Im looking to have a new website built and have narrowed it down to Magento being the best option out of all the open sources out there. I would have to spend a bit of money having this created in my design. I have experience with Dreamweaver although Im no expert. I know I can create my design to make a perfect looking website but the functionality may be a bit lower (could me faster though??). My question is, what would be the benefit of paying someone to use Magento, will it usually be slower than a standard built PHP site? Any advice please.
I host all my Magento stuff on a level 7 VPS from hostgator so I don't really have speed issues with it. I would have to say hands down that in terms of the future magento is the way to go. I have to bang my head on the desk from time to time but it has so many enterprise level mods for it it is largely future proof. I am not much on fluff but things like ajax add2cart and marketing features like "folks how bought this also bought" mods are fantastic for marketing related matters and usability. I suppose it depends on how serious you are about the brand. I slap some stuff together with prestashop from time to time. It has an easier learning curve but no where near as fun or professional. Its is quite fast and easier to deal with though. hope that helps, Nigel