Feedback For Next Release?

[phpcityportal]

Hi guys,

We are hard at work on the next release/upgrade. But what feedback do you have for us for the next release? We want to get everyone's opinion. Let us know on this forum.

[sceniccitytoday.com]

My next request would be traffic data access. As we ad content and content is added by members it would be great if we could gauge what is popular and what isn't.

You have been great sending over logs but I would like to be able to download webalizer data for more intricate analysis.

What advertising is working, where are visitors/members are coming from etc.

Thanks,
Rob

[phpcityportal]

My next request would be traffic data access. As we ad content and content is added by members it would be great if we could gauge what is popular and what isn't.

You have been great sending over logs but I would like to be able to download webalizer data for more intricate analysis.

What advertising is working, where are visitors/members are coming from etc.

Thanks,
Rob

Actually on the v1.3 you can put your Google Analytics, etc code in the admin area and it will track your visitors.

[kltoday]

A few Suggestions:

1) To fix the "Apostrophe" error, ads with an Apostrophe to not post.

2) Merge Regular and Seller Accounts as One. (More User Friendly)

3)Eliminate Users from being able to click on other user names to see info.

4) When Selling, I would like to see the "Website" field eliminated, most local users have no need for that.

[kltoday]

It would be great to have a "Stores" category.
The idea is people or businesses could sell their products in their very own private sellers area, they would be the only ones able to post items within their store.
We then sell the store space for a monthly fee.

[JamesDavid]

Is there a date for the next update yet? The script is good but if all the little things will be fixed in the next update I would rather wait to advertise the site.

Thanks

[nordal]

No specific date yet. We're still in the planning face of figuring out how massive the update will be in terms of just bug fixes or bug fixes + new features. My home is though that we could get around some bug fixes within a month, but it depends on the time schedule of our coding team.

I will let you know more as soon as I can.

[frtaz]

A few Suggestions:

2) Merge Regular and Seller Accounts as One. (More User Friendly)

3)Eliminate Users from being able to click on other user names to see info.



I do like those two ideas also. I have a few myself

1) Under advertiser manager/Placement of Ad can there be a way to choose where you would like to place it? Like I want to be able to put ad 1 on home page and events. ad 2 on home page and garage sales. a check box instead of drop down that way you can choose all the pages to place it on.


2) A way to change to sign up fields in the admin have full control over what is required and what is not. Right now some of the required stuff is not needed for my site but it maybe for other sites

3) Being able to add mods to the site or adding more admins. I know this is not a big deal right now but when everyone's site grows they will need help but they do not mods or other admins to have full control over the back end.

[nordal]

Thanks for the inputs, will put them down for consideration with the others.

/martin

[JamesDavid]

Nordal...

Just a suggestion.. could you maybe edit your original post and keep an updated list of the improvements in the next release. this way people will see what they have to look forward too...

Also if they haven't been suggested for future releases:

Singles/Dating Section.

Universal Username/password. not two seperate ones.

Control over what sections require username. ex pictures section shouldn't need a username to view pictures..

social networking integration

JOBS wanted/resume upload ability...

JOBS posting section for employers...

Ability to choose the home page sections from the admin panel... ex: no video section on home page.

Ability to remove sections from website ex: if someone doesnt want a forum on their site..

thanks again for getting our input!

JamesDavid

[nordal]

Many good ideas here I see, great!

And yes, I will make a list of wanted or suggested features. At some point we will make a selection to implement in the next release and I will post that as well of course.

Just let me get on top of our current little issue here, I'm sure you understand :)

Thanks again for the good suggestion!

/martin

[chip]

1. Would it be possible to make the tabs so they can be edited from admin , i.e I want to be able to change "Real Estate" to "Property" and remove "Garage Sales" for "Jobs", all these changes would need to be reflected throughout the entire Website so where you have reference to " Real Estate" for instance it would need to change to "Property".

2. The option to choose which catogories appear on index page, for instance I would like to place "events" instead of "Videos".

3. This one is a bit of a biggy, it would be cool to include some kind of email feature so registered users would have the option of a unique email, i.e " myemail@website.com " this would be a powerful feature to encourage signups and return traffic, this could be a chargable feature or free that could be controlled via admin. I would be happy to pay extra for this feature to be intergrated if it was not to expensive, I have seen it used on other geo sites and it is very popular with users and increases traffic quite significantly.

A lot of ideas I know but the more ideas you get the better this software will be, great job so far, looking forward to the next release.

[Martin Brock]

Hi Chip,

Those sound like good ideas that I will put on our upcoming feature list.

