4 Joomla Extensions that Help Manage your Website

While creating your Joomla requires some basic skills, managing it might need installing some extensions. There are extensions for everything that you may need to perform on the website. Right from attaching documents to your post to social sharing, everything can be done easily with the help of extensions. 

Here are some Joomla extensions that can help you manage the website. They will shoulder half the responsibility of maintaining and managing the website, thus making it easy for you.

JCE Editor

You may require a WYSIWYG editor to manage your Joomla website. In that case you should install the JCE editor, which has been created along the lines of TinyMCE. The recent word processing programs sourced to be an inspiration for the editor’s interface. No wonder, it is usable and popular among Joomla developers. What all is included in the installation? An advanced code editor along with a superior image/media/file handler and a spell checker makes up for the WYSIWYG editor for Joomla. You also get a plug-in support with this extension. While the extension is available for free, you will need to pay for the add-ons that are available with this extension.

Attachments for Contents
So, the content you have just posted does not convey all that you want to communicate? You may need some extra files to fill in the gaps that your content has left out.  What now? You need an extension called attachment for content articles using which you can attach PDF, image and other types of files to your content and complete the gaps that the post has left out. It is an easy to use extension that offers a classic interface, thus enhancing the user experience. It is a recommended extension for all those who want to associate contents to their posts.

Akeeba Backup Core

If you want to create a backup of your Joomla website, or restore the site back to its default settings, this is the extension you need to use. It should ideally be a part of the default Joomla installation, but as it is not included there, you should necessarily download and install this extension to your website. If you have a complex website, this extension is your friend indeed. You can stay assured as this extension archives the files and takes a snapshot of the database.

ProjectFork   

It is one of the competent project management software solutions available for your Joomla website. It helps carry out a project as smoothly as possible. With this extension, you have access to a number of solutions like calendars, task filtering tools, message boards and file management systems which make management easy and expedite the projects to help deliver them on time.

Conclusion
When developing a website with Joomla, these four extensions would help you manage the website with ease. Hire joomla developers UK to offer you customized and unique solutions. With the right developers and perfect extensions, you will be able to extend an excellent interface and incredible experience to your users

Author Bio:

Deepa is a passionate blogger associated with Silver Touch Technologies., a leading Joomla Development UK. If you are looking to Hire Joomla Developers UK then just get in touch with her.

Magento Features that Remain Unknown

Magento is a highly inspiring platform solution to build e-commerce solutions thus giving your business a boost. You will see that almost all the features available with Magento enrich your store, and help flourish your business. While most of the Magento features are live and accessible, you will see that many features are still unknown. These features will help take care of some of the trivial issues that bother you while working on this platform. Here are some of the lesser known yet very powerful features of Magento

 

Set the Admin Session

Many times while working with the admin panel, you will see that you have been timed out. You were trying to change the product description, but for some reason when you began saving it, you realized you were timed out. You have an option of setting the admin session lifetime to work uninterrupted.

Go to System>Config>Admin>    Security>Session Lifetime (seconds)

You will need to set the value to over 3600 seconds. This is so that your admin session does not get logged out every 60 minutes

Nest Static Blocks
Do you feel the need to make the content more manageable? With the static blocks, you will be able to divide the different content blocks thus simplifying the content. You can reduce the amount of content in the static blocks nest the different static blocks to be called on a single category or product page.

Allow Customer Ratings

Do you want your customers to rate your products on various parameters? You can now add the different parameters.

All you need to do is go to catalog>reviews and ratings>manage rating

You can add the star rating criteria here. All rating parameters are manageable at the store view level

Create Admin Action Log
With this logging functionality, you can log the actions that you want to record. With such a log you can easily diagnose the issues that you encounter. How will you log the admin actions?

Go to System>    Admin Actions Log and check the boxes next the actions you want logged.

Pricing the Items

In case, you want to display a different pricing for multiple quantities of a particular product, you can easily do so using tier pricing. How will you set tier pricing?

Go to Magento Admin>Catalog>Managed Products

Now click on the item that you want to add tier pricing to

Click on pricer>Add Tier

Now, you should enter the quantity for the tier pricing; also add the price per item and then press save. You will see the tier pricing on your e-store

Conclusion

There are many such things which you tend to ignore. But, these things not just grab your customer’s attention, but also helps reach out to more people. In fact, the store’s popularity and performance improves thus increasing footfalls.


Author Bio:

Deepa is a passionate blogger associated with Silver Touch Technologies., a leading Magento Development Company UK. She recommends checking out Magento Development Services at https://www.silvertouchtech.co.uk If you are looking to hire Magento Developer UK then just get in touch with her.

How to Disable Default Newsletters on Magento?

