great component ..!! keep wondering what would ma site be without it :) keep up the good work ;)

I found it took a while to find my way around but once that initial learning curve is overcome CB is a very capable component.

First I have to say that this is an excellent extension of Joomla! It has everything you need - EXCEPT for ONE very important thing... Documentation.

I know that I will get hammered for this, but this is my opinion. I completely agree with the Open Source Movement. Open Source was supposed to be where you could either pay less for software or get it for free. It seems now that the skewed view of Open Source has crept into the Joomla! community with this plugin.

They contend that you should have to pay for their documentation of their "free" software - but the software itself is "free". I am sorry but if you make software and tout it as being "free", the documentation should be free as well. Either you make it a paid propreitary product, or you offer it for free - no strings attached.

I am a classically educated software engineer and I have no problems with paying for products put out by the big corps like Adobe because that is what they do and they do not claim to have free software.

I am not going to spend 35.00US for a pdf file when I can go out and buy a real book for that amount with a pretty cover and a free tacky-looking bookmark.

With all this said - they have a very good extension here. Its functionality is unsurpassed and I love the customization - if you can figure it out. You will need to play with it for about three hours before you get the hang of it - unless of course you decide to pay an outrageous amount of money for a limited time PDF file.

I've been using CB on several of my sites for almost the last year. I have no complaints and think that anyone who takes the time to learn it will be glad they did. I recently upgraded which was also quite easy and didnt take very long. Highly recommended!!! I think I'll go become a CB subscriber. Been meaning to give the developers some financial support and really would love to have the user guide!!!

The newest version does seem to improve performance..ours was outdated so we just updated ours.

We've written a plugin (or two) into the CB system and I have to say that this feature is very handy for extending the cb component.
Only suggestion is to clarify to new users some of the first steps to it.
Other than that, thanks for a great component!

I like the extension because it works and also without documentation (readme is sufficient) it's possible to set a very good user profile.

The CB plugin logic is great.

Registration extended ought to be the name of this component or login extended. The only usefull function is adding extra fields in the registration form. But these fields don't show in the userlist!? The usermanagement functions are zero.
I can't organise my users into interest groups, can't sort them out.

This component is a "must have" component for everyone who wants a community-style site. I have been using it for quite a time now and it has always been working perfekt.

Big thanks!

I am using Community Builder for something different than what it's original intent might be, as somewhat a promotional tool where members of my site can promote themselves and their businesses. I decided to try CB as a solution and found that it was fairly simple to modify for my intended purposes. Which certainly demonstrates it's flexible architecture.

The ability to add an unlimited number of tabs and fields, I find to be a big plus. To use it as advertised, it installs very easily and is ready to go right out of the box.

I did run into a challenge displaying a complete user list, not just those the happened to be logged in, but I put in a workaround for that. It would have been nice if it came with that functionality, perhaps there is some plug in however I was unable to find one. It also would be a big plus to allow users the ability to add additional fields to their own profiles. For example many of my users have more than one web site, give them the ability to add additional URL fields without having to define a set number from the back end.

All in all a very good, robust, and thought out extension.

How could it be possible to build a community without the Community Builder? I really don't know !!!

From my point of view the first MUST HAVE after installing Joomla himself! Do you know sozial Network sites like openBC.com / XING.com ? You can rebuild the same functionality´s with Joomla AND Community Builder like i Have done. You can create a Community Builder based Business Club with all these amazing features like the well known big players. Take Joomla and the Community Builder and you are able and free to build your dream of a living community site!

Sunny regards to the Joomlapolis community !!!

Kurt Steiner

Ive been using CB for some time now and on thw whole im very impressed. As with everything for Joomla it does have some things that some users wont need and it does lack some things users want, but most of these can be found on the CB forums(But be warned the forum is a nightmare to navigate and finding what you want is not as easy as it sounds).
I would recomend this package to anyone who uses Joomla and wants to have users.

Stable and feature rich.
With so many excellent features, its hard to write a review for this extension in one paragraph.
My advice ...get it you wont regret it.

Community builder is pretty great for making a mini-myspace community site. It also offers many new options for interacting with other plugins and components. Hopefully it will become the hub for all personal component ties and developers will always make a cb plug when they make thier component.

I would not mind paying for this component if it ment the development would speed up. Myspace is a pile of crap and there is no reason why there should not be a viable opensource alternative...

I would really like to see a comprehensive CRM and groupware add on!

It's the best. Mix it with AEC for (free|paid) (time-limited|lifetime) memberships and JACLPlus for controlling who gets to do what. And use CB to tie it all together

And basically, you've got the very core of what you need for any Dotcommunity or Dotcompany. Whether you need e-store, forums, classifieds, yellow pages, blogs, photo album, pm, newsletter ... whether you need any or all (yes: all) of the above in any combination, any advanced usr mgmnt scheme starts with the very best winning team .. which, I'll say it again, say it out loud: CB + AEC + JACLPlus !!

So dearest and most valued (CB|AEC|JACLPlus) devs? Any chance on the three of you enjoying a close encounter of the pleasant and productive kind sometime? I would love to see you get together and can only imagine what you could accomplish. Probably something far more exciting than my wildest dreams I guess.

For now you leave me gasping, trying to get my breath back. Exhausted by the passion and still wanting more. Thank you thank you thank you.

Fare (meaning: Sail) Well, Greets, Dylan
(note: naturally posted this review at the other two extensions as well)

Se dearest and most valued dev's? Any chance of you three getting together for some close encounters of the sweet and productive kind?

I've just updated Community-Builder on two different Joomla 1.0.11-Sites from version 1.0.1 to 1.0.2 and up to now there seem to be no problems at all. Congratulations!