Where to start with Magento?

Question

I am very new to Magento and I have a few questions. Where is the best place to start when theming? Would you recommend copying the default theme:

fontend/base/default

and going from there?

I've read that copying:

frontend/default/default

and renaming it is the best place to start, but that doesn't make much sense considering there are no real files there.

I've also noticed that the "blank" theme uses widget.xml to build its theme. Ohhhh, I am so confused.

I would like to get a theme that utilizes all of Magento's layouts/block/pages and change it from there. Therefore, back to my previous question: would it behoove me to just copy the "frontend/base/default" folder and go from there?

Your advice would be greatly appreciated.

Answer 1

I recently tried Mangeto. But when Mangento doesn't do exactly what you need, you actually spend a LOT more time on it. But they have a pretty website, and I bought their, its easy, its community, etc...

For me, Spree http://spreecommerce.com/ was the right solution.

Answer 2

Well, I can't say I have any expertize with v 1.4.x since I haven't yet worked with it myself, but I happened upon a thread over at the magento boards that is probably helpful (you might want to skim it, but pay attention on the third page of comments). Also, this link was posted on one of the responses, and it seems to be useful as well. Well, at least it helped clear things up for me, who has worked with v 1.3.x.

When we did our first magento site we used Yoast's blank seo theme (which is free) as a starting point. It is basically the blank theme, but then optimized for seo. If you are skilled with theming in general I would highly recommend copying it into your own custom package and then modifying it. I noticed that there is a 1.4-compatible blank seo module. If you aren't as comfortable with theming and you want to start with a theme that is mostly done, I can't say I know how to direct you. Good luck!

Answer 3

Have you checked out the Magento design guide? My suggestion would be to start there:

Magento Official Design Guide

I'm not sure if that will help, because it's hard to judge your understanding of Magento - it's pretty goofy at first. Just make sure you take the time to get cozy with the layout XML files and the blocks. Once you get an understanding of how the pages are built, it'll be a lot easier to start customizing a template beyond hacking up the CSS files.