Hi, I’m the author of the osCommerce Manuals series and I’ve put up a working Magento store “selling” a few free chapters from the upcoming Manual for Magento.
One FREE chapter is on Installation. I cover 3 methods for installing - via FTP, Shell, and your web host’s control panel.
The other FREE chapter is the Quick Setup Guide, which is all the things you need to do to put up a store very quickly using Magento, i.e. everything you MUST change to have a working store. This covers everything I did to make this working Magento store. (optional stuff is covered in the manual.)
I also offer a FREE Admin “Cheatsheet” that you can print off for handy reference in learning your store’s new Admin.
You can “buy” any of these free items in my new store, or purchase the manual at special pre-publication pricing:
Please note, my series of specialty manuals are targeted at non-technical store owners and “Newbies” which is different from a manufacturer’s manual, and the two books are not in any way mutually exclusive. You can collect them all.
You can learn about my other books or download the free chapters at my sister site, osCommerceManuals.com.
Hopefully this doesn’t sound too negative because I’m all for community support, but....
Why would anyone buy a guide about Magento from a website using a VERY stock installation of Magento? If someone (myself included) wanted to buy a guide about Magento, it should come from a site exemplifying all that Magento can do. Your site shows you have the ‘expertise’ to install Magento and create a product.
Thanks for pointing that out. We did review the trademark policy very carefully, but it’s possible that they have been augmented since then. It’s so simple to change a domain name that if it needs to be changed, of course it will be. I have been writing books on open source ecommerce programs since 2003, including osCommerce, Zen Cart, CRE Loaded, and others, and my main domain that has all my books will always be osCommerceManuals.com.
As far as stock vs. custom, good question, MDS! If you went to a Harley dealer you would expect to see stock bikes there, even if you planned to highly customize it. Same here. I need to demonstrate what a non-technical store owner can do with the store can do right out of the box, without the assistance of a “customizer.” I’ll make plenty of wildly customized Magento stores, too, but this one must remain forever stock.
I am closed to finall step of delivering magento site to client, and is planning to write a simple manual for him to take care of his site. I will recommend a user manual or him if it’s of good quality with clear instruction (and if there is one available).
The two free version you offered don’t strike me as something useful- my mom always say, if you want to give people something free, at least give something that is good so that people can ‘actually’ use it.; I am not a fan of PDF e-book, but did purchase quite a few because there was no print version available. All the ebooks I have purchased, all let me see one or two chapters before I made my decision.
Thank you, your comment doesn’t strike me as negative at all.
You seem to be asking for one or two free chapters before you buy, but that is exactly what I am offering - two free sample chapters.
You seem to be asking for paperbacks. My books are always published in download format as well as paperback, and will be available for purchase on Amazon.com. First the ebooks come out, then a couple of weeks later, the paperback.
The books in my ShowMe(tm) series are geared towards newbies like your client. As a developer, you may personally find them too easy.
If you are looking for something else, why, let me know and I will do my best to accommodate.
Kerry,
Thank you for writing this book. I think Magento needs books of all kinds ranging from very basic to more advanced.
I’ve been a member of this forum for a while now and I can see that questions here range from very basic to very advanced.
Your book will be very much welcomed by anyone who wants a quick guide into the wonderful world of Magento.
Well done and once again thanks.
Les
Looks like this “manual” is dead in the water before it’s even released.
Hate to say it but the “Admin Manual” isn’t that great and is a rea PIA to print out and use. Plus not all of the directions are clear and using this same version of Magento. If a manual came out from someone that actually has been dealing with E-Commerce systems for several years and was a good and usable book I’d buy it. Especially since Magento is pretty user-unfriendly at first.
The more popular a program is, the more books will be written about it. Magento is a program, Magento will be very popular, therefore…
For every program there are MANY kinds of readers with very different needs, including designers, newbies, advanced users, programmers, non-technical store owners.
My books in this series are not written for sophisticated programmers like Ron; they are written for new store owners who have limited technical experience but who need to do it anyway. They are often small business owners who wear many hats until they can afford to hire folks to take over the technical hat. My books help them get there. The forum can be a vicious place on new users and even on the not-so-new. My books on the other hand are extremely friendly.
People like Ron who have a lot of experience with similar programs don’t really need a manual. If you think my book might be too easy for you, you are probably right, but the two free chapters should let you know.
