<![CDATA[Magento Help]]> http://magentist.com/magento_help/ Sun, 05 Feb 2012 13:04:11 +0000 Zend_Feed http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss <![CDATA[Magento U - Summer Webinar Series]]> http://magentist.com/magento_help/magento-u-summer-webinar-series/ Magento and feeling a bit overwhelmed by the vast array of features at hand? Are you looking for a clear explanation of all of Magento's user features? You're in luck!

The Magento U - Summer Webinar Series is a "Getting Started" webinar series, which is designed for beginning Magento users to will walk you through how to use some of Magento's core eCommerce functionality. Intermediate Magento users can also benefit, but may have already encountered some of the concepts covered.

Sessions are 45 minutes of presentation with an additional 15 minutes at the end for questions. Enrollment is limited to allow for questions, so sign up early. If you miss a session, you can download the PPT deck and watch a recording. Most sessions will be offered again in the fall as well.

Don't miss out on your chance to gain complete user confidence with Magento! Sign up for the Magento U - Summer Webinar Series today!]]> Mon, 26 Jul 2010 21:11:47 +0000 <![CDATA[Get Help From Magento Expert]]> http://magentist.com/magento_help/magento-help-from-magento-expert/ Ask Magento Questions
Having trouble with Magento? Get fast Magento help from Magento Expert for free!

Do you need help customizing Magento templates? Having trouble managing your Magento ecommerce store, or creating custom Magento functionality? Magento Expert is the best resource for any Magento question, no matter how big or small.

Why waist your time looking for an answer to your questions in the forums and on every possible site you can find? Whether your question is about Magento in general, or is completely unique to your custom Magento template, you'll get answers from seasoned, expert Magento programmers and designers, quickly, and free of charge!


Answer Magento Questions
Help the Magento users while promoting your business! Soon you'll also be able to make money by providing expert answers to Magento questions posted on Magento Expert.


It's Free!
At this moment there is no charge for this wonderful service! Magento Expert is a new project by Noam Design created because of the gazillion questions we received from Magento users. Instead of answering them all one by one, we created a platform where you can ask specific Magento questions and get quick and knowledgeable answers directly from the experts.

Check out Magento Expert now!]]> Fri, 23 Jul 2010 19:16:21 +0000 <![CDATA[Magento Product Options Drop-Down Menu]]> http://magentist.com/magento_help/magento-product-options-drop-down-menu/ Magento can be used to sell almost any type of product, from simple products to downloadable products, or even items which can be customized and configured by the customer.

So how can you easily add a drop-down menu on your product page to allow customers to select product options?

Let's say, for example, you have a Magento ecommerce website that sells fashion and accessories, and you want to sell a shirt that's available in several sizes. You can add a drop-down menu to select sizes by following these quick steps:

Log into your admin panel and navigate to Catalog > Manage Products. Click to edit the appropriate product, then click on "Custom Options" in the left-side navigation. In the main content area, find and click on the "Add New Option" button. Call this option Size and then click "Add New Row" to add and configure as many as size options as you have.

If you have more than one option, you can then click "Add New Option" again to create another option, such as "Color."

If you're having difficulty configuring your product options, check out Magento Expert and get a quick answer to your Magento question for free! You can also find many answers on your own by consulting the Magento Users Guide]]> Thu, 08 Jul 2010 17:16:04 +0000 <![CDATA[Getting Started]]> http://magentist.com/magento_help/getting-started-with-magento/
1. First, you'll want to ensure that you have the appropriate platform and environment set up to accommodate Magento. See Magento System Requirements to get started.

2. After checking your system, see our Magento Installation Guide for help with setting up Magento on your server.

3. Once Magento is up and running on your site, you can install your Magento Expert theme using the instructions provided. For general theme installation instructions, you may refer to the following help post: How To Install A Theme

And that's it! Now you're ready to set up your products and start selling on your new ecommerce website!]]> Fri, 06 Nov 2009 20:35:25 +0000 <![CDATA[How To Install A Theme]]> http://magentist.com/magento_help/how-to-install-a-magento-theme/ To install your theme in your Magento website, follow these simple steps:

  1. Install Magento
    Install Magento onto your site and create a Website, Store, and Store View. For more information on how to install Magento, see the Magento Installation Guide.

  2. Upload Your Theme
    After installing Magento on your site, upload your theme files to the appropriate folders, following the folder structure in which the theme is provided.