Many of you are not really happy with the default newsletter available with Magento. You tend to use third party mail services to accomplish the email newsletter related tasks. Since, you are using the third party service; you should ideally disable the default newsletter that comes with Magento. Let’s see how to disable default newsletters on Magento. 

Rewrite Core Magento Model

Go to config.xml and begin with rewriting the core model

<newsletter>
    <rewrite>
        <subscriber>Example_Newsletter_Model_Newsletter_Subscriber</subscriber>
    </rewrite>
</newsletter>

When you put it within the config option, you are actually allowing the store owner to decide whether or not they want to keep the config option.

Create System.xml

Your next step is to create system.xml and paste the code given below to it

<?xml version="1.0"?>

<config>
    <tabs>
        <example_tab translate="label">
            <label>Example</label>
            <sort_order>200</sort_order>
        </example_tab>
    </tabs>

    <sections>
        <example_newsletter translate="label">
            <label>Newsletter Configuration</label>
            <tab>example_test_tab</tab>
            <frontend_type>text</frontend_type>
            <sort_order>1</sort_order>
            <show_in_default>1</show_in_default>
            <show_in_website>1</show_in_website>
            <show_in_store>1</show_in_store>
            <groups>
                <newsletter_subscription_transactional_mails>
                    <label>Newsletter Subscription Transactional Mails</label>
                    <frontend_type>text</frontend_type>
                    <show_in_default>1</show_in_default>
                    <show_in_website>1</show_in_website>
                    <show_in_store>1</show_in_store>
                    <sort_order>120</sort_order>
                    <fields>
                        <enabled translate="label">
                            <label>Enable</label>
                            <frontend_type>select</frontend_type>
                            <source_model>adminhtml/system_config_source_yesno</source_model>
                            <sort_order>40</sort_order>
                            <show_in_default>1</show_in_default>
                            <show_in_website>1</show_in_website>
                            <show_in_store>1</show_in_store>
                        </enabled>
                    </fields>
                </newsletter_subscription_transactional_mails>
            </groups>
        </example_newsletter>
    </sections>
</config>   
Add a Path Within Helper Class

Using the code below, you can easily add a path to the helper class

class Example_Newsletter_Helper_Data extends Mage_Core_Helper_Abstract
{
    const XML_PATH_NEWSLETTER_MAILS  = 'example_newsletter/newsletter_subscription_transactional_mails/enabled';

    public function getNewsletterSubscriptionMailEnabled()
    {
        return Mage::getStoreConfig(self::XML_PATH_NEWSLETTER_MAILS);
    }
}
The new class created for this purpose is  Example_Newsletter_Model_Newsletter_Subscriber . you need to extend this class to the core class Mage_Newsletter_Model_Subscriber

Now copy paste three methods from the core class to the new class and make small modifications accordingly

The three minor modifications include

• public function subscribe($email)
• public function subscribeCustomer($customer)
• public function unsubscribe()

Replace the code in subscribe method

if ($isConfirmNeed === true
    && $isOwnSubscribes === false
) {
    $this->sendConfirmationRequestEmail();
} else {
    $this->sendConfirmationSuccessEmail();
}
With
if ((bool) Mage::helper('example_newsletter')->getNewsletterSubscriptionMailEnabled()) {
    if ($isConfirmNeed === true && $isOwnSubscribes === false) {
        $this->sendConfirmationRequestEmail();
    } else {
        $this->sendConfirmationSuccessEmail();
    }
}
Similarly, the following code in subscribecustomer method()
if ($this->getIsStatusChanged() && $status == self::STATUS_UNSUBSCRIBED) {
    $this->sendUnsubscriptionEmail();
} elseif ($this->getIsStatusChanged() && $status == self::STATUS_SUBSCRIBED) {
    $this->sendConfirmationSuccessEmail();
}
Should be replaced with
if ((bool) Mage::helper('example_newsletter')->getNewsletterSubscriptionMailEnabled()) {
    if ($this->getIsStatusChanged() && $status == self::STATUS_UNSUBSCRIBED) {
        $this->sendUnsubscriptionEmail();
    } elseif ($this->getIsStatusChanged() && $status == self::STATUS_SUBSCRIBED) {
        $this->sendConfirmationSuccessEmail();
    }
}
Finally in the unsubscribe method the following code
$this->sendUnsubscriptionEmail();
Should be replaced with
if ((bool) Mage::helper('example_newsletter')->getNewsletterSubscriptionMailEnabled()) {
    $this->sendUnsubscriptionEmail();
}

With this code, you check if the default mails are set to enable/disable mode, and accordingly decide whether to execute the code or not.

