vbSlideshow vs Joomlaworks Frontpage Slideshow

[jim6763nva]

Ok, my writing skills are not the best.. I admit that, but I have to comment on these products.

Recently I decided to look into adding a slideshow to my forum that would display breaking news from an RSS feed or user posted news. I found I had a couple options. There may be others however the ones I took a look at were vbSlideshow and Joolmaworks Frontpage Slideshow.

I first took a look at vbSlideshow. It looked pretty cool although I was a little skeptical. I liked the fact that it was written based on vb code and would integrate with the admincp. It's unfortunate though that it is priced so high ($49.99) and the features are very limited compared to that of Joomlaworks FPSS. vbSlideshow claims to be in a version 3 too however, it's every buggy and extremely difficult to get it working. If you want to add new photos to your slideshow, you either have to manually create a new thread with photo attachment, (supposedly editing an existing thread will also update it however I was not able to get that to work) or run the "slideshow update" through the thread tools. In addition, each time you make an update to the slideshow's features from the admincp you must run the update again as mentioned before. To sum up vbSlideshow, it's very complicated to use and in my opinion not worth the $49.99 for the hassel that you have to go through. I have to admit I made the mistake and went with vbSlideshow at first for the simple fact that it integrated with the admincp. If a piece of software is designed well and works, don't soully base your decision of integration. Also, if you purchase vbSlideshow and don't like it, you're basically stuck with a bunch of nothing. Don't expect a refund and strangely enough VBCover does not allow you to change the domain that it's licensed to in the event that you should want to use it or try to get it to work on another site. Needless to say, I'm pretty upset (p.o.'d) :mad: about this. I went ahead and removed the software from my site anyway. Oh! one other thing is that in order for vbSlideshow your site must have IONCube and/or IONCube decoder installed because all of vbCover's products are encrypted. :rolleyes:

I then took a look at Joomlaworks Frontpage Slideshow. Now granted it doesn't have a "control panel" that shows up in the admincp, but you can create a plugin that allows it to interface with vbulletin. FPSS is packed with features for a version 2.0 product. They also indicate that some big name companies are using FPSS on their sites and provide links to them. Installation was very easy and updating photos is even easier.
The install consisted of uploading the application files to your site, manually creating a plugin (about 4 lines of code, if that) in the plugin manager, adding a FPSS variable to a template where you want the slideshow to appear and manually modifying parameters in a config file. Each forum Id is defined in an array. This was a no brainer. Once you're done, ftp it back to your site and refresh the page that it's installed on. There is no need to run an update tool and the slideshow updates all images on the fly. Add or edit a thread, and the next time you refresh the page, the slideshow is displaying them. Along with the many wonderful features of Joomlaworks Frontpage Slideshow, it's ease of installation and maintenance, comes a very simple and affordable price tag of 22 Euros or around $30 USD depending on when you purchase it. I know some have purchased it for around $35, however I got a copy lastnight for $32.12 USD. Given the attractive presentation of their website, the excellent functional aspec of the software I would have expected to pay a bit more.

So... unless there is a better product out there that I don't know about. I strongly recommend looking at Joomlaworks Frontpage Slideshow for your site.

Thanks,
Jim

[veenuisthebest]

Thank you so much for your review about vbslideshow.. ! I was thinking of buying it but after reading this, i have changed my mind.

The fact one would like vbslideshow is that it looks too good (better than fps to me) and doesn't use any queries. But if it gives hassles for free, then it isn't worth it.

Thanks

[jim6763nva]

Thank you so much for your review about vbslideshow.. ! I was thinking of buying it but after reading this, i have changed my mind.

The fact one would like vbslideshow is that it looks too good (better than fps to me) and doesn't use any queries. But if it gives hassles for free, then it isn't worth it.

Thanks

You're welcome. :) I'm glad I was able to help at least one person from making the same mistake I did. Here is the thread that shows how to install FPSS for vb/vba.

http://forum.joomlaworks.gr/index.php?topic=99.0

I'm looking forward to discovering all the neat things it can do. I like what I've seen where it's used on other sites.

[aztecboi2003]

Can you share the code you used to make the plugin? I have FPSS and was thinking of buying vb slideshow.

[SBlueman]

I have been using the Joomblaworks Frontpage Slideshow on my NFL forum for a year now and while it was a nightmare to install and configure (please do not ask how I did it...all I know is I kept messing around with the settings, then by luck they came up right and I never looked back) I have to say I love the feature.

