Choose the Best Blog Extension for Magento Store

Do you own an eCommerce website? If so, then you know that one of the most valuable things that you can add to your eCommerce website is a blog, but it can be hard to know which extension you should add. That’s why we are here to provide you with a list of the best blog extensions available!

Top Great Magento® Blog Extensions

If you already have an online store and know blog extensions for Magento 2 requirements to the technical side, take up our list and choose the best one.

Better Blog by MagePlaza

Rating: 4.8/5 stars

Functionality

What does this blog extension do? It allows you to add a blog to your eCommerce site without having to add a third-party. Examples of third parties include WordPress, Blogger, etc. You can keep your customers or clients up to date with what’s going on in your store, about upcoming products, and more.

3 Main Advantages

• Responsive design. People are more likely to return to your site if it looks good.
• SEO friendliness. It’s becoming more and more important for websites to be SEO friendly. This is because your online site is more likely to be found in search engines if your content is optimized for it.
• Related posts. The blog extension allows your website to be more interactive by showing your customers related posts!

Price

It is one of the most important factors when choosing the blog extension.
It’s free! It also has a thirty-day money back guarantee, offers a lifetime of updates, and technical support for up to one year.

Compatible with: Magento Community 2.0, 2.1, 2.2

Blog MX for Magento 2 by Mirasvit

Rating: 5/5 stars

Functionality

Like the last option, this blog extension allows you to include a blog on your online store. You can interact with your customers by adding images, graphs, videos, articles, and more! You can preview your posts before you post them so that you know it’s exactly what you want! It’s also mobile-friendly.

3 Main Advantages

• Tags. You can add tags to your post so that your customers can find them more quickly!
• Images. You can add featured images to your posts to attract more people to your site. No matter what, they’re more likely to buy from you if your site is aesthetically pleasing.
• Pinned posts. You can pin your favorite posts so that they’re the first one your customers see! If there’s one that especially optimized for search engines or another that’s brought in a lot of customers; you can pin them!

Price

It’s free!

Compatible with: Magento Community 2.0, 2.1, 2.2; Magento Enterprise 2.0, 2.1, 2.2.

Blog by AheadWorks

Rating: 5/5 stars

Functionality

This extension is used worldwide by some of the best enterprises in eCommerce. Manage your content with a complete blog. You won’t have to add a third party framework to your site!

3 main advantages

• Customization features. You can decide how your posts look, as well as how your entire blog looks. You can choose how many posts to add per page, what your sidebar looks like, and more!
• Editor included. Your blog posts will immediately be edited by What You See is What You Get. You can add videos to your blog posts, as well as images and charts.
• Easy migration. If you’ve been working out of Magento 1, there’s no need to worry. This blog extension has a migration tool to move between Magento 1 and Magento 2.

Price

The price for Community Edition of this extension is $349.
And it comes with a service agreement:

• free for 3 months
• $99 for 6 months
• $149 for 12 months.

The package for Magento 2 Enterprise Edition is $949 as a base fee, and it comes with a free, 12 month service agreement.

Compatible with: Magento Community 2.1, 2.2; Magento Enterprise 2.1, 2.2.

Blog Pro by Amasty

Rating: 4.8/5 stars

Functionality

Blog Pro is the upgrade you’re looking for to enhance your eCommerce website. Blogs are great for your website because they attract traffic and customers to your site through SEO optimization.

3 Main Advantages

• Customizable layout. You can make your blog reflect your website by choosing how it looks. The aesthetics of your site tells your customers what your brand is all about.
• Adjusted posts. With this extension, you can decide how your posts are added and configured. Choose the color for specific tags, the number of posts per tag, whether or not you use a 3D cloud, etc.
• Security. Everyone worries about cyber attacks. If websites like Paypal can be hacked, then yours can too! Luckily, the extension has been included with your website’s security in mind, and cyber attacks are unlikely.

Price

The price for Community Edition of Blog Pro is a minimum of $299. You can choose to add a $60 installation, as well as support services:

• free for 3 months
• $79 for 6 months
• $129 for 12 months.

The Blog Pro for Enterprise Edition is a minimum of $599. You can choose to have a $59 installation service, as well as support:

• free for 3 months
• $149 for 6 months
• $219 for 12 months.

Compatible with: Magento Community 2.1, 2.2; Magento Enterprise 2.1, 2.2.

Blog Extension for Magento 2 by CMS Smart

Rating: 5/5 stars

Functionality

This blog extension, like the previous ones, will allow you to add an utterly customizable blog to your eCommerce website without the use of a third-party framework.

3 Main Advantages

• No limit. Some blog extensions have a limit on the number of blogs posts you can add to your page, but this one does not! As long as your website is up and running, you can add an unlimited number of blog posts blog posts!
• Comments moderation. You can manage every comment posted to your blog posts. If you want, you can allow or delete comments!
• Social media support. Every blog post does better when you share it on social media! You can share it on facebook, twitter, google plus, etc.

Price

This extension only costs $80, so it’s one of the more affordable options we have. The domain license lasts for one year, and you can download updates. You can add domain licenses if you want to, and each addition will cost around $30.

Compatible with: Magento Community 2.0, 2.1

Awesome Blog by Magefan

Rating: 5/5 stars

Functionality

It’s one more great blog extension for Magento 2 that allows you to add a blog to your online store without setting up WordPress. It comes up with all you need to manage an awesome blog!

3 Main Advantages

• All blog features and blog search. Everything you need for the blog, all essential elements, such as posts, categories, tags, archives, lazy load, comments included! Also, a convenient blog search will help your visitors find what they are looking for. Even more! You can add related products to any blog post and motivate your customers to buy more at your store!
• SEO friendliness. SEO features are great, and they help you to build user-friendly permalinks, generate XML sitemap, and integrate your blog with the other third-party marketing services.
• Multi-language and multi-website support. That means if your online store is multilingual, your blog can also be like that! English, Dutch, French, Romania, and Ukrainian languages come right out-of-box.

Price

It’s free and available only for Magento 2 Community Edition. Also, you can have it installed for $40. If you need the support package, there are two options available:

• $50 for 6 months
• $100 for 12 months.

Compatible with: Magento Community 2.0

PrestaShop vs Magento: Choosing the Best Platform for Your Online Store in 2019

Anyone who works in the world of eCommerce knows that at some point, they have to choose a platform from which to run their online store. When you’ve come to this point, it can be difficult to know what is best for you; after all, both Magento® and PrestaShop platforms have different characteristics and specialties. But we want to make eCommerce platforms comparison to understand which platform will serve your business needs.

PrestaShop vs Magento

PrestaShop was first released in 2007, a full six years after Magento (2001). Then Magento 2 version came up in 2015. In 2013, a poll showed that nearly 30% of e-commerce market shares took place on Magento platforms; meanwhile, just over ten percent used PrestaShop.

In recent research, Magento has been shown to power 13% of the top million online sites. PrestaShop, on the other hand, runs around 5% of the top million websites. While Magento is a leader in the field, PrestaShop is close on the list.

Usage Prospects

According to builtwith.com:

• 214 K live websites are using the Magento.
• 39 K live sites are using Magento 2.
• 247 live websites are using PrestaShop.

Market Share

Magento 2: 49% market share lies in the United States, 9% – in Great Britain, 6% – in the Netherlands.

PrestaShop: 41% of its market share lies in the United States, 11% in France, and 7% – in Spain.

To determine which platform is better, let’s take a look at what Magento 2 and PrestaShop have to offer.

Difference Between PrestaShop and Magento 2

Both platforms use open source technology, so can customize your store pretty much however you wish.

What is Open Source? Glad you asked! Technology and software that is open source use source code that can be edited and modifies frequently. That is what allows you to customize your website. From colors to plugins, it’s all up to you. Some of the platforms are open source but may vary with functionality, price and overall performance.

Plenty of “big name” companies are currently using Magento 2: from Land Rover to Huawei, the platform has proven its versatility. In comparison, PrestaShop doesn’t have as many large brands or corporations on its side.

The problem with PrestaShop is that it lacks the experience that Magento 2 has. Magento has had an extra six years to perfect its services, while PrestaShop still has issues with payment, bugs, and templates that are entirely out of date. Let’s compare these two platforms.

Packages and Pricing

One of the most important aspects of deciding on a certain platform is cost. Here we will consider how much is Magento store costs and what is the PrestaShop sale price?

PrestaShop is free for use. While expanding with the website will result in additional costs, you can efficiently use this platform at no added costs to you.

If you have a small to medium-sized business and more prone to Magento 2, Community Edition is a good choice. You can use Magento’s Community Edition for free. It’s a quick download, and then ready for use with out-of-the-box features.

Magento 2 is known for being an expensive platform to run if you have a larger company. For the extra security and experience, you can expect to pay a higher price. For extensive business, you can buy the Magento 2 Enterprise Edition. Here, you’ll be spending a fee of at least $22,000 per year. Apparently, this version is better for larger businesses.

Admin Management

PrestaShop has everything related to the content of your store at the back office (i.e. admin panel).

Magento 2 has a pretty simple admin panel and you can find all the sections of your store and settings right at the backend. You need to log in and start exploring it.

Dashboard

The PrestaShop dashboard allows you to check the statistics of your shop’s daily activities, different graphs (sales, orders, visitors, etc.).

The same with Magento: all the important analytics regarding your sales, orders, customers and daily activities you can find on the dashboard.

Payment Methods

Magento 2 offers you Braintree and PayPal as a default payment gateways. For the rest, you need some extensions or add-ons. However, you have plenty of options on the market, and you can choose various payment gateways according to your business needs. Additionally, you can set a price rule, or use zero subtotal feature for certificates and vouchers.

