[V3] Business Directory

Great developer, great support, great product. Very easy to customize, even I have one or two question about the BD, but for sure, there will be a solution. Thumbs up!!!

Business Directory Review

Version reviewed: V3.00.02

Date Reviewed: 13/02/2012

I could have probably just copied my V2 review of this module and used it to describe V3 but I didn’t, as there are some improvements that are worth mentioning. Some of the minor inconsistencies I believe are present in this module, and this may seem like dejavu to some reading this, are:

1. On the Business News Feed page, the news articles don’t use the full width of the box and there is quite a lot of unsightly white space on the right.
2. The comment system doesn’t follow the same styling as used throughout the rest of our sites and I personally think this is a real shame. It is even more exaggerated with V3 as Videos as well as Events are supported in this module. Another issue around comments is they don’t support threaded view.
3. Use Text Editor setting in the config panel seems to only apply to the Bio field of a Business and doesn’t apply it to all input boxes, news articles, comments, reviews etc
4. Sharing an entire Business page is supported but that’s as far as the sharing element goes, there is no way for a Business owner for example to share a review to their Social Networks.

Now, with PhpFox V3, this module looks 10 times better than it did in V2, in my opinion. There is less wasted space within the blocks on either side and it all flows better.

Out of all the improvements to this release of Business Directory, which I will come to in a bit, I appreciate being able to hide empty tabs on a Business page almost above everything else! That might seem strange but this has always been a pet hate of mine with Phpfox and other scripts in the past.

Although this is sold as a Business Directory it isn’t restricted to just that one purpose, it is however what I am using it for. Each Business can have their own listing within the directory with the following features available to them:-

• Their Business profile page
• Ability to add and manage news articles
• Ability to add and manage events
• Ability to add and manage Videos
• Ability to add and manage documents
• Ability to add and manage pictures and albums
• Ability to add and manage multiple locations, each with their own operation hours etc
• Ability to collect customer feedback in form of reviews or through the wall feature

Admin’s can configure this module to they are content and give various type of options depending on the usergroup of the user creating the page. This adds good monetising potential to your community.

This module supports custom fields and these can be applied to any category or subcategory which is nice, the fields supported are as follows:-

Text (Line)
Text (Box)
Checkbox
Radio Select
Drop-down Select

As mentioned above these can be added globally, to a category or sub-category, which is fantastic, but not without what I consider another small inconsistency! These custom fields will appear in a new section on the Business Profile and this section takes the name of the Category or Sub-Category they were assigned too, so let’s say you assign fields to a Restaurant category, there will be a Restaurant section heading on the Business profile page.

This module now comes with a compare feature, you can compare up to four businesses at once from the search page. Other areas of fantastic improvement include the new radius search option which works of longitude and latitude coordinates so it is completely global. Integration with the activity feed goes as deep as Phpfox will allow for this type of module, there are limitations in the design of the feed that restrict this. This module also allows business profile owners to specify multiple admins for the business.

This is one massive module and you will have to spend a great deal of time planning how you want it to work before you even consider configuring it. What I mean by this is does your site use subscriptions? Who do you want to be able to add a directory listing? These are all questions you will have to give serious consideration before deploying this module on your live site. DON’T underestimate this element.

I have gone back and forth many times in my mind about should I use this module or just use the pages, on one side I have the consistency of styling within the pages I like and a lot of the functionality also. However if you, like I, plan on offering Businesses stores through Pbay, then using this then becomes the logical choice as the styling will be the same in Pbay and therefore will provide a more cohesive business experience, albeit slightly disjointed, in terms of styling, to the rest of the site. Another big factor is the fact that you can monetise your site a lot easier with this module rather than pages, as there is no way to limit types of pages to certain usergorups.

Support

Abstract Enterprises have always had top notch support and are extremely reliable and quick to respond. They offer free installation with every purchase, so if you are unsure on such things they have you covered. Abstract Enterprises are one of the few companies that add user guides to the admin panel for their modules, this not only helps us end users, but allows them to reduce the support overhead and therefore invest more in developing.

This is an absolutely fantastic module; if you’re looking for the most comprehensive offering for businesses then this module still retains top spot. However the division is certainly blurring! Even though I considered there to be a number of minor inconsistencies, this it is still one of the hottest and best supported products for PhpFox.

Gets a massive thumbs up recommendation from me

Things I’d Like to see in the future

Expand the sharing capabilities
Support threaded comments
Tidy up the styling to be more consistent with default areas

As with everything by this developer, the product and service are superior. Lots of bells and whistles, easy user interface and admin controls. Flawless upgrade to V3!

Superior Product, superior support. #1 in my book!

Two words. Bomb Diggity! Thanks for the free upgrade Ae::Brian .... well that was more like eight words, but whose counting!

Thanks AE. You are pro active! Good job!

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year

Amazing The best Modder on this SITE (Please Charge for your updates!) I don't want to see you go! Your amazing!

SWEET!!!!!

Yet another great add-on. Tested and works great. A definitely must have for sites looking to go global. That's my tide....What's yours?

Keep it coming, Brian.

Brain You Rock Bro!!!! Thank you for making the Business Directory V3 Version available in Awesome right on time \,,/ You have a loyal customer

Mike D