The leading online business solution, Magento, has existed for more than 5 years now. Magento has been downloaded over 4 million times and is the leading platform in the eCommerce space having more than 27% market share, and now Magento 2.0 is on the way! In this article, you can find information about the most exciting features, a demo of Magento 2, and more.
Quick Navigation:
- Important links to help you with Magento 2
- Functioning demos for Magento 2 from Uber Theme and Firebear
- Magento 2 rollout plan and Magento 2 availability schedule
- Magento 2 features and enhancements
- Magento 2 key updates from Magento’s Wiki
- Exciting features of Magento 2.0
- Magento 2 key updates
Important Links to Help You with Magento 2:
- Magento 2 GitHub Repository
- Magento 2 Installation Guide
- Magento 2 Developer Hub
- Magento 2 Developer Documentation
- Magento 2 Composer Repository
- Magento 2 Sample Data
- Installing Magento 2 Sample Data
Functioning Demos for Magento 2 from Uber Theme and Firebear
- Magento 2 Frontend Demo - Stock setup - Provided by FireBear Studios
- Magento 2 Backend Demo - Backend Credentials: uber / uber123
MAGENTO 2 ROLLOUT PLAN AND MAGENTO 2 AVAILABILITY SCHEDULE
Magento 2 Features And Enhancements
Magento is a leading e-commerce solution, that exists during the last 5 years. The platform has more than 4 million downloads worldwide. And now we can witness the dawn of Magento 2. The new version of the platform promises a lot of new features that have all the chances to play a key role in the growth of the ecommerce market. In this post, you can find the 10 most important features of Magento 2.
1. Better compatibility with other platforms
Magento 2 is compatible with Zend Framework and PHP 5.3, it also extends support for MSSQL, Oracle, and other databases.
2. The new level of flexibility
With a new structure of modules (component-based), the new Magento has a much better flexibility in terms of development. The high code coupling in combination with a component-oriented structure allows developers to different components including CMS, customer, checkout, sales, catalog, and a lot more. In Magento 2, it is possible to disable or enable every component and at the same time to keep the code base clean.
3. Testing-friendly environment
Magento 2 is 100% testing-friendly. It includes a flawless testing framework designed to perform: Static Tests, Performance Tests, Unit Tests, Legacy and Migration Tests, Integration Tests, and JavaScript Unit Tests.
4. Service Contracts
Service Contracts are another important feature of Magento 2, which is based on a set of different PHP Interfaces. The feature improves and simplifies the use of APIs for various modules. With Service Contracts, developers will get a new way of working with public API endpoints.
5. The new file structure
Magento 2 comes with a completely new file structure. There is no base theme anymore and all the base views are in the module structure. Developers now face much fewer issues while developing custom Magento themes.
6. Hassle-free upgrades and installation
Composer makes Magento 2 more friendly for installation and updates. It is also possible to use a convenient format to upgrade to the latest Magento 2 version.
7. Elimination of components and modules
Magento 2.0 provides advanced payment options. The new version of the config.xml file is reduced by over 20%, as a result, developers can offer customizable solutions within less amount of time.
8. The concept of view
The complexity and overall development time in Magento 2 has been considerably reduced thanks to ‘the concept of view in the module’. The feature also enables developers to create the working view within no time.
9. Better Security
Thanks to the changed directory structure, Magento 2 is more secure. There is a new directory – ‘pub’, which enables developers to protect the code from different security breaches.
10. The Magento Community
The Magento development team is opened to the community of Magento coders and can receive seamless support for any issues with Magento 2.
Magento 2 Key Updates From Magento's Wiki
- The new technology stack
- Improved customization process
- Easier frontend development
- Lower upgrade costs and efforts
- Better scalability and performance
- New level of quality, documentation and testing resources
- Increased engagement with the community
1. The new technology stack
The new technology stack includes the latest versions of PHP, JQuery, CSS3, etc.
With JQuery Magento 2 is more accessible, as a result, developers can use JavaScript libraries they already know. The supports for additional plugins are also provided.
- Magento 2 is fully responsive and based on HTML5. Customers get a great shopping experience on every device, and developers can use powerful APIs and features from HTML5.
- CSS3 improves the page load speed of Magento 2. It also provides a bunch of new visual effects: reflections, multiple backgrounds, shadows, etc.
- Another great feature of Magento 2 is a RequireJS library. It helps load JS resources asynchronously. As a result, you get improved page load time and encourage modular design for front end components.
- The second Magento also supports PHP 5.5 (5.4.11 is the minimum requirement). As a result, Magento 2 provides better overall performance.
- There is also a support for MySQL 5.6 in Magento 2. This version of MySQL can essentially improve MySQL engine performance.
- With the addition of PSR compliance, Magento 2 is easier to learn. Also, it standardizes the use of PHP, as a result, you get the ability to use different sets of code libraries.
2. Improved customization process
With improved customization process, developers are now able to extend Magento to meet specific merchant needs faster and easier.
- The modular code of Magento 2 reduces cross-module dependencies and allows developers to make targeted changes without any impact on other areas of code. This also leads to cleaner interfaces among multiple extensions with higher flexibility and better customization.
- There are a layered navigation and modularized search interface in Magento 2. As a result, search functions are more customizable.
- Magento 2 provides enhanced APIs for better integrations with external systems.
- Another significant addition to the new Magento is XML validation. It checks that the XML code follows specific structures and rules.
