Major Additions - Product Review Forums ? Research, Review & Compare Items

Version 1.4.0 has been released to remove the giftery / list it integration of the addon now that service has been discontinued. No upgrade is needed though there have been a few other bug changes since 1.3.5.

Finding Feedback Can be Like a Needle in a Haystack

The more your forum grows, the more of a challenge it becomes to sort through the history and get the full story.

Product Review Forums Brings Structure to the Chaos

As a full-featured product management addon, PRF sits on top of your forum allowing you to create defined products which, unlike individual posts, stay relevant over time. Each comment, review and even product updates filter back into this one spot allowing for a quick and comprehensive overview while the individual discussions rage on as always.

Here's just a few of the many features you'll find in PRF:

• Bring structure to products with established pages & reviews
• Reduce the number of repetitive posts from members looking up the same info
• Increase your traffic with content-rich, seo friendly, product listings
• Drive revenue by adding your own affiliate links to product listings
• Increase the activity stream's value with review integration
  
• Engage visitors with integrated wishlists from Giftery.me

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Installation is not upload & go... individualized settings are required. Read the install file.

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QUICK TIPS:
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Enabling Product Forums: To show product details and ratings, each product-forum must be enabled in the forum manager.

Adding Products: You may upload products one at a time through the admin [includes an image uploader using GD] or you can bulk import through XML. You can also enable users to add moderated products through a global and usergroup option.

Product Review Index: To access your forum's product overview go to www.yoursite.com/productforums.php - You may want to add a link to this to your navbar or as a tab.

Customization: This addon is made to be customized. To change the color schema see clientscript/vbulletin_css or dive right on in to the templates and phrases.

Powered by Giftery.me: This mod is maintained includes two integrations you should know about. Both can be controlled through the mod options.

[addamroy]

FEATURE REQUESTS

1 - An options panel to edit required and custom fields for product submissions.

2 - The thumbnail image used on the productdisplay page should have the option to use the main image resized, probably via a script instead of having to upload a separate image.

[addamroy]

Found another bug.

My other administrators can't access the product forums control panel via the admincp, they get a no permission message.

[Ted S]

Originally Posted by sadiq6210

Thanks dear



Just for my information, how could I clear the system stuff?
Because I tried to uninstall another mod and I faced the same problem. I don't want to run (upgrade.php) everytime when I remove a mod.

Sorry to ask here.

Try running the rebuild processes (which depends on what the mod does... ie this mod edits threads & posts).

[Ted S]

Originally Posted by addamroy

Found another bug.

My other administrators can't access the product forums control panel via the admincp, they get a no permission message.

Not a bug... they'll need access to edit posts to use the mod (as it impacts posts).

[Ted S]

Originally Posted by addamroy

2 - The thumbnail image used on the productdisplay page should have the option to use the main image resized, probably via a script instead of having to upload a separate image.

This already exists if your setup supports image resizing via GD.

[Ted S]

Originally Posted by Toorak Times

Hi Ted, I just reuploaded that xml above and everything seems to be looking REAl good, cheers

Awesome!

[Toorak Times]

Originally Posted by Ted S

Awesome!

Yeah, between you, Michael and Christos we have a real cool way of selling reviewing and marketing on a few different levels.

As most mod makers here know I have gone overboard in trying all the best, and worst mods, and quite clearly got myself a bit TOO modified.

BUT it seems I'm one of the few sites that is trying to flesh out the CMS, as a publishing suite.

Marketing wise, if you don't own a vB site, and if you do and don't know or use vb.org, no one would know about these wonderful mods you guys make.

I think a lot more people would start building with vB4 particularly if they could have a decent, understandable way of seeing the mods in action. MOST mods I want to see in action are either dead links or something displayed in the default template.

The bigger mobs are getting their act together, this isn't another go at you Ted...lol...just an observation, and seem to be co opting the best mods into their various systems. I get freaked out just thinking of VHS vs Beta still, :erm: this issue of incompatibility.

To that end I offered vBSocial an opp to promote their products live on my site so that people can see them working. For their mods its a certain as they are not content providing mods, more familiarisation mods for vB.

Whereas yours, Christos and Michael's, and many others are proactive modules that a lot of site builders would only dream of, and I think if more widely put out there and branded for vB and the Mod maker could only enhance vB's potential.

But seriously most of this crew are Forum builders and don't even use the cms, or just use it cold as is, the Blogs and calendars are probably the MOST important parts of the suite as I need it and are totally overlooked.

Sorry for the rave Ted

[Toorak Times]

...having said that Ted I'm a dyed in the wool forumite, starting from getting banned in yahoo and establishing what is the largest Oz lawn bowls forum Bowlsworld around 10 years ago and long term member of a vB 3.6 site www.bowlsblog.com, the second largest, and part of the biggest www.julianhainesbowls.co.uk. I came out of forums but AM a publisher. I would plead to you and all mod builders to think CMS and Blog as the worlds reality in media shifts around

[addamroy]

Originally Posted by Ted S

Not a bug... they'll need access to edit posts to use the mod (as it impacts posts).

I've uploaded an attachment showing the admin permissions. There is no 'manage posts' permission option in the 4.2.1 admin permissions it doesn't seem.

Any other way to solve this?

Originally Posted by Ted S

This already exists if your setup supports image resizing via GD.

How do I turn GD on or off? I'm pretty sure I have it though because I use the Damn Comp Member Map mod which requires that, and that mod works fine.

[Ted S]

Originally Posted by Toorak Times

Sorry for the rave Ted

No problem and I totally agree.

I started releasing mods way back when vB was new (and before it on UBB) because it came apparent that there just wasn't any sort of marketing / ux approach to the software. Not that I have all the answers but work in digital marketing for enough years and you start to see things from a different perspective. That's gotten better over the years but if you look at something like the registration page in 4/5 it's clear there's still a huge miss...

These days we try and turn a few features into reality when we think it helps the community but of course free mods for a widely used system are inherently limited in their scope and scale.

As such it's my belief that any site which really wants to scale (and even bigger boards who want to improve value / traffic / use) should be investing heavily in custom development or at least extending mods. To think that a skin, couple of basic mods and particular setting choices will make a forum ideally meet an industry is really missing the point.

Of course we don't actually do any such work so it's sort of a half baked remark