Newbie with General Questions
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I'm new here & to Concrete. I want to make the best decisions moving forward, so I have been reading through the forums to get an idea of what to do, what to expect & what to avoid.
With that being said, my main concerns are the same as many/most: 1) Uptime vs downtime & 2) When I run into an issue, what to do!
First example:
Q::: I click the 'Insert link to page' then a pop up appears, however the sitemap is not correctly showing, see screenshot.
Only the folders appears, the '+' to the left of the folder name is off the edge of the pop up so I cant click it. Perhaps I am doing something wrong?
A::: This is likely being caused by your currently active theme. Sometimes, themes have classes that interfere with the Concrete dialog interface, causing them to render incorrectly. The best way to remedy this is to "protect" the offending classes (or IDs) by adding the class of the main wrapper before it in the theme's CSS files.
Second example:
A::: This theme has had more issues than I care to mention. I receive very infrequent assistance from the person/team that created it, in fact I have logged more problems in the last few days and still have unanswered ones from before. Considering that this is one of the most expensive themes on the market place I would think twice before purchasing this if I were you.
The below examples from the forum leads me to the following questions:
1) If a theme or add-on is not compatible with a new/upgraded version of Concrete, how often does a new theme or add-on need to be purchased? Or is there typically some way to work through the issue with little downtime?
2) What do I do when example two from above happens??? Be it a theme or add-on?
Thank you in advance to whomever takes the time to read & reply!
With that being said, my main concerns are the same as many/most: 1) Uptime vs downtime & 2) When I run into an issue, what to do!
First example:
Q::: I click the 'Insert link to page' then a pop up appears, however the sitemap is not correctly showing, see screenshot.
Only the folders appears, the '+' to the left of the folder name is off the edge of the pop up so I cant click it. Perhaps I am doing something wrong?
A::: This is likely being caused by your currently active theme. Sometimes, themes have classes that interfere with the Concrete dialog interface, causing them to render incorrectly. The best way to remedy this is to "protect" the offending classes (or IDs) by adding the class of the main wrapper before it in the theme's CSS files.
Second example:
A::: This theme has had more issues than I care to mention. I receive very infrequent assistance from the person/team that created it, in fact I have logged more problems in the last few days and still have unanswered ones from before. Considering that this is one of the most expensive themes on the market place I would think twice before purchasing this if I were you.
The below examples from the forum leads me to the following questions:
1) If a theme or add-on is not compatible with a new/upgraded version of Concrete, how often does a new theme or add-on need to be purchased? Or is there typically some way to work through the issue with little downtime?
2) What do I do when example two from above happens??? Be it a theme or add-on?
Thank you in advance to whomever takes the time to read & reply!
Email support@concrete5.org and politely explain that you paid for a theme but are not getting support from the author. Do note, however, that theme authors can't always respond immediately -- I believe the promised turnaround time is 1-2 business days max.
Addon and theme testing is done by the PRB (experienced c5 volunteers) and members of the core team. Everything is tested at the time it is first released to work with at least the current version of c5 and at least the default theme. Often tests are also made for previous versions of c5 and other themes and in conjunction with other addons.
However, there are lots of addons and themes and web hosting companies, and testing all permutations and combinations simply is not realistic. Re-testing it all for future versions of c5 is even less realistic.
The examples you cite are typical of the above.
Generally, before installing any addon or theme, read the reviews for the addon and others from the same developer, check the review dates, read the version compatibility, search the forums, and, if there are any points that need clarification, question the developer.
Before messing with a live site, always test the addon, theme or upgrade on a development system. That way, if you need to wait for a developer to update an addon, your live site will not be off-line while you wait.
For many sites, if a site is mature, stable and doing everything it needs to do, then why upgrade anything and risk rocking the boat?
Also consider that many site owners only post to the forums when they need help or encounter a problem. The other 99.9% don't post to the forums to say 'I installed X and it just worked'.
Most of my above points are just good project management and by no means specific to concrete5.
However, there are lots of addons and themes and web hosting companies, and testing all permutations and combinations simply is not realistic. Re-testing it all for future versions of c5 is even less realistic.
The examples you cite are typical of the above.
Generally, before installing any addon or theme, read the reviews for the addon and others from the same developer, check the review dates, read the version compatibility, search the forums, and, if there are any points that need clarification, question the developer.
Before messing with a live site, always test the addon, theme or upgrade on a development system. That way, if you need to wait for a developer to update an addon, your live site will not be off-line while you wait.
For many sites, if a site is mature, stable and doing everything it needs to do, then why upgrade anything and risk rocking the boat?
Also consider that many site owners only post to the forums when they need help or encounter a problem. The other 99.9% don't post to the forums to say 'I installed X and it just worked'.
Most of my above points are just good project management and by no means specific to concrete5.
Welcome LoriLynn!
I'll add my thoughts.
