Mosest Tree or mosDirectory
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- HNL
- Sr. Rocketeer
- Posts: 112
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Has anybody any experience in trying to choose between mosDirectory and Mosets Tree?
After that experience in actually working with Tree or mosDirectory?
I need to have a directory of around 15,000 listings
It seems that these two products are the only components that could do that.
How do either of these programs work with the templates Andy makes?
At the moment the Mosetsians are not big on answering pre-sales questions.
Postings about/of P. Taylor seem also not very helpful at the moment.
If you choose one component it seems to me that going over to the other
some time later would be a very major hassle. Correct?
I seem to understand that upcoming versions of Joomla will have extended possibilities,
meaning that the section-category-item structure will be changed and
that more subcategories will be possible. Correct?
Does that sort of make these components less valuable or even obsolete?
They both cost money and Mosets Tree being far more expensive.
My means are meagre, but I will buy the component that is best suited for me.
mosDirectory has just been upgraded so it will be even more difficult to choose now,
but *ANY* suggestions helping me in the right direction are very much appreciated.
Cheers, HansNL - Last Edit: 18 years 1 month ago by .
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- L. Chris
- Jr. Rocketeer
- Posts: 29
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A brutally honest answer..not meant to hurt anyone.
I have purchased and use Mosets Tree and MosDir for several sites.
Support is inconsistent (embarrassingly so sometimes) with both products.
I have several unresolved issues with each product. Each has a few things better/worse than the other. If you want a professional directory that looks and works (just the basic functions - not looking for lots of bells and whistles), you will have to modify the code yourself (or hire a programmer to do so).
After using each for over 12 months (through many upgrades) - I would not buy either again..I won't support either for clients. I value my time too much <grin>. After 2 years of Mambo/Joomla development, I have bought just about every 3rd party product and tried at least 80% of the free add-ons - just explaining that I am a veteran. And I have been an IT professional since 1987 so I am not new to software development, nor to Internet and CMS development, etc...
I don't think I am picky - I just don't want slashes instead of apostrophe's and I want to add an entry and not have it appear in several unrelated categories for no apparent reason <lol>. I want users to have a simple navigation and search capability.
That said...they each have many happy users. And each version has fixed a few things - though beware that few updates are painless!
My rule now is:
1. Research 3rd party free and paid versions : search forums and support boards to get a feel for what users are experiencing before buying or trying.
2. I set a limit of how many hours I "allow" myself to configure the software to my/client's purpose.
3. If limit is met - I look at external software to buy/try and wrap it in.
Now, if you held a gun to my head and made me choose one..I would have to go with mosDirectory. It is a bit more logical out of the box.
Oh, and I have had to convert from one to the other..sigh. It almost works <grin>. The importer MosetsTree provides does work, though it adds a few unpleasant things in your database that you will have to sort out. I converted MosDir to MosetsTree at Van Texas Online! http://www.vantexasonline.com (using macphoria template) and there are quirks - when I add a new entry it replicates randomly in other categories. I cannot delete the random entries because they do not show up on the admin panel, nor in the database. <lol>. I know there is an answer, I just don't want to spend that much time on a small 200 item directory. I'll likely take this site back to MosDir and deal with slashes/apostrophes. Aaaaah...the joys of software development/debugging!
Regards,
L. Chris - Last Edit: 18 years 3 months ago by .
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- HNL
- Sr. Rocketeer
- Posts: 112
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My God, Debra Stokes/L.Chris,
You deserve a place in coding heaven.
Your answer worsened my abilities to choose,
but I love "brutally honest" answers like this.
I miss a the smilies: "bunch of tulips" to thank you,
Cheers, HansNL
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- Andy Miller
- Preeminent Rocketeer
- Posts: 9919
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- Web Kahuna
- I have worked closely with dknight (the developer of mosets) on an upcoming joomla project and he's been fantastic to work with. Mosets tree out of the box didn't do what we wanted and quite frankly we were all to busy to work on modifying it, but dknight offered to help and has shown that mosets is really a very good product although if you want to modify it there is some templating work needed. I don't think mosdirectory has this level of flexibility. just my 2c.
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- HNL
- Sr. Rocketeer
- Posts: 112
- Thanks: 0
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Andy, Andy, my man,
Now my life is even more difficult.
How should a poor lonely Joomla starter
like me make a choice now.
However your 2 cents way heavily in,
more like two silver/golden dollars
as you are one of the core developers of Joomla
So I value your choice for Mosests Tree very much.
Now to work together on a Joomla project
may be fine and a blessing, but the Mosetsians seem to forget
to deal with presales-questions.
I know, either dknight or alex said that they are coding away
for 20 hours a day to the detriment of a girlfriend.
But I think that Debra has a point
when they support seems rather flaky over time.
At their forum people are complaining.
Of course I know that you are in a coding daze yourself
so I want to thank you for taking the time
to adress my question
Really!!
