Cool component that works as it says it does. As a newcomer to Joomla support is very important. I had some teething troubles with installation however the support service form Artio got me up and running very fast.

I downloaded this component and bought the plugin for my Sobi2 directory component. The goal was to have a business directory with SEF URLs. I did not desire or need the rest of my site to be SEF. I ran into difficulty trying to configure it but to be fair, this component has a lot going on. It's easy to not do it right if you are uninitiated. I emailed the creator and he asked me to pay for one hour of support. I am sure I took up more than an hour of his time but he stuck with me until the component was working. Any difficulty that I had was my own lack of knowlege. Now installed right, it works as advertised and I'm thrilled at the job it does.

I have been working with Joomla for a little over a year and I use the commercial version of Joom SEF 3.3.0. If you want total control over your urls this is a must have component. There is a free version for you to try (no support)and it is not encoded.:)

The product works great. However, before you run off and install it make sure your Joomla native SEF is working as it should. Also, learn how the component works to avoid the fustration that self inflicted mistakes cause. If you have an issue with it believe me its probably you.

I would give this component 9.5 out of 10. Actually make it 10 out of 10.

We are web development company and we have chosen JoomSEF over the standard Joomla! SEF because it can be customized and there is already alot of extensions that support it. On a small site we have found that JoomSEF does the job really well, but when you have multiple pages, the loading time is slower. We didn't have much trouble with it as other users reported, but it's fair to say that we don't use many extensions (we try to keep a minimum). The only reason we rate this Good instead of Excellent is because it still needs work, it has areas that could easily be improved (such as database optimization and duplicate link generating).

I installed the free version of this component. Afterward, I had issues with the creation of SEF url's for Docman Component child categories. I posted on their forum just over two weeks ago for support, and was given basic instruction after three days of waiting which included:

"Make sure the JoomSEF metabot is active and ordered first among system metabots. If you need any additional help, we might do a check directly at your site, if you purchase paid support."

The JoomSEF metabot cause my site to lock me out. So I posted a reply about this issue after I had to disable the metabot through phpmyadmin. Then like a fool I bought the paid version of JoomSEF hoping to get more support by them taking a look at my site configuration.

After over two weeks of waiting, and even offering to pay them again if they'd take a look, the only reply I have gotten was to ask if I was running in legacy mode. I replied within an hour of that question, and have heard nothing since.

I'm fairly frustrated by the vendors which charge you for a component. Even more frustrating was being told to purchase it in order to get support (That part I understand) only to get basically no support after money had changed hands.

I have since asked for a refund. We'll see if I get it.

Right now I'm very disappointed. Having seen how slow the responses were in the forum for others, I should have known better than to pay for the 'unbranded' version.

$35.00 USD out the door, and lesson learned.

sh404SEF Is way better than ARTIO JoomSEF.sh404SEF has more options,it works both with or without htaccess,its free,its easy to install and has more extensions.Why anybody would use ARTIO JoomSEF?

Hi all
i just wanted to share my experience with artio.
i am dealing with joomla for awhile, never had problems with codes or extentions.
artio is purly delet bad review and keep only the good once.
i have paid them the full amount, and artio gave me major problems, and didnt work as expected, though they didnt help, they want you to pay another 100e or so for help, wich my friend did, and still didnt get any suport.

Its just amazing how this brings all components together and creates perfect url for all of them

hats off to you all.

I am using JoomSEF since Joomla 1.0.x.
I thought it is time honor this with a review, because this extension is a must have for building SEF sites.
The most i like is the kind to set custom SEF URL's. This is what i miss in other extensions.
Keep on the good work.

I found the following problem with the latest version of ARTIO JoomSEF.

1. Any extra parameter cannot be handled in JoomSEF. If there is extra parameter then the whole site will become blank(a pure white screen).

2. In Joomla 1.5 we have a option to Filter "Archived Articles" in frontend, This is not working after installing JoomSEF

There are some more issue still which i dont want to mention here, may be all of these are because of a single problem.

I personally feel that this component is not worth buying.

Thanks,
Valentine.

Let's be clear about one thing. The rewriting components are very very strong. If you're under the impression that setting these things up is straightforwad bear in mind that 7 years ago a handful of people were able to do what this script makes possible via your "install component screen". NEVER EVER install these components on anything other than a test site. Equally, installing a rewriting script does not guarantee IN ANY WAY higher search engine rankings any more.

I do not like this component.

It works badly with Joomfish and creates lots and lots of aliases to the same page. I would recommend sh303SEF over this component every time.

I've used Artio off and on, as well as arch-competitor sh404, without delving much into the success or failure of the many extensions that each offers in support of other major components. So, I am no expert.

I just write this review as a service to those new to using these SEO components. By now most probably realize that the setup can be tricky.

ON that point I wish to note that recently I installed the latest sh404 native for 1.5.x. An impressive-looking component, one I am anxious to dip my toe into, cautiously. Upon installing and attempting configuration, I was greeted with instructions on .htaccess configuration which are clearly describing and earlier-generation .htaccess file. So, the instructions regarding commenting-out and commenting-in no longer apply. The new 1.5.x .htaccess file looks like it has improved on this SEO compatibility with 3rd party extensions. I'm just guessing, as I've found no documentation from anyone regarding how to set (or ignore) the .htaccess for the newest version. As I said, the instructions--although very clear and helpful, for their day--pertain to an earlier version.

A link to the 'Wiki Documentation' which is flagged as 'NEW' is no help either, as it simply links to more old info at the Author's site.

All of this pertains to sh404.

