Magento

3 days ago I bought a 1.3.2.4 Magento template from templatemonster.com. It seems that they don’t give any support on the themes they are selling. So be aware of it. The way they have setting up the installation of the theme will give you a lot of problems.

This was my support request and their answer:

Hi there,

we bought this Magento template 2 days ago and found out some disturbing . First of all the template directory used is blank/theme132 and its own default directory, instead of the standard Magento directory /default/theme132. For this reason all extra items uploaded with Connect from Magento going to the default directory and are not installed. Magento advise in such case to copy the XML and the directory to the theme directory. If we do so the hole theme is corrupt.  With the different modules cart etc. there are non Megento rules used so automatic translation doesn’t work. If translations files are loaded some pages looking different, because the length of the text of some buttons. In other languages text can 2 times longer then the standard English.

We installed this theme on a clean new loaded 1.3.4.2 Magento system with the sample data provided.
Please advise what the proper way is to use additional Magento modules without corrupting the hole theme. Just copying to the theme directory doesn’t work (Magento advise).

--------------The Answer------------

Dear Ton,

Thank you for reaching the Technical Department of Template-Help.com!

Unfortunately, according to our policies we don’t guarantee that our products are fully compatible with any third-party programs and we do not provide support for third-party applications.

We close tickets to avoid ticket system overflow. Feel free to reply to this ticket to reopen it if you need our further assistance.

Best regards,
Technical Support Team
____________
Help Center: http://info.template-help.com
Support Chat: http://template-help.com/chat
Phone: 1-518-312-4147, 1-347-342-0463

Ticket Details
===================
Ticket ID: GEO-599101
Department: Support Team
Priority: High
Status: Closed

their themes also break when you upgrade Magento! They will charge $99 to fixem. Found out the hard way.

Template Monster provides some pretty good templates to help you get started.  Their front pages are generally pretty nice and give a fairly unique look to your store. Some of their recent themes are quite progressive.  Prices are quite reasonable if you compare it to a week of custom theming by a professional.  If you want to get a store with a unique look up and running for a few hundred dollar investment, then they deliver good value.

On the other hand, not all pages and blocks will be themed and some often used pages or features won’t look great.  They often drop certain blocks, so you will have to add them back if you want them.  Their theming may cause other third party modules to break or look weird. Their support and service does not have a great reputation, but this is not entirely unexpected, if you are paying 150$ - how many hours of free support and customizing do you really expect?

Make sure that the template supports your version, and even if it says it does. there may be parts that have no been properly updated. If you have a bug, then ask them if there is an upgrade.

If you have specific requirements and not willing to compromise, then hire a Magento themer and/or developer.