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New Community Website

Ordinarily, you'd be at the right spot, but we've recently launched a brand new community website... For the community, by the community.

Yay... Take Me to the Community!

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HomeHomeOur CommunityOur CommunityGeneral Discuss...General Discuss...Module developer serviceModule developer service
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5/29/2007 7:27 PM
 

OK, then, let's set up our own review site. We'll come up with some rules of how a vendor can oppose the review, etc.

Another problem is that some regular users might be excited about something that actually doesn't deserve it or be upset at something that is their own fault. So a professional opinion would be more useful.

Sort of like a movie critique site. What do you think?


Vitaly Kozadayev
Principal
Viva Portals, L.L.C.
 
New Post
5/29/2007 10:51 PM
 

Well it seems like there is some interest in this - http://www.modulereviews.com I set that up in 2005, using a module that I thought was wonderful.... but after getting an amount of modules in, and it took us quite some time, I was disappointed to find that it didn't allow us to let module developers to  manage their own listings.   EG if you had edit rights to that module you could edit eveyone's listings... so that took a backseat for a while.

Currently - we've got a new site being developed and have over 280 modules categorised.  It is modelled on the concepts of modulereviews, but has better modules to manage it.

It will allow people to review the module, but I am cautious about letting people have the ability to just comment on something if they have not used it.

I will be going through the modules I have - I think I have about 300 modules of various sorts and have already discussed with quite a few people who are interested in participating, what's important to them, so we will have available information that covers

  • Installation
  • Versions
  • Source availability
  • Comparisons
  • Brief overview (plain english)
  • Screen shots of installation
  • Localisation options

... just to name a few.

I started this back in 2005 becuase I was constantly being asked by so many people, developers and end users about modules and wanted to have a location that I could send my customers to, and my colleagues, but now have more resources and organised structure to manage this, but I really would love to have a couple of developers who are experienced in DNN and want to work with me on this to help.

I will have some help from John Mitchell - he's a talented man who's knowledge of DNN is outstanding.. but there are other elements to DNN where marketers and end users simply don't need to know all these 'developer' things, but want to know..how one module compares to another, and not by the developers themselves, but by people who use them. 

A large portion of my business is advising companies what modules to use, what not to use, what developers are like, who is ok and who is all bluff, what modules can do to a server, what modules are good for beginners, what modules we should have and what we shouldn't have.  So there is a level of consultation through trial and error and experience in making them work in a commercial application which I would like to share with people.

I initially had this idea it would work on xd - my own site, but what I've found over time is that people are often looking for specific answers... eg.. dnnskins - free skins, skincovered.. learning about skining, not modules and I have catalooksupport.com for catalook module only - so this idea of module reviews was something I thought had merit but it was hard to continue working with once I found that module didn't upgrade, didn't allow reviewing like I wanted it to and sustaining was just too hard to do at a high level.

So back in April, we started getting the information modules and so far, over 280 modules, commercial and free have been put together on a site that needs a little bit more work to get going.

If anyone wants to help   - feel free to email me directly.  I agree that something like this really would help the community make some decisions about their modules.

Nina Meiers
My Site  -  My Blogs  - Goodies - 28 Free DNNSkins - Nina's Free Skins


Nina Meiers My Little Website
If it's on DNN, I fix, build, deploy, support,skin, host, design, consult, implement, integrate and done since 2003.
Who am I? Just a city chic, having a crack at organic berry farming.. and creating awesome websites.
 
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5/30/2007 1:55 AM
 

Jayvilla, I would have to assume from my experience on both ends of this issue, that most of the problems are related to size of the organization (usually very small, likely only one person) developing the modules. Sometimes you just have to understand that if you paid $50 for a module that you're not going to get the best support services available from a developer who might only spend an hour a day or less working on that module or DNN as a whole.

With our first public release of a module, that being Engage: Publish, we learned quite a bit. Publish one of the more expensive modules you'll find for sale, but there's a reason behind that. We are one of the larger DotNetNuke related organizations, we're 11 strong with almost all of us dealing with DNN on a daily basis, so for us to venture into the retail sector for modules we have put thousands of hours into a module, and couldn't justify selling it for $50. With that venture we've opened our product up to a lot more eyes using the module, with that more scrutitiny and more issues located. Our forums are a way for us to try to filter out issues so we can handle them. With 11 people we still don't have the resources to setup a support phone line where anyone who uses Publish can call in with any question they might have, to do that we'd have to charge a heck of a lot more for the module than we do, and we'd need to double in size. So for now our support gets handled in the forums on www.engagemodules.com. Being prompt is something we strive for, and releasing often with fixes for bugs is another thing we're trying to achieve as well, but not everyone has the flexibility that a company of our size does. That flexibility still requires me personally to put in way more hours than 40 per week to provide bug fixes and enhancements to a module that gets updated when I have time in between projects our in the evenings to do so.

Usually when dealing with clients on individual projects, one on one, things are easier to handle in with an email or a phone call, but as module developers selling public modules it is not cost effective to offer that as part of the module price. That being said, I have taken plenty of calls recently with support issues. I got random phone call from some lady in Ohio the other day with a random DNN question totally unrelated to Engage: Publish. She even said "I know there's a forum where I can ask this question", but she asked me anyways. I assisted her, and went back to work on my projects. Some of which include module development for retail, but mostly they are client projects that are a whole different ballgame than just creating a module for retail.

Hope that gives you some insight into things from the developers side


Chris Hammond
Former DNN Corp Employee, MVP, Core Team Member, Trustee
Christoc.com Software Solutions DotNetNuke Module Development, Upgrades and consulting.
dnnCHAT.com a chat room for DotNetNuke discussions
 
New Post
5/30/2007 11:30 AM
 

Myself being a module developer I can fully understand where this is coming from a I too have ran into cases where I have downloaded or bought a module and then not been able to get support for it.  I personally try to make myself available and try to respond to any issues as quick as possible, usually within hours, also everyone knows my e-mail address and can contact me directly via that method.

As of right now most of my moudles are free and even they are fully supported by myself.  I try to release modules that are incredibly easy to use and that include helpful documentation, however, it isn't always possible.

As a developer I tend to take my mistakes very seriously and personally and am always willing to fix something that is wrong, however, the more time I spend in the industry I find that less and less people exist that have that type of dedication.

I think a module review site is a good idea, and otherwise I think selecting a a module developer carefully is the next most important item.


-Mitchel Sellers
Microsoft MVP, ASPInsider, DNN MVP
CEO/Director of Development - IowaComputerGurus Inc.
LinkedIn Profile

Visit mitchelsellers.com for my mostly DNN Blog and support forum.

Visit IowaComputerGurus.com for free DNN Modules, DNN Performance Tips, DNN Consulting Quotes, and DNN Technical Support Services
 
New Post
5/30/2007 12:07 PM
 

Christoc...

I fully understand your position. I understand.... as a businessman myself, I know that answering every little inquiry is tough. It is, however, something that must be done if you want to be in business.

For me, a simple..... "we'll look into this problem and get back to you" would suffice.

Most of the sites for developers don't have a ton of forum messages coming through that it is overwhelming for anyone to answer them all. Maybe 3 or 4 new topics per day.

Making sales is the fun and easy part...... but there are other important areas in business that need to be attended to even though they are not as fun or rewarding.

 
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