Build a Fascinating Store with Magento Best Development Practices

 

While developing a Magento store, business owners are thronged with requirements and innovative ideas. To avoid the dilemma of sinking their heads into the ocean of necessities, they hire magento developer to take the onus on him. Magento has been known for its flexible features and ease of development to build a fascinating store with minimal fuss. However, the Magento developers, be it a newbie or a geek, often forget the best development practices to get the utmost output. This article might act as a reckoner for the Magento best development practices.

Follow Standard Coding Practices

Often the developers crumble under pressure and focus on getting the development complete as soon as possible without bothering about the standard coding practices. This leaves the system susceptible to maintenance issues in case it is performed by another developer owing to the avoidance of standard practices. Quality coding is ensured by following the standard coding practices accepted throughout the Magento community. Apart from this, it enhances the readability and understandability of the code. Make sure that you are following Zend along with PS1, PS2, and PS4 Magento coding standards.

Avoid Modifying the Core Files

A common programming gaffe made by developers is editing the Magento system files to achieve customization. The rule of thumb in Magento development is that it never messes with Magento's core files as it leaves the system exposed to vulnerabilities. To avoid modifying the system files and still achieve the desired customization, one can either opt for third-party extensions or create a copy of the system file to make the necessary changes. This allows the update of Magento to overwrite the system files instead of the customized code. In case you alter the core file, you might need to do the customization again, and it might hamper the default behavior of Magento as well.

Follow the Modular Approach of Development

The Magento framework is comprised of the default code and optional components used to replace or alter the default code. These optional components are present in three digits in the form of themes, language packages, modules, etc. Magento allows the user to build his customized components. This gives the developer the flexibility to include new functionality as per his requirement not available in Magento by default. The developer simply inherits the main class and reuses the code already written in the main class if he follows the modular approach. Only the new requirements need to be coded, saving a lot of valuable time of the developer. This principle should also be followed by the magento development company in india hired for developing the store.

Enable the Cache and Clear it Regularly

The cache should be enabled for enhancing the load speed and performance of the Magento store. The cache eliminates the performance bottlenecks in case of heavy image files and distant server locations. Moreover, whenever changes are done in the store in content or functionality, the cache should be cleared. It ensures that the latest content or functionality is displayed visually on the website instead of the outdated one. The cache should also be cleared while including newly designed Magento components, to make sure that the system doesn’t throw exceptions. The cache should be cleared to reflect the changes in the configuration, cacheable block, the CMS pages, etc. The command used to clear the cache from var/page_cache or var/cache directories is as follows - “ php –f bin/ magento cache: clean”.

Write Reusable Code Wherever Possible

The developers should code for the new features by using the concept of functions or classes to enhance the reusability of code. The redundancy in code is avoided by this approach, and this function or class is simply called or referenced to shave the development time. The code should be concise and focused to provide a general solution rather than a specific one, to improve its reusability.  

Concluding Words

The Magento store owners often fret about the frequent amendments required to include new features on their sites. They generally hire a Magento development company in India to take care of a smooth transition from the old to the new version of the store. The online stores try hard to gratify the users by improving the visual appeal. This process of changeover from the old theme to a new theme should be handled carefully even if they hire a Magento developer to do the same. The developers, in-house or outsourced, should follow the above-mentioned Magento development practices to leave any chances of vulnerability or malfunction in the store. The store owners should make sure that these developers are instructed to follow these best development practices to get the best possible outcome.