Newbie - should I be delving into Magento

[frenchie]

This is all I am aiming for http://biancachandon.com/  

If i can get soemthing llike that, driven by Magento I will be very pleased!

I need to play around with themes, then customising them.  read a couple of tutorials and it sounds fairly straight forward - sure it is very difficult though!

[JLHC]

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@frenchie wrote:

This is all I am aiming for http://biancachandon.com/  

If i can get soemthing llike that, driven by Magento I will be very pleased!

I need to play around with themes, then customising them.  read a couple of tutorials and it sounds fairly straight forward - sure it is very difficult though!

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You should be able to find similar themes for Magento which are simple and clean. 

I suggest paying for a premium themes if it's within your budget range so you will at least be able to obtain support from the theme vendor when you customize it. 

[frenchie]

Cheers James,  that could be the best advice I get as I would never have considered buying a theme.

I did think that this would kinda be cheating in terms of learning, as everything would be done for me?

[JLHC]

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@frenchie wrote:

Cheers James,  that could be the best advice I get as I would never have considered buying a theme.

I did think that this would kinda be cheating in terms of learning, as everything would be done for me?

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I wouldn't say it's cheating because you are still given a basic theme and you will need to tweak it to your liking. 

[frenchie]

Thanks again James,

Im now at the stage where I I have installed Magento on my host.  Updated it with patches.  And am ready to play with templates and design.

I amreading this guide here http://code.tutsplus.com/tutorials/magento-for-designers-part-1--net-10897

Is it best to go into photoshop, design what I want, then try to apply it into Magento? Or should I install a basic theme, then try and change it to the design I want?

[JLHC]

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@frenchie wrote:

Thanks again James,

Im now at the stage where I I have installed Magento on my host.  Updated it with patches.  And am ready to play with templates and design.

I amreading this guide here http://code.tutsplus.com/tutorials/magento-for-designers-part-1--net-10897

Is it best to go into photoshop, design what I want, then try to apply it into Magento? Or should I install a basic theme, then try and change it to the design I want?

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If the default theme is good enough for you, you can start customizing from there. 

Otherwise you may want to try using a third-party theme which is nearer to what you have in mind and go from there. 

[Hadifarnoud]

I recommend WooCommerce. It's more flexible than Shopify but still simple enough

[Hadifarnoud]

by the way, you're asking this question in a wrong place. of course people are biased about things they know and used.

imho, Magento is a huge resource taker (both server and man power)