haven't done any designs on magento yet, but this guide might help you.
Magento - Designer's Guide to Magento - Open Source eCommerce Evolved
Magento - Designer's Guide to Magento - Open Source eCommerce Evolved
Actually most open source carts besides OSCommerce and a few others do offer a template system. Drupal, ZenCart, Cubecart, Mombo, all those opensource systems are either carts themselves or can have carts and they have a "drag and drop" skin/template system. Magento does have a skin system, but your right about having to still code. There skin system is unique and rather hard to use, but once you get it, it is very powerfull.magento is also not quite as stable as the other carts because its fairly new.. working with the design of any opensource cart isnt technically "skinning" because you actually alter the code and create your own look from scratch basically.. Its not like a wordpress blog where you just upload a folder and click APPLY THEME.. you have to create your own look.
I am about to release a website that my team designed in Magento. This will give you an idea of how you can use it and what can be done. If your looking for functions of the cart itself they do have TONS of addonds in their forums, most of which will have to be hard coded (editing the actual cart files) but once you do a few you will get it easy. The skin system is a bit overwhelming at first glance, but once you start getting it you will notice how easy it can be. I would be willing to help you with some small stuff like placement of a objects and things like that, but because we, like you, are new to magento because magento itself is rather new, we can only help with what we know so far as well.Has anybody successfully opened up a site using Magento Shopping Cart?
I really like all of its features and is perfect for me.
I installed it and added some products, but I have no idea how to skin it.
If anybody can help me out please give some input.
Thanks.
Chris
Thanks alot. But the thing is I have minimal amount of web design and coding experience.Actually most open source carts besides OSCommerce and a few others do offer a template system. Drupal, ZenCart, Cubecart, Mombo, all those opensource systems are either carts themselves or can have carts and they have a "drag and drop" skin/template system. Magento does have a skin system, but your right about having to still code. There skin system is unique and rather hard to use, but once you get it, it is very powerfull.
I am about to release a website that my team designed in Magento. This will give you an idea of how you can use it and what can be done. If your looking for functions of the cart itself they do have TONS of addonds in their forums, most of which will have to be hard coded (editing the actual cart files) but once you do a few you will get it easy. The skin system is a bit overwhelming at first glance, but once you start getting it you will notice how easy it can be. I would be willing to help you with some small stuff like placement of a objects and things like that, but because we, like you, are new to magento because magento itself is rather new, we can only help with what we know so far as well.
Dont give up. Once you get it, you got it. Read there doc's and the forums, those have been the best help for us.
Magento is probably not the cart you want to use if that's the case. You may want to try a site that doesn't require any coding for you to start selling like bigcartel.com or shopify.Thanks alot. But the thing is I have minimal amount of web design and coding experience.