For PrestaShop, you have Visa, MasterCard, and PayPal by default and you can let your customers choose the option that will suit them best. In addition to it, you can offer an electronic wallet or card payment, payment on delivery, in-store payment and prepayment.

Shipping Methods

Magento 2 has plenty of carriers by default, so you can choose among UPS, USPS, Royal Mail, DHL, and FedEx. You also have the option between free shipping, flat rate, and table tax rates for your store.

As for shipping options, you can integrate standard delivery firms and carriers for your PrestaShop store, set and edit carrier information due to your store location and your client orientation. As well as that, free shipping is available according to the carrier rules, handling costs, and out-of-range behavior. That means if your carrier has no shipping costs you can indicate how your store should react.

Prestashop vs Magento Performance

Magento 2 has the following tech stack to use it:

PrestaShop has almost the same technology stack to run it successfully:

The downside to using Magento is that you need a server that performs well and that it does not work as quickly as its competitors. If you look at PrestaShop, you’ll see Magento requires a bit more technical resources and that’s why sometimes has performance issues.

eCommerce Functionality

PrestaShop is also known for being easier to install than Magento is. If you aren’t incredibly tech-savvy, then this might be the better platform for you. You’ll be able to set up your store without any extra skills.

When you’re using Magento 2, you could find yourself contacting the expert team pretty often. Still, any Magento version comes with a support team and several developers, while PrestaShop does not.

Themes and Plugins

Magento 2 has a lot to offer to the eCommerce world. First of all, customers and clients will find that there are additional 1,500 add-ons that they can choose from on Magento Marketplace. And regarding themes and modules, Magento 2 is hugely customizable.

While PrestaShop has an overwhelming 25,000 plugins, not all of them will benefit you, and PrestaShop customization could be a bit complicated. Magento might have plugins of better quality. The large world community of web developers works on it.

Community Support

Magento has a big community of developers, so you always can count on stable updates and quick reaction to solve some issues. Regarding functionality, you can find answers through Stack Overflow and Magento Stack Exchange. For some simple questions, find a solution with Magento Technical Support and look through different sections. However, to fix some problems programmatically, you need to have your in-house or outsourcing team of developers.

Regarding PrestaShop, you have a couple of options to find the solution to your questions. PrestaShop technical support offers various Support Plans on the main website as well as Community Help and Support to answer common questions on installation, updates, and development.

Installation and Usage

PrestaShop provides you with Store Demo and the complete Installation guide.

Magento has Demo that can be requested from the official website. If you want to explore all the features from the backend admin, check our Demo overview. To install Magento get a developer help as it requires 1 to 2 hours of work. Nevertheless, Magento has you covered with notifications of each release, you can update the security or the whole store.

After we have observed the features and overall information about both platforms, let’s conclude them with the pros and cons of each solution.

Prestashop vs Magento: Who Is the Winner?

Let’s summarize both platform results!

5 Best Magento 2 Cloud Backup Extensions and CDN Solutions

The only thing more important than running an excellent online store on eCommerce leader Magento® 2 is having robust data protection measures in place. Let’s take a look at a few cloud backup extensions and CDN solutions for Magento 2 to see why your business needs them.

What is Cloud Backup?

Cloud backup is a way of preventing data loss. It is a method used to store a copy of your data in a virtual storage facility. This strategy uses the power of cloud technology to keep a backup of your data on your service provider’s servers. This measure does not prevent you from continuing on-premise backups too. In the event of any unfortunate data loss like hardware failure, damage or cyber-attacks, there is still a safe copy stored in the cloud. Your service provider’s servers are kept in totally secure locations with all kinds of loss protection measures in place. A good safety measure of backing up your data is using the qualitative Magento 2 modules for your online store. Let’s talk about the market leaders.

5 Best Magento Backup and Restore Extensions for 2.x Version

S3 Cloud Backup by Schogini Systems P Ltd

Functionality

Losing precious business data for any reason is enough to bring a company to its knees. The best safety measure to protect your data is to arm yourself with a cloud backup solution. This Magento cloud backup extension is one such solution. It gives you tools to send database and media file backups to Amazon S3 Cloud Storage. It automatically sets up your site in maintenance mode while backing up your complete shop database in a stable working state. In case of a data loss, you only need to reinstall Magento 2, copy your backup files and perform a rollback. That’s it.

3 Main Advantages

• S3 Cloud Backup enables you to create a backup copy of your entire shop database to Amazon S3 Cloud. You do not need any other separate plug-ins, extensions or apps.
• You can store all the bucket credentials for your S3 backup in one file.
• Your shop’s media, database and code backup only needs one command to be sent to your S3 bucket.

Price

S3 Cloud Backup is available in the Community edition for $247.

Backup to Dropbox by Mageside

Functionality

Backup to DropBox helps keep data loss to an absolute minimum. It maintains regular backups of your store information and helps cut recovery time in the event of a disaster. That means you can get back to business as soon as possible. The Magento Backup to Dropbox module lets you select the frequency and time of your backups. Then you can schedule it to run during off-peak times or as you see fit. A copy of your data is created and stored in Dropbox (free Dropbox account is required).

3 Main Advantages

• Your data is completely safe on Dropbox’s servers. Your backups will be kept across multiple servers on the Dropbox network. All your data is always accessible and always protected.
• You don’t need to be a technical programmer to use this module. It only requires some simple installs and configures. The configuration mainly consists of selecting what features you do and do not want.
• The backing up process does not require an IT administrator. Once you set the backup frequency, the process will begin and end without any human assistance.

Price

Backup to Dropbox is available in the Community edition for $69, that includes a 3-month support service agreement.

There are additional 6 and 12-month support services available for $40 and $50 extra, respectively.

Magento 2 Database Backup

Functionality

The beauty of this Magento database backup extension is that your backup can be stored in the cloud of your choice. The process happens in the background. That means your site is never down while your data is being backed up.

3 Main Advantages

• You decide where you want to store your backup. This place can be your email, internal or external servers or external cloud services.
• There is support for several different languages.
• Once you define your backup settings, your Magento automatic backup will be carried out. Your site availability will be unaffected.

Price

The starting price of this extension is $99 for 90 months. This package includes three months of free support and a 30-day money back guarantee.
Other pricing options are $149 for 180 months and $100 for 360 days.

When it comes to website performance, CDN solutions (or content delivery networks) help improve the speed of your website by storing your data on a cloud server. They harness the power of cloud technology to do this. Let’s look at the following two useful solutions developed for use with Magento 2.

Fastly CDN by Fastly Inc

Functionality

Fastly CDN is designed to improve your users’ store experience. It gives you faster page load times. It can remove old content automatically to ensure your customer always the most updated information. Another great feature is that Fastly uses Origin Shield to regulate traffic spikes.

3 Main Advantages

• Your customers’ user experience will be fast, pleasant and dependable thanks to innovative features like personalized content, cacheable ESI blocks, and location-based redirection.
• Your customers will always be viewing the most recent version of information because Fastly CDN updates content instantly.
• All your store’s content is instantly updated, according to stock availability and other factors.

Price

Fastly CDN is available in the Enterprise and Community editions. Both editions are entirely free for download.

Cloudinary Image & Video Management by Cloudinary

Functionality

Cloudinary enables you to manipulate images and videos to optimize them for your store. You can have these files delivered in the most efficient format and resolution for whatever device you are using.

3 Main Advantages

You can load all media files through multiple CDNs. You can even switch between CDNs to ensure you’re using the best performing network at that time.
These media files are dynamically tracked to give you invaluable insights regarding performance, bandwidth usage, and error monitoring.
Integrating into your store is effortless. The install process is painless. Migrating your media library to Cloudinary takes only a tiny bit of coding.

Price

Cloudinary Image & Video Management is available in the Community edition. It is entirely free for download.

If you are looking for other useful extensions that are necessary for any kind of Magento 2 store, you can check them below.

Five Common Fears About Offshore Outsourcing

Whether you are starting your company of you already have one, you might be considering offshore outsourcing to handle things that you don’t want to put up with, or because you’re looking to save money.

Well, you’re in luck! Below, you can read all about offshore outsourcing, what it is, the pros and cons, and whether or not it’s for you.

What Is Outsourcing?

To get started, let’s begin with what precisely offshore outsourcing is. Offshore outsourcing is the collaboration of two organizations; wherein, one of them hires the other as an external organization to perform tasks that the first does not want to.

There are three basic kinds of outsourcing:

• Firstly, there’s business process outsourcing; which is, when a business hires others for specific jobs. Phone companies, for example, will sometimes outsource customer support or payroll processing because it is less expensive than hiring people.
• Next, we have infrastructure and technology outsourcing. As the name suggests, technical parts of the company are outsourced, such as networking.
• Lastly, we have software outsourcing. In this category, software development is often outsourced to the other countries or organizations from other countries. India and China are examples of these countries.

What Are Outsourcing Pros and Cons?

Now that you know what outsourcing is, we can talk about the pros and cons of it because this will help you determine whether or not it’s right for you.

Pros

• Cutting costs. Outsourcing helps to cut costs; therefore, your company will make a profit. You can invest this money back into your business to expand it.
• Diversity. By outsourcing, you’ll have a diverse range of people on your payroll and people from different educational backgrounds to bring new perspectives. When you have this diversity within a company, you can learn to tailor to the needs of a broader spectrum of people.
• Performance. Tasks are performed more quickly because most of the time, companies will outsource to people or organizations who are experts in the given field. Since they’re experts, fewer mistakes will be made, and they’ll have the most up-to-date software to perform whatever tasks you need.

