Magento Text Tutorials

Step 1

Download the latest stable Magento package from: http://www.magentocommerce.com/download.

Step 2

Upload the package on your hosting account through your cPanel -> File Manager or using an FTP client.
There are 2 options where you can place the Magento download file:

• Either under the public_html folder, which is the main one for your web site content. Then your web site will be accessible directly through your domain.
• Or under a subfolder, for example if your domain name is called yourdomainname.com and you decide to install the script in the public_html/magento folder, you will open the web site at: http://yourdomainname.com/magento.

Step 3

Create a MySQL database and assign a user to it through cPanel -> MySQL Databases. Remember the database details, since you will need them during the script installation.

Step 4

In our example we will install Magento in the public_html/magento folder. Once the package is uploaded and extracted and you have a MySQL database, navigate to http://yourdomainname.com/magento:

Click on the check box next to “I agree to the above terms and conditions” and click on the Continue button.

Step 5

Choose the preferred Time Zone, Locale and Currency:

Click on the Continue button.

Step 6

Enter the database details: Database Name, User Name and User Password. You can leave the other options intact.Click on the check box next to “Skip Base URL validation before next step”.

Click on the Continue button.

Step 7

At this point you should enter the personal information and the admin login details which you want to use. You can leave the Encryption Key field empty and the script will generate one for you.

Click on the Continue button.

Step 8

Write down your encryption key; it will be used by Magento to encrypt passwords, credit cards and other confidential information.

Step 1

You can add products from the Magento admin area > Catalog > Manage Products > Add Product (located at the top right of the page).

Step 2

Select the product’s settings (Attribute Set and Product Type) and click Continue.

Step 3

On the next page you will have to fill in the product options (Name, SKU (Stock Keeping Unit), Weight, Status (Enabled/Disabled), Tax Class, etc). You can also add custom attributes to the product using the Create New Attribute button.

Step 4

When ready, click Save and Continue Edit to go to the next step. Here you will have to fill in the price for your product. You can also add additional price options such as Tier Price and Special Price.

Step 5

Click Save and Continue Edit to go to the next screen where you will be asked to enter some description for your product.

Click Save and Continue Edit and the product will be saved. You can further customize the product from the Product Information menu on the left. In order for the product to show up on your front page, make sure you set it as In Stock from the Inventory option in the left menu.

Step 1

Select the product which you want to add an image to from the product list available in the Magento admin area > Catalog > Manage Products.

Step 2

Once the product is selected, click the Images option available in the Product Information menu on the left.

Click Browse Files and locate the file on your computer which you want to use as a product image. Then click Upload Files to upload the image to your shop. Finally, label your image and choose where it should appear using the radio buttons on the right. Click Save to save your product’s image.

Step 1

To add a tag to a product, simply write the tag word in the Add Your Tags: field available on the product page and click Add Tags. We’ll add “Great” as a tag. A confirmation message will show up saying that the tag has been accepted for moderation:

Step 2

Now go to your Magento admin area > Catalog > Tags > Pending Tags to view all your pending tags. In our case, there will be only one pending tag for the word “Great”:

Step 3

Click it and you will be taken to a page where you can change the status of the tag. It will appear as “Pending”, so le’t change it to “Approved” and click Save Tag.

Step 4

Now that the tag has been approved, all other customers will see it on the product page.

You can also manage tags on a per-product basis. Go to your Magento admin area > Catalog > Manage Products and click the product the tags of which you want to check. Then from the left menu click Product Tags and you will see all the tags for that product.

Step 1

In order to create a new category for your products, go to your Magento admin area > Catalog > Manage Categories. On the left you will see the available categories (if any) and above them you will see two options – Add Root Category and Add Subcategory. Since we have the Magento data installed, we have several categories. Let’s create a new subcategory of the root category by clicking Root Catalog and then Add Subcategory.

Step 2

You should fill in its Name and Description, add an image, fill in some Meta data for search engines, set it as Active so that it appears on your front page and include it in the Navigation Menu.

Step 3

The last option is URL key, which, if set, will be used in the links to this category. This is useful for SEO purposes – when sites are indexed, it is considered a plus to have as many relative keywords as possible in the URL. If the category is called “PC”, you may want to set this field to “personal-computers” to include two additional keywords in the link.

These are the General Information settings for the category. From the 3 other tabs available you can also manage:

• Display Settings – here you can set category Display Mode, its CMS block, whether it is Anchor (i.e. whether or not it should inherit the products in its subcategories) and the product listing sorting options;
• Custom Design – from this tab you can select the design for this category, as well as its layout;
• Category Products – this tab allows you to add existing products to the category

Step 4

When you are done with your new category, click Save to create it.

Step 1

Go to Magento admin area > Catalog > Manage Categories select the category which you want to add an image to. Then click the General Information tab and click Browse next to the Image field.

Step 2

Locate the image you want to set for this category on your computer and then click Save Category to save it. The image will appear as a small thumbnail next to the Image field. You can also upload a thumbnail image for the category.

Step 1

If you want to get a list of all available Magento categories, go to your Magento admin area > Catalog > Manage Categories. From the Categories menu on the left click Expand All and your whole category tree will be displayed.

To change the home page layout: