Posts Tagged ‘magento’

What is Error 503 in Magento Store?… Learn How to Fix It

May 3rd, 2019

Building an e-commerce store using Magento may be easy when it comes to handling various issues. From the developer’s point of view, e-stores often need high performance. So, it is important to resolve any issue at earliest.

Though there are many errors, if I talk about 503 error, it is often experienced when magento extensions are installed and due to problems with the site’s server. Let’s check in brief what is this error and how to resolve it:

What is the 503 Error?

Sometime when the user opens an e-commerce site, the site shows get the message of unavailable service. It is due to 503 error. The error 503 means that the server is not available and under the maintenance mode.

When We Get This Error?

During the Magento installation, Magento will create “maintenance.flag”. Most of the times it will get removed automatically after installation but when it is not removed, users get the message “service temporarily unavailable”. This error message appears while opening the site.

How to Resolve this Error?

When we get this error, we may feel it is not easy to resolve but the solution is simple. Check below how will it get resolved:

  • Navigate to Magento root folder and look out for “maintenance.flag” file in the var folder. After that disable the maintenance mode.

Steps:

  • Login into cPanel of your Magento store.
  • Go to Magento root folder.
  • Delete the file var/.maintenance.flag.
  • Refresh cache from php bin/Magento cache:flush or via the admin panel.
  • If message “Exception printing is disabled by default for security reasons” appears, check the error log.
  • If an error like “Please Upgrade your database” occurred than run php bin/magento setup:upgrade from the root directory.

What is “maintenance.flag”?

maintenance.flag is a file consisting code which blocks the user to visit the particular site. This look like as below:

$maintenanceFile = ‘maintenance.flag’;

$ip = $_SERVER[‘REMOTE_ADDR’];

/***************

* IP’s allowed in maintenance.

* Use publicly visible IP addresses on LIVE, local if on DEV

***************/

$allowed = array(‘10.0.0.100′,’10.0.0.101′,’10.0.0.20’);

if (file_exists($maintenanceFile) && !in_array($ip, $allowed)) {

   $basePath = dirname($_SERVER[‘PHP_SELF’]);

   include_once dirname(__FILE__) . ‘/errors/503.php’;

   exit;

}

Resolving the Magento 503 error is simple and easy. The solution is presented above is in the simplest way possible. Just you need to delete to rename or remove the file name “maintenance.flag” created in the root directory while installation of hosting service.

Everything You Need to Know About the New Magento 2.3.1 Release

April 2nd, 2019

The release of Magento 2.3.1 has been of significant importance for the Magento community this year 2019. Not only this new version has added new tools to help merchants grow their business but has also empowered developers to fulfill client expectations with more concrete results.

With the help of Magento 2.3.1, stores would be able to provide a higher level of services to their customers along with an increase in revenue and the growing number of satisfied customers. So, without wasting any further time, let’s go through its features and see how Magento 2.3.1 adds more value to Magento stores.

  • The PWA or Progressive Web Apps come up to date with full Venia B2B and B2C themes.
  • GraphQL with the coverage of B2B APIs.
  • Built-in click along with collect functionality and shipment cancellations are some improvements you will find in Magento shipping.
  • It has also introduced the Page Builder tool in Magento Commerce edition.
  • Updates in the integrations with Klarna, Dotmailer, Amazon Pay, and Vertex.
  • Magento Global Shipping has partnered with FedEx, UPS, and DHL Express to benefit customers as well as merchants.
  • The Authorize.net extension has been included as a part of M5 Hash End of Life and Signature Key Replacement.
  • Also included the Amazon Sales channel through the Magento Sales and Advertising Channels system.
  • Certain B2B enhancements such as a user-friendly admin, improved performance and the ability to handle up to 3000 addresses on B2B customer accounts.
  • Enhancement in the order creation from the admin panel.
  • Released Inventory Management with the help of in-store pickup fulfillment options, Distance Priority Source Selection Algorithm, and Elastic Search 6.0

To help deal with security issues, Magento 2.3.1 comes with 30 security enhancements including security patch PRODSECBUG-2198 to address the SQL injection vulnerability. Also, it has the patch to secure the Payflow Pro payment method against fraud activities besides security fix to close Arbitrary Code Execution, Cross-Site Scripting, Remote Code Execution, and sensitive data disclosure vulnerabilities.

