okay folks,
There are about 4-5 user modules that let you display your users in modules in several ways..popular users, latest registered users, manually choosen users...this list goes on and on.
this is a summary of my experience these modules.
(feel free to post your own experiences with these or other modules)
In no particular order.
www.software4joomla.com
Featured Member module, Latest user module, Popular user module
Software 4 Joomla makes about 5-6 modules that perform various display functions, some are free some are paid the are not very expensive.
I purchased and installed the Featured Member Module, it works well and is easy to configure, it has some abilities to display additional icons along with the avatar and username.
However it does not filter users in a conventional fashion. It does have filtering but only to filter users that you have manually added to a list.
This was a huge drawback for me, as my users that need to be displayed are designated from a field that only certain users have access to..they fill out this field and POOF! they are a featured user..totally hands free!
After a forum discussion with the developer they confirmed that this is not how their module filters users.
***UPDATE - 3/16/10***
The Software4Joomla RANDOM USERS module WILL filter users properly..and its under $10
but dont let that discourage your from buying it, it probably has the most functionality and best support out of all of the modules in this list.
Mod_cbuserlist
sourceforge.net/projects/modcblastusers/files/
This module was introduced in mid/late 2009 and hasnt been touched since.
It shows alot of potential due to the fact that it can filter & display users by cb_field which is a HUGE function if you want a hands free featured users system.
it performs the filtering perfectly...BUT it does have TWO MAJOR drawbacks which prevent it from ever being used on a production site.
1. The avatars can only be displayed in a few ways
one of them being horizontal in one row, but then you cannot display the username text..only the avatar...so its either a sloppy vertical column or horizontal avatars with no labels.
2. There is no ItemID in the links to the profiles. so if your Joomla system uses modules on the Profile page your out of luck with this extension.
I have contacted the developer several times as I know many others have as well, and have not heard a response back, and this bug has existed for me since December of 2009.
CB_SuperThumb
www.templateplazza.com/view-details/cb-superthumb/84-cb-superthumb.html
This is a decent no frills module that allows you to display your users in a module several ways, it is free and easy to configure.
It has the ability to display a "toolbar"under the avatar to show online status and pm icons and whatnot.
it even has the ability to set a custom ItemID
It will display horizontally or vertically in a grid
this module works well but has no cb_field filtering ability.
Ninjoomla / NinjaForge
Ninja User Splash
no DL link because it is not available for j1.5
ninjaforge.com/index.php
(you can find details about it on the drop down menu on the top left of the site)
I was able to contact the developer many months ago when I was a member of Ninjoomla and found this module on the Joomla extensions site but could not find it in my download area.
I was told it was never completed fully for J1.5
however they had a beta version that they sent me.
It installed just fine and came with many options.
You could tell it wasnt complete as half of the PMS systems were not listed and it only gave the option to use 1 brand of image gallery. It just wasnt up to date for a release.
It felt like an advanced copy of CB_SuperThumb
I was told that in the coming months they would release a stable version, but I never checked back as it did not include filtering.
I feel filtering is very important option when considering adding a "Featured User" module. It really does create an incentive to upgrade to a higher level or paid subscription..ie: by letting users pay and then deeming them as "featured members". and doing this automatically by
feeding the module from a cb_field, means this is a hands free tool.
Of course you can do this manually, but who has time for that!
so I had to give up the NinJoomla module although I still have it buried in my dev site somewhere, I dont think I could ever use it for a live site.
So that concludes my experiences with user modules
If I have left any out please post links to them I would love to find one that suits my needs.
It Seems that Software 4 Joomla has the best selection of these modules, however I feel they may have too many selections.
why not just include all of these functions into one SUPER module?
Mod_cbuserlist is the only one I reviewed that had an actual user filter system, now if they get the rest of the module together then they might have something.
but after explaining my needs to S4J I think they would be the first to release something like this in the future.
heck, they might even have the function already buried in one of the half dozen user modules!
IF YOU HAVE ANY OTHER USER MODULES PLEASE!!! POST THEM.
Post edited by: jakobe75, at: 2010/03/17 15:58