I even came up with this modification that allows you to define the order of news shown in the Frontpage slideshow. This way you don't have to just have the newest thread shown first:

Define Order Of News Shown With Frontpage Slideshow (https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/showthread.php?t=164107)

[jim6763nva]

I have been using the Joomblaworks Frontpage Slideshow on my NFL forum for a year now and while it was a nightmare to install and configure (please do not ask how I did it...all I know is I kept messing around with the settings, then by luck they came up right and I never looked back) I have to say I love the feature.

I even came up with this modification that allows you to define the order of news shown in the Frontpage slideshow. This way you don't have to just have the newest thread shown first:

Define Order Of News Shown With Frontpage Slideshow (https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/showthread.php?t=164107)


:eek: OMG!! How could it possibly be a nightmare to install?
It was very easy to install and I had it up and running in less than 5 mins. The hardest part I find is finding photos big enough to fit the dimensions I've set on fpss. I don't know... it may be that I'm running vb 3.7.3 and vba 3.0.1 that helped.

--------------- Added 07 Sep 2008 at 03:51 ---------------

Can you share the code you used to make the plugin? I have FPSS and was thinking of buying vb slideshow.

Sure.. here is the code that I used:



ob_start();
include('fpss/mod_fpslideshow.php');
$jwfpss = ob_get_contents();
ob_end_clean();



It's all here on this link:
http://forum.joomlaworks.gr/index.php?topic=99.0

[SBlueman]

The reason it was hard to install was because in the beginning it was a modification Lionel put up that he "adapted" for vbulletin. His support was shoddy, he was rude with everyone and at the end he just left in a hissy fit. It left everyone scrambling to figure it out on their own. Now they have a vbulletin version of the Frontpage Slideshow that you can actually get support on without having to deal with a coder who has no idea what support is.

Let's put it this way....anything by Lionel? I remember to stay far away from.

[jim6763nva]

The reason it was hard to install was because in the beginning it was a modification Lionel put up that he "adapted" for vbulletin. His support was shoddy, he was rude with everyone and at the end he just left in a hissy fit. It left everyone scrambling to figure it out on their own. Now they have a vbulletin version of the Frontpage Slideshow that you can actually get support on without having to deal with a coder who has no idea what support is.

Let's put it this way....anything by Lionel? I remember to stay far away from.

Oh Oh! My bad... When you said "it" was was a nightmare to install, I was thinking you meant Joomlaworks' Frontpage Slideshow. :)

Ok Cool... I'm glad (but i'm not glad, if you know what I mean) to hear there is a long history of this... nonsense. I'm trying real hard to be polite... but it's hard when you get taken. This is gonna leave a mark on vbCover products for sure. :down::down::down:

[UaECasher]

nice review i really liked it and needed it

[Bacon Butty]

The reason it was hard to install was because in the beginning it was a modification Lionel put up that he "adapted" for vbulletin. His support was shoddy, he was rude with everyone and at the end he just left in a hissy fit. It left everyone scrambling to figure it out on their own. Now they have a vbulletin version of the Frontpage Slideshow that you can actually get support on without having to deal with a coder who has no idea what support is.

Let's put it this way....anything by Lionel? I remember to stay far away from.

Yeah completely agree, I had the same issue - was an absolute nightmare!

Finally managed to get it configured though. Link (http://grandoldteam.com)

[PoetJA-1975]

Oh my - wonderful review. Thanx for the post - will definitely consider...

Jacquii.

[thebands]

I also installed FPSS last week with no problems. The only problem I had was trying to install it on vbAdvanced since there were no instructions for it, only for vbulletin. I found the solution in one of the threads at joomlaworks' support forum.

Other than that it's been a great addition to the forum.


See it in action:
www.theblueandsilver.com

[ArnyVee]

Wow, this is an interesting thread. I actually experienced the complete opposite.

I started with FPSS and received NO support at all. Luckily there were a couple of folks that I knew that had lots of computer knowledge that were able to help me get it adapted for my vBadvanced page. Unfortunately, the FPSS was giving me problems after the fact and having errors every 3rd page impression or so. I was not very happy at that point and still received no support, so I started looking around for another option.

I ran into Lionel online (can't remember if it was here or vBulletinSetup.com) and he helped me tremendously in getting the vBslideshow setup and I've been using it ever since!