Cons

• Data security can be violated. In the age of technology, you can never be too careful. When you outsource to other companies, you must be aware of the security risks. Confidential data and information may be accessible to the company you’re working with. Of course, it is the outsourcing company’s responsibility to keep any customer information private and to create an NDA for involved parties.
• Outsourcing to the wrong people. You always have the possibility of hiring someone who doesn’t deliver with the quality you want, or within the timeframe you want. In some cases, you’re better off staying within your company.
• It can be more expensive than you think. While generally, outsourcing is believed to be less costly than having people within your company do these tasks, you have to be careful about hidden costs that can render a job much more expensive than you’re prepared to pay. You can always ask the person you hire to make a report about the additional costs that may accumulate, as well as risks.
• Services won’t be performed FOR the clients. The person or company you hire might have other clients; so, they might not have your company’s mission at heart and the quality of the work may not cater to your clients as much, or may not have the excellent quality it could. Sometimes, though, you’ll find that investing in more is needed to find the perfect partner!

Why Offshore Outsourcing Is Good

Most would agree that when you own a company, delegating is a key to success and productivity. Outsourcing is significant because you can have people from all over the world working for you. If you’re looking for organizations that charge less for the same quality, the power of the internet allows you to find this balance.

There are parts of your business that are crucial if you’re planning to expand, but these are also things that you may not be knowledgeable about or things that take up unnecessary time. While it can be time-consuming to figure out which people or organizations you should be delegating to, you’ll be saving money that you can invest in your company later on. From all perspectives, outsourcing can only lead to growth.

5 Main Fears about Outsourcing Web Development

Here, we’re going to discuss five fears and risks that are associated with outsourcing web development.

• Language barriers. If you’re outsourcing to people and organizations from other countries, you might encounter some language barriers. To prevent this, you could stick to countries that your primary language as their own or speak the international language at a high proficiency level.
• You can’t control everything. Within the walls of your own business, you can control everything that goes on, but when you outsource, you can ease up. Find someone who shares the same goals as you, and you’ll be fine.
• Time zone struggles. Because you might be from different time zones, communication can be challenging. One of you might have to wake up earlier or go to bed later to keep the conversation going.
• Quality. Of course, different countries and companies have different levels of expectations and the quality of work might be different than you’re expecting. Try having the person or company go through a “trial period” to find out if they’re right for you. It will be perfect for you if the trial period is free.
• Security problems. We’ve mentioned security before, but we can’t stress enough that when you’re outsourcing web development, you should improve your company’s safety. Is offshore outsourcing a viable business strategy for companies?

Offshore outsourcing is a good idea for any company. It allows you to maintain diversity. Not only this but the people and companies you hire most likely specialize in the field you’re hiring them for; therefore, they have access to the most recent technology. Your business will always be innovative!

In general, companies should try to save money where they can do so that later on, they can invest this money back into the business. If you do this as well, you can expand your company in no time!

Like anything, offshore outsourcing has its cons and its risks, but there are ways for you to prevent all of these things from happening! In the long-run, you’ll find that offshore outsourcing has more benefits than complications.

Top Differences Between Magento 2 Community vs Enterprise Editions

You might think about what are the Magento® 2 packages difference. In this article, we want to highlight the key features and difference between the Open Source and Community (Enterprise) edition.

Magento 2 Packages

Magento 2 solutions are a clear choice in the world of eCommerce. In fact, the hardest decision should be which edition would best suit your needs. And the answer lies in what each version specializes in. Let’s look at the Magento 2 Enterprise and Community editions to see what our options are.

Magento 2 Community Edition

The Magento 2 Community edition will meet the necessary commerce needs of any business today. It is your best option if your company has only begun to incorporate eCommerce functionalities. The community edition is helpful here because it can take you time to figure out what your actual needs are. It offers all the essential features that one would need from an eCommerce solution. The documentation is extensive. The marketplace offers a wide variety of extensions and themes for you to choose from. Even though this edition is considered entry level, the available support and features are top class.

Magento 2 Enterprise Edition

The Magento 2 Enterprise edition is built on superior power and security. It is the premier eCommerce solution from Magento. Every feature operates at its most significant capacity. There are no restrictions, and none of its components are disabled. There is no need to install extra extensions because it already includes everything. You can find a complete breakdown in the Magento 2 Enterprise user guide.

Comparing Magento 2 Enterprise vs Community

According to builtwith.com:

• 17 172 live websites are using Magento 2 Community edition.
• 2007 live sites are running Magento 2 Enterprise edition.

It is understandable, considering most eCommerce websites don’t need the full power of the Enterprise edition.

• Almost 45% of Magento 2 Community edition’s market share is in the United States.
• The United Kingdom follows in second place with 14%.
• Germany earns the third place with 9 %.

• With Magento 2 Enterprise edition, 65% of the market share is in the United States.
• The rest is scattered all across the rest of the world. The United Kingdom is in the second place (9%).
• Australia country holds the third place with 5%.

When deciding between the Magento 2 Enterprise and Community editions, there are three critical aspects to consider:

• How much will it cost me?
• What features will I get?
• Which edition will suit my business?

Price

Price is usually one of the critical deciding factors when choosing a solution.

The actual Magento 2 Community edition price is free. But you would have to pay for the extensions needed to add more functionality.

The initial Magento 2 Enterprise edition price costs more than the Community edition. But this is understandable, considering the scope of all its included benefits.

Magento 2 Enterprise edition pricing is based on a revenue model. The licensing price is fixed within a particular earning bracket. Your costs depend on how much money your eCommerce system has brought in. You can expect the following cost options:

First, examine your needs, when deciding which edition to choose. Going with the free Community edition may be frugal. But be aware that the costs of extra extensions can add up fast. You may find yourself paying more than if you invested in the Enterprise edition instead.

Features

Magento 2 Enterprise features are scalable, extensive and robust. The following features are just some of the functionality you can expect:

• Your customers can expect personalized content. This feature is based on a variety of criteria that you or your customer can specify. There are great merchandising features. Checking out is a quick and hassle-free experience.
• Elasticsearch will handle misspelled search words and search word synonyms quite easily. It gives customers more intuitive shopping experience.
• The design themes are stylish and comfortable to customize.
• Multiple Master Databases allow you to scale individual data aspects, as required.
• Varnish Page Caching gives your customers faster response times. This gets done while still reducing the server workload.
• Magento Mobile Software Development Kit (SDK) is included in the Enterprise edition only.
• You can handle your loyalty programs with absolute ease. You can implement rewards points, wish lists and gift registries.

You’ll find more information about the features in the latest article.

Magento 2 Community edition is a “base-level” system. But it still has impressive functionality. The Magento 2 Community feature list includes the following:

• Its basic functionalities can be further developed and customized with extensions and themes. These extensions and themes cover all popular industries, including customer support, marketing, sales, shipping site optimization. Several of them are free downloads, but some are downloadable at a reasonable cost.
• Magento 2 Community edition includes a sample store. This sample store is ready to deploy immediately, so you hit the ground running from day one. You can always add further functionalities from the Magento Marketplace.
• All your checkout, payment and shipping needs are taken care of. You can expect features like real-time rates, gift message management, and shipment management.
• The versatility of Magento 2 Community edition is thanks to its diverse community of developers around the world. Innovation through collaboration is one of the chief cornerstones of this version.

For Whom

If you are a small business site or if you are only starting to embrace eCommerce capabilities, Magento 2 Community edition is for you. eCommerce can be a daunting field to navigate, and no one wants to risk resources on something they are new to. Starting off with the Community edition gives your company room to experiment. You can figure out exactly what your business eCommerce needs are without significant risks.

The Ultimate Guide to Upgrade Magento 2.1 to 2.2 Community Edition: Problems and Solutions

Upgrading a Magento® 2 core is simple. All it takes is writing a new version in the composer.json file and executing a command composer update from the console, which updates the core. Then, you must apply the updates using the bin/magento setup: upgrade command. Nevertheless, you may encounter some issues after upgrading the core, and you will learn about those issues in this article. Let’s take a look at how to solve them and perform the upgrade Magento 2.1 to 2.2.

How to Upgrade Magento Version Without Problems

Below is a list of common issues which arise during switching from Magento 2.1 to Magento 2.2 Community Edition. Let’s fix them out!

‘Area Code is Not Set’ Error in Magento 2

This error is thrown when running bin/magento setup: upgrade after upgrading the core. After this error, subsequent modules cannot be upgraded, and the site enters maintenance mode. This error has been observed when upgrading the Magento_Theme module.

Reason: When upgrading the Magento_Theme module, Magento re-registers all existing themes. This calls the getAreaCode() method of the Magento\Framework\App\State class, which returns this error. This method returns an error because when executing module upgrades using Magento 2 setup upgrade console command, area codes (‘adminhtml’ or ‘frontend’) are not specified.

Solution: Implement a plugin in Magento\Theme\Setup\UpgradeData in a custom module. The plugin will look as follows:

class Theme {

    public function __construct(
        \Magento\Framework\App\State $state
    ) {
        try{
	$code = $state->getAreaCode();
       }catch(\Exception $e){
	$state->setAreaCode('adminhtml'); 
      }
    }

    public function beforeUpgrade($model,$setup,$context){
        return array($setup,$context);
    }
}

This is a shortcoming of Magento.

‘Code Already Exists’ Error in Magento 2

This error is related to the Magento_Tax module. Magento in and of itself is not at fault here. The issue is that the upgrade script re-saves all tax rates.

