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[limeweb Friend limewebJoin date: October 2006Posts: 86Downloads:0Uploads:0 Thanks: 5 Thanked: 3 times in 1 posts]

#129394

Simple enough question – template clubs release new templates on, (sometimes before) or close to the beginning of each month. Not so with Joomlart. Is there a good explanation?

[limeweb Friend limewebJoin date: October 2006Posts: 86Downloads:0Uploads:0 Thanks: 5 Thanked: 3 times in 1 posts]

#252422

Sorry, I misspelt Joomlart. Now, however, there needs to be a really really good reason for the delays…:p

[mfcphil Friend mfcphilJoin date: September 2007Posts: 2866Downloads:3Uploads:218 Thanks: 211 Thanked: 388 times in 133 posts]

#252425

I think you will find this post many many many times all over the forum…and most other clubs only release one template a month

1 user says Thank You to mfcphil for this useful post

1. fortest

[jeffkaris Friend jeffkarisJoin date: June 2008Posts: 1Downloads:0Uploads:0]

#252432

hmm i haven’t noticed this at all.

Jeff Karis

[Hung Dinh Friend Hung DinhJoin date: September 2014Posts: 4408Downloads:11Uploads:189 Thanks: 309 Thanked: 3310 times in 3 posts]

#252439

Hi limeweb,
Why we have to release as the same time as others do? It is just a question of how when we choose to schedude the release
http://www.joomlart.com/forums/topic/template-release-schedule-updates/

[limeweb Friend limewebJoin date: October 2006Posts: 86Downloads:0Uploads:0 Thanks: 5 Thanked: 3 times in 1 posts]

#252442

Mfcphil – You are absolutely right – many many many members would similarly like to know the answer to this question. I think you will find that the number of mentions of this fairly core part of the Joomlart operation would reduce dramatically if templates were released on time – hence increasing the share of posts dealing with what members are really looking for in the forums – such as beta testing results and customization issues.

Hung Dinh- You are right inasmuch as the timing of other template club releases is an irrelevance. You are very wrong, and it comes across as an arrogance, to state that it is just a question of ‘how and when we choose’ to schedude the release as clearly shown in your own referral in the Joomlart Q&A :–

“BETA RELEASES FOR 1.5:
1.5 Beta releases will be released during 1st-5th of every month.”

You cannot overlook the facts – there is a continual delay in the first template release – which brings me back to the simple question, what is the reason for the delay? Many many members have attempted to answer that question on your behalf, but it would be good to hear the informed answer from you yourself.

[forgestone Friend forgestoneJoin date: November 2006Posts: 11Downloads:0Uploads:0 Thanked: 8 times in 2 posts]

#252532

<blockquote>”Now, however, there needs to be a really really good reason for the delays…”</blockquote>

No, there doesn’t need to be. Throughout the past discussions of this you’ll see that there are recurring themes:

1. Joomlart releases two templates per month. Most other clubs (of any quality, at least) release 1. They can release their new template on the first of each new month because they’re not releasing anything else.

2. Joomlart, assumedly as a result of their doubled template release efforts, has had quality control issues with templates due to them being released on what was formerly a stricter schedule. Many, many, MANY members said, many, many, MANY times that they would prefer the schedule be given some wiggle room (several days) in order to give the developers more time to test and refine as opposed to getting a buggier template a few days earlier.

<blockquote>”think you will find that the number of mentions of this fairly core part of the Joomlart operation would reduce dramatically if templates were released on time”</blockquote>

This is arguably demonstrably false. I (and, from past threads, the majority of JA users who actually comment) cannot imagine why we have to have a template on June 5th rather than on June 9th, particularly when it has been repeatedly demonstrated that a few extra days of work can result in a less-buggy release. There are just certain realities in this sort of situation.

In discussions a few months ago (which included several prominent JA members) it was quite literally ASKED of JA that they take a little more time to brush templates up. JA is doing that, and now they’re getting hammered from the other side.

They can’t win for losing.

You can complain that JA should release better products and do so a few days earlier, but that’s where the fact that you’re paying what is a relatively small price for an entire year of twice-a-month template releases.

I just don’t know. I’ve used other clubs. There are three “major” competing clubs that I can think of, and they have in their portfolio zero templates I would ever actually use for business, and aside from one (which develops impressive modules as well) I don’t even see a great deal of developmental evolution from one template to the next. What they gain in whiz-bang features they lose in acceptable design presentation. (Invariably their older templates have a better aesthetic, but they can’t seem to carry that over as modules and functionality grow more complex, resulting in increasingly blocky layouts with frilly graphics laid around the template to try to distract the eye.)

