vB 4.02 Compatability & Style

[NashChristian]

Hello,

So just HOW compatible is this with vB 4.02? This has been the most blundered release probably in vB history. Are you guys really up to speed, on board, and fully integrated with that software?

I'm interested in purchasing your classifieds product, but after what I just went through with vB, I need to see a couple of sample sites running 4.0x in conjunction with your classifieds product. Do you have some samples you can show me?

Are your styles compliant with the new vB stylevars? Will the style of your product automatically integrate with my vB style with 4.02, or are your styles independant and require separate customization?

Does your search feature integrate seamlessly with the vB search now, or will your product need to be searched separately from the cms & forums?

How TIGHT is your integration? I really need to see this in action on a 4.0x board. Please list some live 4.0x samples.

I want to avoid stepping in the mud again.

Thanks! Jeff

[Chuck S]

Well I cant tell you who is running what integration as that's information we don't have. Customers are required to submit a domain name with us they are running the software on just like vbulletin. We support 20 different integrations so I cant say who is running what.

I have a test setup here on my own site

Main Index - PhotoPost Classifieds

We integrate as always with the vb login load the header footer and style. basically how we do the style now we load the vb style boxes around our stuff so things should work fine but if you asking if we use a completely tableless css design like the new vb and use every last vb stylevar that would be impossible to do in a couple month time frame. Not to say thats not something that would be looked at in the future as vb matures.

[NashChristian]

Geez, that's disappointing. Not very attractive at all.

In some places, there is no left side padding for the text or images, in others the text looks jumbled.

Gosh, I was hoping for something much more attractive.

Thanks for the link.

[Chuck S]

Actually for only having a couple months its not bad at all. Really for full style compatibility really a whole new template set needs to be coded and thats not going to happen quickly.

[NashChristian]

Originally Posted by Chuck S

Actually for only having a couple months its not bad at all. Really for full style compatibility really a whole new template set needs to be coded and thats not going to happen quickly.

I'm not trying to criticize your product. On older versions of vB, I really liked how it looked. This whole transition to vB4 has been a true nightmare! I think that the best advertisment for any competitor of vB currently, is vB's own support forums, where everyone is irate!

Anyhow, I just really need a classifieds module that is plug-n-play, and looks great. I'm still searching.

I'll keep an eye on you guys in the future, and see how this develops. I'd really like to see some active vB4 sites, full of content, and how that display looks using your product.

Good luck.

[NashChristian]

You guys have cool photo handling, as well as a nifty zip code distance calculator, the text is the biggest thing that kills me.

Are you working on fixing the padding issues? Are there any plans to condense the directory view, to make it look more like a directory of classified categories and less like a long list of forum categories?

Since this is not your flag ship product, are much resources being devoted to developing it?

How big is the user base for this product?

Can you please advise me about what direction you are going with this product, and the anticipated timeline?

Thanks for your time.

[Chuck S]

Thats alot of questions.

I do not think your going to see any immediate changes. Templates are totally editable by users so they can change things to suit their tastes.

vbulletin 4 has been a total nightmare as you stated. They have literally had hundreds of bugs they have had to fix. We still are currently trying to get our last product vbGallery compatible with vb4.

All our products get due attention. I dont have an exact count or break down of who uses what product as this is our support forum. I can tell you we have over 30000 customers.

As far as directions we add features users request and add stuff we feel is needed as the product goes on. We just got out of a development cycle so there are no immediate plans for changes.

Right now its all about making sure all our products are compatible and maybe posting some vb4 plugins if we have time etc.

Timeline as you should be familiar with no one can tell you. That is an impossibility in the software field. I can say based on normal practices we try to have an least one major release and a couple minor ones per year per product.

Example in the past year there has been 2 major releases ( 3.1 and 4.0 ) and several minor releases.

[NashChristian]

Originally Posted by Chuck S

Templates are totally editable by users so they can change things to suit their tastes.

What does that mean? Are you saying we can manually edit the template code, or are you saying there are different layout/design themes which are options in the admincp, or ???

I would love to see a more polished sample, with category formatting, several items listed, icon images, multiple photos, etc... so I can get a true sense for what this product can do. Your sample site right now just looks like a blocky list of forums, and I can't envision what the current potential is for this product.

Thanks for your reply.

[Chuck S]

what I mean by editing templates is all the html for our display is in the templates and you can edit accordingly to suit your needs if you dont like how it displays.

The application is what it is and how it was written just like vb or any other product. It may not have every feature you want even. I can show you a multiple photo example easy enough.

Test Ad - PhotoPost Classifieds

[NashChristian]

Thanks.

Hungh, the light box dims long AFTER the enlarged photo displays, wierd.

The padding issues really bother me / need to be fixed.

I do like your use of technology with the photos. Oh well, time for me to do more research I guess.

There are a lot less options with vB4. I wish vB would get their act together so the developer community would work on their products!

Thanks again for your time.

[NashChristian]

Hey Chuck,

So the search engine friendly url's on your test site, like this, are all created by a mod-rewrite with your classifieds product? And they don't conflict at all with any of the vB4 mod-rewrite rules? Are there any known issues with that aspect of the software?

Thanks.
Jeff

[NashChristian]

Can you select NOT to display the children categories on the main classifieds page? For example, if I just want it to show:

• For Sale
• For Rent
• Help Wanted
• Services

On the main page, and then once you select a parent category like "For Sale", then you would see all the children categories available - is this a pre-configured option with your software?

Thanks!~

[Chuck S]

Our SEO urls have nothing to do with vb and there ours have no conflicts with there's. Remember you place an htaccess file in the gallery directory to do the SEO urls and you do the same with vb so they have no interaction with one another.

Sure thats all set with the proper switches in admin for CATDEPTH.

[Badger]

Although it's few weeks later in this thread and I'm running v4.03 of vBulletin, do I get the distinct impression that PhotoClassifieds isn't ready for commercial prime time?

I thought I'd better check "Before I Buy" ...

Regards,
Badger

[Chuck S]

what do you mean? Classifieds integrates with the vb header footer login just like it always has.

[NashChristian]

Originally Posted by Badger

Although it's few weeks later in this thread and I'm running v4.03 of vBulletin, do I get the distinct impression that PhotoClassifieds isn't ready for commercial prime time?

I thought I'd better check "Before I Buy" ...

Regards,
Badger

I did extensive research before purchasing PhotoPost Classifieds, and I DID purchase it. In short, they still offer the best FUNCTIONALITY, however the DISPLAY leaves MUCH to be desired! If you purchase the product, you will have NO choice but to recode the html, because it looks terrible! On many images there is NO padding, the display just looks like a long list of forums, you WILL want to customize it!

The programming side appears to be solid, but they definately NEED a designer to rework their product. It looks horrid out of the box!

I have yet to go live with it on my site, and this is largely why. I haven't had time to style the HTML myself, and I won't post it as it is.

I hope they address this in short order!

I can't find anything better though on the programming side. SEO friendly URLs... blah, blah, blah...

From where it once was though, it's slipping! Jeff

[Michael P]

We are looking into a designer for a revamp of the interface.

[Chuck S]

Actually I have also found a way to get proper padding around things so once I can properly test things out I should be releasing new templates. Other than the padding issue the software properly picks up the correct vb colors and things display like it should. I dont beleive I had heard issues to the contrary here. Only issue was a padding issue with certain scripts not having text padded right.

[Chuck S]

Nash please list your areas you think there is padding issues explicitly so I can make sure I am getting everything.

[laidback64]

Will the new templates you will be releasing fix the "Place an ad Page" text spacing issue?