3. Easier frontend development
Frontend development is also more accessible in Magento 2 with LESS CSS preprocessor and modern HTML5 themes.
- Developers now have more opportunities for easier customization of the look and feel without changing core site functionality. As a result, they can pay more attention to user experience, formats, and styles. Frontend coding in Magento 2 is less complex and more autonomous.
- Magento 2 also provides features that make CSS more extendable and maintainable in a theme-friendly way. CSS-preprocessor speeds up frontend development and improves multilevel theme inheritance – developers can recompile CSS for all dependent themes with the dedicated updated parent themes. Instead of LESS CSS preprocessor, developers can also use Sass/Compass.
- Magento 2 also includes a Blank Theme, which allows developers to start with a stripped-down theme and all the necessary features and customizations.
- The Magento UI Library includes a lot of different components (typography, tables, forms, etc.) and specific patterns (messages, navigation, ratings). It provides the ability to change almost all elements of Magento 2 front end. With UI patterns defined within the library, developers can create new themes or modify existing much faster.
4. Lower upgrade costs and efforts
With lower upgrade costs and efforts, it is easier to upgrade all core Magento software and install extensions in Magento 2.
- Upgrading Magento to a newer version is now easier because Magento 2 includes information on versioning policies. Also, you can get all the necessary information about the compatibility of upgrades with the current version.
- Magento 2 includes a standalone installer, which is a separate and independent script.
- Upgrading to Magento 2 is possible by exporting all standard records and importing them into Magento 2.
5. Better scalability and performance
Performance Improvements include improved indexers, the new Magento performance toolkit, and integration with Varnish Cache. Scalability improvements include full page caching and support for multiple admin users.
6. New level of quality, documentation and testing resources
Magento 2 includes tests for units, integration, static environments, performance criteria, and functional areas. To enable faster development, the testing framework of Magento 2 supports continuous integration and testing practices. Also, the new version of Magento includes all the necessary documentation.
7. Increased engagement with the community
Increased engagement with the community is another strong point of Magento 2. Updates on Github, Magento 2 webinars, and special events make the platform more opened to the community.
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It is predicted that Magento 2.0 will be released at the end of 2015, perhaps the beginning of 2016.
I. Exciting Features of Magento 2.0
1. Compatible more Popular Platforms
Magento 2.0 will use PHP 5.3 and Zend Framework for managing performances of the cache engine, database access layer, and translations. At the same time, it supports MSSQL and Oracle that is great for Windows Platform Server.
2. jQuery Library
Jquery is the most popular lightweight to use JavaScript Library. In Magento 2.0, jQuery library is the default JavaScript library. The migration from prototype to Jquery is one of the most important changes in Magento 2.0.
3. Performance Enhancement
Previously, speed and performance always is a problem Magento has to confront. But everything has changed in Magento 2.0. In this latest version, speed will be 20% faster than the old versions. This will be a very dramatic change in the Magento performance.
4. Component Oriented Architecture
Such modules as a customer, catalog, checkout, sales, CMS, and others will exist as components. If you don’t need them, you can always disable it and replace it with your own; especially, you don’t have to hack the existing code base for that. Hence, site performance and flexibility will be enhanced incredibly.
5. Directories Structure
There are significant changes in the structure of the directory. A new directory called “pub” is introduced. This change aims to provide a better clear view structure for the developer.
6. Automated Testing
Magento 2.0 allows developers to set up an automated test easily.
7. Better security
This latest Magento version supports some steps to deal with serve validation. Thanks to this, your online site will get better security.
8. Jquery Javascript Framework
Magento 2.0 supports only one Javascript framework – Jquery. Thus, it will have much less Javascript conflicts the new version Magento 2.0 compared to Magento version 1.x.
II. Magento 2 Key Updates
1. The New included technologies
The new technologies consist of the latest versions of PHP, JQuery, CSS3, etc. you can see the difference between Magento 2.0 and Magento 1.x in the below table.
2. Improved customization process
With the introduction of Visual Design Editor, it is easy to use the” drop and drag” interface for editing the Magento layout. Thanks to, the appearance of Visual design editor, modifying containers and blocks will not require specialized technical knowledge. Hence, you can make many changes in the admin panel at ease.
3. Easier frontend development
With less CSS preprocessor and modern HTML5 themes, developers now can find it easy to new look& feel of the site without changing site functionality.
4. Reduced upgrade costs and efforts.
In Magento 2.0, upgrading core Magento software and extensions will be easier than with lower upgrade costs and efforts.
- Upgrade to new version: To support developer upgrade new version easier, Magento 2includes information on versioning policies. Moreover, you will be provided with all the necessary information about the compatibility of upgrades.
- Install Magento: With the support of a new standalone installer, installing Magento 2 will be much faster. This tool will check for prerequisites before starting installation.
5. Improved scalability and performance
Improved scalability consists of improved indexers, new Magento performance toolkit, Varnish Cache. Meanwhile, the new indexers in Magento 2 come with more efficient updates to speed up the performance, Magento performance toolkits support to verify and optimize system performance and Varnish Cache helps reducing server load and speed up the page load.
6. New level of quality, documentation and testing resources
The newest version of Magento includes all the necessary documentation. Also, it consists of tests to enable faster development. This testing framework supports continuous integration and testing practices.
7. Better engagement with the community
Another good point of Magento 2 is better engagement with the community. Through Magento 2 webinars and special events, the platform is more opened to the community.