I read quite alot of people knocking Magento for being slow, poorly built or other such comments. You only have to read the messages on this Smashing Magazine post to see the wide ranging views.

Now before i comment on the good points in Magento i will say as i have done before if you are going to use Magento be prepared for a steep leaning curve and pay up for a good hosting service. Having said that if you know how to build websites and are willing to put in the time, Magento really is a very good piece of kit.

I will not go into Magento too much in this post as it is such a big topic. I will just point to a few things to bear in mind when trying Magento for the first time or even the 11th.

1. Keep backing up your folders and Data Base. This might sound like a no brainer but just as you would back up a word document it is very important to be able to go back to a point where the shop was working! You are bound to sooner or later get into a situation that you don’t know how to get out of. This is always frustrating but less so if you can go back to a safe point.

2. /app/etc/local.xml This is an important file, it contains your table prefix, host, username, password, data base name and more. Keep it safe and if you do have to do an update make sure to copy this file back into that folder.

3. Only edit files inside your theme folders.
app/design/frontend/default/yourTheme
skin/frontend/default/yourTheme
These two folders and the /app/etc/local.xml (see point 2) are the only things you really want to be editing. If you go outside of these folders updating Magento to the latest release is going to be more difficult.

4. Yes it bears repeating.
a. You have your data base. (this is very easy to back up so keep regular copies)
b. You have a copy of your /app/etc/local.xml file
c. You have a copy of both your app/design/frontend/default/yourTheme & skin/frontend/default/yourTheme
d. Your product images are uploaded here: media/catalog/product/ so keep a backup of that folder too.

So now in a worst case scenario you can do a clean install of Magento, upload your files folders and database and be back to your last backup and not right back at the start.

Ok while the above is only a starting point it will hopefully make your first days working in Magento a bit less frustrating. If you have any other starter tips please comment below.