Reason: The error occurs when the “code” field in a re-saved record matches a field in another record. In other words, the condition of uniqueness is violated. This is possible if the rates were imported, for example, from Magento 1, during migration.

Solution: Go through the tax_calculation_rate and delete duplicates. Afterward, Magento upgrade script can rerun, and the problem will be solved.

After updating, you might find that some third-party extensions have stopped working. Below, we will examine potential problems that arise in the process of Magento 2 update.

Magento 2 Modules Are Not Working

1. The getMessage() method was added to the interface Magento\Framework\Mail\TransposrtInterface.

Reason: Consequently, if some class in the module implements this interface and doesn’t have this method, it will return an error. This will happen if, for example, you use the Amasty_Smtp module in a project.

Solution: Upgrade the module to a version compatible with Magento 2.2.

2. You will also have to upgrade all modules in which classes are defined that implement Magento\Framework\Api\Search\SearchResultInterface (collections for UI Grids).

Reason: In version 2.2 mandatory parameters were added that are passed to the constructor of such classes. This outcome was observed in some modules from MageWorx.

Solution: You can correct this issue by updating the modules to the latest version.

Guide on How to Save Related Models in Yii2

This article will examine the concept of how to save related models in Yii2 using the example of the relation Product->hasMany(ProductColor).

Yii2 Array of Models: Table Columns

Start with Migration

The command for creating migration:

php yii migrate/create <name>

We create tables with the up() method. We delete with down().

Product table:

$this->createTable('{{%product}}', [
    'id' => $this->primaryKey(),
    'title' => $this->string()->notNull(),
    'status' => $this->boolean(),
    'created_at' => $this->integer(),
    'updated_at' => $this->integer(),
    'image' => $this->string(),
]);

Quite common fields: ID, name, status (published/draft 1/0), product creation time, product update time, an image, for the name of a saved image.

ProductColor table:

$this->createTable('{{%product_color}}', [
    'id' => $this->primaryKey(),
    'product_id' => $this->integer()->notNull(),
    'image' => $this->string(),
]);
$this->addForeignKey("fk_product_color_product", "{{%product_color}}", "product_id", "{{%product}}", "id", "CASCADE", "CASCADE");

Here, the product_id is a foreign key referencing Product->id, and the “image” field is similar to the previous one.

How to Create Models in Yii2

We can use Gii to make Yii2 create models, views, and controllers for these tables. For convenience, you can use the following commands in the terminal:

php yii gii/model --tableName=table_name --modelClass=ModelName --ns='common\models' --enableI18N=1

php yii gii/crud --enableI18N=1 --modelClass='common\models\ModelName' --controllerClass='backend\controllers\ModelController' --searchModelClass='backend\models\SearchModel' --viewPath='backend/views/model'

Change all names in bold to the name of your model. Namespaces are also can be changed, if necessary. These commands will generate all the required files.

Next, we add UploadImageBehavior to the Product and ProductColor. It is an extension that serves for saving images. Install it with the following command:

composer require mongosoft/yii2-upload-behavior "*"

Yii Model Rules

We also add it to behaviors and rules.

Product Model

The Product model will look as follows:

namespace commonmodels;

use mongosoftfileUploadImageBehavior;
use Yii;
use yiibehaviorsTimestampBehavior;

class Product extends yiidbActiveRecord
{
    const ENTITY_DRAFT = 0;

    const ENTITY_PUBLISHED = 1;

    public static function tableName()
    {
        return 'product';
    }

    public function behaviors()
    {
        return [
            TimestampBehavior::className(),
            'image' => [
                'class' => UploadImageBehavior::className(),
                'attribute' => 'image',
                'path' => '@frontend/web/uploads/Product/{id}',
                'url' => '/frontend/web/uploads/Product/{id}',
                'unlinkOnDelete' => true,
                'scenarios' => ['insert', 'update'],
                'thumbs' => [
                    'thumbnail' => ['width' => 120, 'height' => 80, 'quality' => 90],
                    '900x600' => ['width' => 900, 'height' => 600, 'quality' => 90],
                ]
            ]
        ];
    }

    public function rules()
    {
        return [
            [['title'], 'required'],
            [['status', 'created_at', 'updated_at'], 'integer'],
            [['title'], 'string', 'max' => 255],
            ['image', 'file', 'skipOnEmpty' => true, 'extensions' => ['png', 'jpg', 'gif'], 'on' => ['insert', 'update']]
        ];
    }

    public static function getStatusList()
    {
        return [
            self::ENTITY_DRAFT => Yii::t('app', 'Draft'),
            self::ENTITY_PUBLISHED => Yii::t('app', 'Published'),
        ];
    }

    public function getProductColors()
    {
        return $this->hasMany(ProductColor::className(), ['product_id' => 'id']);
    }
}

Product Color

ProductColor will not differ by much:

namespace commonmodels;

use mongosoftfileUploadImageBehavior;
use Yii;

class ProductColor extends yiidbActiveRecord
{
    public static function tableName()
    {
        return 'product_color';
    }

    public function behaviors()
    {
        return [
            'image' =>
            [
                'class' => UploadImageBehavior::className(),
                'attribute' => 'image',
                'path' => '@frontend/web/uploads/ProductColor/{id}',
                'url' => '/frontend/web/uploads/ProductColor/{id}',
                'unlinkOnDelete' => true,
                'scenarios' => ['insert', 'update'],
                'thumbs' => [
                    'thumbnail' => ['width' => 120, 'height' => 80, 'quality' => 90],
                    '300x200' => ['width' => 300, 'height' => 200, 'quality' => 90],
                ]
            ]
        ];
    }

    public function rules()
    {
        return [
            [['product_id'], 'required'],
            [['product_id'], 'integer'],
            ['image', 'file', 'skipOnEmpty' => true, 'extensions' => ['png', 'jpg', 'gif'], 'on' => ['insert', 'update']],
            [['product_id'], 'exist', 'skipOnError' => true, 'targetClass' => Product::className(), 'targetAttribute' => ['product_id' => 'id']],
        ];
    }

    public function getProduct()
    {
        return $this->hasOne(Product::className(), ['id' => 'product_id']);
    }
}

ProductController

Let’s move to ProductController:

namespace backendcontrollers;

use commonmodelsProductColor;
use Yii;
use commonmodelsProduct;
use backendmodelsProductSearch;
use yiidbActiveRecord;
use yiiwebController;
use yiiwebNotFoundHttpException;
use yiiwebUploadedFile;

class ProductController extends Controller
{
    public function behaviors()
    {
         return [
            'verbs' => [
                'class' => 'yiifiltersVerbFilter',
                'actions' => [
                    'delete' => ['POST'],
                ],
            ],
            // since v 2.0.13
            'ajax' => [
                'class' => 'yiifiltersAjaxFilter',
                'only' => ['update-colors', 'delete-product-color']
            ]
        ];
    }

    public function actionIndex()
    {
        $searchModel = new ProductSearch();
        $dataProvider = $searchModel->search(Yii::$app->request->queryParams);

        return $this->render('index', [
            'searchModel' => $searchModel,
            'dataProvider' => $dataProvider,
        ]);
    }

    public function actionCreate()
    {
        $model = new Product();
        $model->setScenario('insert');
        $colorModel = new ProductColor();

        if ($model->load(Yii::$app->request->post()) && $model->save()) {
            return $this->redirect(['update', 'id' => $model->id]);
        } else {
            return $this->render('create', [
                'model' => $model,
                'colorModel' => $colorModel
            ]);
        }
    }

    public function actionUpdate($id)
    {
        $model = $this->findModel(Product::className(), $id);
        $model->setScenario('update');
        $colorModel = new ProductColor();

        if ($model->load(Yii::$app->request->post()) && $model->save()) {
            return $this->redirect(['index']);
        } else {
            return $this->render('update', [
                'model' => $model,
                'colorModel' => $colorModel
            ]);
        }
    }

    public function actionUpdateColors($productId)
    {
        $model = $this->findModel(Product::className(), $productId);
        $items = $model->productColors;

        $items[] = new ProductColor();
        foreach ($items as $item) {
            $item->setScenario('update'); // for UploadImageBehavior
        }

        if (ProductColor::loadMultiple($items, Yii::$app->request->post()) &&
            ProductColor::validateMultiple($items, ['image'])){
            foreach ($items as $key => $item) {
                $item->image = UploadedFile::getInstance($item, "[$key]image");
                $item->save();
                if ($item->isNewRecord && $item->image instanceof UploadedFile) {
                    $model->link('productColors', $item);
                }
            }
        }

        return $this->renderAjax('_color_form', [
            'model' => $model,
            'colorModel' => new ProductColor(),
        ]);
    }

    public function actionDeleteProductColor($productColorId)
    {
        /** @var ProductColor $productColor */
        $productColor = $this->findModel(ProductColor::className(), $productColorId);
        $model = $productColor->product;
        $productColor->delete();

        $colorModel = new ProductColor();
        return $this->renderAjax('_color_form', [
            'model' => $model,
            'colorModel' => $colorModel
        ]);
    }

    public function actionDeleteImage($id)
    {
        if ($model = $this->findModel(Product::className(), $id)) {
            $model->image = null;
            $model->save();
        }
        return $this->redirect(['/product/update', 'id' => $id]);
    }

    public function actionDelete($id)
    {
        $model = $this->findModel(Product::className(), $id);
        // For UploadImageBehavior
        foreach ($model->productColors as $productColor) {
            $productColor->delete();
        }
        $model->delete();
        return $this->redirect(['index']);
    }

    protected function findModel($className, $id)
    {
        if (class_exists($className)) {
            $model = new $className();
            if ($model instanceof ActiveRecord) {
                $model = $model::findOne($id);
                if (!is_null($model)) {
                    return $model;
                }
            }
        }
        throw new NotFoundHttpException();
    }
}

A Bit About Actions in ProductController

• Add a scenario to the standard actionCreate and actionUpdate for UploadImageBehavior and to $colorModel variable for view;
• actionUpdateColors is for output/saving a color with AJAX (also for updating several colors at once);
• actionDeleteProductColor is for deleting one color;
• actionDeleteImage is for deleting a product image;
• In actionDelete, we delete all of a product’s colors for UploadImageBehavior to work correctly.

