Magento

Looks excellent as usual, and the layered navigation is a very powerful/exciting feature.

Quick question, for the images that are used for something like a product or category...how will that work in terms of various sizes, etc.  For example do we need to create multiple product images (ex: a thumbnail to show in list view, and a bigger version to show in the product page) that way it doesn’t distort the images in various parts of the site.

Let me know if that question doesn’t make sense lol.

This new blog post ministers.

Looks great. Question: will there be an ability to deal with ticketing solutions in Magento? Is this part of the roadmap?

Hello

It only shows one image selection area.

Does magento provide Multi images for the products.

For ex. Small image for the home page, mediam page on the product info page, and large when you click on it. Where should these image be inserted ?

Ajnab - This was just a screenshot of the CATEGORY interface.  You would only need one image for a category.

Cool. Will Magento allow sellers to list one product in several different categories and have the same product in different stores (as in a shared inventory database)?

very nice

Dan,

What do you mean by ticketing solutions? Do you mean a helpdesk / support type thing?

Does anyone know of the release date?
Because i am Very excited to get my hands on this product.
as it looks very professional and useful.

> With the release of the Beta1, Preview version of Magento approaching in the next couple of weeks

Do you mean that magento won’t be available this month, as described on your front page ?

[...] der aktuellen Meldung im Magento-Blog präsentieren die Entwickler einen Sceenshot der Kategorieverwaltung und zeigen, wie eine neue [...]

This is starting (if it wasn’t already) to look very interesting.

Landing page: a scenario for me would be to have a landing page that describes say ‘organic’ products, I’d create that as the landing page and then create a new category and assign it to the ‘organic’ landing page, if I did that would it be possible to then insert the category image to the landing page>

Looking fwd to the 1st realise.

I love the Landing Page option. Gives you a lot of flexibility.

I’m also interesting in a ticketing solution. I don’t mean a helpdesk support ticket, but the possibility to buy concert tickets, or tickets for an event.

"The default is for all stores managed by the admin panel, but you can elect to create the category in only one of the stores by selecting that store”

You propose to create in all or one. It would be interesting to choose multiple stores. For example, I have 10 stores and I want to create in 3 stores. But as I see in your explanation, I can only choose to create in 1 or 10.

Also, how will work the multiple languages ? Will you have flags on each page to open a page for each language ?

We are working on a new website that must come out mid-november and are thinking to develop this with magento or another powerful php solution. I can’t wait to see how the beta 1 will look and if we can work something stable in 2 months period.

All the best

Sorry to go out of the theme of this latest article, for a moment, to touch a delicate and very important point: SECURITY.

How Magento handles possible attacks to code, etc., like, for ex.:
- injections of malicious SQL strings in variables
- weaknesses in SSL encryption mechanisms
- weaknesses in access control lists
- weaknesses with security related to cookies poisoning, etc…

I am sure everyone will agree that security is nowadays, perhaps, the MAIN concern in a business environment (for sure, in any case, for those who already had BAD experiences about it in their past :(

It may seem just a *theoretical* question at this point of Magento development but I am sure that, given the high quality of what we have already seen in the pre-beta articles, the Magento team must have already tought & done something *substantial* on security issues.

Am I right?

The interface appears to have changed:
(Compare with screenshots here:
http://www.magentocommerce.com/ecommerce-screenshots)

* The Blue backgrounds have become grayer and lighter
* The navigation bar has gotten darker and less colorful
* Tabs are now buttons (don’t look like tabs)
* The logo is gone
* The sidebar/category navigation now has ‘windows’-like folder icons

Windows has a yucky interface design. I would avoid emulating it. The previous screenshots were really beautiful! I much prefer the earlier.

Do these changes reflect a new direction for the interface?

Functionality looks really good though! Can’t wait to test it!

[...] hat einen weiteren Sneak Preview veröffentlicht. Diesmal werden Details des Kategorien-Admins demonstriert. Ein sehr [...]

dhd - > there are definitely a ‘couple of weeks’ left in August.

didier -> why would you plan the development of a website based on ecommerce software that has not even been released yet..seems outright silly to me.

ryan -> everyone obviously has different tastes. varien has made it clear many times that you will be able to customize magento.

Looks great.

