Project Estimation: Our Approach

One of the key elements to completing a project on time and within budget is a proper website estimate. The estimate helps us to get an eagle-eye view of the development of the website. What the client requires in the site, how to make that happen, and the timeframe involved. Poor analysis can mean missed deadlines and unexpected challenges, not to mention an uncomfortable level of stress for both the client and team.

That being considered, a good estimation is challenging. It could be challenging to predict everything that you’ll run into during development. However, if you have the right knowledge, you can simplify things and come to a more accurate result, saving time, energy and inconsistency.

A good estimate requires effective communication between client and team, a clear outline of the job, and enough experience to understand what it will take, both regarding work and time. The job has to be broken down into components so we can make a clear action plan and set up a reasonable schedule. Here’s a look at how we go about estimating a project and a few tips to ensure the process goes smoothly.

What Is Estimation?

An estimate is an overview of the project. We communicate with the client to find out what they want and need on their website. Look into the details, get an idea of the functionality required, and explore what it’s going to take to get the job done. When the estimate is finished, you’ll have an action plan for building the site and a reasonable idea of the timeframe required to make it happen.

Project Management Estimation: Best Practices

The most important aspect of an estimate is information. There are four steps to an estimate. We have to look into the size of the project, the workload, the schedule, and the expenses. In the process, we’ll go from a rough idea about what’s required to a clear and detailed layout of the steps required to create the site. This gives us a chance to think through the challenge points, find out how many people will be involved and what skills will be needed.

The first step is the size estimate. To estimate the size of the project, we have to visualize it. We have to take the structure of the website into account, consider the potential obstacles, and look into bottlenecks. This means talking to the client. Each site is unique, so it’s important to find out what the client wants and needs. All of the aspects of functionality should be made clear so that the estimate is based on solid ground. This is also when you look into the required documentation. It’s best if this step is documented in written form as well so that changes can be tracked and all required features are laid out clearly.

After you have an idea of what the project will need, the next step is to get an estimate of the workload. We look into the labor required for design, documentation, client interaction and process organization. We also have to take into account quality assurance and, if necessary, prototype implementation. As mentioned above, it’s important not to underestimate the time and work required. This could lead to missed deadlines, overworked technicians, and a lower quality product. None of that is good for the client’s successful website launch. At the same time, it’s unwise to overestimate too much. If you put forth too large a time frame, that won’t correspond to the reality and break up the loyalty and trust.

The third step that should be taken is to move on to the schedule. Since you have a clear idea of the steps involved in implementation, you know the number of people involved and how long it takes to complete each step. This lets us make a reasonable estimate of how many hours will be required for each task and then match that with availability. When this is done, we can set the project to calendar dates. This means that we can arrange a time for when the website is expected to be live.

Finally, you need to look into the expense involved to create the site. At this point, it’s important to remember that the cost of developing a website includes more than just development. Since many people are involved, a project manager is required to coordinate the workflow. Plus, it will need to be tested by the quality assurance to make sure the functionality is on track.

The expense estimate should reflect the value the team puts into the project plus it depends on the pricing model that was agreed before. If it is a fixed price, there should be a certain project cost. As for the dedicated team or outstaffing, there is a need for the development part, but not necessarily a project manager.

Our Estimation Approach

Here’s our approach on how to estimate project cost and time. It begins with an Analysis of Client Requirements and a comprehensive review of documentation gathered by the project manager. The developers, team leader, and project manager cooperate to provide a complete workup of what will be required to complete the project. They evaluate the project and set up a quote. This is done by setting up a task in Redmine. All client information is gathered, and a detailed description is created. The development team and team leader then studies the project carefully. It’s broken up into tasks, which are then evaluated and fit with estimates. A min-max plug is also provided by the development team.

Then, we move on to the next stage, putting together the commercial proposal. The client will receive a file listing the tasks and the hours required for each. The client reviews this and gets back to the project manager regarding the estimates and budget.

Once the client approves the estimate, the project manager prepares the Commercial Proposal (CP). This document describes the project terms and company information. It includes an overview of the project, the platform involved, description of the scope, and the cost of the project. The additional aspects are the technical solutions, terms of payment, and details about our own company. The client is given everything they need to know to communicate effectively with the company and understand the development process.

How We Estimate Client’s RFP?

When a company needs to contract services for a project, they will create a document known as an RFP, or request for proposal. This gives the scope and details of the project and solicits bids from contractors. The RFP also contains a list of criteria by which a proposal will be evaluated. For the client, this helps them to find the right company for the job. For the contractor, the RFP will give us a rough idea of what’s required, so we know what to ask and how to approach the project.

In order to get a clear view on how to move forward, the next step is to ask questions. Once we receive an RFP, we’ll review it and then consult with the client about the details. We’ll have to refine our understanding of the functionality required and specific details regarding each portion of the project.

Once we have enough information and have gone over all the essential details, we can provide an initial software development project cost estimation. We can go over the points and provide a solid response to the RFP, but a solid estimate will still require further communication with the client.

What Would Cooperation Look Like?

Once you’ve decided on a service provider, the next step is cooperation. When you work with us, the first thing we do is request parameters for budget and costs, as well as detailed information regarding the features and functionality of the site. This lets us know how many people will need to be involved and how to budget development expenses, and it provides an overview of the desired end product.

Our development team goes through this information, breaks the project down into functional pieces, and then provides estimates for each piece. This estimate effort project management is then sent back to the client for review. All quotes are discussed and we put together a solid estimate for both time and expenses. If the project requires a dedicated developer, we will then send you a list of CVs and arrange interviews so that you can be sure you have the right person for your project.

After getting the game plan solid, we launch into it. We set our developers to the task, coordinate them with the project manager, and then have our quality assurance department test each portion as it is finalized. We regularly consult with our clients on the development process, arranging planning sprints, delivery dates, and other relevant factors.

Each team member is encouraged to share openly about potential challenges, new developments, and anything else that might impact the final product. If changes in the estimate are necessary, they are published in-house and options are discussed with the client. The project is only complete when your site has all the functionality you need when it looks and works as you want it to. Finally, we provide site support after completion to work out any bugs that might have slipped under the radar and ensure complete client satisfaction.

Development Estimation

The developers, though not the only element in the development process, are still one of the most important pieces of the puzzle. They are the ones that do the coding, that understand the requirements to create the necessary functionality, and have the experience required to give accurate estimates for each portion of the project. Developer or a team can provide an excellent project estimator for the more technical aspects of site creation.

One of the keys to a good estimate is knowing how to break the project down into its parts. This is where the developers are helpful. They will know what is required for each step of the project. They’ll be able to look at each feature and aspect of functionality and divide it into workable tasks. Once the project has been broken into tasks, it can be effectively assessed to generate a solid estimate.

Project Management Approval

At this point, it’s pretty clear why cost estimation is important in project management. Cost estimation is actually the process that shows all of the elements involved in developing the project. This lets PM tap the appropriate personnel and set reasonable timetables.

The project manager is the one responsible for the eagle-eye view of the project. Each developer handles their own small piece of the puzzle. However, the PM puts the puzzle together. They are the conductor of the symphony, arranging all the bits so that they fit together into a team. This is why project management approval is key to providing a solid estimate, both in terms of time and cost. They can look at all of the elements involved so that the overall project can be coordinated on schedule and within budget.

How Many Visitors to a Website You Have: Google Analytics Tool

To make your website successful, you’ve got to keep track of who actually sees it. This is great feedback to see check SEO effectiveness. “How to check my website visitors online?” We’ll go over a few great ways to check site activity and traffic. We’ll explore Google Analytics and how to integrate it with a Magento® store.

Want to Check Views on Website?

Your site’s active and people are visiting. You’re getting a few conversions, but there’s plenty of room for growth. You might be wondering, “How can I check the hits on my website?” The process is simple, you need to check webpage statistics. They offer loads of information. The pages people visit most and least frequently. It looks at visitors, sources, and conversion to give you a snapshot of your website activity.

You can get a quick sketch of your followers if you have a blog by looking at how many comments they have. You can also look into views on embedded videos. Much easier is to get all this information accurately at once. One of the great free services for exploring site activity is Google Analytics.

Magento Google Analytics Installation Guide

Integrating Google Analytics with Magento is easy. First, set up a Google Merchant Account. Be sure to get the URL verified and claimed. You’ll get a report from Google Analytics with an account number in this format: UA-XXXXXXX-1. Save this number. You’ll want it later for configuration.

Enter the account and enable eCommerce tracking. To do this, first, click Admin. From there, choose View Settings. From there, go into eCommerce settings. Activate eCommerce tracking, then click next. Submit, then you’ll get a success message pop-up.

Next is completing configuration. Select Admin>System>Configuration. Click to expand, then activate Google Analytics. Put in the account number from earlier. After that, click Save Config. Voila!

Add Google Analytics Tracking Code

First, you’ll need a Google Analytics Tracking code. Essentially, this is a business file number for your website in Google Analytics. Go to Admin>System>Configuration to add the tracking code. Look for Google API in the Sales selection. Enter the tracking code in the Account Number field. Then enable it. Click Save Config and that’s it. Remember to clear cache to see the newest configurations.

Get Google Analytics Login Credentials

With a Google account, it’s a cinch to access analytics. First, enter google.com/analytics in the search bar. Gmail account email and password are all you need to log in. After signing in, select Analytics.