Conclusion

When you are already using a third party service for your newsletters, it makes sense to disable the default newsletter that comes with Magento. To disable, you can use the code given in this tutorial. This code checks whether the default newsletter has been enabled/disabled, and accordingly decides whether or not to execute the code.

Note: It is always a good idea to backup the default code before executing a new code.

Author Bio:

Deepa is a passionate blogger associated with Silver Touch Technologies., a leading Magento Development Company UK. If you are looking to hire Magento Developer UK then just get in touch with her.

Why SAP is Beneficial for your Business?

When you say business, you tend to view it over different verticals. When technology took over business, most verticals within the business became automated. You will see a separate tech system for sales, accounts, finance etc. While these different systems are automated, they lack integration. You will see that most of these systems work on a standalone basis which is why the overall business becomes manual. SAP- Systems, Applications and Products, is a great way of redefining your business and integrating the different verticals. With this technology rooted within your business, you will see that the end-to-end processes are integrated and automated while minimizing the data inconsistencies that erupt within the system.

SAP is known for the different ERP solutions that offer cross functional business solutions thus giving your business growth and profitability. There are several advantages associated with SAP, because of which your business will enhance.

Identifying and Aligning Strategies

How important is it for your business to identify opportunities and devise strategies accordingly? When you are planning to implement SAP, you will need to identify all the issues prevalent within the existing system, and define the short and long term strategies to further your business. With a business information system in place, the strategies defined will be aligned with the processes and operations active within the business. All the gaps between the two states i.e. identification and workable plan will be bridged with a well-aligned SAP system.

Enhances Productivity and Forecasts

With a well integrated business information system introduced to your business, you will see that your business is more productive than ever. Efficient workflow is managed through a productive system. Right from sending internal messages to sending out Emails and SMS alerts, all the operations are made thoroughly efficient. With an intelligent system, forecasting and planning for the future becomes easy. Your business can view growth opportunities in the near future with this system. Reporting is also made easier with this system. In fact, monitoring and measuring the results is also efficient

Enhances Flexibility

A SAP system offers flexibility, standardization as well as efficiency which is why your business is able to manage the capital costs, thus introducing profits. The business is now able to extend its efforts beyond the regular operations and functions.

Mitigates Risk

An intelligent business information system helps reduce the risks that run within a business. It tackles complex business issues, and forecasts the growth path for a business. SAP is a success partner for a business enjoying the different stages of lifecycle.

Optimizes Management

With SAP by your side, you will realize that your business is able to handle all the tasks right from financial management to business analytics with ease. You don’t need to concentrate your efforts on these tasks when the system will take care of that for you. This system saves a lot of time and effort as well as IT spending.

Conclusion

Partnering your business with SAP helps you grow along the right path. You will be offering flexibility and scalability to your business, while mitigating risks. With a predictable system, you can even pave path for opportunities, and grow in the right direction. An intelligent system is the way to a good future. 

Author Bio:

Deepa is a passionate blogger associated with Silver Touch Technologies., a leading SAP Consultant UK. She recommends checking out SAP B1 Implementation Services at https://www.silvertouchtech.co.uk

Why Develop an Android App for your Business?

If you want to be visible on a platform used by your users, you should necessarily have an android app for your business. Here are some interesting statistics that help you realize how popular Android is as a mobile app platform.

• There are more than 6 lakh apps on Google play store at present
• Of the total number of apps on the play store, 67% are free while 32% are paid apps
• 75% of the Q3 smartphones for the past year have been Android units

You can easily judge based on these statistics how popular Android is as a platform for developing your mobile app. Let’s understand why you should develop your business app on android platform.

It’s Customizable

You can easily custom create a mobile app to further you business with Android. You can design the app to suit your needs. There’s a whole range of custom options available with Android which can help you experiment and explore

Cross Platform Development

Cross platform apps, which can be easily used across the different platforms, are more popular among the users as compared to native apps. These cross platform apps work best when you are planning an enterprise app.

Rich in Features

When you set to develop an Android based app for your business, you can stay assured that the app will be rich in features. From calendar, email to QR code reader and GPS, all the basic and absolutely necessary features will be well integrated into your app.

Enhances Productivity

Google app is known to get in apps that offer better revenues, and are meant for the users. With an android app you not only improve productivity but also become more visible among the right target audience.

Easy to Search

It is easy to search for an Android app as compared to other apps. Most android apps have a GPS or mapping functionality that helps the users search for the app, and get it on their phones. You apps will be more visible and will reach out in a better fashion.

Conclusion

Android has definitely gauged up as a popular platform when it comes to delivering mobile apps. You will see that not only does it offer to be a more productive platform for your business, but also helps deliver visibility and efficiency to your business. You can reach out to your target in a more approachable manner.

