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This review is being written after using OSE Access and Membership control on three sites. The feedback is as follows:

1. Components per se: 4 STARS. Works very well. Need to be installed exactly as explained in manual. Can give unexpected results if not installed the text book way. In its current form, there is a fairly steep learning curve to make the component work as desired in first go. Does not handle mistakes in installation very well.

2. Support: 5 STARS: No doubt about it. Helix and his team have the best support for any commercial joomla component on the net. Official line is "We work from 9 - 6 Monday to Friday" - Truth is that these guys respond ASAP and at all hours and days.

3. Documentation: 1 STAR: OSE team really need to focus on this in terms of content as well as writing style. Major portions of the content have not kept up with the developments. Logic flow needs to be clearer. Instructions lack fluidity.

Recommendations:
1. Include a profile builder at registration stage e.g in real world registation details of a teacher would be different from that of a student. Accepting the same for both is somewhat restrictive. Once done, a Profile Builder - Membership Registration - Access Control combination will make this component one of the finest in the market. There is a CB patch available but it is just not the same as having a profiler built by OSE for OSE components.

2. As Einstine said : "Everything should be made simple, not simpler." There is lots of scope to make things simple in the component.

3. Sort out the documentation.

Bottom line : A component definately worth investing in but be prepared for a steep learning curve before you will get the best out of it.

Royko

Compliments to Dhanasekar and his team for producing an excellent component.

To be really useful, this component needs a few serious additions:

1. Grouping: Users should be able to group questions under various heads like payments/ refunds, memberships, article submissions etc. This will make searching the FAQ easier for the end users.

2. Removal of footer from front end: SOBI2 allows it and so does Jreviews via the params. I think CB does it too. JE should allow it too. Joomla integrators like ourselves do not mind sharing the credit for good job with extension developers but we like to do it silently (via XML links). In front of clients, we need to be the top guns :).

As I mentioned to Dhanasekar, its all about marketing.

Keep up the good work.

Cheers

Royko

This is a brilliant component. But it is developed from a programmers point of view and not a website owners point of view. running websites is an extremely serious business. Registered users should be able to contribute but not have any control over content.

Hence I have the following suggestions:

1. There should be a function to limit section and category to which articles can be submitted e.g. I run a community site in which nothing gets published without editors reading the content. Quality of content can make or break a site. Hence it would be useful if all the articles got submitted to a say - New Articles/ New Articles section/category. The editors can then access New Articles/ New Articles to read all new articles, approve them and publish them in the right sec/ cat combo.

2. All controls like publish date/ unpublish date/ meta's/ access levels should be disabled. This is something editors/ administrators should decide and not a front end user.

Overall excellent idea and component. Few more controls will really make the difference between good and great.

Regards

Royko