Product Views

create/update are standard, add only one variable in the render

<?= $this->render('_form', [
    'model' => $model,
    'colorModel' => $colorModel,
]) ?>

Form view (with styling for clarity):

<div class="product-form">
    <div class="col-md-6">
        <?php $form = ActiveForm::begin(); ?>
        <?= $form->field($model, 'title')->textInput(['maxlength' => true]) ?>
        <?= $form->field($model, 'status')->dropDownList($model::getStatusList()) ?>
        <?php if ($path = $model->getThumbUploadUrl('image', 'thumbnail')): ?>
            <div class="js-input-wrapper">
                <div class="form-group">
                    <?= Html::img($path, ['class' => 'img-thumbnail']) ?>
                    <a href="#" class= "js-edit btn btn-warning glyphicon glyphicon-pencil"></a>
                    <a href="<?= Url::to(['/product/delete-image', 'id' => $model->id]) ?>" class="btn btn-danger glyphicon glyphicon-remove"
                       data-action="<?= Url::to(['/product/delete-image', 'id' => $model->id]) ?>"></a>
                </div>
                <?= $form->field($model, "image")->fileInput(['accept' => 'image/*', 'class' => 'js-input hidden'])->label(false) ?>
            </div>
        <?php else: ?>
            <?= $form->field($model, 'image')->fileInput(['accept' => 'image/*', 'class' => 'form-control']) ?>
        <?php endif ?>
        <div class="form-group">
            <?= Html::submitButton($model->isNewRecord ? Yii::t('app', 'Create') : Yii::t('app', 'Update'),
                ['class' => $model->isNewRecord ? 'btn btn-success' : 'btn btn-primary']) ?>
        </div>
        <?php ActiveForm::end(); ?>
    </div>
    <div class="col-md-6">
        <h2><?= Yii::t('app', 'Product Colors') ?></h2>
        <?php if (!$model->isNewRecord): ?>
            <?php Pjax::begin(['enablePushState' => false]); ?>
                <?= $this->render('_color_form', [
                    'model' => $model,
                    'colorModel' => $colorModel,
                ]) ?>
            <?php Pjax::end(); ?>
        <?php else: ?>
            <div class="alert-warning alert fade in"><?= Yii::t('app', 'You need to create a product in order to add colors.');  ?>
                <button type="button" class="close" data-dismiss="alert" aria-hidden="true">×</button>
            </div>
        <?php endif ?>
    </div>
</div>
<?php $this->registerJsFile('@web/js/product-color.js', ['depends' => 'yiiwebJqueryAsset']);

product-color.js:

$(document).ready( function() {
    $('.product-form').on('click', '.js-remove', function(e) {
        e.preventDefault();
        var $this = $(this);
        var data = $this.data();
        var action = data.action;
        var $form = $this.closest('form');
        if ($form && action) {
            $form.attr('action', action).submit();
        }
    });
    $('.product-form').on('click', '.js-edit', function(){
        var $this = $(this);
        var $wrapper = $this.closest('.js-input-wrapper');
        var $input = $wrapper.find('.js-input');
        $input.click();
    });
});

_color_form view:

<div class="color-form">
    <?php $form = ActiveForm::begin([
        'action' => Url::to(['/product/update-colors', 'productId' => $model->id]),
        'options' => [
            'data-pjax' => true
        ]
    ]); ?>
        <?php foreach ($model->productColors as $key => $productColor): ?>
            <div class="js-input-wrapper form-group">
                <?php if ($path = $productColor->getThumbUploadUrl('image', 'thumbnail')): ?>
                    <?= $form->field($productColor, "[$key]image")->fileInput(['accept' => 'image/*', 'class' => 'js-input hidden'])->label(false) ?>
                    <?= Html::img($path, ['class' => 'img-thumbnail']) ?>
                    <a href="#" class= "js-edit btn btn-warning glyphicon glyphicon-pencil"></a>
                <?php endif; ?>
                <a href="#" class="js-remove btn btn-danger glyphicon glyphicon-remove"
                   data-action="<?= Url::to(['/product/delete-product-color', 'productColorId' => $productColor->id]) ?>"></a>
            </div>
        <?php endforeach ?>
        <div class="row">
            <div class="col-md-6">
                <?php $key = isset($key) ? $key   1 : 0 ?>
                <?= $form->field($colorModel, "[$key]image")->fileInput(['accept' => 'image/*', 'class' => 'js-input form-control'])->label(Yii::t('app', 'Add Image')) ?>
                <?= Html::submitButton(Yii::t('app', 'Upload'), ['class' => 'btn btn-primary']) ?>
            </div>
        </div>
    <?php ActiveForm::end(); ?>
</div>

The main feature of this view is the output, saving, and deletion of a product color using PJAX. It will look as follows:

Index view.

For illustration purposes, let’s add a column with the product image into the grid.

<?= GridView::widget([
    'dataProvider' => $dataProvider,
    'filterModel' => $searchModel,
    'columns' => [

        'id',
        [
            'label' => Yii::t('app', 'Image'),
            'format' => 'image',
            'value' => function($model) {
                return $model->getThumbUploadUrl('image', 'thumbnail');
            }
        ],
        'title',
        'status:boolean',
        'created_at:datetime',
        'updated_at:datetime',

        ['class' => 'yiigridActionColumn', 'template' => '{update} {delete}'],
    ],
]); ?>

After this, index view will look as follows:

That’s all you need to know. Please, keep in mind that this solution is written for mongosoft/yii2—upload—behavior. You may use any other extension for saving/cropping images.

Magento vs Shopify: Migrate or Not to Migrate (Updated)

Are you opening your online store? Do you already have one and are looking to change platforms? Well, we know that one of the most important decisions you have to make is choosing your eCommerce platform. If you aren’t happy with your current platform, or if you’re new to eCommerce and you’re looking for one, then you’re in luck. Below, you can read about the battle of Magento® vs Shopify, decide which one is the best eCommerce platform 2018, and learn what you should expect from either platform in the future.

Magento vs Shopify: eCommerce Platforms Comparison

No matter where you look, you’ll find that Magento and Shopify are two of the most significant competitors in eCommerce. Even before the company released Magento 2, it was known for both its popularity and its quality. Now, though, its reputation is only expected to rise. Shopify also has a strong reputation among small business owners for its simplicity for setting up the store, as its data is stored on a Cloud.

According to BuiltWith, the usage statistics for these platforms are the following:

• 564 K live websites are using the Magento.
• 112 K live sites are using Magento 2.
• 1,1 million live websites are using Shopify

If we talk about the market share, 50% of the global market lies in the USA and 9% in Great Britain for Magento 2.

For Shopify, 84% of the market lies in the United States, and 16% – in other countries.

Difference Between Shopify and Magento

Magento 2 is a powerful and scalable solution for midsize and big businesses among other eCommerce technologies. It is trusted by the big amount of merchants worldwide and provide extended functionality for different needs.

Shopify is a SAAS and cloud-based so all the information is hosted on the cloud. The platform has different products useful for merchants as POS system, payments and the ability to integrate your store with ERP or CRM through open API.

Pricing and Resources

Of course, pricing might come into play regarding which platform you choose. Shopify works as a monthly subscription, with the first month free, so you have free access to all Shopify software as long as you pay your monthly fee. When you work with Shopify, you’ll also be expected to pay fees for any payments that are made through external gateways, which are web pages that redirect you to purchase outside of the host websites. For Paypal, Braintree, or other forms of payment, you’ll pay a certain fee percentage.

In comparison, Magento customers can use the same features as Shopify for less money every year. You can choose free or paid extensions from the Magento Marketplace. Shopify provides specific features with each package, and with Magento, you can select any feature you want, but the price may vary. An abandoned cart recovery, for example, comes freely with Shopify when customers go with the more expensive packages; however, Magento users can buy this feature for $39 yearly or find a free extension. Magento allows customers to choose their hosting solution at a price that suits them. With this platform, hosting can range anywhere from four dollars to over $100.

Learn more about pricing and packages comparison below:

Magento vs Shopify: Platform Features Comparison

Here we will highlight everything related to the main features of the Shopify and Magento 2 online stores.

Admin Management

In Magento 2 admin panel, you can create your store look, check order statistics and analytics of your sales and other data, send notifications to your clients, work with products and orders, etc. The same for Shopify, you can see the core fields of your store as orders, products, and customers. You can control your sales channels, including the online store, POS, and other Shopify products if you use them.

Dashboard

It will show your current sales amount, customer’s orders list, search terms and other analytical data to analyze your revenue and expenses on your Magento store. The dashboard in Shopify is called Home and includes all information about the store’s recent activity, order management and tips for your business.