Author Bio:

Deepa is a passionate blogger associated with Silver Touch Technologies., a leading Android Development Company UK. She recommends checking out Android App Development Services at https://www.silvertouchtech.co.uk. If you are looking to hire Android App Developers UK then just get in touch with her.

How to Use Magento Settings to Manage an Extension Settings?

Whenever you want to make small changes within a particular module or extension in Magento, you have to locate the module configuration tab, and make the necessary changes there. Locating, managing, and making the changes is a tedious process, which you can avoid if you transfer the necessary settings to the main Magento settings. So, you just need to make the modifications within the main settings file, and all the changes are registered.

Create System.xml File

Begin the whole process by creating system.xml file in the etc folder of Magento.

<config> 
    <sections> 
        <pos module="pos"> 
            <label>Example Pos Settings</label> 
            <tab>service</tab> 
            <frontend_type>text</frontend_type> 
            <show_in_default>1</show_in_default> 
            <show_in_website>1</show_in_website> 
            <show_in_store>1</show_in_store> 
            <sort_order>10</sort_order> 
            <groups> 
                <settings translate="label"> 
                    <label>example Pos Settings</label> 
                    <frontend_type>text</frontend_type> 
                    <sort_order>10</sort_order> 
                    <show_in_default>1</show_in_default> 
                    <show_in_website>1</show_in_website> 
                    <show_in_store>1</show_in_store> 
                    <fields> 
                        <sanalpos_url translate="label"> 
                            <label>Service Url</label> 
                            <frontend_type>text</frontend_type> 
                            <sort_order>10</sort_order> 
                            <show_in_default>1</show_in_default> 
                            <show_in_website>1</show_in_website> 
                            <show_in_store>1</show_in_store> 
                        </sanalpos_url> 
                        <user_id translate="label"> 
                            <label>User Id</label> 
                            <frontend_type>text</frontend_type> 
                            <sort_order>20</sort_order> 
                            <show_in_default>1</show_in_default> 
                            <show_in_website>1</show_in_website> 
                            <show_in_store>1</show_in_store> 
                        </user_id> 
                    </fields> 
                </settings> 
            </groups> 
        </pos> 
    </sections> 
</config> 

Integrate to Config.xml File

This file contains all the field settings required to modify the extension you have created. While Magento is definitely open source, you don’t want to make all the settings and code public. So, you will need to integrate the individual settings to the core settings page.

Paste the following code to the config.xml file
<config> 
    <!-- some more code here --> 
    <adminhtml> 
        <acl> 
            <resources> 
                <all> 
                    <title>Allow Everything</title> 
                </all> 
                <admin> 
                    <children> 
                        <system> 
                        <children> 
                               <config> 
                                   <children> 
                                       <pos> 
                                            <title>Kartaca Pos Settings</title> 
                                            <sort_order>10</sort_order> 
                                       </pos> 
                                   </children> 
                                </config> 
                            </children> 
                        </system> 
                    </children> 
                </admin> 
            </resources> 
        </acl> 
    </adminhtml> 
    <!-- some more code here... --> 
</config> 

With this long xml code, you would enjoy not having to search through individual files and changing the codes there. Saves a lot of time!

Conclusion
Isn’t having one code file an easier way out, especially when it comes to introducing changes, than having multiple files and searching for the particular file? With this integration code, you can easily integrate the codes for the different extensions into your core file. So, you just need to deal with the core file, whenever you want to initiate small changes. Saves a lot of time and effort!

Author Bio:

Deepa is a passionate blogger associated with Silver Touch Technologies., a leading Magento Development Company UK. She recommends checking out Magento Development Services at https://www.silvertouchtech.co.uk. If you are looking to hire Magento developer UK then just get in touch with her.

How to Develop your First Ever Joomla Website

Once you have installed Joomla to your web server, it is time to get started with website development. Creating a website on this platform is a four step process. Let’s get started with the four steps, and introduce how to create a website with Joomla.

Define the Website Structure

It is important to define the structure for your website. You need to make sure that your website is well structured and completely organized, at least on pen and paper. Understand the elements that are important to your website. Include the pages, and sub pages that will be needed by your website. Planning ensures that half the battle is won. The next half is designing and actually creating it.

Adding Content

Once you have defined the different pages that you need for your website, you will need to consider adding the content for the different pages. In Joomla, you will need to add the different content using articles. Before you begin adding content, you need to define the different categories.

Go to Content>Category Manager. Here you can define the categories. In case, you have an article based or news based site, you will need to add categories. Else, you can run your regular pages on default category. Joomla does not offer the category description on front end, so you don’t need to enter the description. But, make sure you have specified the categories that you want displayed on front end perfectly.

Once, you have defined the categories, it is time to add content to those categories. Go to content>articles manager and click on new button. Here, you will need to add the title to your article, select the category and add content to the article. Done with the content for the article, save the article and close the page.

