Magento’s UI design including the demo store (AKA Magento’s first design package), Community Site, and Admin Interface.




1aFFi |posted October 6 2007
Cool. Really looking forward to study this document (if it’s gonna be published to the community though).
2wobster |posted October 6 2007
Thank you Minu! you are doing a great Job, your style is great!
3Travis |posted October 6 2007
That’ll come in very handy. Look forward to it’s release.
4Narno from Paris, France|posted October 6 2007
We want a podcast commented by Minu !
5diarmo from Cork, Ireland|posted October 6 2007
Defo Minu, great design style, thanks for all your hard work!
6john_wilson |posted October 7 2007
This will be great
The thing that takes me the most time at the moment is whenever I want to change something, I have to figure out what file is responsible for doing what, and where I can find that file.
7lopsta.com |posted October 7 2007
very talented designer. great work.
8NickL |posted October 8 2007
Minu! Great work! Thanks so much for being involved and being committed to making magento magic. I’m am EXTREMELY grateful
And Roy: One of the reasons why I’ve stayed as a Freelance designer/developer for this long is first because I loved working my own hours… especially with halo 3 out now… but even MORE serious is because I never had the advantage of having a FUN, Creative, TEAM around me like the team You’ve put together for Magento! Again dude… my hats off to you. Not only do you all kick butt but it really seems like it’s a Fun place to work. I hope someday I can find a place similar, for now.. i’ll finish school, hack away at magento, and keep my eyes on the screen! Thanks for keeping me inspired!
Go Go Magento!!
9RoyRubin from Los Angeles, CA|posted October 8 2007
@NickL - Thanks very much! Our team is absolutely amazing and I am fortunate to work with such high quality individuals. You’ll get to meet the team in the next few weeks as these videos will become a regular (hopefully weekly) feature on the blog. We’ll try to show more of the office including the ping pong table where most of the decisions take place
10NickL |posted October 8 2007
Looking forward to it! Haha. These video blogs are awesome. They add personality to the whole project, ya know? Every other software solution seems so faceless… it’s great to meet the people behind-the-scenes. Definitely a GREAT idea!
I just got done reading Dr. Covey’s “8th Habit of Effective People” (yeah I know im late… but if anyone hasn’t read this book READ IT, along with 7 habits first...) But my point is that he talks about how in this new “information age” we live in, how the PEOPLE within organizations matter so much more now… as oppose to the the hierarchal organizations of the past. Varien/Magento is a shining example of this. Keep it up!
So who’s the current champ at ping pong anyway?
11i960 from Bakersfield, CA|posted October 8 2007
Any chance that you would allow people to tour your office and meet you guys in person? I happen to live about 2 hours from Los Angeles and find myself going there or passing through at lease once a month. In fact, I drove through on my way home from San Diego today. I have a server colocated at a datacenter in downtown LA, and it would be awesome to see the team in person next time I’m down there.
12Joe |posted October 8 2007
Hello,
Correct me if I’m wrong, but did Minu said during the video that the doc will be ready “in a few days”?
Thanks, Joe.
13RoyRubin from Los Angeles, CA|posted October 8 2007
@NickL - Steven is by far ruling the court. No chance of ever winning him.
@i960 - We’ll organize a meetup soon in our office. Hopefully we can get a nice size audience to discuss Magento is person. Anyone else interested?
@Joe - Minu did mention a few days, but it may take a bit to publish. We want to make sure everything is accurate and the template structure is final.
143sixtygroup from Auburn Hills, MI|posted November 1 2007
Any idea when this will be available? Would be very handy.
15RoyRubin from Los Angeles, CA|posted November 1 2007
We are actually waiting for the template structure/architecture to finalize. This is expected very soon. We’ll post detailed documentation and screencasts right after.
163sixtygroup from Auburn Hills, MI|posted November 1 2007
Fantastic! I’m thoroughly diggin Magento, I just don’t know where all the files I need to alter live. Thanks Roy.
17RoyRubin from Los Angeles, CA|posted November 1 2007
If you have any questions, post on the forum. We do our best to get back as quickly as possible.
183sixtygroup from Auburn Hills, MI|posted November 1 2007
Right on I noticed that. It just sounds like this file will answer a lot of questions as far as what to alter to get what outcome. I’ve figured out what I need to for the most part so far. Just a lot of trial and error. Thanks again Roy.
19tijuan from Toulouse (France)|posted November 22 2007
Even a beta documentation would be great to start.
I’m looking forward to reading it and get prepared for D day..
Greetings to the team
20Joe |posted November 22 2007
Yes, I agree. Give us some docs, please
Joe.