Cheers, HansNL
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- L. Chris
- Jr. Rocketeer
- Posts: 29
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Hans,
The truth is that either is fine IF you have some time and php/html/css coding experience. BUT, if you are expecting a "work out of the box" solution (and I mean just the basics here - nothing fancy or extra)...then I suggest you look elsewhere because you WILL be frustrated. And after you get 15,000 items in..well...that is not a trivial amount of data to move.
Does that help or make your decision even worse???
Now, I do not mind hacking or modifying code - I expect that is MY responsibility with all the wonderful free finished and half-finished open source Joomla add-ons.
I would not have even replied, but after the 6 directories I have had to set up and all the unexpected agony and time...well, I am compelled to advise you to be wary. This is not about money. I am the type of customer that happily pays for something that does what it says and for a bit of service.
A few specifics on what issues you are looking at:
MosDir - you must pay Phil to import/export your data (or know enough database programming to do it yourself) - many sites still cannot show apostrophe's - you must insert a backslash instead. Sigh. Directory titles have many apostrophe's.
MosetsTree - you must wait (up to 16 days) for an email response to support queries. You can post on the bulletin board and get a faster response. My queries were not that difficult - why is the zip code before the state and how can I change that..stuff like that.
They are both nice guys and I believe that they have the very best intentions. I am of the "old" school - give me fewer features but I want them to work <grin>. I do not mind paying and I do not mind waiting a day or two for an answer..and I understand that software is not going to work on every server configuration/joomla version/template the same way.
Good luck with your decision.
Regards,
L. Chris
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I too am looking at buying one of these add ons. Basically i'm looking at creating reviews for pubs and clubs in my country. I want to be able to organise them in order like this
Country
->county
->>city
->>>club name -> reviews
Then have users write their own reviews or comment on existing reviews. I originally tought xtdratings would be able to do this. But it only allows 2 levels and I have to create the content and assign categaories before I can do anything.
Would you think either of the 2 add ons mentioned here would suite my needs?
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- HNL
- Sr. Rocketeer
- Posts: 112
- Thanks: 0
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Debra Stokes wrote:
Hans,Frustration was part of my work as a teacher, but I called that a challenge to get some results with kids-at-risk.
The truth is that either is fine IF you have some time and php/html/css coding experience. BUT, if you are expecting a "work out of the box" solution (and I mean just the basics here - nothing fancy or extra)...then I suggest you look elsewhere because you WILL be frustrated. And after you get 15,000 items in..well...that is not a trivial amount of data to move.Looking elswhereWhere for example? mosDir and MTree were the two programs I found during my excursions through JoomcountryDoes that help or make your decision even worse???
It works both ways. Decision is more difficult, but you + Andy seem to steer me in the way of Mosets Tree. But I wished that they did not neglect so much the Pre-sales Question Department. The last response dates from 8th of December last year. That is an ominous sign for people needing support. Coincides nicely (sic) with your obeservations. When Andy is on the verge of publishing a new template he comes down from coding hell/heaven and still makes time to visits the forum. *That* is customer service!
I am the type of customer that happily pays for something that does what it says and for a bit of service.I'll scrape and save if necessary to do the same!My queries were not that difficult - why is the zip code before the state and how can I change that..stuff like that.Actually that will be one of my questions, because the ways to write postal codes differs from country to country.
My readers are located in 60 countries.
They are both nice guys and I believe that they have the very best intentions.I certainly believe you and Andy in that respect.
Good luck with your decision.The good luck is already all mine, finding such extensive and apparently knowledgable assistance!
Cheers, Andy, Cheers, Debra, HansNL
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- Ken Nunes
- Jr. Rocketeer
- Posts: 26
- Thanks: 0
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Great dialogue guys.....I have also been looking at both of these directories for some time...........the thing that is strikingly obviously here, is that there seems to be a market opportunity for a good Joomla directory and surely that must be ringing bells somewhere....Debra (L Chris), are you listening.....
Ken
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- L. Chris
- Jr. Rocketeer
- Posts: 29
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Hans,
I agree that problems or issues are just challenges..and I love a good challenge! But, I am in the business of saving clients time and frustration and making things work. Larger clients can afford to pay me for spending many hours to get a function to work on their website. Most non-profits and smaller businesses cannot.
So, I do think it is useful to know ahead of time how "ready" software is before investing your (or your client's) time and money.
When I say that I look around, I meant out of the Joomla/Mambo world. Sometimes other free and paid scripts will integrate or wrap in and are better solutions than trying to rewrite/debug an existing component. Better because they provide the desired functionality with less time involved. Time is what I (and many others here) charge for.
I know that it takes time for development to reach a solid stable state. I don't believe that either directory is quite there yet. The lack of documentation means additional training and creation of documentation for each client.
I am interested to hear your experience once you choose <grin>.
Regards,
L. Chris
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