The extension is the best choice to use for community sites as it is powerful, has a lot of plugins for almost every need. Though there should be more modern execution, I guess. But as it is free - it's great

Simply the best community extension for Joomla, yes even better than the other "social" extension you have to pay for. As you can see, whatever you need there is a CB plugin for it. Would it be nice to have all of the extra features like User Activity, User Blogs, User Photos and etc included in the box? Yes but the beauty of CB is that it is a framework, an API for developers to create awesome additions.

I notice though that some users (my clients for example) have some trouble understanding the power of CB and its installation, but give it a try, read the installation PDF slowly and you'll have an install community!

P.S. I see even bigger things in the future for CB, with the CB developers taking over GroupJive's development and partnering with the guys at Kunena for increased integration of CB and the forum extension, things are only going to get better!

This offers a lot of good functions. Together with other "plugins" like the uddeIM it is a very complete solution.

Thanks!

/Anders

Community Builder is great, it has many many extensions and you can customize it in any way you want. The only downside is that it takes some time to customize and get it to run like you want. I was very afraid at first, will this be what I need, it has so many files to install, will it invalid my site ? Answer is try it for yourself and you'll like it! It deserves 5 out of 5!

This product is powerful and there is good amount of add-ons to do just about anything. I have used it for a while and managed to integrate forums and AEC tabs within CB. However, some of the plugs in CB site are outdated and does not work.

CB is massive in size and would make any Newbie such as myself shake in his/her boots. However if you follow the excellent simple instructions given to me by Hazzaa (read the whole post) http://forum.joomla.org/viewtopic.php?f=472&t=391482&p=1660693#p1660693 it installs and works like a dream. With her instructions its pretty well fool-proof. From there on it becomes a learning curve so read the Documentation and use the Forums if you get stuck.

I spent a week assessing a number of other community software builders. I decided to give "Community Builder" a try and have not looked back nor regretted my decision.

The software has good logical layout for the backend and is extremely easy to setup. It's well worth purchasing the "Documentation" package not only for the well written User Guide but also the access to powerful extra plugins.

As an administrator you can set the display options for the plugins to make it look similar to a Facebook account or have everything under "tabs". I personally prefer the tabs approach as it keeps the profile page nice and clean.

My only negative is that the forum / calender being supported both need to run in "legacy" mode but that said I have seen no issues turning legacy mode on and the forum software (Fireboard) integrates perfectly. (I did ask about this and the issue is being addressed, hopefully soon I'll be able to go back to pure native mode).

So, in short, this package has everything you need to build a community. The forums are active and my questions where answered incredibly promptly.

I was extremely worried about installing this plugin. Reading the documentation, there seemd so much going on, would it muck things up for me?
Quite simply, NO!!
Installation was a breeze, just followed the installation read me. A few easy steps. (And Im a Joomla novice!) Fired up and ready to go. Lots of options and settings to adjust your community as you see fit. Im using Joomla 1.5, and it couldnt be easier. Got the download from the joomopolis site registering as a free, (not paid) user.
But after seeing this module/component, I will be subscribing. This is one addon, I want to keep on top of.
HIGHLY recommended!
Best extension Ive seen so far.
Keep it up guys, and thank you!!

This component is probably one of the biggest value adders to Joomla!

Please visit the project website and read about the many opportunities of this great extension.

Thank you Beat and Nant for the continues and stable development! 10 STARS * you are the best.

Extremely Useful for having a profile
Couldn't quite get the blog section working so I also used in my site http://extensions.joomla.org/extensions/content-&-news/blog/4960/details, but this is most likely because I haven't done something right and I also didn't go to their support, so sorry if there is help

I'm finding CB great but I agree that the display of the user lists is awful and it seems extremely difficult to customize for 1.1.

This is a great component with easy to manage back end and cool features in backend and front end. There are several integrations between it and other components like Fireboard forum, JIM (Joomla Instnat Messages), gelleries and others.

A very good comonent nothing bad to say about it but maybe you could change it so we can add user groups?

This extension is excellent, but it takes too long without being native to 1.5X. This undue delay, leads that we are trying alternatives. I hope that developers will soon release the new version.

I just tried 1.2RC3 and followed the instructions exactly and it works great on Joomla 1.57 . The only issue was the user registration page gets a 403 error if you're using sh404SEF & don't disable sh404SEF on the "By Component" tab to "skip" comprofiler. Also I highly recommend the CBPassphrase plugin by Franz Koessinger - it's a great way to restrict access, by first sending out a required passphrase to your community before they can register on the site.

Awesome piece of work. No issues during installation and is working perfectly now.
Great team ! Thank you
J

First time user of CB. Paid the 25 Euro (for the documentation and immediate download of RC2) not knowing what I was getting, other than everybody (and there's a ton of 'em) said "Y'all NEED this-here miracle elixir software stuff!"

Took me about 3 hours to glance at documentation, install CB, CB's plug-in's, Fireboard, Captcha plug-in, and configure this-and-that to my liking.

I've been programming since punch cards weren't something you saw only in museums and history books. I *AM* impressed!

Everything installed into Joomla! 1.5.6 without a hitch, hiccup, or a "Hold y'er horsies, sonny-boy!"

You can add my 15 stone (212 pounds US) to that metric ton of people who say you NEED this software! Fabulous user control and great, seamless integration with Fireboard.

THANK YOU! We are in control...

Great product.

Seamless integration with website and easy to configure.

This components is essential to any site to create a community. Its easy to install, lots of configuration options and works with so many other components such as Fireboard, AEC, Joomla!Comment etc.

Awesome, download, donate and njoy it ;o)

Ps. the manual really helps get the best out of this component.

this was exactly what i was looking for. nicer user handling and captcha support. so i get rid of the spamed user registration!!
why joomla is not integrating some features in the core component, it would be really useful...