Main Menu

Go to menu>menu manager. Here you will observe a default menu that contains some of the default pages. Here you will need to select the items that you want to display on your main menu. What do you want to be displayed on the home page? If you wish to display a single article, here are the points that will help add the single article

• Go to articles>single article
• Go to settings>select/change button
• Here select the full article that you want displayed on the home page

You can even create some new menu items here. You need to refer to the structure of the website that will help you know which menu items need to be added, and which don’t need to be present on your website.

Where to Place the Main Menu?

Your final step is to define the position of the main menu on your website’s front end. Most joomla templates make use of modules to position the items on the different pages. Go to extensions>module manager>new>menu (from module type popup window). Now, give this menu a title, main menu, and hide the title from the front end.

Now, you will need to position the main menu on the front end. The naming convention for position of the menu differs in every Joomla template. You will need to familiarize yourself with the naming convention used for your template, and work with it accordingly. Choose the position that relates best, save and close.

Now, select where the module, main menu should appear. If you want the module to appear only on home page, then select accordingly.

Conclusion

With these four steps, you are ready to get started with your Joomla website. Now, you can add articles, news or related things whenever there is a need. You have a complete website that can be shared and published to the public. Just optimize it to make sure you are visible.

Author Bio:

Deepa is a passionate blogger associated with Silver Touch Technologies., a leading Offshore Web Development Company in UK. She recommends checking out Joomla Development UK at https://www.silvertouchtech.co.uk. If you are looking to hire Joomla Developers UK then just get in touch with her.

How to Tweak the Production Database for Short Term Magento Projects

There will be times when you have to deal with short term projects. These projects don’t utilize the database extensively, and don’t need all the elements present within a database. Before you learn on how to tweak the database, let’s try and understand what happens when a project is handed over to you. You will need to perform these four steps compulsorily 

• Transfer the source code for the source from the production environment into the local environment
• Download the media files (if any) and share it
• Create a database dump and share it
• Generate the code repository and an issue tracking system

You will see that, when dumping the database, there are a lot of elements that are not required for short projects. How can you avoid dumping them? How will you know which ones are not useful to your project? You will need to consult the so-called ignore list that comes with the database to know which ones need to be ignored

•  adminnotification_inbox
•  aw_core_logger
•  dataflow_batch_export
•  dataflow_batch_import
•  log_customer
•  log_quote
•  log_summary
•  log_summary_type
•  log_url
•  log_url_info
•  log_visitor
•  log_visitor_info
•  log_visitor_online
•  index_event
•  report_event
•  report_compared_product_index
•  report_viewed_product_index
•  catalog_compare_item
•  catalogindex_aggregation
•  catalogindex_aggregation_tag
•  catalogindex_aggregation_to_tag

With this list in hand, you can easily figure out the functions that you wish to ignore. Here’s a code that will help you create the dump database for smaller projects i.e. this will teach you in detail how to tweak a database

define('DS', DIRECTORY_SEPARATOR);

function _getExtractSchemaStatement($sqlFileName, $db)
{
    $dumpSchema = 'mysqldump' . ' ';
    $dumpSchema .= '--no-data' . ' ';
    $dumpSchema .= '-u ' . $db['user'] . ' ';
    $dumpSchema .= '-p' . $db['pass'] . ' ';
    $dumpSchema .= '-h ' . $db['host'] . ' ';
    $dumpSchema .= $db['name'] .' > ' . $sqlFileName;

    return $dumpSchema;
}

function _getExtractDataStatement($sqlFileName, $db)
{
    $tables = array(
        'adminnotification_inbox',
        'aw_core_logger',
        'dataflow_batch_export',
        'dataflow_batch_import',
        'log_customer',
        'log_quote',
        'log_summary',
        'log_summary_type',
        'log_url',
        'log_url_info',
        'log_visitor',
        'log_visitor_info',
        'log_visitor_online',
        'index_event',
        'report_event',
        'report_viewed_product_index',
        'report_compared_product_index',
        'catalog_compare_item',
        'catalogindex_aggregation',
        'catalogindex_aggregation_tag',
        'catalogindex_aggregation_to_tag'
    );

    $ignoreTables = ' ';
    foreach($tables as $table) {
        $ignoreTables .= '--ignore-table=' . $db['name'] . '.' . $db['pref'] . $table . ' ';
    }