This lets you explore website details, checking views, properties, and accounts. You can also go into analytics through Google Ads. Just click on Tools and Analysis and select Analytics.

Step-by-Step Instructions

After the installation of Google Analytics is sorted, you’ve got tracking code and login credentials. This lets you look into Real-Time information for every site page. Average page time, visits, bounces, conversions. To get to analytics, go to google.com/analytics and sign in. This brings you to the home page. Click on the account and you’ll land on the Audience Coverage page. Select Real Time from the side menu. For current info, select Overview. Explore viewed pages, user behavior, and geographic location with a click.

How to See Who Views Your Website

To check your website visitors, Google Analytics is an important tool. It’s perfect for monitoring website traffic and traffic sources. This analytics helps you better visualize your demographic. When you understand your customers and site activity, it’s easier to boost outreach and create effective advertising strategies. You can access a free version, or both premium and universal versions. Google Analytics will let you know who visits when they enter, and what brought them there. Some well-placed filters will also help. Using the traffic hacker, filter out junk traffic and your own visits, as both skew the results.

Geographic Location

Google Analytics is great for looking into users’ locations. That’s critical when dealing with both online and physical stores, letting you streamline deliveries for maximum efficiency. Geographic information can be set to different scopes: City, Country, Continent. Location data is based on user IP addresses. However, IP addresses are approximate. Plus, you may be contacted from a computer in Thailand, for instance, to serve an order for a company primarily based in Canada. Many companies operate out of areas that might not reflect their true geographic distribution.

Traffic Sources

Ok. One question you’ll want to ask is, “How many visitors visit my website?” This means exploring website traffic. Plus, it’s important to know how visitors have found you. Traffic sources include direct, organic, referral, and social. It’s best if traffic is balanced across all sources. Google Analytics offers a Traffic Sources report. This gives you details on total traffic and breaks it down by source. Login and select View Report. You’ll be taken to the Dashboard. This gives an overview of site analytics. Select Traffic Sources from the side menu.

Direct Traffic

If you click Direct Traffic, you’ll be shown how many users visit by entering the URL directly or by bookmarking the website in their browser. When you hand out business cards or put up flyers and people visit your site, they reach it by directly entering your URL. While this is an important source for many businesses, it may appear to be higher than it actually is. This is because Google Analytics determines the source from an HTTP referrer. Some browsers, plugins, and mobile devices strip this information as the visitor clicks in. Any clicks that don’t have a referrer are classified as direct traffic. Make sure to tag all your controlled traffic and campaigns, like social media posts and email marketing.

Organic Traffic

When your site comes up in a search and a visitor clicks on it, they reach it organically, without advertisement or referrals from other websites. If you have high levels of organic traffic, it means your site has great SEO. Keyword-based searches rank your site high, so it comes up on the first page. It’s best if not too much of your traffic is organic. Google changes its search algorithms on occasion. This can significantly drop levels of organic traffic overnight.

Referral Traffic

When another website features a link to your website, you get referral traffic. To check your referral traffic, select the Referring Sites option in the Traffic Sources report. High referral traffic is a good sign. It shows that other websites appreciate the services, products, and content you offer. Your influence is both extended and legitimized. Plus, referral traffic has a high conversion rate. It’s a great way to get new customers, and more links also mean better search results.

Social Traffic

Social sources account for about a quarter of the website traffic for most sites. It’s the second largest traffic source. Because the visitors are being directed by links in emails or social blogs, they may not even know what site they’re going to before they arrive. Social traffic also has the lowest return rate. Visitors may come only once. If they return, it’s often through the same channel as before. However, engagement and conversion rates tend to be higher. Social traffic can also be influenced actively. Posts on your social channels can significantly increase traffic.

User-ID Coverage Report

User ID’s are great for engaging your customers more deeply. They give you the option of tailoring a user portion of the site with special content and deals. To check analytics for signed-in users, just enter User-ID Coverage into the search box. On the app, go to Behavior and then choose Behavior View. If using a web view, select Audience and then choose Behavior Reports. This report gives the proportion of user sessions to the total. This shows what your dedicated customers are most interested in.

Other Useful Analytics Tools

It doesn’t stop there. If you want to know “how to track visits to my website,” there are several other useful analytic tools. Buffer, Alexa, SimilarWeb, these are just a few of the high-quality alternatives you can explore. Let’s explore the features of each:

SimilarWeb

SimilarWeb is excellent for analyzing any site or app. It allows you to explore your analytics and that of your competitors. This lets you explore their approach to online strategy and analytics. This lets you follow smart competitor’s techniques to refine your online strategy. It also helps to highlight new industry trends and players.

Alexa

Alexa gives detailed website analytics, including demographics, web speed, visit tracking, and popularity rankings. Just like SimilarWeb, Alexa can track competitor sites. It’s a high-quality site with an easy, intuitive interface and quick results. Alexa also offers several plans to fit any budget or marketing strategy. Another great feature is that Alexa offers recommendations to reach more customers and boost traffic.

Buffer

Buffer is most helpful if your company has a high social media emphasis. It specializes in performance analysis and managing accounts overall social sites at once. It is a rising star, used by more than 80,000 companies including Microsoft and Shopify. You can upload posts beforehand and schedule them to go up when you want. It also lets you explore social media analytics across all accounts. With this information, you can tailor posts and content to reach more customers and boost traffic.

ICONOSQUARE

Iconosquare is another service for managing social sites and exploring analytics across all of them. It lets you take your Instagram and Facebook pages to the next level. Iconosquare lets you upload content and schedule when it goes up. It also monitors all social media platforms, letting you moderate and track all comments from one site. It also has excellent analytics, letting you explore key social metrics. In Instagram, you can tag accounts and locations, review and manage comments, and keep up with gained and lost followers. This tool helps you tune into your demographic and boost your reach.

Guide to Web Development Project Management

Have you ever wondered how websites are made? Have you ever thought about hiring the web development company with proactive and flexible project management approach? In this article, we will focus on web development project management and also look at the different approaches used when it comes to web development, including the Agile approach to systems development.

You often hear people talk about the effectiveness of management for any type of project. You can define a project as a unique continuous task usually undertaken to achieve certain goals set within a given time frame, costs and other limitations. But, what are the key components of project management for the development? About the results, you can have a successful project if the goals that set were achieved due to the instructions that were laid out initially. Also, if the project was done within the agreed timeframe, under the detailed budget, you will come with great results. To run a smooth program, the project manager must be involved, or a team to whom everyone was participating in the assignment should be reporting to. He is responsible for every operation taking place within the project.

Different Approaches to Project Management

Below are some approaches often used in project management.

Agile Project Methodology

This is among the recognized methods used in project management. It is usually a good choice for an accumulative kind of project. This methodology involves a mechanism whereby the progression of the project depends on the chosen groups working together with the clients.

This methodology was initially made to assist in developing software systems as a way of making up for the inadequacies that the waterfall method had. Having sealed the loophole left by the waterfall approach, i.e., it lacked the flexibility to be able to change the project design, made this the most efficient methodology hence the popularity among different organizations.

It is the most popular project management approach that helps to break work into small parts, test each stage and provide flexibility in the development process. Project managers work with a team directly, providing constant communication, update information regarding all the steps of delivering the project from the beginning till the end. This approach helps to learn when and how the team is going through tasks. That is why the team works with a more focused and qualitative approach.

Scrum

This is also another approach used in managing projects. It comprises 5 core aspects. These are; focus, respect, commitment, courage, and openness. The main aim of using this particular approach is always focused on developing, delivering and sustaining complex tasks through continuous progress, accountability, and collaboration.

The Scrum methodology is different from the Agile approach by the way it works with certain production programs, roles, and activities set for the project.

Waterfall

If you read more on the traditional approaches used in project management, then most certainly you will find out this methodology. It follows a linear and straight design structure where the progress is unidirectional and only flows downwards.

The waterfall was originated from the construction and manufacturing industries. However, because of the tools involved, this methodology became more expensive hence lacking flexibility regarding changing the design structure during the initial stages of the project.

This saw the introduction of an agile approach, to deal with design issues, less customer feedback and probably a delayed testing time.

Lean

Another project management approach that promotes the maximization of customer value and minimizing the waste is lean. The approach is aimed at utilizing a few resources to increase client value. It originated from the Japanese manufacturing industry and works on the principle that quality should improve, waste removed and reducing both the cost and time.

Lean is also used for startups. The Lean Startup methodology was created by Eric Ries in 2008. It became an essential guide for startup founders and those who want to develop innovative products without losing a significant amount of investments. The idea lies in the creation of MVP – minimal viable product, testing the interest level from the early adopters and possible outcome on the market after you launch it.

Technical Project Management

From the definitions we’ve seen above, you can describe technical project management as the act of managing or overseeing projects that need web development or just technology initiative involved from the concept stage and sustaining it all through until a concrete outcome is archived.

To do this, the project targets must first be clearly set followed by a well-defined scope put in place before the project starts.

Web Development Project Management Process

You might probably be thinking the main thing towards developing a website involves coding alone, right? Well, coding is just part of it. However, there is a certain procedure that is always followed towards ensuring a successful project.

This is usually known as the website development life cycle with steps usually varying from 6 to 8 but usually the same thing. Below are the seven main steps:

• Gathering the requirements
• Planning
• Designing
• Development
• Testing and Review
• Deployment
• Maintenance

But that’s not all. To control the development process, give additional tasks and get feedback from the client, there should be a set of project management tools to work effectively.