To help develop attractively designed store pages, Magento 2.3.1 comes with Page Builder Tool. It eliminates the necessity of coding for developing pages to visitors. Moreover, you can check the live previews during the storefront design, form editors for easy data collection including content block editors for updated and enhanced designed content. It also includes the drag and drop content creation feature and much more.

To help with cart and checkout, Magento 2.3.1 comes with a flawlessly functioning “Clear Shopping Cart” button, unlike the previous version. Other improvements include no more mini-cart layout issues, or expired gift cards applied to a customer’s account, or infinite loading indicator for the error during checkout. Also, the counter values for the grid and accurate pagination are correctly displayed in the cart price rule page.

Wrapping Up:

Till now, from what we have gathered, this Magento 2.3.1 release appears to be a step in the right direction. Not only it comes with new features and upgrades to the existing components but also this new release will help increase the Magento’s market share besides improving the experience for both the visitors and merchants.

Infographic: Magento Maintenance Services

August 23rd, 2018

Every Magento site, no matter how awesome, still requires maintenance and support from time to time. This maintenance can include helping with speed issues of the site or removing certain bugs in the code. Clap Creative’s Magento support and maintenance services help you keep your Magento based e-commerce site up to date running smoothly. Check out are detailed Infographic to know the details of our Magento maintenance services.

Magento Support and Maintenance Infographic

Infographic – Magento Support and Maintenance Services

September 6th, 2017

Magento is one of the most preferred platforms for creating e-commerce websites. The business of so many eCommerce companies depends upon the proper functioning of their Magento eCommerce websites. If your website has been in operation for over a year or two, chances are that may have already started to show signs of slow performance. The website may begin to load slower or certain product pages take forever to load. The occurrences of site crashing may have started to become more frequent.

Ecommerce is a very competitive segment and if your site does not perform well on the initial visit, you may lose that customer to your competition forever. This would result in losses for your business.  To avoid that, you must make sure that your Magento website is optimized to perform as good as new every time. You must also make sure your website’s security is up to date.
Clap creative offers various services under their umbrella of Magento Support and Maintenance Services. You can check out our infographic that gives complete details in an interactive manner regarding everything that we offer our clients as part of our Magento support service. Check our infographic here to know more.

infographic - Magento Support & Maintenance services - Clap Creative

Want to have Incessant traffic, Secure web store, Lesser processing time, experts solutions and other support services for your Magento Store. The following Magento Support and Maintenance Services from clap creative at a reasonable monthly rate will solve the purpose.

5 Things Keep Your E-Commerce Site in Shape with Magento Support and Maintenance Services

August 14th, 2017

Whether you sell your products completely online or you also have a brick and mortar store along with your website, your e-commerce site is like the life blood of your business. Its health and smooth functioning are necessary for a constant growth of your business by offering your customers a flawless and simple platform for making their purchases. Any tiny glitch on the site can result in negative customer experience and cart abandonment. You may even lose those customers forever. To protect your e-commerce site from such occurrence, you need Magento Support and maintenance services.

It can be difficult to manage your website when you have traffic pouring in along with growing number of orders. As a store owner, you have other things on your plate like generating sales and fulfilling orders. You cannot be expected to deal with the hassles of maintaining your e-commerce website on your own. With professional Magento support, you can let the experts work on your website, thus resulting in better conversion rates.

The following are some of the benefits or advantages of availing Magento Support and Maintenance Services –

1 – Optimization of site performance

If your Magento based e-commerce site has been running for some time, there is a chance that its speed can get affected by certain inefficient codes. A Magento support expert can provide top codes to help optimize your site and improve the performance by reducing the load time of your pages. Server configuration can also help boost traffic and ensure that site does not crash when it has excessive traffic.

2 – Providing you with necessary training

As a store owner, you need to know about proper guidelines to follow to keep your site running smoothly. A Magento support company will train you so that you can handle the day to day working of your site and can also make minor updates yourself like updating images, adding new products, changing product pricing etc.

3 – Technical support

This is the main role of a Magento Support and Maintenance Services. There can be various major or minor that bugs that can fiddle with the proper functioning of your site. This reduces the number of site crashes and decreases cart abandonment. This support can also include making modifications to the appearance of the site.

