Affinity Ever After
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- Brian David
- Rocketeer
- Posts: 76
- Thanks: 0
- Dad, Web Developer, 2D graphic artist.
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This is effectively a Rant/Complaint. I am a paying member so I feel I am entitled to my opinion. I hope my DUES doesn't make you think that I should be met with arrogance, ignorance and beratement, I am the customer period. So here it goes.
I'm sorry but it's just my 2 cents.... Ever since Affinity, You should be including a Jomsocial templating option now with every release..especially with such a lame offering as Moxy...more on that further down. Back to what I was saying though... Your prices will go up, and the money comes in. but your services seem to slump. Everything seems to lack focus and is being spread thin amongst several ideals.
When I started with Rocket, You downloaded a template... and there you had it. Unless some serious issue came up or they updated it to be compatible with the latest Joomla development... You were pretty much done after you uploaded it. You could then begin on your own branding and customization. Some things we needed help on as individuals, sure.... but never was the template as a whole updated 3 or 4 times within 10 - days of a release. That's just absurd.
Now we pay for proprietary bloat in the form of untested and poorly documented extensions and bridges coupled with shoddy and incomplete work. This is a template club.. not a buggy extension club. Why not focus on one thing and do it better than anyone else?
I mean if you can release templates now that lack so much attention to detail to the point where we see updates constantly being released... Obviously not enough went into releasing a final product. Are we your beta testers now? If we are paying for this club membership... Why are we constantly testing beta templates for you? Affinity is a great example... Right? how many updates since it 's release? How many updates period? I mean some of us work for a living and have clients that want a site up and running in 40 man hours.
Some of us make personal websites and want to get on with the content and start making it our own. How can we do that... when we have to constantly update the template over and over and over and over.... Once we make adjustments... Your updates can often destroy those augments and we have to do our updates and augments all over again.
Is this what we are paying for? 2 steps forward and 3 steps back?
... Affinity was OK but... not for everyone and certainly not even open enough for anyone to really change it from where it sits at default. We are afforded often times with less and less ability to customize and brand effectively so we aren't cookie cutter websites... So we aren't just cloned sheep of the default so to speak.. I think it's time that Rocket theme step up its game - test templates themselves in a timely fashion and release finished products to us that don't need a dozen updates within a month of it's release. Each month I come back looking for something edgy and different and all I see now is the same bubbly round and smooth stuff over and over and over... slight color changes a few layout change ups... but overall Moxy has the same look as Affinity. Same rounded soft beveled sections, buttons, and whatnot.... Matter of fact, aside from the extensions... is such a lame offering... There should be no reason we aren't seeing a Jomsocial option in this as well. We already have simple CART extension we can use. Some are Free and some we pay EXTENSION clubs for.... This however is a TEMPLATE CLUB not a commercial extensions club.... Time to WOW us with TEMPLATES AGAIN.
Your offerings were much better and much more diverse in your previous years. Now... they all look alike to a certain degree... The main difference is .. how badly broken is the beta you give us this month and how many times are we going to have to update our sites till you get it right?
nuf sed.... Yeah right Who am I kidding Now I need a disclaimer...
To the first batch of replies I'll say this... I'm not being unrealistic. I expect a reasonable amount of updates over time. But I do not expect to have to start over every other update and have to put the rest of the build on hold because I'm constantly forced to have to re-implement my own code and edits into a template that isn't finished. And don't even get me started on the lack of a tutorial standard in some places.... If a customer reports that certain instructions are hard to understand.. This needs to be looked into versus the customer, namely me, being told that the staff is amazed that I'm so stupid. Just look at the debacle I faced with Affinity and the Rokbridge.... Weeks of troubleshooting or lack of.. no updates from the only people that have a clue... and then after Several weeks of me putting a client on hold until something was fixed... Lo and BEHOLD SYNCED links!!!! and everything is fine! This simple solutions wasn't even tried FIRST by RT staff with admin access to my site. Not once in several weeks did the notion of this arise... A troubleshooting nightmare that cost me an important client. One that I bragged to, one full of personal contacts.... I was made out to be a fool! The whole thing could have been avoided by someone just trying this one little thing... I was the new guy, I don't know about bridged versus synced... I was the customer, i needed a solution in a timely fashion. The solution should have been handed to me when I asked for help much sooner than it was.