Web Project Management Tools

Web development is an industry that requires a lot of interaction or collaboration thus it requires a good project manager with great project management skills. Well, the manager should also be able to keep his team together by organizing everything and making sure no one is left behind. This is why project management tools are important to control the workflow. They increase the interaction level within the team and a client thus improving the collaboration among all the members.

Web Project Management Software

Project management software is also a part of the project management tools. It is mostly used to bring some ease to the workflow by improving communication between the team members and the managers. Below are some that can help you with web development management.

Jira

This is an issue tracking software. Jira can be used when tracking errors in a project and also a good tool for Agile methodology.

Slack

Slack is another software used for managing projects and focusing mostly on improving collaboration among the team. It is a great messenger and communication channel.

Github

Have you ever heard about a version control system called Git? Well, Github is the software responsible for offering all the management functionalities of the version control system, Git.

Zeplin

Zeplin is a sketching tool. It’s an important software especially when it comes sketching up the designs to be implemented in the project.

Adobe Illustrator

Adobe Illustator is a graphics editor software that can usually be used for creating mockups or designs during a web development project.

All these tools are important because, in one way or another, they help to facilitate the development of the project by increasing the level of interaction. This results in easy workflow within the team.

Mobile-Friendly Website. Full Optimization Checklist

By now, the likelihood of hearing the term “mobile-friendly” in any tech-related conversation is at its highest. Thanks to the proliferation of mobile devices around the globe, design practices that were once aimed at desktop have switched to mobile. According to Statcounter, this was mainly influenced by the overtaking of desktop traffic by mobile traffic in 2017. Web developers continue to realize the benefits of mobile-friendly website daily. A wider audience, higher traffic flow, longer session durations are just a few on the list.

What Is a Mobile-Friendly Website?

Making a website mobile-friendly is not as difficult a task as it may sound. While there is no concrete definition of what a mobile-friendly website is, most definitions focus on factors such as accessibility, readability, and navigation.

Google defined their best practices to include mobile-first indexing, which means that Google indexes the mobile version of your website before the desktop version. The indexes are used by Google algorithms to rank website appearances in their search engine. Such factors have transformed mobile devices from social devices to potential business hubs.

What Makes a Website Mobile-Friendly?

Over time, many statistics have been formulated to analyze websites for their “mobile-friendliness.” The basis of these statistics ranges from the use of mobile real estate to the themes of design that a website developer selects for use. Google has done a great deal in this analysis and now provide developers with clearly defined in the Google guidelines on mobile-friendly web development.

The first focus of a mobile-friendly website will come from the visitors of your site. The visual presentation of information is a crucial aspect of how your visitor judges the website. The key areas of focus in the visual presentation include:

Responsive Design

The responsiveness of a site forms the basis for its mobile-friendliness. Responsive design of a website ensures that the content of that website will be resized and rearranged based on the size of the screen it is displayed on. A mobile responsive page, for example, will turn a vertically displayed menu to a horizontal display to enhance the website appearance. Unnecessary graphics such as images, GIFs, and videos may also be removed for better content presentation.

Readable Fonts

The focus for how information is presented in most web pages tends to lie on text representation, with images, videos, and audio enhancing the information that is in the text. The mobile-friendly website focuses on readability of text and usually have their content in sans-serif which is readable on screens of various types and sizes. Font sizes should also be carefully considered as it will affect how readable your paragraphs will be to the user. A standard size for most platforms your website could be viewed in is 16px.

“You can do a good ad without good typography, but you can’t do a great ad without good typography”
Herb Lubalin

Proper Text Formatting

Long blocks of paragraphs may appear neat on a desktop, but the length on smaller screens may look like too much information and scare the reader. Shorter and more precise paragraphs should be employed for a mobile responsive design. Keep the sentences short and direct, and apply bulleting and numbering where relevant.

Optimized Media Display

Information that is represented in videos and images must be sized in a way that doesn’t need scrolling or resizing of a page to view. Likewise, videos should be able to fit screen sizes appropriately when turned to landscape mode. Accurate adaptability can be enhanced by always using the viewport meta tag for your graphical elements.

Audit for Mobile-Friendly Site: A Checklist

The main points for the mobile-friendly site are the simple navigation, basic conversion elements (sections) on a website, site loading time, usability and content. To check this, you can follow the instructions below.

Checking the Site for Friendliness

To increase your website’s mobile-friendliness, there are some key elements of your website that you need to optimize. The checklist provides a handy guide for where to start when optimizing your website to be mobile phone friendly. Check the main website pages main page, section, flypage, contacts, and other useful sections and blocks. To check if the site is responsive use Google Service.

Checking the Basic Conversion Elements

Conversion elements are essential for websites that are looking to increase their following or obtain a wider customer base. They are parts of your website that prompt the user to take an action within the app. These actions may include:

• Ability to contact the store or office in one click;
• Hamburger menu
• Availability of prices on the products, services at the main pages types
• Page “Contacts or Contact us”: phone number, address, roadmap
• Fill out forms
• Allow for notifications
• Access to the social media page, and more.

These conversion elements should be added to your website in a way that does not obstruct the visitor from the main content of the webpage.

Checking the Site Load Speed

If your website features documents for the visitor or user to download, and the overall content volume is high, you must ensure that the load speed of your website is fast and reliable. There are tools available online that can analyze your website and suggest how best you can improve those speeds. There are tools available online that can analyze your website and suggest how best you can improve those speeds.

Google provides PageSpeed Insights as an online service which analyzes the speeds of your website. It provides details on the speeds and the optimization percentages for your website and provides suggestions on how you can improve these metrics for better ratings.

Pingdom is yet another website analysis tool which can help a website owner to achieve higher traffic for their website. It provides insights such as API integration metrics, root cause analysis, uptime monitoring, and synthetic interaction testing, which are essential for acquiring real-time statistics on website performance.

Likewise, GTmetrix is a tool which provides speed testing for websites. It gives insights to website performance through multiple scheduled tests and alerts, and it provides toolkits which can help web developers to optimize their websites even further for better performance.

Checking Website Usability

The usability of a website is determined by factors such as:

• Readability level – font size not less than 12 px
• The simplicity of navigation
• Minimal error generation
• Efficient completion of tasks
• Satisfaction of use

Lack of usability on your website will result in high bounce rates. Usability tests can be useful in testing individual modules of the website manually. Some tools can also automate the process and provide results much faster.

Checking Content Match for Mobile and Desktop User

As a web developer, you must ensure that what your users see on your desktop website matches what information they see on other devices that they use to access your site. The tests that are run to ensure consistency in each version of a website are known as parity tests. They involve crawling of the website as both a desktop and mobile users and identifying differences between the two versions. Likewise, checking your HTML code can provide insight into the differences and allow you to fix errors as soon as possible.

Typical Mistakes, their Solutions and Criticality Level for SEO

So, you’ve checked your site on some main points as usability level, site load speed, content match, and conversion elements. You are almost ready to provide a mobile-friendly version of your site. But during the process of optimization, some small or significant issues might occur. We decided to point most of them to make sure that your site is mobile-friendly and mobile-ready.

You can use this table above to check all the issues that might have occur on your website. This will help to prepare your site to be fully responsive and user-friendly.

Magento Search and Tips on How to Work With It

If you’re working in the eCommerce field, you may have heard about Magento® search before. That’s because the tool is a necessary feature for any site to have a great user experience; that said, not many have taken the time to describe it or how it works. That’s why we’ve created this guide to tell you more about how to improve your search for the store.

How Does Magento Search Bar Works?

To get started, we should discuss how Magento Search works in the first place.

Search Features

Magento Search features include the use of synonyms; thereby, optimizing your functionality. You can also take advantage of the search’s SEO features, which will allow you to rank higher in Google.

Here is a list of the features you may find with Magento Search:

• Search Engine Optimization
• Synonyms
• Language processing
• URL redirect management
• Product promotion

Types of Search in Magento

There are several kinds of searches exist and.each one has its own benefits. You can use the full-text search, which does not provide a partial match for searches. This search option will provide your customers with results that best match their search, though, because it determines which products are most appropriate for specific keywords.

Next, there’s combined search. It will allow your customers to find products that match partially with a keyword. Because of this, your customers can find products that don’t match a specific keyword, but that they can browse a specific product name.

You can use flexible searches. These will provide your customers with matches depending on a word they search. If they search the word bed, for example, they may find bedding as a partial match.

A sorted search result will show your customers exact matches. In comparison to flexible searches, a sorted search result will not show you the word bedding if you search bed; rather, it’ll only show you results with the word bed.

Magento Search Settings

It has a number of settings that will help your customers to find their products more efficiently. We specified those settings below and for sure, they can greatly improve Magento Search and user experience at your store.

Quick Search

This search feature allows as the name suggests, your customers to search quickly. It installs a search box in the top right corner of your store; wherein, your customers can type keywords or products. If you own a clothing store; for example, they can type “yellow top” to view a list of yellow tops.

Advanced Search Settings

Your customers can use Magento’s advanced search setting to find products with more restrictive parameters. If there’s a maximum price you’re willing to pay, you can enter it here to show results that are within your range. You’ll also have parameters like the following: Name, SKU, Description, Short Description, etc.

Weighted Search

A weighted search will allow you, the eCommerce business owner, to put a specific weight to product characteristics in Magento product search. These characteristics will have weights that range from 1 to 10, 10 being the highest. This means that if you rate “color” at a 7 and “size” at a 4, a search for a “green shirt” will show shirts that have the color green listed as an attribute. In doing so, you’ll allow your customers to find the products they want more quickly.

Configuring Search in Magento 2

Now that you know a little more about Magento Search, we can tell you all about Magento search configuration.

Configuring Magento Search

Before we get into how you can configure different features of Magento Search, you should know how to configure the tool itself.

1. Go to your admin panel.
2. Drag your mouse to the far right part of your screen. Here, you should have a section called Stores. When you run your mouse over it, you’ll see a drop-down menu.
3. Scroll down the drop-down menu until you see Configuration. Click on it.

Configure Catalog Search

1. Stay at Configuration.
2. Now, you should have a section that says “Catalog Search”. Click on it.
3. From here, you can configure the following: minimal query length, maximum query length, search engine (MySQL).
4. Remember to save.

Configure Popular Search Terms

Your search terms are already enabled on your site; that said, you’ll have to connect it to your catalog search. This will allow you to rank higher on search engines.

1. You’ll have to go to the Stores section and press Settings.
2. Click on Catalog.
3. Click on Catalog again.
4. Now, you should find the section titled Search Engine Optimization. You can choose to enable or disable this.

Magento Custom Search Module

Magento Search module will set your store apart from all the others. Below, you can read about different custom modules to ensure that your customers are having the best experience they can.

Layered Navigation Extension by Mageworx

This module is popular for a number of reasons; for example, it’s SEO friendly. Because of this, your website will rank higher in search engines than it would otherwise. Not only this, but you can install different category characteristics on your site so that your customers will be able to narrow down their searches. Customers will be able to select multiple characteristics so that if your customers are looking for shirts that are white or/and blue, they can select these colors to narrow down their search.

ElasticSearch by Amasty

This search module will allow your customers to search for products more accurately. This will be done by finding synonyms when your customers search so that while they might enter the weird “shirt”, products that have “top” as a description may pop up. This feature will make your store more flexible and allow customers to find the products they want – even when they don’t have the exact words to find them.

Google Custom Search Pro by CommerceExtensions

This extension is known for improving the SEO of Magento stores. In doing so, you can expect your store to rank higher in Google than others and to increase your exposure.

The major benefit of this extension is that it can work with any store and you don’t have to change your template for it to do so. It also supports a multi-store environment and comes with a manual so that you can get the most out of your store.

How to Create Any Custom Module in Magento

If the above modules aren’t exactly what you’re looking for, you may have your own Magento custom search query. To create your custom module, use following the following steps:

1. Disable your cache in Magento. This is not necessary but we do suggest it for the optimal experience.
2. Run to a developer mode. If you don’t know how to do this, you can simply go to your terminal. From here, go to Magento 2 root and run this command: php bin/magento deploy:mode:set developer
3. Create a folder. Here, you’ll have to name your module. It should be named VendorName_ModuleName.
4. From here, you’ll have to create an etc/module.xml file. Create an etc folder once you’re done.
5. Your next step is to create the etc/registration.php file.
6. Enable your new module.
7. Create a controller

If you want to know more about how to create a custom Magento module, follow our step-by-step guide.

The First PWA POS App for Magento 2 by Magestore: Our Review

One of the hottest web development trends to hit the world of eCommerce is PWA. Magento® is currently developing a PWA studio to enhance their features. Other companies as Vue Storefront and Magento development agencies are looking to expand PWA’s presence. Progressive Web Apps give your customers greater access to your product and makes it easier than ever to get conversions. Magestore is developing a new POS solution that revolutionizes customer experience with a PWA app-like experience. Magento’s PWA studio and PWA POS will fit your website with cutting-edge eCommerce solutions.

What is PWA?

A PWA is a new way of accessing websites. Basically, it takes all the best features of a website and combines them with all the best features of an app. The user is given an option to add the site to their home screen. If they accept, an icon appears on the home screen and a user can return to the site with a single click. Users aren’t required to download anything, and the PWA loads more quickly than other sites, even on the first visit. Once it’s added to the home screen, it smart caches data for near-instant load times.

What is POS?

POS is an acronym for “point of sale.” It’s an essential element of any eCommerce business. Traditionally, the cash register has performed the role of receiving money and counting orders. In the digital age, even the point of sale has been upgraded to fit new technology and customer expectations. Now, the POS is a blend of software and hardware. It processes credit cards, handles cash payments, tracks and manages transactions, and coordinates post-transaction services. Put simply, the modern POS streamlines business operations while providing customers with a user-friendly experience.

PWA POS by Magestore for Magento

Now you know what the PWA is and what the POS system is. What has connected them? That is the case we want to talk about. The Magestore team has created a new PWA POS product. Basically, it is a fully-fledged POS system that works across multiple devices with super fast and stable performance.

As any business owner knows, handling the paperwork can be a major headache. Going around and around to get all the information you need, from end-of-day totals to customer information. Add in inventory, shipping, and peak hour sales, and you’re looking at the biggest challenges faced by any type of business. This is the beauty of Magestore’s PWA POS. Now that Magento business owners have all information including sales, customers, and inventories within just ONE place – your POS. In real-time. With instant access.

Less paperwork, less chance of deadly errors.

Customers get a full range of options to pay for their purchased products. No need to wait in long lines for the clerks to process one sale at a time. Also, it is easier for the staff to work with PWA POS as it loads quicker and you get the same functionality as in web version. They also receive full customer and inventory details to make sales.

The result? For the customer: a faster and smoother checkout experience. For the business owner: streamlined business operations with built-in coordination of all information necessary for customer fulfillment. To break it down further, this means that you have a successful, and efficient business with lower overhead. Magestore’s PWA POS handles a wide range of different payment styles and processes them at high speed. Plus, it provides easy access allows offline viewing with no lag time. Finally, customers are able to easily view current stock availability as part of the POS.

Now let’s move on to more features of PWA POS and what it will give your business. Most certainly that you’ve heard about Omnichannel businesses. Accessibility is the feature that makes them successful and PWA POS certainly help to create the omnichannel experience.

PWA POS Benefits

In addition to the potential for expansion, the PWA POS has several other benefits. First, it can be accessed quickly, even on the first visit. Many users will bounce from the site if it takes more than three seconds to load. PWAs have been designed with this in mind, guaranteeing instant load time and letting customers surf without interruption even when the connection is bad or when offline. Web pages are updated silently in the background, and information from previous visits is pre-cached to tailor customer experience. Plus, since the same app runs on both mobile and desktop, PWAs lower your maintenance costs and requirements. Let’s take a look at the key advantages in order to understand how it works.

More & Faster Sales

Let’s face it – customers have plenty of options these days. And, attention spans are becoming shorter and shorter. So, if a customer has to wait for a page to load before making a purchase, odds are they’ll find another source. The Point of Sale is the last place you want to lose a sale, so it’s vital that your POS will process product search, checkout, and report quickly. With PWA, you get lightning-fast load times and tailored customer experience.

Time & Cost Saving

We’ve touched a scenario upon how the customer can save time in the sales process. What about the business itself? A great bulk of business overhead is the admin. You have to pay employees to manage the paperwork. You have to spend the budget and man-hours for post-transaction fulfillment. And this is vital for the success of the company. A few unsatisfied customers can lead to poor reviews and fewer visits to your site. Keep your customers happy, and your conversion rates will soar. So, by streamlining your business operations, you actually improve the success of your business.

Ease of Expansion

One of the greatest details of the Magestore PWA POS is that it can be changed and upgraded from the backend. It’s the core Magento system that you’ve already been familiar with. You can manage or add locations for your products or physical sites. It also lets you determine roles and set permission for them. Staff can be assigned directly through the POS, and staff statistics can be easily monitored by the business owner. Finally, when it comes time to expand, there are no extra fees. In fact, this product is a one-time payment with no recurring fees. After purchase, your business can be expanded indefinitely without additional expenditure.

Control All Over the Stores

Another challenge faced by business owners is to coordinate the activity of all stores. Inventory, availability, shipping, these are just a few things that business owners need to manage, and the more stores you have, the bigger the challenge. Admin costs grow with each store, leading the business owner to wonder if it’s worth the challenge to expand. With Magento’s PWA POS, these questions are a thing of the past. You have instant access to all sales, inventory, and operations of every store. This lets you refine the operations in each store and easily switch from one location to another via the admin panel.

Instant Use with Full Benefits

Ease of use is critical in the fast-paced modern world. The PWA POS streamlines the post-transaction phase. This means that customers receive their products or services without hold-ups from inefficient processing. They get what they want. Ease of use is the key to making your product available to your customer. The most beautiful thing about PWAs is that they offer an app-like experience without actually having to download an app. You get all the benefits and none of the downsides. Offline experience, instant loading, and no download.

Omnichannel Experience

Omnichannel is one of the holy grails of current eCommerce platforms. Last year, the big trend was multichannel. But we’ve moved on. Multichannel let the customer reach the site through any device. Omnichannel means that a customer can begin the sale on one device, and finish it on another without having to start from the beginning. Seamless integration happens across all channels. That’s what PWA POS system deliver to you as a business and helps to reach your customers and your business goals. Online fulfillment is integrated so that the customer can interact with the site, shifting devices when they need, and purchasing the product from the most efficient location.