Payment Methods

With Shopify, you can have over 100 gateways, including PayPal, Sage Payments, 2Checkout, and Authorize.net. But it isn’t out-of-the-box, and you need to pay additional transaction fees.
However, Shopify has its own solution called Shopify payments. You won’t have transaction fees with it as well as reduced card fees. It is available for business owners from the US, Canada, the UK, Australia, Puerto Rico, Singapore, New Zealand, and Ireland.

As for Magento 2 payment methods, it includes PayPal, Braintree by default and for the rest you need add-ons. To extend purchasing features, you can add tax rates to the payment that may vary from the customer’s type (i.e., wholesale vs. retailer). In addition to it you can set up price rules, but this is a customization feature that could be implemented with code. To allow customers to use their certificates and vouchers you can use zero subtotal feature.

Shipping Methods

Shopify provides various carriers. However, you need to check their rules regarding pricing for different shipping methods, printing labels, weight, and package. To add choice, you can set exact shipping costs, flat rate, free shipping, and automatic shipping rates options. There is also Shopify product called Shopify Shipping available for stores based in the US (USPS, DHL Express, and UPS) and Canada (Canada Post).

For Magento 2 you can use UPS, USPS, Royal Mail, DHL, and FedEx by default. For the user’s convenience, set up a free shipping, flat rate, and table tax rates.

Design and Themes

Both Shopify and Magento offer responsive themes that work on mobile and computer screens. Whether you’re on your phone, tablet, or computer, your site will look its best.

Shopify users can change their fonts and colors, but they can’t do much outside of this because their themes are proprietary. Like we said before, Magento is open source; therefore, its users can change themes, fonts, colors, and much more. Plus, the upgrade to Magento 2 will allow users to edit through a drag and drop visual editing tool. If you are a non-coder, then this is especially useful. If, however, you want your online store to be to-the-point and functional, then Shopify should suit you finely.

Web Development

Regarding the development, both platforms share the same goal, they use very different practices regarding their code; for example, Magento uses PHP and Shopify uses Liquid. Also, Magento is an open source solution, unlike Shopify. Magento’s open source code means that the system and template are available to edit and to be modified. Shopify, on the other hand, has a proprietary source code, which means that you can’t have it changed.

Server Requirements

The stack requirements for hosting Magento 2 are as follows:

Since out-of-box software may not be enough for your online store, so you should be aware that getting add-ons will require the work (and extra cost) of a developer to help run your store.

When it comes a final choice between Magento vs. Shopify, Magento wins this category if we take into consideration its flexibility!

Shopify is built on Liquid. As it is a platform on the cloud, you need to have hosting, a domain name, and SSL certificate. However, hosting is included in any Shopify package, unless you want the specific one. The same with a domain name, you can own yours or purchase it through Shopify.

Website Security

Magento 2 has a strong security update. New Signifyd tool for the protection of the store provides a high level of security along with modules for order protection and password management. With the CAPTCHA you will prevent fake logins creation.

A for Shopify, it takes care of security issues, unlike a self-hosted website. Shopify meets all 6 categories of PCI standards for organizations that handle credit card and debit card information. Shopify online stores are automatically PCI compliant with 1st Level of PCI DSS compliant certification.

Community Support

As for Magento, you can always count on Magento Help Center and different forums, blog posts from contributors and developers to solve the issues you have with a store.

Shopify provides 24/7 support and you can reach the team through phone support, online live chat or email. For the rest information, check Shopify Community with all the sources available from learning to solving the problems with your site.

Installation and Usage

Magento allows you to request the Demo from their official website and experience working with Magento Admin. We also prepared the Magento Demo overview if you want to check the functionality before to try it out. Magento is consistent with the updates, and you can always check what is improved in the recent release via Devdocs.

Shopify will guide you through the Demo via the Admin overview for desktop and mobile devices. Also, you can choose 14 days free trial to learn more about Shopify store features.

As we’ve learned all about two platforms, let’s conclude the information with the pros and cons of Magento and Shopify.

Magento 2 or Shopify: Which is Better for You?

Magento 2 is better for people who are looking to expand their business and for people who need more flexibility. Not only this, but Magento has thousands of add-ons and extensions, some of which you can get for free. The admin can provide his or her customers with coupon codes, wishlists, and more through the use of these add-ons. Shopify, on the other hand, only has around 100 add-ons.

Because of the coding alone, Shopify is suitable for small and midsize businesses; however, may not be best for more complex companies because bigger companies may need to change their source code more often.

Even checkout and loading speed has changed with Magento 2; reports show that some sites perform more than fifty percent better than before, which is primarily appreciated because customers have described the platform as being slow in the past. The new launch, however, seems to make Magento and Shopify even.

Finally, let’s compare these two platforms using the infographics below.

To have control over every aspect of your business, you should also be going with Magento 2 because you can operate many websites from the same admin screen.

Because Magento is so customizable, you might find it harder to operate than Shopify, which is why many people find Shopify to be better. After you sign up for Shopify platform, you can set up immediately.

It’s safe to say that Magento has become much more user-friendly with the Magento 2 launch. Users can easily access payment processors, product management, advanced reports, etc. Magento serves different businesses and proves to be a scalable and supportive solution for further growth.

OpenCart vs Magento: What You Should Choose in 2019

The eCommerce business model is being adopted by more enterprises every day. It has opened the business world to more possibilities. And it is essential to have your business enabled for online transactions. There are several options and criteria to be mindful of when choosing such a solution. Now, this may be a difficult task. Let’s start eCommerce CMS comparison of two of the most popular open-source eCommerce solutions available: Opencart vs Magento®.

 Difference Between OpenCart and Magento

Magento 2 allows each merchant to customize their clients’ entire shopping experience. It provides an estimated 50 or so payment gateways. As robust as it already is, Magento 2 functionalities can stretch even further. Magento Marketplace and other marketplaces have unlimited plugins and integrations available. This platform can handle promotions and discount features with no problem. Magento 2’s essential functionalities make it quite cost-effective to build amazing online stores.

OpenCart is a lighter eCommerce platform. It is well suited for companies who are still assessing their eCommerce needs. It is sturdy and intuitive enough to perform well in general online transactions. Magento 2 is among the most robust eCommerce technologies available today. It is powerful enough to offer comprehensive solutions to enterprises of any size.

Packages and Pricing

OpenCart vs Magento: Platform Features Comparison

A Magento 2 and OpenCart comparison can start with their similarities. Both platforms support several languages and currencies, and each comes with a myriad of plugins, extensions, and third-party services. They also both enjoy global community support. The main difference between the lies in its usage capacity.

Admin management

In OpenCart admin panel, you can check your store look, order statistics, notifications about actions at your store and other things related to the store sections and editing all the product, order, customers information. The same with Magento 2, you can add and edit your store look and feel through the admin panel.

Dashboard

In Magento 2, you will see your sales level, customers purchases, search terms, average order amount and other statistics related to your store. The same with OpenCart admin page, you will see the most up to date information on your site, total orders, customers, sales, analytics and much more.

Recurring Profiles

It is included in Magento 2 and OpenCart. This additional feature for those customers who subscribed to a product/service to make recurring payments after. It submits the information about payment frequency that was initiated by the payment system. This section in OpenCart is included in the Sales section. To use it in Magento 2, you need to add it via Catalog > Manage Products than enable it.

Third-Party Integrations

It will give you an opportunity to connect with Amazon, eBay, and Etsy. In both Magento 2 and OpenCart, this feature is only available with additional extensions.

Payment Methods

In OpenCart you have 36 payment gateways integrated into the store. But take into account that their additional adjustment possibly could case some other costs. In Magento 2 you’ve got PayPal, Braintree by default and the rest could be added after according to your preferences. Also, you can add tax rates according to location, product type or customer group (i.e., wholesale vs. retailer)

Also, you can set the price rules by adding the discount as an additional function to the price or special price calculation. However, this is a customization feature that could be implemented with code. As well as price rules you can use zero subtotal feature that allow you to add vouchers, certificates and other special offers included in Magento 2 store.

Shipping Methods

OpenCart has integrations with Australia Post, Citylink, FedEx, Parcelforce, Royal Mail, UPS and USPS by default. However, you possibly couldn’t print labels for delivery or other functions should be adjusted with the delivery firm’s rules. It could be additional charges for some additional functionality.

Magento 2 has UPS, USPS, FedEx, and DHL included. Besides you can place a flat rate, free shipping, and table rates out-of-the-box.

Opencart vs Magento SEO

Included in both CMS and you can use all SEO power to optimize your store. You can use Meta Titles, Meta Descriptions, Meta Keywords, Alt Tags, SEO URLs, canonical tags and sitemaps in your products and categories.

Appearance and Design

If we are talking about design and ability to showcase your brand and products or services, you want to use the most flexible and customizable solution. There should be an ability to use ready themes and customize some stand-alone features easily.

OpenCart is relatively simple, and you can modify some parts by copying the default appearance. For sure, you need some knowledge to do it; otherwise, the enhancements won’t work correctly.

Magento is more complicated than OpenCart in means of design implementations. However, you can add lots of customized features or change ready theme by your preferences.

Theme Editor

OpenCart has a theme editor that allows you to make changes in the default layout files.  In Magento 2 you can take Luma default theme and change basics, but you also can use your purchased theme, or you can customize some standard theme.

Website Security

The security in online business is not in the last place. People, who pay online and companies who run their stores want to protect their data and money.

OpenCart has some essential features in its security. Thus, it suggests general advice for keeping the store safe. It is changing the admin directory name and password complexity. However, it should be an improvement soon.