Will Magento have bulk support? Such as adding a bulk of categories and products. And bulk editing.

This is very powerful in some ecommerce solutions and saves a lot of time.

Is there any word of which license magento will be under?
such as gnu gpl or cc?

kameko.rouge : we don’t plan anything yet. That’s an option. Basically we have the possibility to work with a company that will sell their solution (quite expensive) or we can develop ourselves around Magento. Of course we are awaiting to see how the beta 1 will look before taking any decision as I’m sure, Varien will not issue something too buggy and if the code is clean, then why not.

Does anyone know of the release date?
Because i am Very eager to get my hands on this product.
as it looks very professional and useful.

>>Is there any word of which license magento will be under?
such as gnu gpl or cc?

Austin: Magento is released under Open Software License (OSL 3.0).
You can read more about it here:
http://www.magentocommerce.com/license/

Thx. :D

@WisdOMbooks: I think it’s a little too early to be speculating about security. The product hasn’t even been released.

But, FWIW, Magento has been built on top of Zend Framework which makes implementing security much easier than traditional PHP methods.

Once it’s been released, the PHP community will scrutinise it thoroughly enough - to ensure that it is secure enough.

Thank you, Ian!

Security being such a nightmare when ‘they’ hit you, your words are comforting enough to allow us to proceed further in considering Magento as our future platform.

Thank you for your hardwork

Hey guys, I just want to tell you that you guys are doing a great thing. I produced a business plan for a ecommerce development company I was working for in 2002 telling the impact of a powerful, functional and very user friendly set of applications including CRM, Ecommerce, ERP and SCM. After researching the direction of all of he major ERP vendors - SAP, JD Edwards, Lawson, etc. it was evident that the true horizon for these aplications was the mid-size market. But they really do not have the model or pricing structure to make a strong impact.

The Mid-size market extends the entire globe and into many developing countries. It is through this enablement of data transfer and web based transactions that would enable true global commerce. The only software development model that allows for this level of widespread enblement is Open Source.

You guys are doing more than creating another ecommerce application. From the looks of it you have including all of the pertinent B2B and B2C features tha are needed for doing a multitude of business and you have done it in a very user friendly way. You are the only one on the OSS market who has done this for e-commerce. I know all the others and although one or two are powerful they are not very friendly and do not have the entire ackage to be a commercialized Open Source application.

Way to go. Really!! Really!!

Please make sure that your next move is to dedicate some internal resources to do a very in-depth integration with Sugar CRM. Their paid user base would be a great stream of revenue for you guys and it could provide a hell of alot of custom development and support dollars if you release the integration as OSS.

Still haven’t seen the rest of the pieces of the puzzle come together. Ther are some ERP and SCM guys out there but none have really step to the plate with a powerful user friendly app. So it is even better that you guys have included so much reporting and mangerial features in your admin portion of Magento.

Please consider
- making drop shipments and dealing with outside vendors and off-site inventories an add-in

- Localized inventory management that works with various units for managing solids, liquids and other forms of inventory - automated inventory notifications to vendors for re-ordering.

I know these are SCM features but they really enhance the E-commerce application.

Once again, great work. I am really looking forward to the release. A date would be great.

Hi,

Just curiosity, which version of zend framework are you using?

The first entry on this blog is dated from April, and by April zend framework version was not 1.0

Best regards

It would be cool to be able to select a category listing template when setting up categories.  This way, the template for certain categories could be customized.

+1 on this

- making drop shipments and dealing with outside vendors and off-site inventories an add-in

In this day and age I would have thought this would be a lot higher in priority.

#29 ShopKeeper

“It would be cool to be able to select a category listing template when setting up categories. This way, the template for certain categories could be customized.”

I think the landing page feature will at least somewhat fulfill this request.

Mascker has a point, i’d double that question:

“Hi,

Just curiosity, which version of zend framework are you using?

The first entry on this blog is dated from April, and by April zend framework version was not 1.0”

The second question is:

Can I import / export the categories / sub-categories / products and child products?

What import export file formats does magento support?

Last question:

Will the beta release (this august) of magento be business ready?

Any reason you picked orange instead of magenta?

I just wet my pants!!

I am very excited about finding a platform that can put my zencart based cookie cutter to rest.