Now, let's look at competitor ARtio...

First, the developer's download link to the newest version actually links to an earlier one. I've not received an answer on this yet (but it is Easter weekend as I write, so I'll be patient.)

Second -- and the main reason why I'm writing this review -- anyone who wants to try ARtio, whatever version, should be forewarned regarding complete incompatibility with sh404 previous installations, even if you THOUGHT you had uninstalled.

I will let this Forum post speak for itself:

Hello,

a lot of questions in these forums are related to:
After installing JoomSEF, there are SQL queries visible over my page, why is that?
or other problems, that have however the same cause - previous installation of sh404sef.

Please make sure that if you had sh404sef installed previously in your Joomla site, that after uninstalling it, also all its DB tables were removed successfully, especially the jos_redirection table.

These components - JoomSEF and sh404sef use the table with the same name, however, there are not fully compatible, so JoomSEF cannot write to jos_redirection table created by sh404sef and that leads to many error, often hiddeous ones.

Also note that sh404sef does NOT clean its table on uninstall by default, so you will most probably to do this manually.

The process to follow is:

Uninstall JoomSEF (if already installed)

Check your database using a DB tool such as phpMyAdmin and check if table jos_redirection exists. Please, note that other table prefix than jos_ may be used, this depends on your DB + Joomla configuration. If it exists, delete it. If other sh404sef tables also exist, you may delete them as well, but the other tables are not conflicting with JoomSEF, so it does not matter if thet stay in your DB.

Reinstall JoomSEF
[end]

The word 'hiddeous' [sic] pretty well says it all.

Just a word to the wise... don't assume that the components can co-exist or that they fully uninstall. These are points that should be made more prominent.

I used this in conjunction with myblog. It generated SEO links but very hard to manage and change/update the link. The Joomla built-in SEO is good enough. Trust me you don't want the headache down the road when you have a million links.

Using joomla 1.5.8. and FireBoard 1.0.5. I wanted an extension that would work well with FireBoard. sh404 was a lot of problems: broken links, error messages... i
Artio is very easy to install and setting the plugin FireBoard not have to do anything else. FireBoard works perfectly. Artio is easier to configure than sh404.
Highly recommended not to get into complications.
Thank you for this wonderful extension.

After testing it, I decided to go with another application. Below is my assessment of Artio. The other application fared better on the points below ('*' indicates features that I deem more important.)

POS

1. Easy Install
2. No 404 page error
3. 404 page with option to assign itemid
4. Compatible with Jcomment

NEG

1. Compatible with Fireboard, Jreviews, Adsmanager (titles are NOT placed on SEF URL)
2*. CB SEF URL profile reads: www.root.com/profiles/username rather than www.root.com/username
3. 301 redirect did not work out of the box
4. Custom redirect did not work out of the box
5*. Does not add unique id to articles for better search engine indexing
6. Not Free (for the version without credits)

I use this as often as possible. I like it so much I created a Video Tutorial on installing and using it, http://joomlaforbeginners.com/joomla-1.5-video-tutorials/installing-and-configuring-artio-joomsef-the-joomla-seo-and-sef-component.html

Their product is OK, but their support is terrible. I paid for the product because I wanted their Virtuemart plugin. They say that you'll get support, but I didn't get a response for 10 days, and even then I only got because I opened a ticket with PayPal.

Do yourself a favor and use sh404SEF, it's free and better.

After several failed attempts at getting this component working, Having server 500 errors, 1000 404 redirects on my site and the virtuemart checkout not working, I decided to contact the support team. They are a fantastic they replied within minutes and sorted the issue out within an hour, Thanks guys you are a pleasure to talk too. This component is a must have in the seo front.

I tried a few different SEF extensions and this one works the best. However, watch out for their credits. They make it far too easy to install the version with their credits than without, even if you buy it. I purchased my version and never ever installed their free version (at least to my knowledge), and I've yet to get their credits off every single one of my pages. There are many delays going back and forth with emails trying to remove it.

Here's the problem so you all can avoid it. After you go through the purchase process, they land you on a page to enter your license number, but that number is already filled in. Don't be duped into thinking it's the license you purchased! It's not. It's the one that comes with their credits. Look in your inbox for the license number. I did, but that email went to my spam folder so I didn't see it. Thinking I didn't need it, I submitted the license number they gave me, and then my site was infested with their credits, not only at the bottom of every page, but even in other unwelcome places. Three days later, I'm still trying to get help removing it.

Other than that, it's a great program. Just proceed cautiously on install.

I have tried more than once to make this part of my sites. I finally cracked it before it broke me.

The key to getting this site going is to follow the instructions very carefully. I can only speak for Apache servers - but when I got this component running I wondered what all the trouble was - it ran like a dream. Almost straight out of the box.

The stumbling block is usually the .htaccess file.
Copy the .htaccess text exactly as in the documentation and make your own .htaccess file. Do not allow the component to generate its own file if you do not have one in the root.
There is a minor addition to the .htaccess coding for sites in a subdomain - but follow the instructions. Disable the core joomla SEF module if you have this and have SEF switched on in global configuration. Leave Apache rewrite off.

The url's appearing are sweet .htm - you would never know you were on a dynamic site.
OK not everything runs with Joomsef - but if the component doesn't - no sweat, 'skip' the component in Joomsef's configuration.

I am still getting to grips with this component but no other has as many additional plugins.

The documentation is good - those who complain about this component have not paid sufficient attention to detail. I crashed my site four times in the space of 30 minutes but did not give up.
It is worth the effort!