Magento 2 Demo

There are many design, speed, security and architectural enhancements that will make this a compelling upgrade for online merchants. If you’re using Magento 1.9 or less, or considering using Magento, you should start working Magento 2 into your plans. A Magento 2 demo seems the perfect way to help you make an informed choice. Watch the demo below.  Then look through feature list. Finally, request a demo and discussion at the bottom of this page.

Design for Both Community and Enterprise Editions

Magento 1.9 sites and themes have become somewhat dated in their look.  And that probably makes sense, considering that they’re using old technology.  Magento 2 includes support for CSS 3, HTML 5 and jQuery.  The use of these new technologies will allow front end designers to revolutionize the way they build Magento sites.  In addition, the user experience will become prettier, faster and yet more adaptable in a mobile world.

Advantages of CSS3 in Magento

Here are just a few examples of the advantages of CSS3 in Magento:

• Responsive Mega Menus
• Pretty buttons from code, not images
• Image auto loading as the user scrolls down the category page
• In addition, “Accordion” tables that expand and contract as the user moves the mouse over them

HTML 5 Features

Because Magento 2 includes HTML 5:

• Audio and video using the browser, not Flash or old codecs
• The ability to capture pictures from cameras in mobile devices
• Displays a progress bar as your pages process data or searches
• New form input fields (for example, a drop-down list that lets the users add their own options)

Custom jQuery Features

Examples of custom jQuery features:

• Credit card validation in the form
• Zoom on mouse-over of a product image
• Product colorizer – Displays different colors as you move the mouse over the product picture
• Content slider – Displays a series of images on your home page

Magento 2 Tools

These examples are just the tip of the iceberg.  Most of all, you will want a site that’s prettier, faster and easier to navigate than your competitor’s site.  Then these tools will seem useful.

Improved Checkout Process

Completely rewritten, the new checkout process is much faster and yet more intuitive for almost all the customers. Enhancements include:

• Progress Icons – Icons showing progress through the checkout process (Shipping, Payments, etc.)
• Guest Checkout – Customers no longer need to create an account at checkout.  Because customer data is stored, the customer enters no password.  As a result, the customer cannot then return and check order status or login again the next time for a faster checkout. Still, some customers like this option.
• Billing Address Optional – After customers fill out their shipping address, they only need to fill in the billing address if it’s different.
• Product Icons in Basket – A small image of each product is displayed in the mini basket to the right.

New Features Reserved for the EE Version

• Furthermore, new payment processing gateways (like Braintree) have been added
• Import/Export Functionality – More and better options are standard
• Configurable Swatches – Customers can make their selection by clicking a swatch (used on the product page, product list, and in layered navigation)
• Enhanced Transactional Emails – Support for better display of email notifications on almost any mobile device

If you use the community edition, and it seems like you need these features, don’t worry.  Third-party extensions quickly fill the gap between CE and EE, consequently.

Performance

Speed has always been a problem in almost all 1.x sites.  Sites run by substandard hosting providers or customized by novice programmers can easily seem to have 8-second load times.  So remember — speed kills (see our blog post on 10 High Impact Magento Speed Optimization Steps for more on that).

Magento 2 CE now includes full-page caching, which was only in the EE version.  As a result, Magento 2 can create up to 10MM page views per hour. It will also support a very large product catalogs.  Most of all sites with less than 1.5M simple products and , 5K categories can use Magento.

Improved SEO

• New design code using tech that Google favors
• Entire site can run under SSL

Improved Security

• Better folder structure for isolating custom code
• The entire site can be run under SSL so forms are encrypted

Easier to Upgrade

Also, a new installer and data import utility makes it much easier and faster to import standard data into the new version.  However, the theme, extensions and custom code will still need to be added back by hand.

Fewer Conflicts between Extensions

Anyone who has installed more than a few extensions on a site seems to quickly find that they start to fight with each other. The new architecture isolates extension code better, hence should reduce collisions.

Try the Magento 2 Demo Today

Finally, get ready for your next year by taking a look at our Magento 2 demo site. Simply contact us. We’ll be glad to do what we can to help you with your Magento needs.