PWA POS Key Features

Magestore’s PWA POS comes loaded with features to simplify your sales and boost efficiency. The login takes less than 3 seconds. Products can be held and processed at your convenience. It allows you to establish coupon codes for customers. You can add customer details for shipping and provide shipping options. All information from prior sales is at your fingertips. Customer status and order history can be accessed in seconds. Plus, this system lets customers leave a deposit to lock in a product. PWA POS is corresponding to the 2 devices: iPad, Android Tablet. It will be easy to work with customers via PWA app, not with a web version. It will save the time of the staff and the store owner.

In reality, you can have different scenarios with your customer at the store. PWA POS cover different situations that might appear. And you will understand them better with the features of the system and how they work.

Customer Management

How many customers can you handle at once? With the traditional methods, your POS gives you a hard ceiling. It means that you have a maximum limit on the number of sales you can make in an hour or a day. However, Magestore PWA POS shatters this ceiling. You can handle loads of customer requests, and stock availability is updated instantly. Transactions can be completed in less than ten seconds, and barcode scans are processed in less than one second. Plus, more than 12,000 orders can be processed in a single hour.

Working with Multiple Customers

The traditional POS limits the number of customers that can be processed at once by the number of available cash registers. Once you set up a PWA POS, you can create multiple orders at the same time. Orders can also be held and processed later, whenever you or the customer are ready to finalize the sale on checkout. When reviewing details of the sale, customers can be looked up in under a second. And when they win, you win.

Filtering Customers

Each customer will have viewing and purchasing histories on your POS system. Being able to explore these histories lets you know what the customer wants. It lets you know what they are more likely to purchase later. Magento’s PWA POS gives you access to all customer history, letting you make targeted product recommendations and send new product offers that up conversions. Also, you can filter your customers in a system by the name, orders status, and location.

Synchronization

One of the challenges in eCommerce is to manually import or export information between the CMS and the POS. Synchronization provides and answers to this. It automatically integrates information from all aspects of the business. Stock information, customer information, orders, and sales are all fed into a single integrated database. Real-time sync incorporates information from Magento and POS. Offline sync lets merchants effortlessly manage the business without the internet connection and saves all actions that were performed during this period.

Partial Payments

One feature that increases customer convenience is partial payment. Customers may not be able to able to pay for the entire purchase at once. PWA POS lets you accept partial sales from a customer and then handles the later payments with no hassle.

Refunds

Customer satisfaction requires refunds. Customers tend to change their mind. Sometimes they bought something that didn’t fit or made an impulse purchase they later regret. Magento’s PWA POS eliminates these challenges and makes the refund process as simple as the sale itself. You can fill out the refund right out from the system.

Reward Points and Coupons

Repeat customers come from incentives. We all love a sale. So, when you give your customers coupons and reward points, you dramatically increase conversion rates. PWA POS makes it easy to incorporate reward points and coupons at checkout as well.

Payment Methods

When it comes down to it, customers will want to pay with all sorts of different methods. Cash, credit card, PayPal, Stripe, set up your site so that the customers can pay as they want. Customers may want to split payments between different methods, and they will want to be able to use the methods that are easy for them. You can choose split payment on the screen at checkout, so the customer can pay half cash and half credit card, for example. Magento’s PWA POS is designed with this in mind, making purchases simple and cutting out the hassle.

Cash

Cash is king. This is how it’s been from the beginning of the business and it’s not likely to change anytime soon. This is just basic business protocol. If you have a physical location, it’s a necessity.

Credit Card

The second most common form of payment is with credit or debit card. And any online shop will need to be able to process this kind of payment. In fact, with both online and physical store, this is the first, the most preferred method of payment. So processing credit cards and debit cards are absolutely critical for the success of your business. PWA POS makes this simple, cutting out the middleman.

PayPal

PayPal is the second most common form of payment for online purchases. Until the game changes, making your site PayPal accessible is an absolute necessity. PayPal is easy to set up, operates across the world, and makes payment simple. PayPal payments come default in the PWA POS system, making it a breeze for you to use the highest ranking international payment site with no additional steps.

Authorize.net

Authorize.net is set up for secure payments and invoicing, as well as recurring payments, secure customer data, and a wide range of different payment types. Plus, it makes checkout simple and includes automatic synchronization with Quickbooks. It might not be the top choice for online payments, but it comes close. PWA POS comes standard with Authorize.net features.

Stripe

This is a scalable, flexible tool for processing online payments. It provides a comprehensive toolkit for Internet businesses. Magestoremade Stripe available for its new POS service. Regardless of the type of business you run, Stripe is a payment option you want to provide to your customers.

Bambora

Bambora is an up-and-coming service that shouldn’t be overlooked in this new digital explosion. Though it may not have as much press as PayPal or Authorize.net, it’s still in the top of the rankings. Like the payment processing methods described above, Magento’s PWA POS comes equipped with facilities to process payments through Bambora. It offers tailored payment solutions to handle a wide range of payment sources. It’s a key payment processing platform for any site of the future.

Online Fulfillment

Ok. So you’ve got your orders in. The sale is made. What’s next? This is where order fulfillment comes in. It’s the post-transaction aspect of the sale. What happens after the customer has made the purchase. And, it’s key to the whole process. Online fulfillment is all about making sure your customer gets what they’ve ordered. This might require shipping or inventory handling. It might mean wrapping up the product in the checkout line. A customer can choose the preferred shipping method and delivery date.

POS and Location Management

Your customers are buying online. And, depending on the type of product, they’ll want something in their hands to complete the sale. This means that you’ll have to work with a physical inventory, based in a physical location. When you use Magento’s PWA POS, your inventory is correlated between all sites and shipping is the process in the most efficient way possible. It lets you give your customers what they want as quickly as possible.

Denomination

It’s a no-brainer that different countries will use different currencies. Some methods of payment processing require multiple conversions from one currency to the next. Each time currency is converted, you lose a bit. So the key is to find methods that cut the number of conversions. Magento’s PWA POS intelligently connects a user to the source, cutting out all the middlemen to make the highest profits from your sale.

Configuration with Google API

Sitemaps are a key to SEO. When you set up a sitemap with Google API, you use a free Google service to coordinate maps, routes, and places with the site. If you have a physical location, this is absolutely essential for your service. It connects your customers with your physical offerings. They can find you, which means you get more conversions. Google API sitemaps make your site more efficient for the customers and for yourself.

Overall, PWA POS by Magestore is a robust solution for the online and offline retailer, who wants to be omnichannel and cooperate with the customers successfully. It has lots of time-saving and innovative features for customers as online fulfillment, partial and split payments, easy navigation, online and offline synchronization, and other great tools. It will help you to control your inventory and plan product distribution among stores, quick reaction to stock fulfillment. Also, you will be able to proceed customers’ requests in a flexible manner and a short time.

Magento 2 Demo Features: Overview

One of the things that put Magento® ahead of other CMS options is its secure network of community support and online learning resources. Magento has been designed so that it’s pretty intuitive to use. Plus, Magento is an open source, and anyone wanting to find out more about it has access to countless resources online. However, you need some time to learn how to set up certain settings and fill out your store with the information. Today, we’ll be showcasing the Magento 2 demo. This is a free online resource that lets business owners to explore the Magento 2 backend or interface with the frontend like a user. You can look into site features and functionality with sample information for a first-hand feel for how it works before finally selecting a CMS. Read on for a detailed look into the demo.

Magento Latest Version Features

The latest version of Magento 2 significant improvements in performance and security, as well as enhancements to shipping options, the dotmailer extension, and Amazon Pay features. More than 150 fixes have been included in the core code, and 25 improvements have been made to security. These improvements include refinements to the catalog indexing process, product sorting, and the checkout process.

Another benefit of the Magento community is that users can send feedback in and any bugs or usability improvements will be included in the next version. The current version features more than 350 adjustments based on user feedback. Several of the core-bundled extensions have been enhanced. Amazon Pay is now included in the payment options, and the current version of Magento features a payment provider gateway, making it easier than ever before to integrate your store with payment providers. The dotmailer extension has been updated for better GDPR compliance, including consent captures and warnings when you attempt to include non-subscribers on the account. These are just a few of the enhancements you’ll see when exploring the demo. Learn more about its features below.

Magento Demo Login

When you want to login to the Magento CMS demo, just follow the demo link and sign in as an admin. Take a moment to set up your username and password, and you’re in! The demo has sample information that can be worked with just as you will work with your live eCommerce site.

You can check out the frontend to see what your customers see when they visit the website or explore the backend, changing settings and configurations to see how these settings shift site functionality and customer experience.

Magento Demo Store Admin Panel

You’ll be directed to the opening page for the demo once you log in. The admin sidebar is along the left side of the screen. This is the central control panel for your site. This lets you navigate the entire backend of the site. Dashboard, System, Customers, Content, Marketing, Reports, Sales and Find Partner Extension. Here are some of the options and functionality of each section.

Dashboard

The Dashboard is the homepage of the Magento 2 test site. It features details regarding sales and customers. You can use this information to refine product listings, showcase bestsellers, and check sales within a given time frame. It provides an overview of company productivity and site success. The Dashboard also gives you access to information about last order, lifetime sales, and average orders.

There’s also a row of tabs that let you look into your new and existing customers, bestsellers and most viewed products. Plus, you can search in intervals of a day, a week, a month, one year, and two years. The Dashboard also features a notification icon in the top right of the page. This will let you keep up with any important changes or updates. It showcases the essential aspects of Magento functionality.

