Are you prepared for the Magento 1 retirement party next year?
Do you know what platform your website uses?
Do you know what a website platform is?
What happens when a platform becomes obsolete?
What is a website platform? When you land on a web page, you see information and images in the browser. Each website is unique, but how are they created? Most use a CMS (Content Management System) or also called a platform. This helps to organise content within the website and create the styles, visuals and manage the media used in the website. We use WordPress, Craft, Shopify, Magento and many others, here at The Just Brand. The platform is really the user interface of the website, the control panel to make changes easily so that the average user doesn’t need to know coding and development languages. A platform then uses a coding language to communicate to the internet, what colours the website uses, what various buttons do, how the website is laid out, and all sorts of other things. Languages that our developers know include PHP, Angular, HTML and others.
If you have an e-Commerce (an online storefront) website, you may be using Magento. What you may not know is that Magento 1.9 and older will not be supported any longer after June 2020, this is due to Magento being taken over by Adobe and being updated.
What does that mean?
Well, you’ll find any installed extensions, that make various features work, may start to fail and you might experience glitches on your website. If your site is using PHP 5.6 or older in conjunction with Magento 1, then support has already expired and most website hosting companies will demand you stop using PHP 5.6 & many have already switched it off.
This all sounds very technical, the software & coding your website is built on is no longer going to be usable and you’ll need to update to a different platform.
What platforms can you migrate to?
Well, the obvious answer is Magento 2, however, there are many other options too.
Your website visitors won’t even notice unless you stay with Magento 1 as they will probably experience problems in that case. Moving to Magento 2 won’t be particularly simple and it’s likely you’ll need the expertise of a developer to facilitate the move.
What are the key differences between Magento 1 and Magento 2?
- Magento 2 supports the latest PHP versions, which have better security and can enhance site speed.
- Magento 2 is generally faster
- Magento 2 works best with extensions
- Magento 2 is better at handling the latest SEO and Site Analytic software
- Magento 2 has a much more intuitive dashboard and improved user-friendly navigation.
We are a Magento Accredited Agency and definitely give you clear advice on how to keep your website working at its best.
If you would like to know what platform your website is running on or whether the issue highlighted above affects you, then please get in touch and we will help you understand your website and prepare you for any upcoming changes.