I've been active here for about 8 months now and I find these forums to be an excellent source of answers. That being said however, the first thing to do when having a problem is to request support from the author of the theme, package or block that's giving you problems. If you post a question in the forum and also ask the author for support, odds are pretty good that a solution can be found fairly quickly.
Concrete5 just went through a fairly rapid set of upgrades that changed the internal architecture so some compatibility issues are to be expected. What I see most often is a developer who upgrades to a new version of concrete5 on their 'live' site without doing any testing whatsoever or even checking whether their theme and add-ons are compatible with the new version. They're so excited to try out the new goodies that their site crashes and they are in a panic and concrete5 must be to blame. Websites should NEVER be upgraded without first creating an identical test copy on the same server and upgrading the test site first. This is just common sense.
I've also noticed that many of the problems presented on the forums are not 'bugs' per se but are caused by developers trying to accomplish something in a way that is not compatible with concrete5 and their site crashes. Because concrete5 is marketed as an easy CMS, it attracts folks who are new to website development and therefore have very little experience even using the developer's tools in the browser to sort out the root cause of a problem. Although C5 is easy for the end-user on the front end, it is built with sophisticated code in the back-end and sometimes PHP novices (like me) kill their site when they use it as their personal classroom.
One thing that needs to be remembered. The concrete5 system was completely free and the answers provided in the forums are completely free and many, many good add-ons in the marketplace are completely free so when people ask questions in the forum, they need to keep in mind that those who try to help are often taking profitable time away from their own clients to help the community. Sometimes answers don't come as quickly as when a support package has been purchased from a 'traditional' software vendor but my experience has been that even the paid support packages don't provide swift answers and there's plenty of finger-pointing until the real culprit is determined. You don't get so much of that in the forums. Just honest folks trying to help the best they can.
And with experts like jordenlev an JohntheFish at your disposal on a Sunday, who needs paid support! You can always purchase one of their fine add-ons as a show of appreciation.
I'll add my thoughts.
I've been active here for about 8 months now and I find these forums to be an excellent source of answers. That being said however, the first thing to do when having a problem is to request support from the author of the theme, package or block that's giving you problems. If you post a question in the forum and also ask the author for support, odds are pretty good that a solution can be found fairly quickly.
Concrete5 just went through a fairly rapid set of upgrades that changed the internal architecture so some compatibility issues are to be expected. What I see most often is a developer who upgrades to a new version of concrete5 on their 'live' site without doing any testing whatsoever or even checking whether their theme and add-ons are compatible with the new version. They're so excited to try out the new goodies that their site crashes and they are in a panic and concrete5 must be to blame. Websites should NEVER be upgraded without first creating an identical test copy on the same server and upgrading the test site first. This is just common sense.
I've also noticed that many of the problems presented on the forums are not 'bugs' per se but are caused by developers trying to accomplish something in a way that is not compatible with concrete5 and their site crashes. Because concrete5 is marketed as an easy CMS, it attracts folks who are new to website development and therefore have very little experience even using the developer's tools in the browser to sort out the root cause of a problem. Although C5 is easy for the end-user on the front end, it is built with sophisticated code in the back-end and sometimes PHP novices (like me) kill their site when they use it as their personal classroom.
One thing that needs to be remembered. The concrete5 system was completely free and the answers provided in the forums are completely free and many, many good add-ons in the marketplace are completely free so when people ask questions in the forum, they need to keep in mind that those who try to help are often taking profitable time away from their own clients to help the community. Sometimes answers don't come as quickly as when a support package has been purchased from a 'traditional' software vendor but my experience has been that even the paid support packages don't provide swift answers and there's plenty of finger-pointing until the real culprit is determined. You don't get so much of that in the forums. Just honest folks trying to help the best they can.
And with experts like jordenlev an JohntheFish at your disposal on a Sunday, who needs paid support! You can always purchase one of their fine add-ons as a show of appreciation.
WOW!! I posted in the forum, went to lunch, came home & ta da! Answers...and very informational ones at that. Thank you so much for the feedback. I'm certainly impressed!!!
I have been browsing through the themes, reading reviews, checking out the live sites that have used the the themes or add-ons. It was as I was doing so that I asked myself "what happens if the developer dies, quits updating, etc.?" I guess I was just looking for a little reassurance that there is a way to get to the bottom of issues as they arise, not looking for something that is perfect.
Thanks again!
I have been browsing through the themes, reading reviews, checking out the live sites that have used the the themes or add-ons. It was as I was doing so that I asked myself "what happens if the developer dies, quits updating, etc.?" I guess I was just looking for a little reassurance that there is a way to get to the bottom of issues as they arise, not looking for something that is perfect.
Thanks again!
Per main page of Concrete:
"Everything in our curated marketplace is guaranteed
to work, ensuring an easy and safe way to extend your website's functionality."
Per me:
Why then are there issues in the forum such as the one that I pasted above? And when there are issues, is the forum the absolute best place to go for help?