Sales

The Sales section will let you go in-depth when exploring Sales. There are seven options in the Sales menu:

• Orders
• Invoices
• Shipments
• Dispatches
• Credit Memos
• Billing Agreements
• Transactions

The Order section is where you’ll go to input a new order. It keeps track of orders, shipping information and payment information, and the grand total. The Dispatches section shows the orders ready to ship. It helps you keep track of shipping schedules. It also lets you print dispatches for each order to go out. This makes paperwork easy. The invoices section can generate invoices and access all order information: customer names and dates and numbers of invoices and orders, to start. The transaction menu shows what’s happening with each sale being processed.

Magento’s Billing Agreement functionality makes checkout faster and easier by saving payment details for future orders. The Billings Agreement section keeps track of all billing agreements with each customer. When processing refunds, you can make a note in the files by going to the Credit Memos menu. Magento Wholesale Fast Order is featured on the frontend. This lets customers make repeat bulk purchases without having to enter each product individually.

Catalog Features

The Catalog menu has been simplified in the new version. It now has only two selections: Products and Categories. In Products, you can add products and configure your product display. It also indicates the type of each product and lets you search by product type. The Categories section allows you to group products by type. It also generates meta-information automatically by product type. This section lets you control product listing and showcasing. The Categories menu lets you set up swatches and categories, create product grids, and arrange product listings.

Customer Segmentation

The Customers section offers basic client information and shopping history. Address, email, and phone number information are stored in each user file. These files show whether orders were made online or in a physical store. Order dates, amounts, and products for each order are included in this section. It lets you do customer segmentation, grouping customers with others that have similar shopping habits.

The Customers menu will also show when they first became customers and whether they are online at the moment or not. Customer files and new customers are automatically updated from orders on the frontend. They can also be added manually in the backend by admin.

Advanced Marketing Features

The Marketing section offers key Magento features for helping customers find you. In one menu, manage email and newsletter templates, subscriber lists and queues. You can set up discounts, promotions, and pricing rules.

This is also the place to go to refine your SEO and search details. The Marketing section also allows you to manage user reviews and automate the sales process.

Content

Moving on to the Content tab, this part of the backend allows you to manage the structure and aesthetics of your site. You can arrange pages, set up widgets, and manage the content of your blocks. It also lets you set up the design elements of your storefront. You can come here to change the website themes and configuration. You can also create a schedule for staging content updates at desired times.

Advanced Reporting

In the Reports tab, you can find all the information you need, about any aspect of your company. You can find all the product information and automation details. You can explore sales and marketing details and access full reports on new customers, order counts, and order details. You can check into the totals for specific payment options, abandoned carts, and newsletter problem reports. The Advanced Reporting section also lets you explore details in even greater depth. Tax and billing regions, orders and revenue, everything is right at your fingertips. Check new customer accounts, coupon users, product wishlists, and a host of other details.

Stores

The Stores section is another improvement over Magento 1. It centralizes all store details on a single menu. You can come here to change your preferred currency and manage the currency rate. You can adjust your settings, establishing all the needed configurations in your storefront. This sets up all frontend actions to tailor site experience and eCommerce functionality. You can also pull up all the tax and shipping information and manage product attributes. This is where you go to find all tax rules, zones, and rates, shipping carriers and locations, and current terms and conditions.

Configuration

Your configuration is like the anatomy of your site. It lets you set up bootstrap parameters and tailor your command-line utilities like running indexes, disabling and enabling cache types and setting up translations. The Configuration menu also provides options for setting up themes or message queues, and for handling the production and storage sections. Payment options can be configured in the sales section of this menu and any settings changed here will be saved onto the site.

System

The System section lets you set up permissions and for all users, lock certain users out and establish user roles. You can come here to import adjustments to the website and export details to other platforms. Up to 25Mb can be transferred per import or export file. The import history of your site is saved, so you can keep track of all imported files. Tax rates can also be imported and exported between sites. In Systems, you can manage and integrate your extensions, set up extensions, and create backups. These are just a few of the features you can make use of. This page also links to Amazon logs and lets you manage encryption keys.

Tools

The System section also includes a collection of tools that come with Magento 2. They are great for managing your caches or indexes. You’ll probably want to refresh the cache after adding new configurations to make sure that they are locked in. Another useful tool is the backup function. Save copies of your site so that you can go back to an old version if needed. Finally, the Web Setup Wizard tool makes adding and remove modules a cinch. It also keeps track of which modules are dependent upon one another. It makes sure all supporting modules are enabled and prevents you from activating conflicting modules at once.

Magento 2 provides everything you need to keep track of your store and update your site. Plus its intuitive interface guarantees that site upkeep will be quick and simple. Its tools and features are great for midsize to big businesses.

Broken Magento Shopping Cart: Cause and Solution

Today, we will be examining the broken cart bug in Magento® 2. Below, you will see a step-by-step description of the Magento cart problem and a method for fixing it.

Description of the Problem

There is one Magento 2 bug inherited from Magento 1 that has not yet been fixed at the core level. Here is the gist of the bug: A customer goes to a site, logs in, and adds a product to their cart. Then, the customer may attempt to log in again after some time has passed. In Magento 1, the customer receives a message about a fatal error (administrators see a link to a report). The administrator will see the same fatal error if they want to edit or view this customer’s account. In Magento 2, the customer can’t add products to their cart and go to checkout, but static pages, categories, and product pages are available. When this happens, the server administrator sees the following message in the global error log:

[Mon Aug 06 16:49:26.148250 2018] [:error] [pid 10400] [client 127.0.0.1:49255] PHP Fatal error: Uncaught Error: Call to a member function getThumbnail() on null in /var/www/zenzii_beta/vendor/magento/module-configurable-product/CustomerData/ConfigurableItem.php:66\nStack trace:\n#0 /var/www/zenzii_beta/vendor/magento/module-checkout/CustomerData/DefaultItem.php(78): Magento\\ConfigurableProduct\\CustomerData\\ConfigurableItem->getProductForThumbnail()\n#1 /var/www/zenzii_beta/vendor/magento/module-checkout/CustomerData/AbstractItem.php(31): Magento\\Checkout\\CustomerData\\DefaultItem->doGetItemData()\n#2 /var/www/zenzii_beta/vendor/magento/framework/Interception/Interceptor.php(58): Magento\\Checkout\\CustomerData\\AbstractItem->getItemData(Object(Magento\\Quote\\Model\\Quote\\Item))\n#3 /var/www/zenzii_beta/vendor/magento/framework/Interception/Interceptor.php(138): Magento\\ConfigurableProduct\\CustomerData\\ConfigurableItem\\Interceptor->___callParent('getItemData', Array)\n#4 /var/www/zenzii_beta/vendor/magento/framework/Interception/Interceptor.php(153): Magento\\ConfigurableProduct\\CustomerData\\ConfigurableItem\\Intercep in /var/www/zenzii_beta/vendor/magento/module-configurable-product/CustomerData/ConfigurableItem.php on line 66, referer: http://zenzii-beta.loc/index.php/all-necklaceThis is the broken cart bug and one of Magento 2 issues. The following conditions are needed to reproduce it:

1. The site must allow product configuration
2. A logged-in customer must add a configured product to their cart
3. The server administrator must delete the same product option (the simple product) that the customer added to their basket, and then the customer must log back into the site.

Below, we examine the reason for this bug using an example with Magento 2.2 code. We also examine a method for fixing it.

Why the Bug Occurs with Magento 2.2, and How to Fix It

When a user adds a configured product to their cart, two cart elements are actually added: the configured product and the simple product. In this case, the parent element is the configured product, and the hidden element is the simple product. Magento gets the weight, cost, and SKU from the simple product. What happens if the administrator deletes the simple product that the user has configured and added to their cart?

The following plugin is defined in the Magento_Quote core module

<type name="Magento\Catalog\Model\ResourceModel\Product">
    <plugin name="clean_quote_items_after_product_delete" type="Magento\Quote\Model\Product\Plugin\RemoveQuoteItems"/>
    <plugin name="update_quote_items_after_product_save" type="Magento\Quote\Model\Product\Plugin\UpdateQuoteItems"/>
</type>

Let’s examine the class of the clean_quote_items_after_product_delete plugin.

