The Joomla! Extensions Directory ™

In fairness, it appears the developer has done quite a bit of work on this extension, since there are quite a few menu options and even a "form wizard", so on first glance I wondered why I'd been hired to help a client with this forms extension.

After five minutes, I understood. This is anything but intuitive. Many people won't get to first base on the "wizard". Those that do will be left wondering what to do when they finish the last shown step. If they assume they are done and go to Forms Management, they've lost all their work.

Yes, they do include a tutorial that can be downloaded, but it wouldn't take much work to make the extension easier to use.

If the developer would sit someone who'd never seen this app, in front of a computer and watch them struggle, they could easily make big improvements.

Also, the extension will put a link to the developer's website on all forms unless you pay.

I ended up just creating the forms for my client without any extension.

This was the second module of its type that I tried (tried TellAFriend first). It's simple and it works! Someone posted that you couldn't choose which pages it will appear on - but I don't know what they were looking at, because like any other kind of module, you have full control.

This thing is awesome! (And I'm not known for going easy on reviews) Although the basic version is doing everything I need, I tried to buy the pro version just to say "thanks", but apparently they don't take paypal. Anyway, well thought-out component that works great.

I recommend this extension for all Joomla sites that allow user registration. It installed in seconds, and was setup on my user registration form with no further work on my part.

- Hank Castello / CompuSolver.com

Alright, the first couple hours I messed with this, I wasn't too happy. Labels were misspelled (or in French?), and a few things didn't seem to work right, but after looking at a few other classified extensions, I came back to this and hacked the code just a bit (mostly just to change those labels) and it's working great.

This was the best-looking classified extension for vehicles and boats (Noah is pretty good for misc stuff).

I'll add some search power to it later (after I build ads).

Simple install and simple use. Even more importantly - it works without having to mess with anything!

- Hank Castello, Web-Professor.com

I don't understand the previous, raving review. Perhaps someone has changed the files recently?

This component is very simple, which is what my client wanted, but perhaps too simple because it includes qty with ingredient field data so that 1/2 teaspoon of salt requires a different record than 1/4 or 1 full teaspoon, etc.

Also, ingredients are shown (in single recipe view) underneath the instructions and are comma separated instead of neatly columnized.

Worse is that the first record usually works, but following records do not work on the single recipe view page due to faulty SQL logic.

I fixed this for my client and will gladly offer the fix to the author if he would like it.

This is the second weather extension I wasted my time on today, so I thought I'd post some reviews to help save others from wasting their time too.

There is no easy way to set this to fit in most columized module areas and for USA people, it doesn't matter because I couldn't get any US weather info working in this thing.

I had a great module when I used Joomla 1.0 but am having difficulty finding a decent free one for 1.5

There is so much hype about this app and when you look at it, it really does look good.

Problem is, there are severe problems in the core of this app. Problems that have been posted on the developer's forum since last year, yet still not addressed nor even replied to.

The two biggest problems are:

1. Import of CSV product data does not work.
2. If using sales tax, pricing does not work!!!

If you're only having a dozen products or so, you may be able to live with not being able to import your products - but the developer has been aware of this bug for over a year and hasn't fixed it.

Random pricing? Actually, random discount pricing! Sales tax is usually subtracted after being subjected to seemingly random math functions.

I'm a web developer/database guy and have installed hundreds of Joomla (and other) components, plug-ins, etc., so it's not like I'm some newbie user who doesn't read manuals.

One annoying bug in the /administrator/index2.php file will keep loggin you out, but is easily fixed by adding ob_start(); immediately after the first php tag (include the semi-colon).

Unfortunately, the other bugs aren't so easily fixed.

- Hank Castello