Regardless, given their cost, the cost of more basic templates from online vendors, and the value of my own time or that of an employee or contractor, this is a bargain. I figured when I join (and each time I renew) that for the most part I will not be using new templates, and that I’m going to have some work to do – things on my own to figure out – in order to get any template I do want to work. If I find _one_ template per year out of the 24 they release that I’d actually use, I figure I’ve got a bargain.

If I were paying $70 per month, I’d feel a little differently about issues of functionality, originality and whether a template is released today or three days from now.

Heck, I’ve got more of a complaint with the OTHER clubs who are taking an entire month to release what I honestly feel are increasingly unusable templates for the same price that I pay from JA to get two templates that are at least functional and PRESENTABLE in a business or personal setting.

(Yes, JA is weak in the “gaming” templates area, but if I want a gaming template I’ll go somewhere else and/or invest a lot of my own time into customizing it. I’m glad they don’t focus attention on gaming.)

And as I’ve said before, that doesn’t mean I’m happy with JA in all respects, or that I’m not often disappointed in a template, but then I’m also not relying on a $70 (or $49 for an annual renewal) a year vendor to be my design department

<blockquote>”1.5 Beta releases will be released during 1st-5th of every month.”</blockquote>

Change it to read “during the 1st to 10th of every month” – problem solved.

The only solutions to this complaint (and, again, I cannot understand why it’s such an issue) is:

1. Hire more people to increase turnaround time, which increases cost
2. Hire better people who may be able to work more quickly and do better work, which ostensibly increases cost under any reasonable set of assumptions
3. Wait a few days, hoping that some disaster does not befall and kill you between the 6th and the 9th of the month, screwing you out of $2.92 worth of new templates.

1 user says Thank You to forgestone for this useful post

1. mfcphil

[mfcphil Friend mfcphilJoin date: September 2007Posts: 2866Downloads:3Uploads:218 Thanks: 211 Thanked: 388 times in 133 posts]

#252535

I would go as far to change the release date to

First Template: Between the 1st and the 14th of the month
Second Template: Between 21st and 30th of the month.

[mayhesla Friend mayheslaJoin date: April 2008Posts: 64Downloads:0Uploads:2 Thanks: 26 Thanked: 5 times in 1 posts]

#252543

<blockquote>I would go as far to change the release date to

First Template: Between the 1st and the 14th of the month
Second Template: Between 21st and 30th of the month.</blockquote>

I agree with the above suggestion.

At the same time, i must say that Joomlart is highly profesional in terms of template releases. It was one of the factors that made me become a memeber at this club. Two times a month, a new template is released, a day or five in delay on any of them = will never bother me at all.

buth that’s me….(and those that agree)

[limeweb Friend limewebJoin date: October 2006Posts: 86Downloads:0Uploads:0 Thanks: 5 Thanked: 3 times in 1 posts]

#252548

<em>@mfcphil 57763 wrote:</em><blockquote>I would go as far to change the release date to

First Template: Between the 1st and the 14th of the month
Second Template: Between 21st and 30th of the month.</blockquote>

Mfcphill – a very sensible solution that Joomlart would do well to seriously consider.

Forgesttore – You are the perfect customer!! As predicted, you jumped to the defence of Joomlart with buckets of reasons as to why they should not be expected to deliver against their own stated delivery dates. Amazing.

So……if I were to hypothetically contract with you to provide to you a set of deliverables on certain dates (dates that I set, not you) and I continually failed to deliver on time then according to your scribblings you would find that acceptable.

The fact that you also have a foresight into my delivery problems and can empathise with them is wonderful. If I hired better people who may be able to work more quickly and do better work and ensure a quality deliverable reached you on time, I presume you’d be happy with that?

Ah, but that would ostensibly increase costs under any reasonable set of assumptions. Would you be willing to pay? You might not, but some would.

But what if I didn’t increase my price and as a result of more staff, better service, good quality and on-time delivery I managed to gain a reputation for those factors and increased instead my volume of business. Makes business and economic sense to me (and to the likes of Tesco it would seem).

The situation is very simple with Joomlart. The delayed delivery of (beta) templates means they have problems which members can only guess about (and guess accurately no doubt). The options seem to be threefold:

1. Do as Mfcphil suggests and change the delivery date schedules;
2. Hire more/better/quicker staff to meet the stated delivery times, maintain prices and improve customer satisfaction and volumes;
3. As 2 above, but increase prices…

There is another option of course – 1 template per month – but that horse has been flogged to death.

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