{
    /**
     * @var \Magento\Quote\Model\Product\QuoteItemsCleanerInterface
     */
    private $quoteItemsCleaner;
    /**
     * @param \Magento\Quote\Model\Product\QuoteItemsCleanerInterface $quoteItemsCleaner
     */
    public function __construct(\Magento\Quote\Model\Product\QuoteItemsCleanerInterface $quoteItemsCleaner)
    {
        $this->quoteItemsCleaner = $quoteItemsCleaner;
    }
    /**
     * @param ProductResource $subject
     * @param ProductResource $result
     * @param \Magento\Catalog\Api\Data\ProductInterface $product
     * @return ProductResource
     * @SuppressWarnings(PHPMD.UnusedFormalParameter)
     */
    public function afterDelete(
        ProductResource $subject,
        ProductResource $result,
        \Magento\Catalog\Api\Data\ProductInterface $product
    ) {
        $this->quoteItemsCleaner->execute($product);
        return $result;
    }
}

Note that until version 2.2, the around plugin was used instead of after, since after plugins didn’t support the input parameters of the original method. The \Magento\Quote\Model\Product\QuoteItemsCleanerInterface class looks as follows.

class QuoteItemsCleaner implements \Magento\Quote\Model\Product\QuoteItemsCleanerInterface
{
    /**
     * @var \Magento\Quote\Model\ResourceModel\Quote\Item
     */
    private $itemResource;
    /**
     * @param \Magento\Quote\Model\ResourceModel\Quote\Item $itemResource
     */
    public function __construct(\Magento\Quote\Model\ResourceModel\Quote\Item $itemResource)
    {
        $this->itemResource = $itemResource;
    }
    /**
     * {@inheritdoc}
     */
    public function execute(\Magento\Catalog\Api\Data\ProductInterface $product)
    {
        $this->itemResource->getConnection()->delete(
            $this->itemResource->getMainTable(),
            'product_id = ' . $product->getId()
        );
    }
}

As you can see, when the administrator deletes a product, the plugin simply deletes all the elements in the carts of all the users who had added the product. But the parent element isn’t deleted from the cart, and we end up with an orphaned item. To understand what is happening when trying to display the contents of a cart on the front end, we look at the code

namespace Magento\ConfigurableProduct\CustomerData;
use Magento\Catalog\Model\Config\Source\Product\Thumbnail as ThumbnailSource;
use Magento\Checkout\CustomerData\DefaultItem;
/**
 * Configurable item
 */
class ConfigurableItem extends DefaultItem
{
    /**
     * @var \Magento\Framework\App\Config\ScopeConfigInterface
     */
    protected $_scopeConfig;
    /**
     * @param \Magento\Catalog\Helper\Image $imageHelper
     * @param \Magento\Msrp\Helper\Data $msrpHelper
     * @param \Magento\Framework\UrlInterface $urlBuilder
     * @param \Magento\Catalog\Helper\Product\ConfigurationPool $configurationPool
     * @param \Magento\Checkout\Helper\Data $checkoutHelper
     * @param \Magento\Framework\App\Config\ScopeConfigInterface $scopeConfig
     * @param \Magento\Framework\Escaper|null $escaper
     */
    public function __construct(
        \Magento\Catalog\Helper\Image $imageHelper,
        \Magento\Msrp\Helper\Data $msrpHelper,
        \Magento\Framework\UrlInterface $urlBuilder,
        \Magento\Catalog\Helper\Product\ConfigurationPool $configurationPool,
        \Magento\Checkout\Helper\Data $checkoutHelper,
        \Magento\Framework\App\Config\ScopeConfigInterface $scopeConfig,
        \Magento\Framework\Escaper $escaper = null
    ) {
        parent::__construct(
            $imageHelper,
            $msrpHelper,
            $urlBuilder,
            $configurationPool,
            $checkoutHelper,
            $escaper
        );
        $this->_scopeConfig = $scopeConfig;
    }
    /**
     * {@inheritdoc}
     */
    protected function getProductForThumbnail()
    {
        /**
         * Show parent product thumbnail if it must be always shown according to the related setting in system config
         * or if child thumbnail is not available
         */
        $config = $this->_scopeConfig->getValue(
            \Magento\ConfigurableProduct\Block\Cart\Item\Renderer\Configurable::CONFIG_THUMBNAIL_SOURCE,
            \Magento\Store\Model\ScopeInterface::SCOPE_STORE
        );
        $product = $config == ThumbnailSource::OPTION_USE_PARENT_IMAGE
            || (!$this->getChildProduct()->getThumbnail() || $this->getChildProduct()->getThumbnail() == 'no_selection')
            ? $this->getProduct()
            : $this->getChildProduct();
        return $product;
    }
    /**
     * Get item configurable child product
     *
     * @return \Magento\Catalog\Model\Product
     */
    protected function getChildProduct()
    {
        if ($option = $this->item->getOptionByCode('simple_product')) {
            return $option->getProduct();
        }
        return $this->getProduct();
    }
}

An attempt to retrieve the child product, which doesn’t exist, also results in this error. In fact, until version 2.1.3, a foreign key from the catalog_product_entity table was used instead of the plugin. This key deleted cart items for deleted products.

A fix for this error will be described below. The best option, in this case, is to delete the parent element from the cart along with the child. Unfortunately, you cannot use a foreign key to do this, since the child element is already linked to the parent by a foreign key. The solution that uses a MySQL trigger will also not work. MySQL doesn’t allow the same table to be used in the delete subquery, and it doesn’t allow deleting from the same table in the deletion trigger. This is because in such cases MySQL cannot determine the presence of circular references in queries, and it simply blocks them. Let’s add a trigger to the database:

DELIMITER //
create trigger quote_item_delete after deleting on quote_item for each row
begin
if OLD.parent_item_id is not NULL then
delete from quote_item where item_id = OLD.parent_item_id;
end if;

end;//
DELIMITER ;

Then, an attempt from the admin panel to delete the product will result in an error message for the administrator, and the following error will be added to the log: “SQLSTATE[HY000]: General error: 1442 Can’t update table ‘quote_item’ in stored function/trigger because it is already used by statement which invoked this stored function/trigger., query was:..”Therefore, you have to delete the parent element on the Magento side. Let’s create a module for this, which will consist of the following files.

registration.php

<?php

\Magento\Framework\Component\ComponentRegistrar::register(
    \Magento\Framework\Component\ComponentRegistrar::MODULE,
    'Web4pro_BrokenCart',
    __DIR__
);
etc/module.xml

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<config xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xsi:noNamespaceSchemaLocation="urn:magento:framework:Module/etc/module.xsd">
    <module name="Web4pro_BrokenCart" setup_version="0.0.1"></module>
</config>

etc/di.xml

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<config xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xsi:noNamespaceSchemaLocation="urn:magento:framework:ObjectManager/etc/config.xsd">
    <preference for="Magento\Quote\Model\Product\QuoteItemsCleanerInterface" type="Web4pro\BrokenCart\Model\QuoteItemsCleaner" />
</config>

As you can see, we replaced the class for implementing the interface Magento\Quote\Model\Product\QuoteItemsCleanerInterface. The class will have the following implementation:

namespace Web4pro\BrokenCart\Model;
class QuoteItemsCleaner extends  \Magento\Quote\Model\Product\QuoteItemsCleaner
{
    /**
     * @var \Magento\Quote\Model\ResourceModel\Quote\Item
     */
    protected $itemResource;
    /**
     * @param \Magento\Quote\Model\ResourceModel\Quote\Item $itemResource
     */
    public function __construct(\Magento\Quote\Model\ResourceModel\Quote\Item $itemResource)
    {
        $this->itemResource = $itemResource;
        parent::__construct($itemResource);
    }
    public function execute(\Magento\Catalog\Api\Data\ProductInterface $product){
        $select = $this->itemResource->getConnection()->select();
        $select->from($this->itemResource->getMainTable(),'parent_item_id')
               ->where('parent_item_id is not NULL and product_id='.$product->getId());
        $parentItemIds = $this->itemResource->getConnection()->fetchCol($select);
        if(count($parentItemIds)){
            $this->itemResource->getConnection()
                 ->delete($this->itemResource->getMainTable(),'item_id in ('.implode(',',$parentItemIds).')');
        }
        return parent::execute($product);
    }
}

Website Launch Checklist: The Step by Step Process

Launching a new website can be a daunting task. And yet, it’s the first step for any online business owner. Here’s a website launch checklist to help you get your site up and running.So you want to build a website. It’s a critical step for any online shop and it has to be gotten right, but making a site can be a complicated process. It involves lots of steps and details. Choosing a CMS, performance optimization, navigation details, each element is critical for making your online store successful. Here are some tips to show you how to start a website and make it work.

What Do You Need to Make a Website?

A key element in exploring how to launch a website is to think about your goals. Do you want to start a business from the beginning? Maybe you want to expand your current business or to make a brand new site for it? Not only your basement, but it is also important to consider all the steps of making your site alive. You’ve come to the decision, but what’s the next? Look at the key points to consider to build a great site with the example of 3 CMS: Magento®, Drupal, and WordPress.

Choose the Right CMS for your site

Magento 2, WordPress, and Drupal are among the best CMS options. Magento 2 offers advanced product browsing and is both cross-browser and mobile compatible. It uses an intuitive interface and has excellent SEO and catalog management features. Drupal is module-based and easy to install, allowing unlimited customization. It is an excellent platform for organizing and categorizing products. WordPress is another common platform and it excels for simple sites. It offers a wide range of features and themes, extensive tutorials, and a dedicated support staff. Why do we consider them? Each solution fit certain business size and type of industry. So, it’s up to you what to choose. Below we will explain what features and benefits are included in each solution.

Make Sure It’s Secure

Site security is a key feature to consider. This protects customers and your site, and it makes the consumer feel safe entering their data for payment. So, use 24/7 monitoring scripts. Also, store all sensitive data, like website credentials, passwords, and customer information, in a secure database. Finally, it’s best to make copies of your site so that it can be recovered if any problems arise. A final copy should be made when the site is launched, and regular copies should be made with each further update.

While security is important regardless of the CMS, know that WordPress sites will require an extra measure of vigilance. Regarding Magento, it is highly secure and you can add more or fewer security features. Drupal also has basic security and advanced security that can be implemented with additional modules.

Website Performance

As customers navigate the site, they will first notice site performance. Once a site is optimized for performance, the web pages will load quickly and information will be cached to make the experience faster for repeat visitors. Decreasing lag time keeps customers engaged and increases conversions. You can test website performance with free online services like GT Metrix. There are also a number of plugins available to optimize web performance. Some popular choices are Autoptimize, WP Rocket, and Swift Performance. WordPress, Drupal, and Magento can be optimized with tools and right build website. However, Magento is the most robust solution, so it needs a bit more optimization work.