Although email addresses for users I am not sure about when/if we will release. I'd need to consult with our technical people on that. We would need to license an existing mail service that is at least as good as or superior to commonly used email services today. That would be the first priority - if we can not do that, it would just be a nice feature that no one really would use.

Actually now that I think of it, I think Google maybe have an enterprise version of gmail, although I am not sure about the details - but I will look into it.

[chip]

Hi Martin,

I hear what your saying about email feature as I think it would only work with generic Geo sites maybe,although editable catagories whould be very usefull I think as its the only thing lacking that's is stoping me placing an order right now, great work though and by far the best solution available for Geo Development bar non.

[Martin Brock]

Hi Chip,

Thanks for the kind words - and we do of course have plans to continue improving the script in the future.

I just received an update about your first question from my partner (on vacation this week) who is more into the technical side of things than I am:

Regarding the editable categories you can edit that and change it. We had some customers from the UK who want to change the real estate to property and this can be done, but not through the admin panel. You will have to search for a few "real estate" text strings in the template files but that is quite easy.

If you need help with this, we will be happy to assist.

[chip]

Hi Martin,
Thanks , I figured thats all it would take but was not sure as you say that part of the script is protected, How about adding a new catagory or replacing an existing one, I wanted to remove "Garage Sales" and replace it with " Jobs ", would this be complicated or could it be done using the existing listings engine from "Garage Sales" also is t possible to select which catagory to display on the index page, lots of request I know but your thoughts would be appreciated.

[JamesDavid]

Chip.

I could be wrong but I am pretty sure the next update is going to include a Jobs module.. I think the security issue that they have been dealing with has just pushed the release date back a bit...

[chip]

Thanks for the update James, I guess most issues will be addressed in the next release, any idea when we might see the next version? I am holding off from ordering untill then.

[Martin Brock]

That's right, the security issues have pushed the next release back a bit. But we certainly aren't planning on dragging out the release of the next version.

I can't give any specifics just now though.

Also, my partner will return from vacation on Monday and he will be able to fill you in on the technical questions..

[chip]

Hi Martin,

Any way I can see the Admin backend, I have been trying to login via your demo link but I seem to be having no success.

[nordal]

Hi Martin,

Any way I can see the Admin backend, I have been trying to login via your demo link but I seem to be having no success.

Hi Chip,

Please give it another try. We had some problems with the login function that now has been solved.

Demo site: http://phpcityportal.com/demo
Admin login: http://phpcityportal.com/demo/admin/ (admin + demo)
User login: Login field on front page (city + demo)

/martin

[chip]

OK, its working now, Thanks Nordal

[chip]

Can you give some idea when the next release will happen?

[nordal]

I would rather not put a specific data on it since we first want to take care of the bugs that has been reported. I can tell you though, that we're aiming towards starting programming during the next month - if the bug fixes are running according to plan.
When the feature programming that has started, I will announce which new features will be included in the upgrade. There is a good chance that we will start out with the less comprehensive features and then take it from there.

[egribodik]

Hello guys,
Since 2-3 months I keep coming back to see if there is any upgrade, especially the ones that I'm looking for. So far, unfortunately there is no improvement and I haven't decided to purchase it yet.

I read all the upgrade advises but not seen any comment about the one that I have problem. Because of this I wanted to share with you. Maybe someone might find it useful that is coming from someone that has 62 LIVE websites globally.

First of all, the index page looks great in terms of the common feel and look.
That means the developers have some sort of taste, that's very positive sign.

So, I think it's worth throwing some advises to get this software better and better.

The biggest problem of the current version is the public visibility of the email addresses for every single posting.

What's the disadvantage of it?

1-SHARING your registrant's e-mail addresses with your comptetitors websites. They can easily start sending them email through your website to invite your clients to their website!

2-NO conscious Professional PORTAL users like their email address being visible to the public throughout the portal. This cause SPAM emailing and people get scared to register with your website, you lose potential visitors and possibly money. Every registered visitor brings new members and friends, but unregistered visitors will never bring a member to your website.

Before than anything else, I think this is the first thing to be resolved.

....

-Of course the next biggest isue is not being able to turn OO or OFF the FORUM functionality.

Keep in mind that people throw interesting words in the articles which may cause you being sued for no reason unless you have full time to spent with every single article to read and able to understand clearly what they say.

-Another issue that I have is: The Directory and Classifieds sections look extremely Ameteur. Should be in the Tree Structure, period. Currently finding something is almost next impossible, not user friendly at all.