The vBslideshow didn't give me any issues to install and it was mainly due to the fact that Lionel stayed on via PM and guided me until I got it installed and modified to my liking. I'm sorry, but that is customer support to the max! Plus, the main reason that I was considering vBslideshow was the fact that there were no queries and it had an option for audio to be added as well.

I will support Lionel because I have had no issues whatsoever with his support or products. As a matter of fact, I have referred LOTS of folks over to his products (and they've all been happy) so much so that I became an affiliate for his line of vBulletin products. :D

I would suggest that anyone considering either product should do their research and ask questions at their forums, etc. Trust your own judgement and don't use anyone's past experience to make your decision.

[Caddyman]

I run FPSS on a few vB site. TalkDelaware.com in particular.
FPSS has been great, but we now have a problem, upon upgrade to vB 3.7.x i have members having attach problems related to the plugin

This issue has recently cropped up on my site (TalkDelaware.com) and I just can't get it fixed....

Problem is, when a member clicks to make a new thread, they are presented with a new thread page, and can make a new thread no problem. BUT if while on the new thread page if they click manage attachments they get a "invalid thread specified" message in the attach popup.

This happens for all members, all forums, and doesn't happen for supermods and up.

It is definetly related to the FPSS plugin. If i disable the FPSS plugin ONLY, everything works as it should.

[scatro]

where is forum id ? :S

[siliconfinance]

Here are some detailed instructions on how to make Frontpage Slideshow work:
http://www.vbadvanced.com/forum/showthread.php?t=32193

[aztecboi2003]

I followed those instructions and I got this error

Parse error: syntax error, unexpected T_VARIABLE in /home/content/n/i/c/dell2129/html/mywebsite/forums/fpss/mod_fpslideshow.php on line 198

[wobbly]

As someone stated earlier on in this thread there is a problem with my sites attachments since installing FPSS. Admins, Supermods and Mods seem to be okay but normal registered users are having problems posting attachments if they try adding them when starting a new thread. They are getting and "Invalid thread" error but don't get it if they post an attachment in an existing thread.

Any help would be much appreciated.

[MissKalunji]

Indeed very interesting thread...

I've tried the Front Page slideshow and gave up on it when i realize how many queries this could add. Sometimes 10-20 queries EXTRA which was unacceptable for me. Imagine yourself standard vbadvanced is about 10 queries add 10-20 for a total of 30 queries?

I tried to find a pirated vbslideshow to see how it was before buying i was sceptical also because of the price couldn't find none and ended up buying it. Nearly a year later i have to say that it is the best. I didn't have any problem installing it was fairly easy and even when i needed answers to any kind of question i got support on the spot via pm or even on his forum.

there is two downsides
- I agree on the Ioncube, i wish it didn't require it but with theives now a days most are using these.
- and i do prefer the Front page Slideshow design, i wish with Vbslideshow you could change the look and feel yourself with a few coding. But that's about it.

As for Lionel being rude i believe it would be mostly some people expect the world from a coder, expecting him to be there 24/7,let's be real he also has a life. I've also noticed from his board some people request help from a third party add ons that they would want to had to vbslideshow and no matter what Lionel says they end up leaving mad for misreading etc.

My Advice? yes read and search. but if you want something just "install and run" and easier on your server. Vbslideshow is for you.

If you rather have something that looks fancier and you have time to play around with it to get the results and queries is not an issue for you then Front page slideshow it is.

Keep in mind you GET what you PAY for.....nothing that comes with vbulletin is cheap....

[wobbly]

As someone stated earlier on in this thread there is a problem with my sites attachments since installing FPSS. Admins, Supermods and Mods seem to be okay but normal registered users are having problems posting attachments if they try adding them when starting a new thread. They are getting and "Invalid thread" error but don't get it if they post an attachment in an existing thread.

Any help would be much appreciated.

Bump!

Anyone help?

[kalilo81]

I have both products.
Frontpage Slideshow is good for joomla sites but simply does not work with Vbulletin 4, or maybe you should be expert in coding to make it work.
support there do not understand absolutely nothing about vbulletin, they have one answer for all vbulletin users questions:
read instructions and put the code in index.php.
( they ignore that vbulletin does not have any index.php)
vbslideshow is extremely easy to install, with many nice effects, but the most important is support, they have really a very helpful support team . persons who undestand how does vbulletin works.
sorry for my english.

أنصح الإخوة باستعمال vbslidshow
و الإبتعاد عن المنتج الآخر لأنه يخلق مشاكل لا حصر لها مع المنتدى، كما ان الدعم في
joomlaworks
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