Preface

Since you picked this book, the odds will be that you are already familiar with Joomla! VirtueMart. You will agree that this open source e-commerce solution is definitely amazing and feature-rich. That's why you want to stick with it. However, you still find there are some things here and there that don't quite fit your requirements. So you want to hack into the files to customize them to make them work for you. The main purpose of writing this book is to help you do things like that!

VirtueMart is a feature-rich e-commerce component that extends Joomla!. There are many complexities inside the package and also lots of customization possibilities. And because the complexities and documentation are not that easy to understand, hacking into VirtueMart can be a steep learning curve. Simply customizing the templates, which are meant for modifications, may not be easy for some readers. Working on any sizeable project can quickly turn into a nightmare. The purpose of this little book is to unravel the secrets of themes and templates in order to get you started with your customization project.

Before you roll up your sleeves and start plunging into the real stuff, there are a few important things that we should discuss. This is what the introduction is for.