    $dumpData = 'mysqldump' . ' ';
    $dumpData .= $ignoreTables;
    $dumpData .=  '-u ' . $db['user'] . ' ';
    $dumpData .= '-p' . $db['pass'] . ' ';
    $dumpData .= '-h ' . $db['host'] . ' ';
    $dumpData .= $db['name'] .' >> ' . $sqlFileName;

    return $dumpData;
}

function export_tiny()
{
    $configPath = '.' . DS . 'app' . DS . 'etc' . DS . 'local.xml';
    $xml = simplexml_load_file($configPath, NULL, LIBXML_NOCDATA);

    $db['host'] = $xml->global->resources->default_setup->connection->host;
    $db['name'] = $xml->global->resources->default_setup->connection->dbname;
    $db['user'] = $xml->global->resources->default_setup->connection->username;
    $db['pass'] = $xml->global->resources->default_setup->connection->password;
    $db['pref'] = $xml->global->resources->db->table_prefix;

    $sqlFileName =  'var' . DS . $db['name'] . '-' . date('j-m-y-h-i-s') . '.sql';

    //Extract the DB schema
    $dumpSchema = _getExtractSchemaStatement($sqlFileName, $db);
    exec($dumpSchema);

    //Extract the DB data
    $dumpData = _getExtractDataStatement($sqlFileName, $db);
    exec($dumpData);
}

export_tiny();

With this script added, you will get a dump of the original database minus the elements marked in ignore list.

Using the Script

Now, let’s learn how to use the script to generate the dump database for short projects. Here’s a step by step method for the same

First you will need to copy the script to the Magento root directory. In case, you have been given the SSH access, you will need to execute the path php tinydump.php. In case, you don’t have SSH access then you can run this script using the following path: http://mymagentostore.comtinydump.php. Once the script has performed its task, you will find an sql file which appears as follows:

{DB NAME}-{date(‘j-m-y-h-i-s’)}.sql

With this, the database file size is tweaked, and your download time is reduced

In case, your host restricts the functions, system() and exec() php which have been used in this code, then you will need to use the following method to tweak the database. To export the database, you will need to perform the following steps from the phpmyadmin path

Export Structure of Database

Select the following options

•  Tables (select all)
•  Disable foreign key checks
•  Dump table

Export the Data

To export the data from the database, you will need to select the following options

•  Tables (all except ignore list)
•  Disable foreign key checks
•  Dump table

With this, you will get two files in the output- structure of the database and the data from within the database. To ensure local installation, you need to install the structure and then the data of the database.


Conclusion

Sometimes, you don’t need the whole database, especially when working with small projects. There will be many functions and elements within a database that you can safely ignore. Try tweaking your database structure before downloading the data.

Author Bio:

Deepa is an online writer who writes for magento blogs. She recommends checking out Magento Development Company UK at https://www.silvertouchtech.co.uk in case if you are looking for high quality and reliable Magento Development Services at an affordable price.

5 ways SMBs can benefit from an e-store?

If you own a small or medium business, it is time you moved online! Embrace e-commerce solutions to get more engagement, conversions, and marked-up sales. The reason is pretty simple- your consumers are online. It only makes sense to be visible on the medium chosen by your consumers. So, in this digital age, opting for an online shop seems to be a great way to further your business. Let’s understand how you shall benefit from an e-store.

Mobile First

Your consumers are going mobile with their purchases. You might want to reach out to them on the platform they are using. For that you need to bring your store online. Creating an e-Store may be the right choice for you in this case. You will be visible to your consumers on the medium of their choice, thus improving your chances of conversions

More Convenience

With an e-Store, you are offering more convenience to your consumers. The more we think of the consumers, the better chances we have of gaining their trust and loyalty. Think, if they don’t have to move out of their homes to buy your products; won’t they choose you over the others?

Low Investment, Better Returns

To create an online store, you don’t need a lot of money, unlike a brick and mortar store. You just need a good hosting, nice design, some good images and product descriptions to get started. Hiring a good developer should help you achieve this at an affordable cost. The returns are much higher compared to a regular store, as your consumers are online, looking out for the products offered by you.

Easy to Reach Out

Reaching out to your consumers is easy when you have an e-Store. Good SEO strategies and well planned layout will help you reach out to your consumers and improve visibility.

Engagement Not Sales

A store, online or offline strives hard to build relations. It is all about engaging the consumers and making them purchase your products. If your business believes in engagement, it is easier to build relations and create engagement online, as compared to offline. There are different tools that help you reach out to consumers globally, and offer engagement using tools of their choice. You are not just advertising your products to them, but also involving them in the discussions related to your products.

Aren’t these reasons enough to get started with your own online store? All it requires is some planning, and a good developer to get started with your own e-Store.

Author Bio: 

Deepa is an online writer who writes for home blogs. She recommends checking out Joomla Developers UK at https://www.silvertouchtech.co.uk in case if you are looking for high quality and reliable Joomla eCommerce Development services at an affordable price.

