Portal Software - [Chris] Reviews

Reviews
by Christos Teriakis (aka ChrisTERiS)

Please note that from
11 Aug 2013
you can get support only in my site
http://www.teriakis.com

Demo: http://www.christeris.net/dev42/reviews.php
Demo Accounts:
demouser1 / demopass1
demouser2 / demopass2
demouser3 / demopass3

1.- What's this mod?

Is better to say what is NOT . For sure is not that mod requested for years now at this thread. But is a good Reviews system for those who want to review one type of items (eg Games, Books, Autos etc) and one group of rating questions is ok for them. With the help of extra fields and a bit works from your side to configure it, you can have a very good reviews section in your site.

• Supports unlimited categories
• You can set the word that will be use in the pages to identify the type of your reviews (eg Game - Games, Book - Books etc)
• Supports Extra fields (but not searchable)
• Supports one group of rating questions (but unlimited questions)
• Supports users' reviews and overall rating
• Supports Headline, review text, positive points, negative points
• Supports Product photos or YouTube video if exists
• Has PM templates for:
  • PM user when admin approves his Review
  • PM user when admin rejects Review
• Revier can temporary hide the review and a later time he can activate it again.
• There are listings for:
  • Category Reviews
  • Timeframe (What's New) Reviews
  • User Reviews
  • Search Results
• In view Review page the visitor can see also:
  • Editor Rating
  • Community Rating
  • Lowest Rating
  • Highest Rating
  • Editor other reviews on sidebar
• In all pages there are available the follow blocks having the appearance of widgets:
  • Category Menu
  • Search Form
  • Statistics
  • Top Editor Products (Games, Books, etc)
  • Top Community Products
  • New Reviews
  • New Community Ratings
• RSS Feeds for latest 10 reviews
• Facebook Like Advanced (Shows users who liked a review)
• ver.1.1.0 Added a setting to allow or not Audio files (in case that you want to review music). Default is OFF. If you turn on then the users can hear the audio file with the included (simple) audio player.

2.- Installation

1. Download and unzip the file Reviews_XXXX.zip
2. Upload the content of upload folder to the directory where your vB installation is. As a check: reviews.php must be on the same directoru as global.php, forum.php etc. SL Reviews are not working out of vB installation directory.
3. CMOD 777 the directories:
   1. christeris/reviews/photos
   2. christeris/reviews/photos/thumbs
   3. christeris/reviews/photos/tmp
4. Goto Admincp and import product-reviews.xml. Double check before if you have another product with the same name.
5. Set the various settings in Reviews->General settings
6. Set usergroup permissions
7. Check and modify if you want PM templates.
8. Set categories
9. Set Extra fields (in case that you want them).
10. Set Rating Questions
11. *** ATTENTION *** Double check that rating questins are ok before starting adding reviews. After the first review you CAN'T Add/Edit/Delete questions.

3.- SEO URLs

• If you're using vbSeo open the file Reviews_vBSEO_Custom_Rewrite_Rules.txt and add them to your vbSeo installation.
• If you're using .htaccasse file copy the contents of htaccess.txt and add it to your current .htaccess files. If you don't have such file and your server is compatible with such files, upload htaccess.txt to your vB directory and rename it to: .htaccess

4.- CMS Widget / Forum Sidebar block for Latest Reviews

1. Pre-Installation:
   1. Shows latest 5 Reviews. If you want to change the number to another value change at 1st line: $maxreviews = 5;
2. Installation as CMS Widget
   1. Goto Admincp-> vBulletin CMS-> Widgets
   2. Click "Create New Widget" at the list bottom
   3. Set Widget Type: PHP Direct Execution
   4. Give a Title which appears at the widget. eg Last Reviews, or.. Last 5 Reviews etc
   5. Click SAVE
   6. Find in the list the new widget and click configure at the right side
   7. Replace the example code, with the code from Widget_Block_Latest_Reviews.txt
   8. Click Save
   9. Goto Layout and add it in any section you want
   10. Click Save (Layout)
3. Installation as Forum sidebar Block
   1. Goto Admincp-> Forums & Moderators -> Forum Block Manager
   2. Click Add Block
   3. In the next screen "Select block type: Custom HTML/PHP"
   4. Click Continue
   5. Title: Latest Reviews
   6. Content Type: PHP
   7. Content: Copy & Paste the code from Widget_Block_Latest_Reviews.txt
   8. Click Save. The block will be now visible to your forum sidebar

5.- Copyright link

Since the time that DBTech released their Copyright Manager, I've removed my own copyrights. I found their action insulting me to maximum. Their wording "Site is powered by vBulletin AddOns and Modules by Dragonbyte Tech" (and not "Some parts of this site"), means that everything there is their own work, ignoring on the worst way the fact that there are 100's of other coders and designers who are supporting this community for years. So, I'm letting the glory to them. No copyrights from my side.

Enjoy it
Christos Teriakis
aka ChrisTERiS

[Spangle]

Can you be a bit more specific as to how I find them please ?
Edit

OK Found it

[Spangle]

Great MOD this, I love it already !

Managed to alter the phrases to my liking, and edited out the fields I didn't think were right for a footie forum.

If I could I would give this 20 stars.