  3. Activate Your Theme
    Access the Admin Panel and navigate to System > Configuration. Select your Store View from the Current Configuration Scope drop-down menu in the upper left corner. Click on "Design" under the "General" section of the left side navigation. Under the "Themes" section, uncheck all of the check boxes titled "Use website." In each text field, enter the name of the folders containing the theme you wish to use.

  4. Setup Your Homepage
    From the top navigation, navigate to CMS > Manage Pages. Click on the "+ Add New Page" button. Enter your desired page title. For the home page, be sure to set your SEF URL Identifier as "home" and select your store view. Select "Custom Design" from the left side navigation and set Layout to "1 column." Return to General Information and enter the HTML for your homepage in the text area labeled "Content." Set the Status to "Enabled" and click on the "Save Page" button in the upper right corner to save and activate your homepage.

That's it! Congratulations! Just set up your categories and products, and you now have a beautiful, fully functioning ecommerce website!

]]> Mon, 19 Oct 2009 19:01:36 +0000 <![CDATA[Magento Installation Guide]]> http://magentist.com/magento_help/magento-installation-guide/
  • Please refer to Magento's system requirements to ensure you have the appropriate platform and environment set up.
  • Download the .zip or .tar.gz file from the Magento website and decompress it.
  • Upload the Magento web files to your web server via FTP
  • Create a MySQL database and user/password for Magento This step varies by hosting provider and is out of the scope of this document. Consult your provider's support/documentation for instructions on how to do this.
  • Ensure that the file magento/var/.htaccess, the directories magento/app/etc, magento/var, and all the directories under magento/media are writable by the web server. To do so, navigate to the directory with your FTP client. Then locate the function "Change Permissions" or "Change Mode" in your FTP client and select it. Once you find the function, you must set the permissions so the web server can write to this file. There are two typical ways of representing file permissions in Linux:
    • As a number (eg, 755)
    • As a series of permissions categorized into user, group, and other
    If your FTP client uses the first representation, set the permissions on each directory to be 777, or 0777.
  • Use your web browser to surf to the Magento installation wizard. If you've uploaded the Magento files to http://www.example.com/magento/, then the wizard will be located here: http://www.example.com/magento/install/.
  • Once in the wizard, you can configure various system-level settings that are required for Magento to function. Most options will be intelligently guessed for you, but you're free to override any settings that don't look right. At the very least, change the database parameters in the first box “Database connection” to match those of the database you set up in Step 3.
  • Success! You've completed a basic Magento install. You can now visit the administration backend and begin configuring your new online store.
  • UPDATE: If you have installed Version 1.0.19700, you should follow the instructions to install the patch which fixes a known issue with the compare products feature.
  • ** IMPORTANT: Catalog price rules and many other features in Magento require periodical execution of scheduled task. Please refer to this article for information on cronjob setup: http://www.magentocommerce.com/wiki/how_to_setup_a_cron_job
    • ]]>     Wed, 14 Oct 2009 17:09:41 +0000     <![CDATA[Magento System Requirements]]> http://magentist.com/magento_help/magento-system-requirements/ The following is a list of software required to successfully operate the Magento ecommerce platform:

    • Supported Operating Systems:
      • Linux x86, x86-64
    • Supported Web Servers:
      • Apache 1.3.x
      • Apache 2.0.x
      • Apache 2.2.x
    • Supported Browsers:
      • Microsoft Internet Explorer 6 and above
      • Mozilla Firefox 2.0 and above
      • Apple Safari 2.x
      • Google Chrome
      • Adobe Flash browser plug-in should be installed
    • PHP Compatibility:
      • 5.2
      • Required extensions:
        • PDO_MySQL
        • simplexml
        • mcrypt
        • hash
        • GD
        • DOM
        • iconv
        • SOAP (if Webservices API is to be used)
      • Safe_mode off
      • Memory_limit 32M or more
    • MySQL:
      • 4.1.20 or newer
      • InnoDB storage engine
    • SSL:
      • If HTTPS is used to work in the admin, SSL certificate should be valid. Self-signed SSL certificates are not supported
    • Server - hosting - setup:
      • Ability to run scheduled jobs (crontab) with PHP 5
      • Ability to override options in .htaccess files
    ]]>     Wed, 14 Oct 2009 15:11:00 +0000