Will there be usps and ups shipping modules?

Thank you!

I found the answer to my own question.

Integration for real-time shipping quotes with the following carriers: UPS, FedEx, DHL, USPS

Dave - Beta1 will display images as uploaded. We do have in the plans a full media management module that will provide tools to auto-resize, watermark, etc. based on the parameters as defined in the design package.
Dan - We do not have a ticketing system in the plans at this point.
James - Yes. Magento will provide capability to sell a product in multiple categories and stores. In the case of a store, a product can have different descriptions, images and any other product attributes per store.
Didier - A category can be available in one or many stores (not neccesarily all). You simply point a store to a root category node in a catalog category tree.
WisdOMbooks - Security is a big concern for us well and we’ve given it significant consideration and thought. That said, Magento will be in a beta period and we look forward getting feedback on any security issues that may come up. We hope to address them immediately.
Ryan - The interface has changed a bit (improved in our eyes). In time, we hope to have a number of different design packages for the admin so you can choose what you like best.
John - Bulk editing and product upload is an important part of Magento and is in the plans. We hope to have it ready by Beta1 (preview) release.
Mascker - We are using the latest version of the Zend Framework
Dave - Drop shipment support is currently not in the plans. We do hope the community will contribute such functionality in the near future.
Zuhair Naqvi - see above (John’s answer)
Scott - We felt orange works well for the interface. Why Magenta? Just kidding.

Just thought you were magenta fiends

I like the orange as well (of course).

Scott - We still love magenta (I hope we didn’t offend it with the orange).

I will hope, that Magento is soon available in Germany. Great job. I will love it!

Am counting days when this shopping cart system available…

I am also very interested in the option of having multiple category templates and being able to select which applies here in the category admin - is that part of the ‘Display Mode’ pulldown?  If not, is it something that will be added?

@40… Either you know something we don’t, or that is an interesting countdown. =P

That’s interesting. Magento earns premature praise for a product that’s not available to anyone. Just a few screenshots, a professional website and alot of marketing drivel. Everyone seems to be waiting for the Jack of all trades. But what’s behind Magento?

Just to get it right. I’m not offending anyone and I’m also interested in Magento. But for me it looks crazy to see a website for months and months and you’re just seeing a weblog. Normaly open source software isn’t handled this way.

Will Magento accomodate an RMA or returns system?

roy, you missed two of my questions:

1. What version of zend framework is magento built on?

2. Will the beta 1 version be business ready?

Zuhair Naqvi: Roy said - We are using the latest version of the Zend Framework

Isaac - We’ll certainly take a look at category templates for Beta2.
Zuhair - Magento Beta1 (preview version) is to be released by the end of August. As the version implies, it is a beta product and we will not recommend using it in production environments at this time. (thanks Martin for picking up the other question)
Matt - Magento will have crediting capabilities in Beta1. RMA is scheduled for a later release.
scandic - You are right. As a professional open source software (POSS) product, Magento is a different breed.

As haywire prospectors in the old west must have said when they hit paydirt, “Glo-ry!”

I try not to sound like a fanboy, but I get excited about movies I haven’t yet seen, and CDs that haven’t been released, so why not software?

But roy, did you think of the possible other meanings for the acronym “POSS”? Hint: POS = piece of… ?

Carry on, y’all.

can you show us an example of a landingpage that you talk about in another live shop?
i only know landing pages in a search engine optimization and keyword advertising environment, but i guess your landing pages definition is somehow different.

@ roy: “Magento Beta1 (preview version) is to be released by the end of August. As the version implies, it is a beta product and we will not recommend using it in production environments at this time.”

@ Homepage: Coming August 2007 “This summer we’re putting the first version of Magento into your hands. Mark your calendar and get ready to experience open-source eCommerce evolved!”

OK - than you mean - August comes the first Beta (only for preview) and how many beta versions then still presented before the correct version is available?

i wait 2 month - and now I get the information that it preview version only.

i come from german and i see this webside: http://magento.de (it’s yours ?)

Hopefully Magento will appear soon and my thoughts about it being the biggest web-hoax of the summer will vanish

Lopsta - A good example of landing pages can be seen on the Macy’s site. An example of a full landing page can be seen in the women’s category, and an example of mixed content/products can be see in the dresses category.
pajama - Please refer to our roadmap for more information about pending releases. We are not affiliated in any way with magento.de - we hope to have a German version of the community site available in the next few weeks after launch.

