Magento

Apr 12, 2012

It turns out that once you understand Magento’s complicated template/layout structure it becomes pretty easy to add content blocks wherever your website needs them. This is just a quick explanation of how that works. So first things first, find your page layout file. This will be under the app/design folder in your themes layout folder and will be named page.xml. This file contins an element called default that (in magento terms) is called a Hook.

Mar 30, 2012

This is a really quick and simple tutorial to explain how to add a CMS Block to your Magento sites footer. It is a simple case of creating the block and a few lines of content added to your layout xml file, all of which I will explain below. First thing is to create a new CMS Block from Magento’s CMS menu and to add some content, taking note of the identifier that you have entered.

Jan 11, 2012

You work regular hours in your office. You work from 9 to 5. Your days are basically the same. You’re tired, disappointed, unsatisfied or whatever. Why? Your daily routine is no longer good for you. Perhaps you need a change. Now it’s time for taking a step in a right direction. We live in the 21st century and it’s got lots of opportunities for motivated people. Grab your ideas and creativity and start your own business in the Internet.

Dec 20, 2011

Nowadays it”s hard (if not impossible) to imagine the Internet without Facebook. Whether you want it or not, this social network has become a powerful source for everything that”s connected with people and the modern way of life. Besides its original function as a social networking site, Facebook has turned into a solid platform for online business. It”s no surprise that online store owners appreciate its importance in full measure as they make use of it every day.

Dec 4, 2011

Out of the box Magento comes with support for multiple currencies to be allowed, even within the same store. If you need this there is a helpful little module that provides a dropdown for your sites sidebar to switch between them and although this is very functional it looks nicer, and I suspect users prefer it, to have currencies selected using icons – and to find them in the header somewhere.

Aug 30, 2011

The standard Magento contact form is built into the Magento framework and doesn’t allow for admins to manage the content, this article describes your options for managing content on the contact page as well as maintaining multiple contact forms and customising their fields. The normal contact form is a core piece of functionality within Magento and there are several options for customizing it. Adding a static block to the contact form The simplest requirement to fulfil is being able to add content above or below the form containing an introduction, title and alternative contact options such as address and email information.

Aug 26, 2011

For some reason the Magento checkout sets the “Ship to different address” as the default option even though far more people actually want items delivered to their billing address. This quick tutorial explains how to change this default. The first stage in making this change is to override the default Magento class that handles the checkout. You do his by simply copying the class file from the core folder into the local code folder.

Aug 18, 2011

The standard Facebook like button uses HTTP as the protocol for loading the Facebook JavaScript. This means you may receive SSL warnings to do with insecure items being on the page when viewing the SSL parts of your Magento site such as the checkout and the user account pages. To solve this problem you simply need to include the Facebook script using HTTPS – since Facebook also support the SSL version.

Aug 17, 2011

Guernsey and Jersey in the Channel Islands have independent tax rules from the UK and require some special processing in a Magento eCommerce website – here is how to go about it. First of all lets look at the sales tax rules in these three jurisdictions. UK sales tax or VAT (value added tax) is currently charged at 20% and needs to be applied to all orders payed for/delivered to the UK.