With Magento 2 you will stay safe and secure. It’s a new Signifyd fraud protection tool help to solve problems cheaper and quicker. Even queues of manual transactions can be processed with AI tools. As well as new enhancements, it provides comprehensive password management, prevents to close cross-site scripting and local file inclusion. The new CAPTCHA feature will prevent automated software from attempting fake logins.

Server Requirements

OpenCart has fewer technical requirements for servers than Magento 2.

Magento 2 does have a more extensive requirements list.

That were essential features of Magento 2 and OpenCart. Some extended functionality could be done by adding modules or involving developers to implement customized solutions. Also features depends on package type. As well as Open Source features it has additional B2B features for Magento 2 Commerce as customer segmentation, persistent shopping, automated email reminder, full page caching, optimized indexing and other useful features for B2B merchants.

Community Support

Regarding Magento, you can always count on forums and community of developers that share their knowledge and show how to solve different issues that may occur. Feel free to search through the trusted Stack Overflow and Magento Stack Exchange. Also, you can refer to the Magento Help Center and look through the How to, FAQ and Troubleshooting sections. However, Magento doesn’t have the support as a service, and you may refer to your in-house or outsourcing team to fix the problems.

Installation and Usage

OpenCart provides you with a free demo of the store. So you can check both Frontend and Backend via the link. As for the installation process, OpenCart is relatively simple. On the other hand, to implement OpenCart security updates, you need to update files on the serves and to do some additional work to get a full update.

Regarding Magento, you can also request the Demo from the official website. Also, we can provide you with our Demo overview. Besides, you can find a lot of free demos to explore on the Internet. However, Magento seems more complicated to install. It is recommended to get a developer help to do so. On the other hand, Magento advantage is that you get notifications about the new releases, and you can choose whether to update the entire system or only the security part. The updates for Magento are constant; however, OpenCart makes rare releases.

After we have observed the features and overall information about both platforms, let’s conclude them with the pros and cons of each solution.

That were essential features of Magento 2 and OpenCart. Some extended functionality could be done by adding modules or involving developers to implement customized solutions. Also features depends on package type. As well as Open Source features it has additional B2B features for Magento 2 Commerce as customer segmentation, persistent shopping, automated email reminder, full page caching, optimized indexing and other useful features for B2B merchants.

Magento 2 vs. OpenCart: Usage Prospects

Usage Statistics in 2018

Magento 2 is the newer version of the original Magento. According to builtwith.com:

• 556 K live websites are using the Magento.
• A further 106 K sites are using Magento 2.
• OpenCart currently powers 456 K live websites.

As for the global market share:

Almost 50% of Magento 2’s market share lies in the United States, with Great Britain in second place with around 9%.

For OpenCart, 42% of its market share also lies in the United States, with Russia holding around 16%.

OpenCart does power a much more significant number of websites. But one must remember that the original Magento is still very much a market leader.

Also, Magento 2 itself still powers the larger (and more profitable) websites. This fact speaks volumes to the operational prowess of Magento 2. Its popularity has seen exponential growth, as indicated below.

Is Magento Better Than Opencart?

Magento 2 has been the answer for several famous brands around. These include fashion giant Solar, luxury food, and wine company Virginia Hayward. Other clients include Australian Pharmaceutical Industries Inc., and NBA team Atlanta Hawks.

OpenCart clients include pop culture merchandise store Dicebox and the British Red Cross. They also power tech sales website Dropshipper and food store Fresh Express.

Magento 2 can support websites of any size. Stores that expect high traffic and more transactions do gravitate towards Magento 2 because it can scale up or down to help all business circumstances. Even as your business grows, it can handle all your requirements. OpenCart tends to suit small to medium size websites that don’t expect too much traffic. If you’re starting and want to “test the waters” first, then it would be a good option. But it must be noted that someday your business may become too big for OpenCart to handle.

How to Implement Admin Notifications in Magento 2 B2B with the Amasty_Blog module

Today you’ll learn how to implement a system of admin notifications in Magento® 2 B2B yourself. You can do it using Amasty_Blog module that will be helpful for creating custom admin notification for Magento 2.

Task: Implement Admin Notifications on Magento 2

There is a Magento 2 site that sells Magento 2 extensions. Administrator notifications must be implemented to alert clients of module updates.

A built-in functionality can be used to solve this problem. The Magento 2 core contains the module Magento_AdminNotification, which allows administrators to receive notification messages.The solution for admin notifications will consist of a client part (a client-side module) and a server part (modules for the site that sells the extensions).

The client module will be available with all the other extensions the site sells. The client module will consist of a configuration file, etc/adminhtml/system.xml, of the following form

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<config xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xsi:noNamespaceSchemaLocation="../../../../Magento/Backend/etc/system_file.xsd">
    <system>
        <section id="mg_notification" translate="label" type="text" sortOrder="50" showInDefault="1">
            <class>separator-top</class>
            <label>Notification</label>
            <tab>mg_extensions</tab>
            <resource>Web4pro_Notification::config</resource>
            <group id="general" translate="label" type="text" sortOrder="20" showInDefault="1">
                <label>General</label>
                <field id="enabled" translate="label comment" type="select" sortOrder="10" showInDefault="1">
                    <label>Enable Notifications</label>
                    <source_model>Magento\Config\Model\Config\Source\Yesno</source_model>
                </field>
                <field id="web4pro_url" translate="label comment" type="label" sortOrder="20" showInDefault="1">
                    <label>Web4pro Url</label>
                </field>
            </group>
        </section>
    </system>
</config>

The first configuration parameter allows the admin to turn off notifications, while the second, of the type “label,” will contain the URL where the request for notification messages will be made. This URL will be located in the module file etc/config.xml. Notifications will be requested the whole time the administrator is logged in and is navigating the pages of the administrator section. This is achieved by using the following event handler, which is defined in etc/adminhtml/events.xml

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<config xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xsi:noNamespaceSchemaLocation="urn:magento:framework:Event/etc/events.xsd">
    <event name="controller_action_predispatch">
        <observer name="web4pro-notification" instance="Web4pro\Notification\Observer\PredispatchAdminActionControllerObserver" />
    </event>
</config>

The event handler code will appear as follows:

class PredispatchAdminActionControllerObserver implements \Magento\Framework\Event\ObserverInterface {

    protected $_feedModel;

    /**
     * @type \Magento\Backend\Model\Auth\Session
     */
    protected $_backendAuthSession;

    public function __construct(
        \Web4pro\Notification\Model\Feed $feed,
        \Magento\Backend\Model\Auth\Session $backendAuthSession
    )
    {
        $this->_feedModel       = $feed;
        $this->_backendAuthSession = $backendAuthSession;
    }

    /**
     * @param \Magento\Framework\Event\Observer $observer
     */
    public function execute(\Magento\Framework\Event\Observer $observer)
    {
        if ($this->_backendAuthSession->isLoggedIn()) {
            $this->_feedModel->checkUpdate();
        }
    }
}

The class \Web4pro\Notification\Model\Feed will appear as follows

class Feed extends \Magento\AdminNotification\Model\Feed {

    /**
     * @inheritdoc
     */
    public function getFeedUrl()
    {
        if ($this->_feedUrl === null) {
            $this->_feedUrl = $this->_backendConfig->getValue('mg_notification/general/web4pro_url');
        }
        return $this->_feedUrl;
    }

    /**
     * @inheritdoc
     */
    public function getLastUpdate()
    {
        return $this->_cacheManager->load('web4pro_notifications_lastcheck');
    }

    /**
     * @inheritdoc
     */
    public function setLastUpdate()
    {
        $this->_cacheManager->save(time(), 'web4pro_notifications_lastcheck');
        return $this;
    }

    public function checkUpdate(){
        if($this->_backendConfig->getValue('mg_notification/general/enabled')){
            return parent::checkUpdate();
        }
        return $this;
    }
}

As you can see, the class is inherited from Magento\AdminNotification\Model\Feed and should implement a method that returns the feed URL and a method for checking for updates, and also allows for reading the time of the last update from the cache and writing it to the cache as well.

Tool: Amasty_Blog Module for Magento 2

The feed URL should return an RSS Feed. Such feed is implemented, for example, in the Amasty_Blog module, and it is returned by the controller rss/feed/index from the Magento_Rss core module. It’s only necessary to specify the feed type from di.xml in the GET parameter “type.” When using the Amasty_Blog module, specify type=amblog, and the parameter record=post must also be specified. In this instance, all active blog posts will be returned to the feed.