Ecommerce Trends to Influence Buying Behavior Online

E-commerce is ever evolving, and you will see that e-store trends keep changing with time. Online shop owners need to keep an eye for the up and coming trends that will help them float and win more conversions. Here are some trends that you should necessarily watch out for in 2015. They will help you win a lot many consumers.

Go Mobile, Go Responsive

According to e-commerce solutions UK, mobile devices account for close to 30% of global e-commerce spending (Source: Mobile Marketer). This number will gradually increase. This surge in mobile shopping is one of the major reasons why you should be present on mobile, rather smart devices. Create a responsive online store that can be imprinted on the different devices, without affecting the interface.

OmniChannel Marketing

Current trend according to ecommerce development UK is omnichannel marketing. Currently, alongside an e-Store, retailers also run their physical outlets. Both these marketing channels are interconnected with different promotions. Companion apps and mobile sites have been developed to offer help to the consumer when they are within the store.

Competition During Holidays
You can see a raging competition between e-Store owners especially during holiday season. Different offers, including free shipping have been included by store owners to entice the consumers and improve conversions. If you want to achieve maximum conversions don’t forget to attempt introducing offers during holidays that connect with your audience.

Value Based Loyalty

More and more store owners are attempting driving loyalty based on value, and not price. You will see a constant struggle for loyalty among e-store owners. Most store owners are trying to utilize a one-time promotion to gain users and convert them into loyalists of the brand. This trend has been adopted by a lot of e-Stores in the recent times. It is a trend that is here to stay

Free Returns

When you purchase a product online, you are never sure if it will fit you or not, especially in case of apparels and shoes. You can always be wrong with sizes. Free shipping on returns is being offered for such cases, which has promoted more conversions. When there is no cost on returning, and returns are being encouraged in case you don’t like a product, consumers will genuinely want to purchase from you. This trend, according to bespoke ecommerce developers, will help gain more conversions and sales for a store.

Quality Content

Content is an important parameter for a website. With an e-commerce website, visual as well as textual content is important from the user’s perspective. If you have good content uploaded to your website, you will be able to generate quality audience. After all, it is the visual and textual content that will help the audience understand about the products/services you offer.

Conclusion

Adopting these e-commerce trends will help you boost your business, and achieve excellence. Chances are you might even get loyalists and enthusiasts for your brands. So, research a bit on how you can put these trends to use in your website, and get started.

Author Bio:

Deepa is writer who loves writing articles on e-commerce solutions Topic. In case if you are looking for ecommerce solution in UK and Ecommerce development Company UK you may check for getting the same at www.silvertouchtech.co.uk

Disable Shipping Method on the Frontend with a Few Tweaks

Magento, in its default state, does not support the functionality wherein you can disable shipping method from the frontend, but leave it enabled in the admin area of your Magento website. Well, while it is not functionally supported by Magento, you can always add some tweaks to make it possible. Configurations for the different functionalities are available at global, website and store levels for Magento, but at a global/website level, you can either enable/disable the shipping methods. At the store level, you can only edit the title of your store. You will not be able to enable or disable shipping at store level.

Let’s take a simple case to understand the tweak better.

Scenario 1: you have a single website within your Magento system. Go to sales>order>generate new order.

You will see the “please select a customer grid” option blinking on your screen from where you will need to choose the customer for whom you want to create the order.

Scenario 2: You have two websites defined in your Magento system

Go to sales>order>generate new order.

Now, you will see “please select a website”. Once you have selected the website, the following line will appear “please select a customer”.

Now, that you have seen two different scenarios, let’s try to understand what’s really happening.

Either you use the default website (as you did when working with single website), or choose the website you want to create the customer for. In both scenarios, after reading the website configuration, the shipping data is retrieved from the website. This simply means that you cannot configure the store to show the shipping method at the admin side only.

How can we overcome this issue, and configure the shipping method to be shown only in the admin area? Simple! You will need to rewrite Mage_Shipping_Model_Config and Mage_Sales_Model_Quote_Address

Go to app/code/local/Mycompany/Myextension/etc/config.xml

<models>
    <shipping>
        <rewrite>
            <config>Mycompany_Myextension_Model_Shipping_Config</config>
        </rewrite>              
    </shipping>
    <sales>
        <rewrite>
            <quote_address>Mycompany_Myextension_Model_Sales_Quote_Address</quote_address>
        </rewrite>
    </sales>
</models>

Configuring the shipping methods

Go to

app/code/local/Mycompany/Myextension/Model/Adminhtml/System/Config/Source/Shipping/M
ethods

<?php

class Mycompany_Myextension_Model_Adminhtml_System_Config_Source_Shipping_Methods
{
    protected $_options;

    public function toOptionArray()
    {
        $carriers = Mage::getSingleton('shipping/config')->getAllCarriers();