4 – Installing Updates

Magento Support and Maintenance Services help you change the look and feel of your site by installing new attractive themes. If your website is running on an older version of Magento, that can be updated as well. They also install or remove extensions as per requirement. Some Magento maintenance service providers can also offer additional services like SEO and Paid online marketing as well.

5 – Maintaining Security

Magento Support and Maintenance Services also keeps your site protected against harmful malware and hacking. They also help retrieve hacked websites. Periodic scans and 24/7 monitoring are provided for the protection of your website. Installation of security patches is also done to keep the security of your website up to date.

Conclusion:

Magento e-commerce sites are complicated and need regular checks to ensure their good health. You need to avail the services of a company that has expert Magento developers that help maintain your site regularly. Clap Creative helps its clients maintain their e-commerce sites and optimize their performance, resulting in improvement of conversion rates and reduced downtime. For more information about our Magento Support and Maintenance Services, you can contact us for a quote today or get to know about our Magento services and maintenance plans here.

Magento vs. Shopify vs. PrestaShop Twitter Audiences Survey

June 4th, 2016

The importance of social media is high for each brand, as most of us contact followers with promotions, important notifications, feedback requests, and some brands even provide customer service via social media.So, we asked ourselves a question: “What are the differences of social audiences of main e-commerce platforms? Do they have something similar? Perhaps, they have some overlaps or similar locations, or anything else?” The presented below survey is designed to address these questions.

The survey covers the Magento Twitter audience, which is one of the most important social media for the platform, compared to the PrestaShop and Shopify Twitter accounts.

Key findings of the survey are given at the end of this post.

General Information

Magento vs. Shopify vs. PrestaShop Twitter Audiences Survey - ClapCreative

Magento is the oldest Twitter inhabitant, but much less active than Shopify, for example. Shopify also has the best followers/tweets ratio. Each tweet brings Shopify 9.2 followers per tweet, while Magento gets 8.4 followers, and PrestaShop -2.3.

Magento vs. Shopify vs. PrestaShop Twitter Audiences Survey - ClapCreative
So, total quantities of followers of the mentioned above platforms differ greatly, as it clearly demonstrated on the diagram above.

Audiences Overlaps: – 

But to be absolutely realistic this diagram should look like the following:
Magento vs. Shopify vs. PrestaShop Twitter Audiences Survey - ClapCreative

We analyzed 10 thousand followers from each account and determined that the audience of these three platforms has considerable overlaps:

  • PrestaShop & Shopify – 3.2%;
  • Magento & Shopify – 8.3%;
  • Magento & PrestaShop – 14.2%;
  • All platforms – 2.2%.

The overlap of the Magento and PrestaShop audiences is the biggest and mostly presented by digital companies and developers, according to the randomly chosen sample from the mutual 14.2% scope.

  • Marketers – 10%;
  • Developers – 20%;
  • Digital companies – 25%;
  • Non topical – 15%;
  • Abandoned – 15%;
  • Other – 15%.

All three platforms have 2.2% of followers, who follow all the platforms at the same time. We analyzed a 10% sample of randomly chosen following accounts from that array, and got the next results:

  • Abandoned accounts – 40%;
  • Digital companies – 15%;
  • Independent developers or consultants – 25%;
  • E-commerce news – 5%;
  • Other – 15%.

The quantity of abandoned accounts is significant in this sample and makes up to 40%, but we can disregard them. The companies and independent developers working at the junction of platforms or with all three platforms simultaneously constitute 40% of the total quantity, and this is the main relevant group.

Main Interests of the Audiences: –

The study of top keywords from the audiences profiles determines them as the following:
Magento vs. Shopify vs. PrestaShop Twitter Audiences Survey - ClapCreative
The main finding from the table above is that PrestaShop and Magento followers are much similar to each other. The structures of their main interests match each other greatly. More clearly we can demonstrate in on the diagram below.
Magento vs. Shopify vs. PrestaShop Twitter Audiences Survey - ClapCreative

As you see, Magento and PrestaShop Twitter followers are interested in almost the same topics and to the same extent. Their followers like “web” and “marketing” topics, while the Shopify audience subjects of interest are more diversified and directed towards “design” issues.How can we explain those similarities of Magento and PrestaShop Twitter followers? Clearly, the platforms themselves and their peculiarities can explain this phenomenon.