SEO Site Optimization

For an online store to be successful, it has to come up in a search. So, it needs SEO. Some tips: use unique page titles and meta descriptions. Keywords are important as well. Include no more than ten keywords in the copy for each page. Set up metadata for social media sharing content and RSS. Your website also needs an XML sitemap listed with search engines. Finally, URLs should be kept current and reflect page information. Online services like Woorank and Google Analytics will help you assess your SEO ranking. Several plugins for SEO are also available to up your site ranking. All of the platforms have basic SEO features to use for website’s visibility.

High Usability

Ease of use means customers will take more time on the site. It is easier to buy and conversion rates are higher. For the best usability, make the site easy to navigate and use an intuitive interface. Make sure the call-to-action buttons are simple to understand and marked clearly.

Intuitive Interface

An intuitive interface does what your customers expect. It makes sense, so users can go directly where they want on the site without having to spend time figuring out the navigation. To create an intuitive interface, put yourself in the client’s place. If this was your first visit, would it be easy to find and buy the product you’re looking for? Also, it is important to have simple navigation to each category and product, so your customers will find exactly what they want.

Familiar Icons

It is tempting to get fancy when creating the site. This is good for some things. Themes, embedded videos, a font that reflects your product. Other things, like cart and account icons, should be made how users have come to expect them. Use familiar buttons and icons. This makes it not confusing and time-saving for customers to take actions on your store.

Easy Navigation

Clear, simple navigation helps out in a couple of ways. First, it helps customers find products and information. Second, it improves the SEO ranking. Strong site navigation means that data can be effectively indexed by search engines. Here are some tips for easy navigation:

• Include a search feature
• Include ALT text with clickable images
• Use accurate navigation titles
• Incorporate clickable links in all navigation elements
• Divide site categories clearly
• Keep navigation consistent throughout the site

Useful Functionality

Functionality is the key to customer engagement. It’s the interactive aspect of the site. Site functionality of your site depends on your product and desired customers. Keep in mind the purpose of the site, and build the functionality to make that purpose happen. Try to let your customers reach the point of sale with a few clicks as possible. Keep it simple and direct, and treat customers as if they are valued guests. If we will compare Magento, Drupal and WordPress – each of them has different modules and extensions to add all necessary features to the store.

Filtering Products

To make your eCommerce site user-friendly, you’ll want to let customers search by price and type of product. Product filtering is a faceted search that lets customers find products with the qualities they want. It incorporates details like size, color, price, and reviews. Keep in mind that your site is performing a service. Design each feature to inform the customers and help them find what they want with a minimum of steps.

Reorder Feature

It’s a lot easier to develop a relationship with existing clients than to constantly seek out new ones. So, the reorder feature is essential. It helps previous customers place new orders without going through the hassle of entering payment information all over again. Remember, the fewer steps mean more conversions.

Availability and Out-of-Stock Features

This comes back to the choice of CMS. Each includes with different stock features and plugins. Consider the functionality and qualities your site needs. Then, check into the CMS to find out if they come standard with it. Remember that there is a difference between and feature bloat. It isn’t necessary to get every feature on the planet. Look for the ones that improve the customer’s experience.

Analytics

Analytics is a measurement of how customers work with the website. In-demand keywords, click-through rates, bounce rates, and conversions. Watching the analytics lets you refine your website based on what your customers want. Google offers free online services like Analytics, AdWords, and Webmaster to monitor site activity. Make sure to set up and sync them. Arrange funnels and goals in the analytic software, and make sure the website includes analytics codes.

GDPR Compliance

It is essential to protect clients’ information. GDPR establishes guidelines and laws to give people more control over personal information. Remember PCI compliance if your site processes credit cards. Make service terms, privacy policies, and cookie usage visible and clear. Consider clients with disabilities and make the site accessible for them. Several GDPR plugins and extensions are available to get your site GDPR compliant.

Clients’ Feedback

The success of an online shop is all about building relationships with clients. In providing them a chance to give feedback, you give them a voice. This lets your clients know you value them. Plus, the reviews, testimonials, and other information your clients provide give you valuable tips to refine your site.

In the end, we want to provide you the overall table of comparison of all the main characteristics to consider before the website launch. As it was mentioned earlier, we choose 3 well-known CMS: Magento, Drupal and WordPress and you can see their benefits by key parameters.

How to Find a Magento Services Company That Cares

Magento® 2 is recognized as the leading platform in the field of eCommerce. It is scalable, customizable, and provides all the functionality suitable for any type of online business. Plus, Magento offers an excellent support community and top-notch security features. It’s the platform you want for building a new site, site maintenance, upgrades, or new extensions.

Now that you know you’re working with the best platform around, what’s next? Find a Magento developer! So, the question becomes, how can you find the best Magento services company for your site? More importantly, what qualities are needed in your developer to make your online shop the best that it can be? Let’s explore the criteria needed to choose the web agency that will bring your site to the top of the ranks.

Where to Start?

When choosing your Magento web agency, you want to make sure that they fit your specifications. The best web developer will be able to optimize your site for SEO and provide ongoing support and maintenance. The key is to do your homework. Look into the level of experience, both of the company and the specialists on their team. Explore the developer’s portfolio and all reviews and testimonials available. Finally, look into location and pricing. While you’ll want to make sure the project is within budget, it is equally important to ensure that you choose a developer that can make your site perfect.

Size of the Market

With the popularity of Magento 2, there are around a thousand companies on the market, serving more than a quarter million merchants worldwide. According to Magento website’s information, there are around 315,000 trained Magento developers. Some web agencies may not be reliable and others may be based in a different time zone or operate primarily in a different language. Some developers specialize in certain types of sites or businesses. With so many companies on the market, one of the best places to start is a research and review firm. Clutch is an excellent site for ratings and reviews of lead IT companies. It’s data-driven. The reviews are verified. It provides everything you need to separate the wheat from the chaff and find the best agency. You can check their top web development companies’ rank to filter the search results.

Portfolio

Any developer worth their salt will have a long list of satisfied merchants that can attest to their skills and service. After narrowing down your selection, explore each company’s portfolio. You’ll find out how long they have been in business, what industries they’ve serviced, and the types of development work they’ve performed. Different companies will have experience building different custom extensions and creating specific functionalities. Visit the sites that the developer has built before to see their work in action.

Reviews

After checking the portfolio, look into testimonials and reviews. It’s important to hear what their previous customers have said about them. Other clients that have used the developer will be able to let you know how they deal with challenges or emergencies as they arise. They’ll be able to give reports on availability and communication. Also, each site has unique challenges, specific products, custom personalization, and functionalities. By looking into reviews, you’ll be able to see how the web agency has implemented these features for their other clients.

Location

Magento’s popularity means agencies and web developers can be discovered across the globe. So, location is one important consideration when choosing your Magento developer. Qualified developers located in different countries, but regional economy means that rates in some countries will be smaller. This can be appealing, especially if you’re on a tight budget. At the same time, you may need to contend with communication challenges or availability issues. When working with a developer in a different time zone, make sure that all your sites requirements are clearly laid out at the beginning. Also, some problems need prompt attention. You’ll want to ensure your web agency is available to address any problems within an acceptable timeframe.

Platform-Oriented

Each platform has its own unique coding requirements, extensions, features, and modules, features. While it’s nice to be a jack of all trades, you’ll do best with a developer that has mastered your platform. When using a Magento eCommerce platform, it’s best to seek out a web agency with a high degree of Magento expertise. While checking the company’s portfolio, research the platforms they’ve used. The web agency you want for your site will show a history of well-designed Magento sites with satisfied customers. This lets you know they’ve got the experience needed to make your site truly top notch.

Social Media Activity

In the digital era, social media has become an invaluable tool for finding the best agency. LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook is social networking sites that help customers and clients to come together. They provide excellent places to begin a search and allow you to explore customer feedback beyond what is presented on their website. When you look into a company’s social media site, you can find out how active they are. Learning about their activity in social media will help you to get the full picture of their professionalism. High activity means that the developer is up to date with the newest features, extensions, and upgrades.

Reliable Experience

When searching for a web agency, remember to look into all levels of Magento experience. This means that the agency should be certified by Magento. Quality assurance and project management in addition to frontend and backend site development will be a benefit. When vetting your developer, make sure to ask what kind of teams they have worked with and what industries they have designed for. Site execution and management are two essential areas. The site must be executed in the way that you want and need to get the best results. Finally, there will be times when it’s necessary to make changes and adjustments to the site. A professional company will be skilled and capable of making these changes when necessary.

Industry Expertise

In the vetting process, consider that each industry has a specific set of requirements for a website look and feel. You should look at the designs, themes, functionalities, and features that make a site aesthetic, profitable, and successful. Look for Magento services with industry-relevant experience. You want to find an agency that can tailor your site to specifications. If they have experience in the industry, they’ll know how to engage your customers and showcase your products. The right agency will show the expertise necessary to complete the project for your client.

Long-Term Partnership

When trying to find Magento certified developer, here’s a final consideration: longevity. Satisfied relationship means things are going well. This is a trustworthy sign of a solid and reliable working partner. When checking the portfolios of prospective web developers, look for those that have long-term partnerships with many digital and consulting agencies. This means that they can do the work and meet the needs of their clients over time.