Magento 2 Release – A Sneak Peek Into Magento’s Future

Magento is the most dependable and widely used open source e-commerce solution out there and has steadily evolved over the last 4 years in terms of functionality, usability, security and load time. With the success of Magento, though, there has been a need to satisfy the responsibility of serving large scale e-commerce websites and the […]

By Joel Holtzman

Magento is the most dependable and widely used open source e-commerce solution out there and has steadily evolved over the last 4 years in terms of functionality, usability, security and load time. With the success of Magento, though, there has been a need to satisfy the responsibility of serving large scale e-commerce websites and the developers of Magento realized this. In 2011, the developers decided it was time to plan out a whole new Magento system and that system will be titled Magento 2 and is expected to be made available to the public at some point this year (the schedule has changed over time and I am not aware of a firm release date at this time).

Magento 2 will introduce a whole new set of functions, server testing improvements, security fixes and architecture updates that will improve load time, security and provide more powerful methods for developers to get the most out of building third party extensions in the least amount of time. Below is a summary of what you can expect with Magento 2:

No More Javascript Conflicts

One of the most frustrating aspects to developing with Magento is having to deal with two javascript frameworks; prototype and Jquery. Prototype is used for some form functions and validation and Jquery, for example, is used for functions such as sliders or shopping cart updates. Since most 3rd party extensions and client requests require the use of the Jquery framework over the Prototype framework, Magento 2 will only support Jquery.

This is important because the current version of Magento forces developers to take extra measures, which costs time and money, to make sure there are no conflicts with both javascript frameworks since the two of them cannot work together directly. With Magento 2, having all javascript advanced functionality work with Jquery will ensure your website is capable of handling any special javascript requests with no worries about compatability or certain functionality breaking.

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Improved Product Security

One of the most important elements of e-commerce development is to ensure that any vulnerabilities that can compromise data (either through affecting the database negatively or querying it without permission) and Magento 2 has taken extra steps to handle server validation which will ensure greater security measures moving forward to keep your store safer.

Improved Load Time

One of the complaints with the current version of Magento is that the load time is burdensome and a lot of that has to do with the fact that there are a lot of modules pre-installed with the software as well as an architecture that depends on loading multiple functions through different areas (built into the software and 3rd party) which take up a lot of resources. The aim of Magento 2 was to reduce load time and improve both caching mechanisms as well as methods to handle instructions in a more efficient way that benefits both the web site visitor and the developer.

Early studies have shown a projected load time increase of 20% and, as time moves forward, one would expect that number to increase over time when they have a year under their built with this new software update.

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Multiple Database Options

The current version of Magento supports Mysql, which is a standard database option that comes with any Linux or Unix web hosting package and is a natural fit for PHP applications. The majority of php based websites will connect to Mysql because Mysql functions were built into PHP from the very beginning since Mysql, like PHP, is open source. As time moved on, however, many people realized that Postgres SQL and Oracle will provide database functionality that simply cannot work with Mysql and the need to allow website owners, and developers, the choice of which database they prefer became apparent as websites grew in complexity.

Magento 2.0 will solve this problem by allowing, for the first time, support for Postgres SQL, Oracle and other database solutions which will allow developers to get more out of their website and, in turn, save development time for website owners because now there is more power to perform complex functions that would have taken more time to create with a less powerful Mysql solution. While 99% of the standard e-commerce websites will perform  just fine with Mysql, the idea that you have full power to choose a database is tremendous and has shown that Magento is ready to take the next step from reliable e-commerce provider to serious high volume e-commerce solution.

Stay Updated From The Magento Team

If you would like to learn more about Magento 2.0, as more information becomes available, you should check out Magento’s official blog and visit the Magento 2.0 section

This is where you can learn everything from the developers of Magento. Because this is a new resource that is not yet ready for public use the information is limited but it is worth keeping an eye on and bookmarking.

If you are interested in experimenting with version 2.0 and want updates on the development end, you should visit their Magento 2 Github Wiki:

Magento Development Lead