Initially I used this component tool in my home PC test environment. At that time my environment was based on a version of Xampp 1.6.3 which delivered PHP 4.4.7 and PHP 5.2.3. For some reason mtwMigrator just would not work properly for me. It gave me error messages I no longer recall and did not migrate anything. So, I set it aside.

Over the period of the following week I spent at least 24 hours trying to get the main supported migrator to work for me satisfactorily. Nothing seemed to come out the way I wanted it to. Either the regular migrator left things out or did not work at all. Some of the problems were related to errors on my part, but many of them had no explanation at all. It was most frustrating to go through the entire process of generating a new migration script and trying to use it to build a new site based on Joomla 1.5.1 only to receive the most unhelpful message of (to paraphrase here) "your script failed!" This happened to me time after time after time.

Yesterday I upgraded Xampp to version 1.6.6a. That environment provides PHP versions 4.4.8 and 5.2.5. I again tried to use the standard migrator under both versions of PHP. I got the same kind of errors I have been receiving before. On a whim I decided to give mtwMigrator another chance (same version I had used before, 0.0.4). Running under PHP 5.2.5 it worked like a charm! Everything I needed was migrated perfectly.

I really prefer the approach used by mtwMigrator compared to the standard migrator component. The standard migrator component tries to make a replica of your old site reincarnated as a Joomla 1.5.1 site. So, if you have eliminated some standardly supplied modules from your old site (either because you do not use them or, in at least some of my cases, tried eliminating some in the hopes of reducing the workload on the migrator), they won't be in your new 1.5.1 site. Similarly, capabilities you had in your old site, but which are different in 1.5.1, might not be re-created in your new site. For example, in the old site I had a standard core-supplied module called "Syndicate". In Joomla 1.5.1 the standard replacement module is called "Syndication". The use of the standard migrator in building my new site left that capability totally out.

But with mtwMigrator you build a standard 1.5.1 site first, so all of the core-supplied modules are provided. Then the mtwMigrator simply transfers over those users, modules, sections, categories, etc., which are unique to your old site. You can then decide later which of the core capabilities you want to keep, simply un-publish, or eliminate. A much more logical and helpful approach, to my way of thinking.

This is the best of what I would call the simple editors. It offers a wider range of fonts and font sizes for a writer to choose from than TinyMCE, joomlaFCK, or JoomlaTinyFCK. And the graphics management tools are good. A good alternative to JCE, which is more full-featured.

This editor is not recommended for sites where folks who are used to writing material using Microsoft Word or any other popular word processor will be contributing articles. The range of fonts and font sizes available to a writer is far too limiting and small. joomlafck2 is a bit better and JCE is best of all for sights aimed at serious writers.

Way too limited and simple. There seems to be absolutely no way to specify the font or font size you want to use in an article. If it's there it needs to be better high-lighted and documented.

Good promise but, it does not appear to have any strong commitment to accessibility for folks with disabilities. That excludes lots of my friends and potential site visitors. It looks like I'll be sticking with SMF, which does have such a commitment, for the foreseeable future.

And why must one get Joomla 1.5 compatibility only through using legacy mode? Since this product is still beta shouldn't the developers be building a parallel 1.5 version at the same time? Or instead of what they're putting out now?

I'm wondering if all of the folks who claim success with this were only moving or copying from one Linux-based install to another or from a PC to a Linux install. I can't get it to enable me to clone my Linux-based install to my home Windows XP PC. I've successfully done that with other more complicated approaches, but can't do it at all with this component.

The component installs just fine on my Joomla Linux site. And it makes a complete backup which downloads and appears to unpack just fine on the PC. But I can never get past Step 1 of the installation on the PC. After confirming the database name, localhost designation, log-in name, password, etc., pressing the "Next" button causes the install to just hang. I've tried a complete new install twice. Same reaction both times. And each time I let the attempted install run for at least an hour before giving up. The thing just sits there and spins and spins. The tables appear to be loaded into the database (I used phpMyAdmin to confirm this after each attempt), but the installation never proceeds or ends successfully.

Too bad. I've spent about 5 hours tonight struggling with this thing. My wife is giving me nasty looks because I've been working on this instead of watching TV with her. I guess I'll have to give up for the night and try another utility tomorrow. Sad to have to toss this one out.

Very old, very out of date, no features, no ability to add descriptive text, no ability to customize, and does not work.

I would like to have the ability to set up individual blogrolls or link lists for each of my different Categories (which will be devoted to their own separate topics). Can't be done with these old tools. Darn.

I could not tell from the title or description.

I have used this utility to create several menu modules. Each item in each menu module points to individual content items posted on my site. It's very easy to use. As I or any of my established authors/publishers create new content, the menu of the module for which the article is published is automatically generated. After testing both, I found this utility more helpful for my needs than the similar Sectionav module.

This editor has great promise, but I cannot recommend it for my users and have removed its accessibility for them on my development site. As of this writing JCE (bot and component versions 1.0.3) has too many bugs. Things do not work as it is claimed they should work. Performance is inconsistent on different platforms. And now it appears the authors or promoters are no longer responding to problems reported by users. (Please go there and read them.)

The designation of this application as an "editor's pick" and "hot" so early in the game makes me question the credibility of those designations. I really think a major component (or module or bot) like an editor needs to be out for several months and proven its worthiness before it is given those designations. One has to suspect that the author's friends are writing the positive reviews without spending a lot of time with the product.