Magento and PrestaShop are both open-source e-commerce solutions written in PHP, what allows PHP developers work with them both extending their functionality. While Shopify is a SaaS e-commerce platform designed for SEM businesses and mostly attracts theme designers.

So, now we know that Magento and PrestaShop twitter followers have much similar and the Shopify Twitter audience differs from them in many aspects. But we can find out even more insights about those audiences, which greatly present the entire platform business communities.

Audiences Activity: –

Analyzing the frequency of posting on Twitter by those audiences we discovered that the Shopify Twitter audience is the most active. Almost 60% of its followers had tweets last week, while only 51% of Magento followers and 49% of PrestaShop Twitter fans tweeted within the same period.
Magento vs. Shopify vs. PrestaShop Twitter Audiences Survey - ClapCreative
And again, the distribution of tweets by days and weeks is greatly similar for the Magento and PrestaShop audiences (see the diagram below).
Magento vs. Shopify vs. PrestaShop Twitter Audiences Survey - ClapCreative

Audiences Distribution by Time Zones: –

45% of the PrestaShop Twitter audience is located near Paris, Berlin, Amsterdam, Rome, Madrid, Stockholm, and some other nearest European cities, while other locations are minimal for this platform.

The Magento audience is primarily described by three main geographical areas: Western Europe, the U.S., and northern India, near New Delhi. The European area of Magento is more widely distributed to the west and east, compared to PrestaShop, and the Eastern Time zone is the most popular in the U.S. for Magento.

The same as Magento, Shopify is interesting for New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Georgia, North Carolina, New Jersey, etc. residents, however, the Indian share it has is three times larger than Magento has in that region. Perhaps, it is explained by the policy of the platform striving to get leadership in India and South Asia.

Magento vs. Shopify vs. PrestaShop Twitter Audiences Survey - ClapCreative

Conclusion: –

So, the analysis of Twitter audiences gave us much information about the followers of the platforms and can be interpreted, to some extent, as a description of the platforms communities.

Key Findings: –

  • Shopify is the most active on Twitter;
  • Each tweet brings Shopify 9.2 followers per tweet, while Magento gets 8.4 followers, and PrestaShop -2.3;
  • Magento and PrestaShop Twitter audiences overlap by 14.2%;
  • All three platforms have the 2.2% Twitter audiences overlap;
  • Magento and PrestaShop have almost the same structure of their Twitter audiences interests primarily addicted to “web” topics;
  • The Shopify Twitter audience is the most active on Twitter;
  • Magento and PrestaShop followers post in the same manner by the frequency of posting;
  • PrestaShop is popular among users from Paris, Berlin, Amsterdam, Rome, Madrid, Stockholm, and some other nearest European cities;
  • The Magento audience is primarily located in Western Europe, the U.S., and northern India, near New Delhi;
  • Except the U.S. and Western Europe, the Shopify Twitter account is very popular in India, much more than Magento and PrestaShop accounts.

Note: The data is obtained using Simplymeasured.com

Cricket All Stars 2015 – One of our best pieces of work!

October 14th, 2015

At Clap Creative, our designers and developers are always committed to delivering world-class website designs along with cutting-edge web applications. So far, we have created various amazing websites, exceeding our clients’ expectations.

Another feather in our cap is the cricket All Stars website and we have just fallen in love with this website. It’s not just because we are hardcore cricket fans, but there are amazing features integrated into the website, making it our best portfolio website of 2015.

And Its Best for a Reason

First of all, we are really proud to say that our client, Leverage Agency, were really impressed with our work. And for good reason! Cricket All Stars is a tremendous showcase of the new web dynamics, be it designing, ticketing, responsive site to name a few. It allows people to book their tickets online for the upcoming cricket series in the United States. This site is developed on Bootstrap 3, PHP and the shop (upcoming) is based on Magento and provides utmost convenience to the people who are die-hard cricket fans.

Cricket All Stars 2015 - Sachin Blasters V/s Warne Warriors - ClapCreative


Fast, Feature Rich and Intuitive – That’s Cricket All Stars for You!