Now, if we create a post on the server and open the Magento client admin panel when we go to the admin panel in System Notification, we will see an empty “Severity” field. This is because Amasty_Blog does not have this field, and as a result, it is not in the RSS feed. Therefore, Amasty_Blog will have to be extended to include an additional module that will provide this field. The module will need to add the field “severity” with the type “smallint” to the amasty_blog_posts table during installation. Then, the field will have to be added to the page for editing posts. For this, a layout file, adminhtml/layout/amasty_blog_posts_edit.xml, is needed in the following form

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<page xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" layout="admin-2columns-left" xsi:noNamespaceSchemaLocation="urn:magento:framework:View/Layout/etc/page_configuration.xsd">
    <body>
        <referenceBlock name="content.form_after">
            <block class="Web4pro\Notificationserver\Block\Adminhtml\Form" name="notification.fields"/>
        </referenceBlock>
    </body>
</page>

The form’s class will also need to be implemented

class Form extends \Magento\Backend\Block\Widget\Form\Generic {

    protected function _prepareForm(){
        $model = $this->_coreRegistry->registry('current_amasty_blog_post');
        /** @var \Magento\Framework\Data\Form $form */
        $form = $this->_formFactory->create();
        $form->setHtmlIdPrefix('posts_');

        $fieldset = $form->addFieldset('severity_fieldset', ['legend' => __('Severity')]);

        $fieldset->addField('severity','select',array('name'=>'severity',
                                                      'label'=>__('Severity'),
                                                      'required' => true,
                                                      'values'=>array(''=>__('Please select ...'),
                                                                      1=>__('Critical'),
                                                                      2=>__('Major'),
                                                                      3=>__('Minor'),
                                                                      4=>__('Notice'))));
        $form->setValues($model->getData());
        $this->setForm($form);
        return parent::_prepareForm();
    }
}

This class added the mandatory field Severity to the Content tab of the form for editing posts, and an administrator will indicate the importance of each message added. However, the class responsible for the output of the feed knows nothing about the added field. To solve this problem, we will add a separate type of RSS feed using etc/frontend/di.xml

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<config xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xsi:noNamespaceSchemaLocation="../../../../../lib/internal/Magento/Framework/ObjectManager/etc/config.xsd">
    <type name="Magento\Framework\App\Rss\RssManagerInterface">
        <arguments>
            <argument name="dataProviders" xsi:type="array">
                <item name="notify" xsi:type="string">Web4pro\Notificationserver\Block\Feeds</item>
            </argument>
        </arguments>
    </type>
    <type name="Magento\Rss\Model\Rss">
        <plugin name="notification" type="Web4pro\Notificationserver\Model\Rss" sortOrder="20"/>
    </type>
</config>

The feed class will have the following form

class Feeds extends \Amasty\Blog\Block\Rss\Feeds {

    protected $postsModel;

    public function __construct(
        \Magento\Framework\View\Element\Template\Context $context,
        \Magento\Framework\App\Rss\UrlBuilderInterface $rssUrlBuilder,
        Posts $postsModel,
        \Amasty\Blog\Model\Comments $commentsModel,
        array $data = []
    ) {
        $this->postsModel = $postsModel;
        parent::__construct($context,$rssUrlBuilder,$postsModel,$commentsModel,$data);
    }

    public function getPostsFeed()
    {
        $collection = $this->postsModel->getCollection();

        if (!$this->storeManager->isSingleStoreMode()){
            $collection->addStoreFilter($this->getStoreId());
        }

        $data = ['title' => __('Blog Post Feed'), 'description' => __('Blog Post Feed'), 'link' =>'asd', 'charset' => 'UTF-8'];

        $collection
            ->setDateOrder()
            ->setPageSize(10)
            ->addFieldToFilter('status', Posts::STATUS_ENABLED)
        ;

        foreach ($collection as $post){
            $data['entries'][] = [
                'title'         => $post->getTitle(),
                'link'          => $post->getPostUrl(),
                'description'   => $post->getFullContent(),
                'severity'      => $post->getSeverity(),
                'lastUpdate' 	=> strtotime($post->getUpdatedAt()),
            ];
        }

        return $data;
    }
}

Since the postModel field in the \Amasty\Blog\Block\Rss\Feeds class is private, we had to redefine the constructor. The redefined method getPostsFeed added the severity field to the elements returned. However, there is more that needs to be done to add a field to the feed. The classes in the Zend library Zend_Feed_Builder and Zend_Feed_Rss also know nothing about the added field and do not support the unlimited expansion of fields in a feed. To solve this problem, a plugin was added to the class Magento\Rss\Model\Rss. It will have the following form:

class Rss {

    protected $_dataProvider;

    public function beforeSetDataProvider($model,$dataProvider){
        $this->_dataProvider = $dataProvider;
        return array($dataProvider);
    }

    public function afterCreateRssXml($model,$result){
        if($this->_dataProvider instanceof \Magentice\Notificationserver\Block\Feeds){
            $feed = new Feed(null,null,new Builder($model->getFeeds()));
            return $feed->saveXML();
        }
        return $result;
    }
}

This plugin checks whether the data conductor is a class of the required type. If it is, then it implements the formation of the feed using additional classes. They will be given below.

class Builder extends \Zend_Feed_Builder {

    protected $_entries;

    public function getEntries()
    {
        return $this->_entries;
    }

    protected function _createEntries(array $data)
    {
        foreach ($data as $row) {
            $mandatories = array('title', 'link', 'description');
            foreach ($mandatories as $mandatory) {
                if (!isset($row[$mandatory])) {
                    /**
                     * @see Zend_Feed_Builder_Exception
                     */
                    #require_once 'Zend/Feed/Builder/Exception.php';
                    throw new \Zend_Feed_Builder_Exception("$mandatory key is missing");
                }
            }
            $entry = new \Zend_Feed_Builder_Entry($row['title'], $row['link'], $row['description']);
            if (isset($row['author'])) {
                $entry->setAuthor($row['author']);
            }
            if (isset($row['guid'])) {
                $entry->setId($row['guid']);
            }
            if (isset($row['content'])) {
                $entry->setContent($row['content']);
            }
            if (isset($row['lastUpdate'])) {
                $entry->setLastUpdate($row['lastUpdate']);
            }
            if (isset($row['comments'])) {
                $entry->setCommentsUrl($row['comments']);
            }
            if (isset($row['commentRss'])) {
                $entry->setCommentsRssUrl($row['commentRss']);
            }
            if (isset($row['source'])) {
                $mandatories = array('title', 'url');
                foreach ($mandatories as $mandatory) {
                    if (!isset($row['source'][$mandatory])) {
                        /**
                         * @see Zend_Feed_Builder_Exception
                         */
                        #require_once 'Zend/Feed/Builder/Exception.php';
                        throw new \Zend_Feed_Builder_Exception("$mandatory key of source property is missing");
                    }
                }
                $entry->setSource($row['source']['title'], $row['source']['url']);
            }
            if (isset($row['category'])) {
                $entry->setCategories($row['category']);
            }
            if (isset($row['enclosure'])) {
                $entry->setEnclosures($row['enclosure']);
            }
            if(isset($row['severity'])){
                $entry->offsetSet('severity',$row['severity']);
            }

            $this->_entries[] = $entry;
        }
    }
}

class Feed extends \Zend_Feed_Rss {

    protected function _mapFeedEntries(\DOMElement $root, $array)
    {
        \Zend_Feed::registerNamespace('content', 'http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/content/');

        foreach ($array as $dataentry) {
            $item = $this->_element->createElement('item');

            $title = $this->_element->createElement('title');
            $title->appendChild($this->_element->createCDATASection($dataentry->title));
            $item->appendChild($title);

            if (isset($dataentry->author)) {
                $author = $this->_element->createElement('author', $dataentry->author);
                $item->appendChild($author);
            }

            $link = $this->_element->createElement('link', $dataentry->link);
            $item->appendChild($link);

            if (isset($dataentry->guid)) {
                $guid = $this->_element->createElement('guid', $dataentry->guid);
                if (!Zend_Uri::check($dataentry->guid)) {
                    $guid->setAttribute('isPermaLink', 'false');
                }
                $item->appendChild($guid);
            }

            $description = $this->_element->createElement('description');
            $description->appendChild($this->_element->createCDATASection($dataentry->description));
            $item->appendChild($description);

            if (isset($dataentry->content)) {
                $content = $this->_element->createElement('content:encoded');
                $content->appendChild($this->_element->createCDATASection($dataentry->content));
                $item->appendChild($content);
            }

            $pubdate = isset($dataentry->lastUpdate) ? $dataentry->lastUpdate : time();
            $pubdate = $this->_element->createElement('pubDate', date(DATE_RSS, $pubdate));
            $item->appendChild($pubdate);

            if (isset($dataentry->category)) {
                foreach ($dataentry->category as $category) {
                    $node = $this->_element->createElement('category');
                    $node->appendChild($this->_element->createCDATASection($category['term']));
                    if (isset($category['scheme'])) {
                        $node->setAttribute('domain', $category['scheme']);
                    }
                    $item->appendChild($node);
                }
            }

            if (isset($dataentry->source)) {
                $source = $this->_element->createElement('source', $dataentry->source['title']);
                $source->setAttribute('url', $dataentry->source['url']);
                $item->appendChild($source);
            }

            if (isset($dataentry->comments)) {
                $comments = $this->_element->createElement('comments', $dataentry->comments);
                $item->appendChild($comments);
            }
            if (isset($dataentry->commentRss)) {
                $comments = $this->_element->createElementNS('http://wellformedweb.org/CommentAPI/',
                    'wfw:commentRss',
                    $dataentry->commentRss);
                $item->appendChild($comments);
            }

            if (isset($dataentry->enclosure)) {
                foreach ($dataentry->enclosure as $enclosure) {
                    $node = $this->_element->createElement('enclosure');
                    $node->setAttribute('url', $enclosure['url']);
                    if (isset($enclosure['type'])) {
                        $node->setAttribute('type', $enclosure['type']);
                    }
                    if (isset($enclosure['length'])) {
                        $node->setAttribute('length', $enclosure['length']);
                    }
                    $item->appendChild($node);
                }
            }

            if(isset($dataentry->severity)){
                $node = $this->_element->createElement('severity',$dataentry->severity);
                $item->appendChild($node);
            }

            $root->appendChild($item);
        }
    }
}

The rewriting of methods in these classes allowed the “severity” field to be added to the feed. By the way, if the severity is “Critical,” then the client site’s administrator will see a pop-up message in the admin panel, and they will not have to go to the notification page to see the message.

So, now you can implement admin notification messages for Magento 2. If you need any help with this task or you have other questions regarding Custom Magento Development, feel free to contact us. Our Magento 2 developers are ready to create a custom module for you!