This is just my 2 cents... Me as a paying customer gives me certain entitlements when it comes to complaining about the products I pay for.. The volunteers here that will most likely reply are just that.... volunteers... they are not paid professionals working for RT as customer service representatives. Therefore nothing they could say in reply to this will have any value equal or greater to the amount of dollars we as customers spend here. I say this because I am in no mood for clever commentary or come backs. I'm upset but I am not postal.. I am being civil and not derogatory. I am however realistic and I fully expect someone to jump the shark here.
PEACE....
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- Invision
- Hero Rocketeer
- Posts: 261
- Thanks: 0
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Agree with some of the points mentioned above.
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- JEM
- Preeminent Rocketeer
- Posts: 17917
- Thanks: 4
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I'm sorry but it's just my 2 cents.... Ever since Affinity, You should be including a Jomsocial templating option now with every release..
And many members make the same comment ever since Mynxx, every template should have VM integration.
Or ever since xx template xx feature / component should be included in every template forever.
(E.g. the Color Chooser from Chromataphore, Parallax from Vertigo, movable Modules from Affinity etc, etc.)
As RT shifts from template specific Modules / components to cross template compatibility, some of the features members are looking for are available here:
www.rockettheme.com/extensions
Your prices will go up, and the money comes in. but your services seem to slump.
See above....
When I started with Rocket, You downloaded a template... and there you had it.
I don't know when you joined RT, but when I joined, CB was in its infancy, VM was still in Beta, JomSocial, Twitter, Face book, etc. did not exist.
So now, along with 'just a template' members are wishing, wanting, and expecting a TEMPLATE CLUB to make all this stuff work together.
'How can I sync my Face book avatars with JomSocial and get my CB members integrated with my new phpBB3 forum?'
This is a template club..
See above. The templates work fine as they are distributed. Anything support over and above customization of the template itself should be considered a bonus.
Andy Miller wrote:I just wanted to post a general observation and does not really pertain to this thread or any other particular "no support" thread. Most questions that go unresolved or unanswered are related to people trying to do things that are not directly supported by the template. These things usually involve changing the layout or behavior of a particular part of a template. Most people who are new to web development and specifically XHTML and CSS, usually think that what they have in mind is a simple change, and don't realize quite what is involved in making it happen. This is not RT's fault, it's the XHTML and CSS specifications that define the rules. This stuff is not trivial, that's why we've gone to great lengths to make as many things as customizable and configurable from the admin as possible. If you are fairly knowledgeable in these technologies, then you probably will have no problem making changes as you realize that everything you do has trickle-down consequences to other areas of the layout as well as an impact for other browsers.
Most support threads take two forms, the first is a legitimate bug. Any bug or issue with a template or configuration you will find quickly resolved by our moderators. Those are always given top priority. The second form is anything related to customizing, custom code, or general modification outside the bounds of the regular design, is going to get less attention. Those usually require alot more work on the moderators part, and frankly are answered as a courtesy to help people understand what's involved in the changes they are asking for. The vast majority of people who complain or have issues about the lack of support are asking the second type of question.
Another way to get good support, is to be polite when asking, be thankful when helped, and in general be polite and considerate to the moderators. Moderators are people too, so if you insult them, or are generally rude in your communications, the help you receive is not going to be as good as if you were better behaved. This is just common sense, and good web etiquette.
Like I said, this is not directed at the author of this thread, or anyone in particular, just general observations.......but never was the template as a whole updated 3 or 4 times within 10 - days of a release. That's just absurd.
But never before were there templates that at this level of complexity with integration of third party components and extensions. Should RT continue to produce 'vanilla' templates and leave everything else entirely up to you? Or should RT forge ahead and offer you a much greater 'jumping off point' and work with the members of the community?
True, with Affinity, there have been five, not twelve updates.... but all the issues so far with the template have been addressed and updated.
But if you are providing sites for clients, certainly you need some skill and ability to customize the templates that are offered.
You make some valid points, but we are here to support what we offer, not build your websites or beyond the TOS fulfill your every wish. - Thanks,
jim
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- Roeland_A!
