Yes xml can have validation and other cool things and I agree with that. (btw on move node the destination attribute value is always invalid "cannot resolve symbol" in php storm)... But have you ever personally tried to modify deep nested elements in checkout_index_index.xml (without ultrawide monitor, for example on 13" macbook pro)? you just can´t keep track where you are in the file. yep... This is more about how checkout js layout is configured, its pain even in PHP over layout processor.
Generally there is little problem with templating which works great with default magento design, but let´s be honest, html structure of default magento theme is not that great for customization, good responsivnes, it can be partly done but it´s hardcore css hacking ending up with hard to maintain css, hard to reuse css(less)...
Lot of times I need to repeat myself. since our page content on front-end is wrapped into 2-3 divs to get perfect responsiveness in all current or future use cases. The page content includes:
- Header (page title, breadcrumbs, banner background) for all pages excluding product page and home page
- sidebar (optional)
- page content
So in each layout xml, I need to create this layout structure since the main div.page has also a bonus class based on which page you are on (product detail, product listing, checkout, cart....). And this applies to multiple things. This was only one example.
It this scenario it would be fine to have some xml tag like <referenceContainer addClass or changeClass.... so instead of recreating the front-end layout in each xml i can define it generally and then just use <referenceContaner name="xxx" changeClass="page page--cart" /> <move element="magentoDefaultPageContent" destination="xxx" />
For blocks there is a ifconfig=xyz there should be also (for blocks and containers also while referencing) a if="namespace/SomeConditionProvider.php" and in SomeConditionProvider some execute method that will return true or false.
Also found a very bad practice...: If the layered navigation is rendered after the product list then the product sort order is not working. WTH?
Also: Europe is not USA, 80+% of the time there is a need to have layered navigation price filter that includes tax. I get it that it´s also missing because of performance, and in USA the prices are most of the time displayed without tax even in offline stores. But this is a must have feature to turn on off in store configuration. I have tried to search for some tutorials or guides how to do it. We ended up disabling price filter... Since I have not found any direct explanation, guide or anything from which I can understand what I need to do to achieve it... if someone filtered 0-30€ products with price of 35€ (incl. tax) were visible because in europe the people are used to see prices incl. tax.
Also: the wysiwyg editor is very out of date.
Also: it´s 2018 still no default support to have image assigned to cms page.
Also: it´s 2018 still no possibility to add cms page to main navigation, its categories only.
Also: The cart page is empty but the minicart contains products (sometimes).
Also: No multimedia management (images, pdf, other files) c´mon..!! Client asked us where he can upload PDF, I was shocked that I need to develop a module to allow pdf uploads... really?
Also: After getting loged out automatically, my name, the account details link are still visible on top navigation. after clicking on it i am redirected to login. Imageine a internet coffe or some public computer where you go to shop. you log out and your name is visible because some data in localstorage of the buggy knockoutjs are still there.
I am using magento 2 from version 2.0 now I am on 2.2.3, there was lot of improvements. It´s moving in good direction. I love most of the things in magento. But it´s the most complex, most professional eCommerce platforms and it has so so much missing elements to make it usable for end-users, that even a primitive cms from 8 years ago when i started as developer had more UX for editing pages managing media and others... also compare how much time you need to add custom field to cms page in wordpress (10 minutes or less) 2-3 hours in magento, plus downtime of redeploying (cache, upgrade, compilation,...). or i ma doing something wrong?
Our clients eshop has only about 100 product images, when i downloaded some image optimalisation plugin i have noticed that there are 28000 images to optimize and we are using only 4 different image sizes... It shoudl be maximum of 400 images to optimize.
Yes I am used to how wordpress works, in terms of admin user experience and also as developer. Both are different architectures, bothare made for different puirposes and I accept that, also I kind of like most parts of the magento architecture. But it´s no excuse for not having some end user experience.
