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[ejoomart1 Friend ejoomart1Join date: September 2010Posts: 57Downloads:0Uploads:0 Thanks: 10 Thanked: 3 times in 1 posts]

#165192

Hello:

I am a paid member and I am concerned about two situations:

1.) Overall Support- I recently posted a help question in the forums and received NO solution. Someone opened a Support Ticket (which was nothing more than email correspondence) and whomever I was corresponding with (they did not provide their identity) and did not provide a solve. Done in this manner, I have no idea who I am in contact with and in the case of no solution, the communication has no value. This area needs attention.

2.) Community Builder/Sanidine. I am using the Sanidine Template. I think it is a pretty good template for gamers websites which are popular. It is a good template to have in your catalogue. I have asked for help with it several times. In one reply, I was told the template was three years old and that the person really didn’t remember much about it. Recently I could not get a solve for the ja_slideshow module.

You should know that you are providing an extremely old and unsupported version of Community Builder with both versions of Sanidine and other paid templates. The supplied version of Community Builder only works in legacy mode and is not Joomla 1.5 or 6 compatible. Further, it unpacks in version 1.0 which is a version with known security issues as noted by its maker. The current version of Community Builder is 2.1. The version you include is 1.0! Also, Community Builder directly affects Fireboard and if there is a problem with one, both can be affected.

I have gone to their forums for help on it and they will not support it. In fact, they are quite impolite about it. They want people to buy it and that is how they will support it. So how are we supposed to use the template you provide for a fee that includes this element if it will not be supporoted, updated or repaired by you or the people making it? This is not a good situation and deserves your attention.

Joomlart makes some very nice, solid and capable templates and add-ons. The forums can be helpful but it becomes evident that only several Help Staff are truly able to help: Phil and Hung are two good examples. The Support Ticket system does not seem to work at all.

My viewpoint is that every template you offer; particularly if it is a paid use, should be supported-including the modules, components and plug-ins you supply with it.

I hope those that make these templates and operate Joomlart can review these comments and know they are intended to be constructive and helpful in nature. I hope you can look at these comments and help us with these issues.

Thank you,

[Arvind Chauhan Moderator Arvind ChauhanJoin date: September 2014Posts: 3835Downloads:74Uploads:92 Thanks: 1240 Thanked: 1334 times in 848 posts]

#397375

Hi there,

Regarding the support issue you have mentioned above, please provide the thread url, so that the same can be checked before saying anything about it.

Regarding updating CB to latest version. In the recent past the template sanidine and sanidine II have gone less popular and most of the members prefer JomSocial over Community Builder and so there had not been any request to update the same.

Only the last version of Community builder is a major release, which requires updating the template. No issues have been reported with the sanidine template and CB before your post.

Yes, the template is 3 years old but we are committed to support it, the work to update sanidine to latest CB and upgrade fireboard to Kunena has been lined up and hope to see the releases in a month’s time.

Yes, it will take atleast a month, as we already have other priority work lined up.

[ejoomart1 Friend ejoomart1Join date: September 2010Posts: 57Downloads:0Uploads:0 Thanks: 10 Thanked: 3 times in 1 posts]

#397450

<em>@drarvindc 248326 wrote:</em><blockquote>Hi there,

Regarding the support issue you have mentioned above, please provide the thread url, so that the same can be checked before saying anything about it.

Regarding updating CB to latest version. In the recent past the template sanidine and sanidine II have gone less popular and most of the members prefer JomSocial over Community Builder and so there had not been any request to update the same.

Only the last version of Community builder is a major release, which requires updating the template. No issues have been reported with the sanidine template and CB before your post.

Yes, the template is 3 years old but we are committed to support it, the work to update sanidine to latest CB and upgrade fireboard to Kunena has been lined up and hope to see the releases in a month’s time.

Yes, it will take atleast a month, as we already have other priority work lined up.</blockquote>

Hello:
Thank you for responding. The aforementioned thread was not responded to in terms of support but a staff member finally came across the thread and said that things will be improved regarding forum support- I hope so.

As for Sanidine and Sanidine II. These are good gamers templates. I am using both of them. The reason they are less popular may not due to design or lack of features but rather keeping pace with the market and being complete and supported. Gamers are far more familiar with phpNuke and its evolutions than they are with the Joomla CMS. This is regrettable as the Joomla CMS is far superior.

Regardless, this becomes a case for marketing/evangelism/outreach for Joomla products such as yours to these communities. I can tell you that given time in that market, I could solicit and secure the implementation of your gamers templates with numerous gaming clans. Once clans see Joomla products and understand how simple and powerful they are, they are quite game to change. Many users do not like phpNuke. It is simply the only product they know.

As for your statement that no other issues have been reported regarding Sanidine and Sanidine II before my post, this statement is wholly incorrect. There an many instances of issues. Many of the issues surround the slideshow module, Fireboard and Community Builder which are addendum’s to Sanidine, not its core.

The Joomlart template is quite solid. It is the Community Builder and Fireboard that are not- at least in the versions provided. Regardless of major update status (there is no excuse not to keep pace with updates in any software offering), the Community Builder version you include is not supported by its maker (or for that matter by Joomlart): This is a major issue and flaw in the offering. I cannot see how this plugin is therefore included. Further updating to their latest major release requires paid membership to them, compounding the cost of membership here: an unlikey, non-cost effective and awkward solve. Again, it is respectfully suggested that including outdated, to-pay-for and unsupported elements such as these puts the user at a gross disadvantage and mars Joomlarts good name; perhaps part- two as to why these templates are not as popular as once they may have been.

It is suggested to replace Fireboard and Community Builder and to market/update design the templates to the large, growing and active gaming community. What gamers and other communities look for in community building plugins is the ability for admins to sort individuals into groups and subgroups and to allow individuals to connect and actively participate with one another. If JomSocial does this and does it better with forum and template integration that would be very good indeed. However, it should be noted that JomSocial is yet another PAID component, adding to the cost already incurred with yours. Kuenena is by far more robust, flexible and superior to Fireboard.

You might consider repackaging and re-evangelizing the gamers templates with better components and see if people connect with that superior, better looking and up to date/fully supported product. These templates probably lost popularity in some measure due to inherent issues such as those discussed here. By removing the issues, improving the offering and perhaps diversifying and modernizing the template(s) designs a bit you might find greatly improved implementation. Having an included module for video would also be a large attraction.

With respect and thanks for your kind attention,

1 user says Thank You to ejoomart1 for this useful post

1. Arvind Chauhan

[litlelee9 Friend litlelee9Join date: August 2011Posts: 1Downloads:0Uploads:0]

#430752

drarvindc – you mentioned the sanidine II template would be updated in a months time…yet it has been 6 months since your post. what is the status (if any) on the upgrade?

[spartelegion Friend spartelegionJoin date: October 2012Posts: 1Downloads:0Uploads:0]

#473781

Hi there i bought this template as well about a month ago despite being on an older version.
I even bought the installation package from Joomlart so i don’t have to do anything and everything should be working fine. However, theslide show is not working at all. Please advise.

Also on the the forum, i get this error: /var/www/vhosts/spartelegion.gheberg.eu/httpdocs/Amateur/components/com_fireboard/template/default/plugin/profilebox/profilebox.php on line 44
No idea why, and also when posting topics i get some errors.

These templates should most definitely get your attention in terms of updates, they are ideal for gamers or gaming clan.

Please advise on my issues.

Many thanks,

[Author]

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