- Preeminent Rocketeer
- Posts: 10193
- Thanks: 71
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And don't even get me started on the lack of a tutorial standard in some places.... If a customer reports that certain instructions are hard to understand.. This needs to be looked into versus the customer, namely me, being told that the staff is amazed that I'm so stupid. Just look at the debacle I faced with Affinity and the Rokbridge.... Weeks of troubleshooting or lack of.. no updates from the only people that have a clue... and then after Several weeks of me putting a client on hold until something was fixed... Lo and BEHOLD SYNCED links!!!! and everything is fine!
My question to you based on your statements:
Why did you not know about bridged and synched links for Rokbridge?
This has always been in the documentation for rokbridge and clearly visible, from the first moment that rokbridge was introduced.
What exactly do you mean witha lack of troubleshooting?I believe that me and Joe spend a considerable time on your website.
At a certain point you reported to me that the site had an old install of seyret, there were you were first asking me if I was installing seyret on your site. You told me you would do a complete reinstall because of the issues you where having with prior installed modules/components that had nothing to do with RT.
Furthermore I seriously doubt that any of the RT staff has ever told you in any way that you are stupid.
Those are just my 2 cents. - *Karma comes in many forms, my personal favourite is the random saucepan from the sky* J.Spencer 17-02-2009
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- Invision
- Hero Rocketeer
- Posts: 261
- Thanks: 0
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Customizing JomSocial Template
JomSocial Documentation
Well, JomSocial team is yet to release a guide to create JomSocial template
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- Penn Wooding
- Elite Rocketeer
- Posts: 873
- Thanks: 0
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The only thing that is going to put a stop to me being a member of RT is the price. Is there going to be a price cap at some stage, or in five years, is it going to be $600 a year for a developer license?
I myself don't think I will be able to justify spending much more money than I am at the moment because at the end of the day, I could spend £150 on a few top class templates that would suit your needs for holy .
But I love it here and I will always be around whatever happens
- http://www.Oscarfishlover.com - the website for great Oscar Fish advice and help
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- drsawbones
- Sr. Rocketeer
- Posts: 154
- Thanks: 0
- Joomla Adict
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I dare trod here? My .02 used to be worth .10, but these days it's more like .002. My point being business is business and *bliss is bliss. If one has their t's crossed and i's dotted in their business agreements, along with well stated and detailed RFPs and other such documents in support of business dealings, one will decrease stress in general across the duration of a project or life of a client. One might consider a clause in their documentation to cover acts of god (server outages, crashes, hackers) and other unforeseen oddities (bugs, browsers, and everything else), buffers for overages, and a well padded $ amount for testing and development.
Now that we've effectively cut RT out of one's business dealings. Think back, if applicable, 4 years to what we had to do to launch a new site. For me, when I'd deliver the business agreement, the first thing to come on the chopping block was the cost for the template design and development. 100% of my clients over the last 5 years prefer to pay me to modify an existing professional template, then to pay big bucks for a one of a kind custom dream machine from scratch to web. If one was to browse to TM (template monster [cough]) or the like, you will see they not only make a decent living off selling templates for 70-120 bucks a pop, over 1,200 to reserve one, they are offering more choices then flash and html these days, cutting into the wordpress, oscommerce, and joomla professional template bases. If one sells more then 1-2 websites a year, the cost of a RT membership has already saved $ over TM.
"bliss is bliss" meaning that belonging to a club like RT allows you to have your cake, eat it, and enjoy changing the icing as long as you belong, participate, stay current and well informed. For me it's a 24/7 thing. The forums and documentation is VAST and impossible to locate the needle in the haystack I happen to be searching for most days. Being a Joomla! developer, there's a huge amount of things we can do with JCode, but do we take another year to build that one dream component? or Do we make it work a little, and then a little bit more...releasing the thing to the public when portions of it are stable so they can begin to enjoy using something that doesn't exist? I shake that RT would be bashed for performing patches, updates, or re-tweaks to anything. We need to promote this behavior, not slap it.
But in general what I'm getting from your initial post is back to my primary .002. Being a webmaster, a developer, SEO guru, network admin, designer, customer service agent, domain professional, sql expert, php wannabe, whatever the case...in total most of us have to wear ALL the hats to get our job done well without outsourcing...that's part of this bag and why it's so very important to keep the business effectively and legally binding so that you don't loose your arse and actually go the other way...MAKE SOME MONEY!.
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