Do you guys mean the dead end of August?

If magento would give an actual release date, I think all of us kids in the candy store window would get our snot noses off of the storefront display window glass!

Robert - I wish I could give you an exact date. There are a lot of elements that are coming into play with the product, community site, user documentation, screencasts, and many more components. We have a large team working to make this happen and its our intent to make it available as soon as possible. I hope it won’t be the dead last day, but it could if I don’t feel everything is ready and sharp any time sooner.

What’s the pricing model for the software?

Carl Smith: http://www.magentocommerce.com/license/

Eagerly waiting for the first release

What language is Magento based on?
Waiting with great anticipation!!!

Looking Good!

Carl - Magento is open source and the code is thus available at no cost.
enofman - Magento is PHP5 based.

Will the beta release be able to be tested/used with php4?

@ Winnie

No magento is using the Zend Framework. Which requires PHP 5

What version of MySQL should a server be running before installing Magento?

Winnie, don’t expect any release of Magento to be PHP4 compatible. In addition to what Tom said, it’s time to move on. PHP5 has been out for more than three years. The PHP team also announced this past July that it will stop supporting version 4 by the end of the year ( read more at http://www.php.net ). PHP5 is stable, more widely supported by hosts, and is much more object-oriented than its predecessor, and PHP6 will be on its way soon.

If your host doesn’t yet support PHP5, you’ll need to switch. I would also venture to say that any host not supporting PHP5 doesn’t have your best interests in mind.

How will the system process credit card orders. Will it authorize and capture like some other OS carts do? Or will the admin have to approve the order before completing?

winnie - Magento will not be compatible with PHP4. That said, we will have a knowledge base article on how to run PHP5 on a PHP4 server which should work for some users that are not able to upgrade.
John - Magento will be compatible with mySQL4/5

Will Magento generate an order number whenever someone completes the checkout process?

Will front end pages be customizable using some sort of tagging system?  If so, do you have any example of this?

These questions are unreal.

Magento team,

Thank you for all your hard work!

As a PHP developer (who has made several system add ons to crippled ecommerce systems like oscommerce and Yahoo! stores) I’m excited to use this, enhance it, and have the ability to have a robust system to use for the clients needs.

Keep up the good work!  I anticipate the release, even if it gets pushed back.  It’s better to release something that works later then to slave over something to release it sooner when it isn’t ready.

I bet you wish you had an auto FAQ bot that would auto-answer people’s questions.

Oh...and for all of you with questions...why not just wait till it is released.  90% of them will be answered by just looking at the software and documentation.

Marvin: As Roy said in Magento will templating system. So, always in every templating systems is some kind of taggings mechanism.

31 minus
22 equal
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9 days left to your deadline, guys!

Keep up with your good work

Keep in mind the “deadline” is for the first beta release.  You shouldn’t be planning on using it in production any time soon.

Well Shopkeeper
Do u not think that the first beta is not stable enough that it is put into production environment????

Qumer,
I guess that is really up to you.  But the terms “Beta1” and “Preview” should tell you something.  I’m really not sure why there is any confusion.

Qumer,

No, beta releases are not stable enough to put into production. See wikipedia entry: beta.

I suppose we have Google and Yahoo to blame for all this beta confusion. I think Gmail is still in beta 2 years later, although flickr is in stage “love you”

Thnx Austin
Yeah u r right gmail is still beta and it is working so hope to Magento Beta is also like gmail.

No, you miss the point Qumer. You do not seem to understand what a beta is.

I’m sure the first release will be *stable*, as these people are professionals.

But stability is certainly not the first or only consideration. With e-commerce sites, that would probably be security. And for that we will have to wait until the wide world gets their hands on this thing.

@ShopKeeper - you are right about some of these questions being completely unreal. I particularly like the one about CRM, ERP and SCM features. Talk about feature bloat!

Thnx Austin for ur words. U r right security is most considerable issue about e-commerce but Y we have to wait?? Y we r not the first that put it into action? And proof the acceptance in terms of security. Also as u said these people r professtional people then hopefully they will take security at their high priority.