-Currently there is no global Keyword "search all pages" functionality. This is a MUST for every single portal.

.....

I completely understand when I read if there is Jobs/resume posting functionalities.

But before going there; let's fix the existing bugs first and improve the BASICS.

Otherwise, you keep carry forward the existing operational problems and they get bigger every day like a snowball.

.....

My intention wasn't to hurt anyone, and I hope no one will take wrong my critics.

I like seeing the Basics development ASAP and then I can purchase and install on my website soon future.

Best regards,
Egri Bodik

[nordal]

Thanks Egri for your inputs. We appreciate people taking their time to give their opinion, and we listen to it.
I agree, first things first, bugs will be taken care of before any upgrades. No question about that. Also, the public information about users have been pointed out from others, and that is already on the list.

Turning on and off functionalities is not so simple unfortunately. It also needs to be supported by the templates, but we are looking into how this can be done. That said, I don't think any of you should fear lawsuits because of users posting obscene comments in your forums. I know enough about law to be sure that wouldn't be a problem in practice.

I'll also put the directory listing and Classifieds on the list to be checked out. It won't be on the top of the fix-list but it might make it to the list.

Again, thanks for your comments.

PS: Regarding 2-3 months since you were here - It's actually not that many months ago the version 1.3 was released, as far as I know.

[egribodik]

Thanks Egri for your inputs. We appreciate people taking their time to give their opinion, and we listen to it.
I agree, first things first, bugs will be taken care of before any upgrades. No question about that. Also, the public information about users have been pointed out from others, and that is already on the list.

Turning on and off functionalities is not so simple unfortunately. It also needs to be supported by the templates, but we are looking into how this can be done. That said, I don't think any of you should fear lawsuits because of users posting obscene comments in your forums. I know enough about law to be sure that wouldn't be a problem in practice.

I'll also put the directory listing and Classifieds on the list to be checked out. It won't be on the top of the fix-list but it might make it to the list.

Again, thanks for your comments.

PS: Regarding 2-3 months since you were here - It's actually not that many months ago the version 1.3 was released, as far as I know.

Hi Nordal,
Thanks for your prompt reply. Actually hearing "the bugs and public information fixes" are initially great improvement.
I must came across your software right after the 1.3 release I guess!
Anyway, I'll keep checking the new release to get the phpcityportal purchased.


Best regards,
Bodik

[chip]

Is ver 1.3 Bug Free? if not when will it be

[nordal]

Will be very soon. We're working on the bugs in this moment.

[nordal]

Yes, I think you'r right. I wanted to take a look and see if I could fix it fast, but haven't had the time yet..
It's on the bug list anyway, so either way it will be taken care of ;)

[JamesDavid]

Any news on the patch/release dates?

Thanks

Another thing I wanted to add. It seems like EVERYDAY I have to go into PHPMYADMIN and delete blank users and users that regged for hacking purposes.. Will user approval be an option in the patch/release?

[nordal]

The programmer(s) are working on the patches, or bug-fixes if you will, now. Some have been fixed:
- too much public user information (strongly reduced)
- black boxes when no photo is uploaded in event, auto, classifieds, real estate.
- various Photo section issues (eg. login requirement to view pic's removed).
- "prev and next "buttons with only one photo removed.
- custom Background that didn't work.
- minor details in Advertisement manager (CPMs CPCs corrected to IMP og CTR)
- Apostrophes ( ' ) not allowed in listings.

The more heavy ones are still being worked on:
- Problems with advertisement rotator not working well and banners disappearing
- Database error in advertisement manager.
- Problems saving HTML in some cases in Directory, Classifieds and CMS.
- Other minor issues. (Wrong logo's, text corrections, graphics etc, some have been fixed)

After the rest have been fixed we need some time for testing also. After the initial tests, my plan is to make a pre-release here in the forum, and I hope some of you will volunteer to test and give inputs. After that we'll make a full release.

I think the remaining issues should take 1-2 weeks (depending on how difficult they are) to get fixed and then a few days for initial testing.

Regarding your problem James, could you let me know when you next time have problems with your blank users, so I can take a look at the database. There should be a block for registering blank, and in all cases, they should be inactive (not activated through email) so they can't do damage. But let me have a look next time it happens.

Thanks,
Martin.

[JamesDavid]

Nordal. Sure enough happened again today. let me know what you find...

[nordal]

Yes I see. Well what I can say is that they won't make any trouble since they are inactive.
I don't really understand how the blank user came in, but I'll look into it. Anyway, blank is better actually, since they will never be able to do or post anything. What we see here are just attempts to get in - unsuccessful.