We make sure our websites have fast loading time so that the users don’t switch to other websites. All the icons, content and graphics are clear and understandable to make the perfect first impression. Navigations are clear and accessible. All the necessary details are mentioned on the homepage, including the teams playing, player information, venues, timing, and everything one is looking for.

If you want to get more information about the players, you just need to click on the picture of your favorite player and there you get a sneak peek into the life of your idol. Also, there is a yellow color icon placed ‘Book Tickets Now‘ that allows the user to book the tickets with just a few clicks. The website is completely responsive so it looks good on each and every screen in the world. There is a signup form at the bottom, users can either sign up through their emails or through social networking websites such as Facebook and Twitter, etc. With these features, we just aim to provide a wonderful experience to the users.

Get Immersive Cricketing Experience

Twitter Wall of Cricket All Stars 2015 - Sachin Blasters V/s Warne Warriors - ClapCreative

We understand that people are always eager to know about what their favorite cricketers are up to. That’s why we have added a section where users can read the latest tweets of the players. This can be called a ‘cricket encyclopedia’, since we have made every best effort to add all the necessary features and icons that can help people stay up-to-date about the latest cricket events.

For newbies, we have added a section Cricket 101, where all the relevant and necessary information about cricket techniques are mentioned. Facebook, Twitter and Email icons are placed on the right side so that people can share the videos, tweets or any other information with their friends.

In short, it is a fully functional, accessible, interactive, search-engine friendly website with flexible grids and creative styling. Just visit the website and feel the difference.
So, you see, we have a great contender for our ‘Best Website in Our Portfolio 2015’.

10 Reasons Why Magento Rocks for Ecommerce Development

March 11th, 2015

WordPress may be the undisputed king of today’s web world but Magento is the choice when it comes to ecommerce websites. It ranks as the refactor choice if you want to build high performance estores that deliver value to customers. No wonder some of the biggest brands, including Fox Connect, Vizio, Samsung, Nespreso, all use Magento as their platform of choice.

Are you a startup looking to get maximum impact out of its first ecommerce venture? Well, Magento has what it takes to launch you the right way?

Here are 10 Reasons Why Magento is Best Ecommerce Websites

  • Integration – You can easily integrate Magento with 3rd party sites and still run the core ecommerce features effectively. Payment gateways and shipping services work better with Magento.
  • Features & Tools – Being feature-rich and offering specialized tools are the primary characteristics of Magento. Whether is in-built SEO other online marketing tools, it takes the effort out of web promotion.
  • Multi-Store Capacity – Unlike WordPress, you can go beyond single online stores. Magento offers you the ability to run multiple estores using your trusted backend interface. The singular admin panel gives you all the basic information at one place.
  • Well-Backed – PayPal owns Magento and which in turn is owned by ebay. So, you can expect heavy investments to maintain its quality. It is constantly updated to meet the growing expectations of the ecommerce industry.
  • Awesome Community – If you stumble upon an issue, simply contact the community developers. You will most likely find that your problem already has a solution. The worldwide Magento community has grown significantly and now more connected than ever.
  • Flexibility – What you get with Magento is full-fledged flexible platform with functionality that traverses normal standards. Developers can provide solutions that work in accordance to client’s business goals.
  • SEO Friendly – Dynamic Google sitemap, SEO friendly URLs, most viewed products, in-built content management system and SEO features all make Magento a ready-to-use platform.
  • Easy Migration – Developers can easily move your current website from obsolete platforms onto a brand new Magento ecommerce store. The porting and migration capabilities are smoother compared to rivals.
  • Open Source – This open source community project ensures you have all the power at your hands. Developers can customize it the way they want. Need to tailor functionality as per your store’s products? Magento delivers that and much more.
  • High Performance – Magento offers faster page load speeds. You can meter other performance parameters along with competitors and see that it outperforms competition very well.
  • Scalable – You can employ Magento for small business estores or larger enterprises and still get the same performance out of it. It emerges out the winner no matter what scale you apply it for.

As you can see, there are more than 10 reasons to go the Magento way. Yes, you can have other platforms as well but nothing works like magic as Magento for ecommerce stores.