        $carriersActive = Mage::getSingleton('shipping/config')->getActiveCarriers();
        $carriersActive = array_keys($carriersActive);

        if (!$this->_options) {
            foreach ($carriers as $carrier) {
                $carrierCode = $carrier->getId();
                $carrierTitle = Mage::getStoreConfig('carriers/'.$carrierCode.'/title', Mage::app()->getStore()->getId());
                $carrierTitle = trim($carrierTitle);

                if (empty($carrierTitle)) {
                    continue;
                }

                if (in_array($carrierCode, $carriersActive)) {
                    $carrierTitle = sprintf('%s (currently active)', $carrierTitle);
                } else {
                    $carrierTitle = sprintf('%s (currently inactive)', $carrierTitle);
                }

                $this->_options[] = array('value'=>$carrierCode, 'label'=>$carrierTitle);
            }
        }

        $options = $this->_options;

        array_unshift($options, array('value'=>'', 'label'=> ''));

        return $options;
    }
}

The system.xml defines the file “source_model”

Go to app/code/local/Mycompany/Myextension/etc/system.xml

<fields>
    <frontend_hidden_methods>
        <label>Hide Shipping Methods on Frontend</label>
        <comment><![CDATA[If a shipping method has been enabled under its settings, you can choose to hide it on the frontend by selecting it here from the list. This way, the shipping method would be available from the admin area but not from the frontend.]]></comment>
        <frontend_type>multiselect</frontend_type>
        <source_model>mycompany_myextension/adminhtml_system_config_source_shipping_methods</source_model>
        <sort_order>2</sort_order>
        <show_in_default>1</show_in_default>
        <show_in_website>1</show_in_website>
        <show_in_store>1</show_in_store>
    </frontend_hidden_methods>
</fields>

The actual config definition has been shown partially as part of the above code

Defining the helper data

Go to app/code/local/Mycompany/Myextension/Helper/Data.php. Paste the following code here

<?php
 class Mycompany_Myextension_Helper_Data extends Mage_Core_Helper_Abstract
{
    const CONFIG_PATH_HIDE_FRONTEND_SHIPPING_METHODS = 'some-path-to-system-xml-field';

    public function getHiddenFrontendShippingMethods()
    {
        $methods = Mage::getStoreConfig(self::CONFIG_PATH_HIDE_FRONTEND_SHIPPING_METHODS);
        $methods = explode(',', $methods);
         return $methods;
    }
}

Rewrite Shipping Config

Go to app/code/local/Mycompany/Myextension/Model/Shipping/Config.php
<?php
 class Mycompany_Myextension_Model_Shipping_Config extends Mage_Shipping_Model_Config
{
    public function getActiveCarriers($store = null)
    {
        $carriers = parent::getActiveCarriers($store);
         if (Mage::getDesign()->getArea() === Mage_Core_Model_App_Area::AREA_FRONTEND) {
             $carriersCodes = array_keys($carriers);
            $hiddenShippingMethods = Mage::helper('mycompany_myextension')->getHiddenFrontendShippingMethods();

            foreach ($carriersCodes as $carriersCode) {
                if (in_array($carriersCode, $hiddenShippingMethods)) {
                    unset($carriers[$carriersCode]);
                }
            }          
        }
         return $carriers;
    }
}

Rewrite quote address. Go to

app/code/local/Mycompany/Myextension/Model/Sales/Quote/Address.php
<?php
 class Mycompany_Myextension_Model_Sales_Quote_Address extends Mage_Sales_Model_Quote_Address
{
    public function getShippingRatesCollection()
    {
        parent::getShippingRatesCollection();
         $hiddenFrontendShippingMethods = Mage::helper('mycompany_myextension')->getHiddenFrontendShippingMethods();
         $removeRates = array();
         foreach ($this->_rates as $key => $rate) {
            if (in_array($rate->getCarrier(), $hiddenFrontendShippingMethods)) {
                $removeRates[] = $key;
            } 
        }
         foreach ($removeRates as $key) {
            $this->_rates->removeItemByKey($key);
        }
         return $this->_rates;
    }
}

With these rewrites, you have created a select option using which you can click on methods that you want to display at the front end, and the ones that you want to enable at the admin area. Do not confuse this hide from frontend method with enable/disable for shipping methods.

Conclusion

With this method, you can hide certain shipping methods from the front end. With this method in use, you can customize shipping methods such that you can display certain methods on the frontend, while enable certain others only in the backend.

Author Bio:

Deepa is writer who loves writing blog on Magento Topic. In case if you are looking for Magento Development Services and Magento Development in UK you may check for getting the same at https://www.silvertouchtech.co.uk