The aesthetics, along with the look and feel of the website, are crucial aspects for accessing the overall impact of an online store. Businesses inhibit themselves from changing the visual influence of the website. However, while migrating from Magento 1 to Magento 2, it might be impossible. The migration of themes is a daunting task and might leave the new Magento 2 store with a lot of loopholes. Let us walk through the issues involved in theme migration and try to find the reasons for companies to hire magento developer for migration to Magento 2.
Need For Migration To Magento 2
Businesses want lucid and elegant ways to boost their online stores’ speed. Magento started offering Magento 2 in 2015, which is full of new features and a completely revamped architecture without compromising on the performance of the store. Magento 2 is quicker, user-friendly, and performance-oriented. With features like full-page caching, enhanced indexes, and optimized databases, it has earned the numero uno status in the CMS market. Another reason for migration is that Magento is going to end user-support for Magento 1 in June 2020. So, it is the perfect time to migrate to Magento 2. However, there are certain recommendations while migrating from Magento 1 to Magento 2.
Recommendations During Migration
Businesses while switching from Magento 1 to Magento 2 should take care of certain things to avoid issues like data loss, or flawed functionality.
- A backup of the existing store is required as a contingency plan.
- A cloned version of the store should be used for the migration process instead of the live store, to avoid mishaps.
- Analyze the store to keep only the necessary things.
- The compatibility of existing extensions, themes, and customized code should be checked with Magento 2 platform.
- Data migration should be performed on the clone of the database.
- Delete irrelevant, outdated, and futile data from the database, including logs.
- The fresh installation of Magento 2 should be done on the server hosting the current store.
- It is essential to test the new store comprehensively for critical functions once the migration is over.
- Apart from this, one should keep in mind that the JS framework in Magento 1 has been replaced with jQuery in Magento 2.
However, it is a known fact that without proper planning, migration can hamper the functionality of the store badly. So, it is suggested to hire best magento developer only to handle issues related to data and theme migration.
Theme Migration
The current themes used in the existing store should be checked for compatibility with Magento 2. If it is compatible, then theme migration is a piece of cake. In case of incompatibility, the theme migration is not worth considering. The only option left is to either create a new customized theme in Magento 2 or purchase a Magento 2 compatible theme from the Magento marketplace or a third-party vendor. But, store owners can rest assured that Magento 2 themes are more responsive and attractive than Magento 1 themes. Magento 2 themes have been designed to augment the user-engagement level and deliver the best-in-class shopping experience. One can also customize the existing themes to make them suitable as per Magento 2 standards. But, theme migration might open a plethora of issues to be dealt with.
Theme Migration Issues And Alternatives
The Magento 1 and Magento 2 themes are incompatible. So, it is impossible to copy the existing store’s theme as it is. The alternative options are either to purchase a new Magento 2 readymade theme or to create your own Magento 2 theme. Let us explore the pros and cons of these two options. The use of a pre-made theme saves a lot of time and cost and allows a little bit of customization also. Choosing the second option might prolong the launch of the new Magento2 store due to several reasons. One obvious reason is the need to do intricate coding on your own. It also demands extensive knowledge of various programming languages along with Magento 2’s internal functioning knowledge. The entire front-end needs an overhaul with the need to rewrite all the CSS and HTML templates.
Final Thoughts
Although store owners are uncomfortable changing the look and feel of a successful website, it is essential while migrating to a better platform. Magento 2 is a better performing CMS if compared to Magento 1. Everything but the theme can be migrated from the existing store to the new Magento 2 store. Businesses do not like to experiment much with the aesthetics of an established store. They try to maintain the visual impact while migrating towards a new platform as well. Customizing the existing theme to run it on Magento 2 store might actually degrade its performance instead of boosting it. A readymade theme would be an optimal alternative due to the time and cost factors.