What I can suggest is that instead of some complicated admin approval system, we could make a function that would automatically delete any "inactive" users if they had not email-activated themselves in two days. That should take care of the problem, agree?

[steve1962]

Also, in the admin section.meta tags. the keywords actually don't do anything.. the keywords i have entered do not appear anywhere in the source code..

The description entered comes up as the keywords..

and the header tag line comes up as the description..

for example.. on real estate.

my inserted keywords are .. Sheffield, Property, Homes, For Sale, For Rent

my description is entered as .. Sheffield Property- Houses, flats, bedsits for sale and rent, list your house today. Property in Sheffield.

and on my index page, my header tag line is ..

Sheffield Connection, Proud to serve the City of Sheffield - its visitors, businesses and 500,000 residents of this great city

=============================================

However, below is the source code of my real estate page.. The description is my header tag line and nothing what so ever to do property / real estate..

the keywords below are actually from my description.. and i have no idea where the actual inserted keywords are..

my main point being the description of a page ( real estate for example ) has nothing to do with that page - search engine wise...




meta name="description" content="Sheffield Connection, Proud to serve the City of Sheffield - its visitors, businesses and 500,000 residents of this great city" />
<meta name="keywords" content="Sheffield Connection Website - Sheffield Property- Houses, flats, bedsits for sale and rent, list your house today. Property in Sheffield." />

[nordal]

Yup, I'm aware of the meta-tag problem. This is also listed in the bug list and will be taken care of in this batch.

Thanks for the nice description though - I found a few details I'll add to the programmers.

[frtaz]

Hey nordal,
I can not wait to see what you have in store for the next release.
Is there any way you can make a new forum here on the board to show us what you have in store for the next release. I think that might help others to buy this great software. Plus we will know what to look forward to. and on this forum if you have a ton of people asking to put new stuff in you could put in a poll. that is just my 2 cents.

plus I would like to see this also.
1) Under advertiser manager/Placement of Ad can there be a way to choose where you would like to place it? Like I want to be able to put ad 1 on home page and events. ad 2 on home page and garage sales. a check box instead of drop down that way you can choose all the pages to place it on.


2) A way to change to sign up fields in the admin have full control over what is required and what is not. Right now some of the required stuff is not needed for my site but it maybe for other sites

3) Being able to add mods to the site or adding more admins. I know this is not a big deal right now but when everyone's site grows they will need help but they do not mods or other admins to have full control over the back end.

Thanx.

[nordal]

Hi there,

Thanks for your ideas! As you maybe know we're working now to fix some bugs and also minor feature changes. When that is done we will start to plan the next feature update. The poll idea is great yes, and I will also make a new thread where we keep an up-to-date list of suggested new features. At some point we will select a number of these and start the programming - and at that point update the thread with the selected up-coming features.

1) Good idea. Makes sense to do it like that instead of having to create several banner campaigns for each sub-page. I think I can promise you already now that this will be implemented.

2) In the pre-release we're testing now this has been changed. The number of required fields has been reduced to what is suitable for each listing type. I don't know if full control is actually necessary, but that you and a poll maybe can tell us after using the new script for a while.

3) Also a good idea which I think has been mentioned before. We will look into this, and of course put it on the list in the new thread when I get time to set that up - after the upcoming bug-free release here is done.

Thanks,
Martin.

[rickina]

I still would like to see the ability for the admin to approve all context that is entered on the site. I have been a member of a number of other portals and before I could have any of my ads posted the admin had to approve them.

I think this would help control the junk that gets posted on the sites, and would help keep a clean site running, it is a little work but it is better then having something show up on your site that you did not want.

Richard

[MarkFillipos]

Is it possible to add a feedback section in the marketplace area. This way, we could either applaud a good transaction or warn others of a bad transaction.

Might provide new users with some peace of mind.

C

[nordal]

You mean like a user comments area in the bottom, like in the photo section?

(http://phpcityportal.com/demo/photo_details.php?id=4&albumId=2)

[Tony]

This thread is almost a year old, i am sure we must have many updates and fixes since than but not sure if many of the suggestions were considered???

i have come across a similiar portal and i like it very much the they way they have it covered so many things. layout and features are great..here is the link http://www.sacramentograpevine.com/

[nordal]

You are right, this is an old thread. Therefore we have one that we keep updated here: http://phpcityportal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=804 (same sub-forum).

Have a look if you want to see what has been implemented and what will be.