[Christos Teriakis]

Originally Posted by Preech

Chris, so I noticed in your screen shot that you have a youtube video, is that pretty much where a mp3 flash player would show up. I'm guessing the best way to achieve that would be through the use of a BB Code.

Hello,

What's the most popular audio extentions that can be upload in a website?
eg mp3, mp4 or what?? Please give me only such file type where their filesize will not be so big to timeout the upload procedure.

Christos

[Christos Teriakis]

Reviews 1.1.0 has released with a new feature and one bug fix:

1. New feature: Someone of you (sorry as I don't remember his name) asked if its possible to upload audio files. Then I thought that maybe some users maybe will want to use it for reviewing Music. That's why I added an extra setting (default is OFF), which (if you turn it ON) will shows in posting review page a field for uploading a .mp3 audio file. I also included a simple audio player in view review page. At least, I like it, as I don't know a lot about such things. A demo review with audio player is at: http://www.christeris.net/dev42/review/4/my-number-one.html
2. Bug fix: Strange that nobody reported it, but I fount that "My Reviews" list was showing only the last review. In anycase now is fixed.

To upgared:

1. Download Reviews_1_1_0.zip
2. Upload all files at your server overwriting the old ones
3. CMOD 777 a new directory at: christeris/reviews/audio
4. Import product-reviews.xml (don't forget to check overwrite).
5. If you want to activate audio uploads goto Reviews General Settings and turn it on. Audio types setting is currently just for refference. Upload works with mp3 and mp4 (really don't know if mp4 is audio file).

Christos Teriakis
(aka ChrisTERiS)

[Burnt]

Oh.. Finally a review mod that might make my life easier! And here I've been creating a a semi usable one using the Easy Forms Mod.. Giving this a run on my test then probably to my live site! WOOT!

*EDIT* Looks good.. However.. One thing that wish would be added is since the Author first reviewing sets up questions to be reviewed, why can't those that are rating this also answer those to get a true reading?

Like I'm doing a site for Bars to be reviewed. I have Ambiance, Food, Service and Value. I put in my author rating for those but when someone comes to the site they only get one "overall" rating. Anyway to have them also rate all of them like the author does?

*2ND EDIT* Adding this to my site as we speak any chance of possibly getting a spot for people to add more photos too? I know the author can do it by putting photos in the edit box but if there was like a box set off to the side or something to add extra photos would be great..

Awesome work

[Christos Teriakis]

Originally Posted by Burnt

Oh.. Finally a review mod that might make my life easier! And here I've been creating a a semi usable one using the Easy Forms Mod.. Giving this a run on my test then probably to my live site! WOOT!

*EDIT* Looks good.. However.. One thing that wish would be added is since the Author first reviewing sets up questions to be reviewed, why can't those that are rating this also answer those to get a true reading?

As I said, I decided to my new mod series to have simplicity as first rule. What you asked for, it was something that already existed in my (unfinished) Reviews mod and I remove it. Have seen many review sites and I believe that this is the right direction. The author rates many things, but users are giving an overall rating. This gives:
1.- More value to main review
2.- Unless if all your members are guru, is much easier for the average user to rate for overall. Don't forget that one of the points that Facebook became so popular is simplicity: Like / Dislike (even if it does not has such button). This is what the user will say: "This product is excellent".... or "This product is just acceptable".

Originally Posted by Burnt

Like I'm doing a site for Bars to be reviewed. I have Ambiance, Food, Service and Value. I put in my author rating for those but when someone comes to the site they only get one "overall" rating. Anyway to have them also rate all of them like the author does?

As of me (and this is just my opinion and how I act in real life, especially for bar), what I've to say it "I'll go again"...or ..."I'll never come back".... Because there is always a chance to say "Food: Terrible ... Service: Terrible... Prices: The highest on the city"... This will gives an overall rating of 2 which means "I'll never come back". But because I liked the barwoman I'll be there on daily basis . In a short.... Lots of questions never bring up the right rating....

Originally Posted by Burnt

*2ND EDIT* Adding this to my site as we speak any chance of possibly getting a spot for people to add more photos too? I know the author can do it by putting photos in the edit box but if there was like a box set off to the side or something to add extra photos would be great..
Awesome work

Yes, this is possible in an upcoming upgrade.

Christos Teriakis
(aka ChrisTERiS)

[Burnt]

Fair points.. Makes sense.. And they can add their positives and negatives at the bottom so in theory that'll work.

I only thought it might be wise to have them also use those questions as I'm no guru on bars and people's likes and dislikes are all different. But I am the owner of the site so the people can either like what I say or don't. Works for me lol I wanted something local for people to come to and see instead of the big name sites that do it for every city and don't really give a true meaning to a place.

Thanks for giving me a different perspective on the rating.. I'll be using this and can't wait for the upgrade of things to come!

[skol]

Thanks very much excellent release..Maybe a dumb question? But how would you go about changing the rss feed to an xml..reviews.php?do=feeds..Just wanted to bring the feed back to cms..

[Preech]

Chris mp3 and mp4 is pretty much all you need. Thank you.

[Christos Teriakis]

Originally Posted by Preech

Chris mp3 and mp4 is pretty much all you need. Thank you.

Then try the latest version. It supports those 2 formats.