Reviews

Current Version

No reviews found.

Before 1.1

Review posted by ijessup on at

Awesome!

ijessup
Works as advertised. I actually like it more than the "Domain Mapper" add-on, because of the transparent nature of the URL mapping.

Also, Mainio is quick to respond to questions and support issues. Very competent and eager to work anything out for you!

Our set up uses this add-on to help manage multiple "eCommerce" stores with a single product database. Having this add-on saved me countless development hours. Well worth the price!

1.1 - 0.9.9

Review posted by dwayneparton on at

GREAT ADD-ON!!!!

dwayneparton
This add-on does exactly what I needed. I have a few clients who have simple sites that only I update and there is really no need for an entire c5 installation. This add-on was just the "multi-site" solution I was looking for to combine all those tiny sites into one installation! I think the price is more than reasonable for all that it does.

And a tip for those of you using a Dreamhost VPS. All you have to do to add a domain is mirror the domain you want to add to the main site. No shell needed. It's supper easy with the Dreamhost domain manager.

1.2 - 0.9.9

Review posted by CDMadmin on at

Working Great, lots of options, and great customer service!

CDMadmin
This is working exactly as advertised, and comes with lots of options so that it works how you need it. I'm not an expert in web development, so Mainio Tech walked me through a lot of the steps when I had questions. I recommend this product, and be patient while you're setting it up if this is new to you.
Review posted by ThemeGoodness on at

Wonderful

ThemeGoodness
I have been wanting something for a long time to do what this add on does. Once I was able to get everything set up it is working great. I am now able to set up one demo site for the themes and not one for each which will save time in development and updating.

Thanks!

Steph

1.3 - 0.9.9

Review posted by omars786 on at

A very good addon - saves many hours of work!

omars786
Great Addon, Great Support, Highly Recommended

1.3.2 - 0.9.9

Review posted by carl101lee on at

Excellent Addon

carl101lee
Thanks Very Much..

Does what it says, requires some server knowledge.
Has some nice features available.
Excellent support Team
Will buy again

1.3.2 - 0.9.9

Review posted by mesuva on at

Invaluable

mesuva
It was late in the project where my client asked whether we could split an already completed website into multiple domains.

This Add-On solved my problem wonderfully, and I was further impressed by it's handling of the things like the sitemap.xml file and the fact that a modified autonav was include. The doco is great too.

Well done Mainio!
Review posted by buurvrouw on at

Perfect!

buurvrouw
Very usefull add-on! Very good en quick support!

A little server knowledge is needed. Get your server domain directions sorted out and it all works like charm!

1.3.3 - 0.9.9

Review posted by annekeh on at

Love the Add-on

annekeh
This add-on made my life a lot simpler. Do you need a few websites under a 'portal-page'? This is your solution. It is easy to map and the support is so fast, you almost immediate get a solution.

p.s. when you are a newbie in websites, I can understand it is a bit difficult for you. So please ask someone to help you.

1.3.3 - 0.9.9

Review posted by drm on at

Great add-on

drm
And great support!

1.3.4 - 0.9.9

Review posted by hajonolte on at

100% timesaver

hajonolte
this extensions is great. easy to install. easy to understand. no hassle with .htaccess-files or other hard-coding-things.

had some trouble with install (i am a c5-newbie) but Antti (the programmer) did respond very fast and brought me back to track.

1.4 - 0.9.9

Review posted by nowakpiotrek on at

Life-saver addon

nowakpiotrek
I'm really happy about Multiple Domains. Over time I bought multiple licences and it saved me tons of time of doing the same thing without it.

Keep up the good work!

Best,
Piotrek
Review posted by RyujiS on at

More trouble than worth

RyujiS
This add-on actually doesn't save you time or effort. If your sites are very simple, it may seem to save you time at first, but you will pay the price later when you maintain the codes/addons/themes. If your existing site is already highly customized and built for sophistication, you might find there is no time savings at all. The issue is in the amount of custom override mechanisms you need to implement in order for this add-on to work. There is no mechanism to consolidate those hard-coded mods, so the changes will have to be made in a scattered way. I'll give you a couple of examples.

This add-on does not translate Concrete5 site wide values such as DIR_REL, SITE and BASE_URL, for example. It does not translate the references to the Stack elements, either. You'll have to add custom code to re-define them or override with other variables, each time they are referenced. That is, you'll have to do pretty thorough modification on the theme packages, before using them with C5 and this add-on.

This add-on requires you to replace autonav with the version that comes with the add-on (multiple_domains_autonav), usually on a hard-coded way, as described in their documentation. However, there is something different about the way autonav and multiple_domains_autonav work. The multiple_domains_autonav works with some themes, but not all. The developer denied to look into the problems of incompatibility with another component.

I'd also say that the documentation is rather inadequate. It did not mention several of the issues I encountered. The support will write back, but not in a very helpful manner.

Overall, I'd rather recommend to save your time and trouble by setting up multiple instances of C5. This way, you don't need to suffer from future maintenance work (e.g., massive manual modification work when upgrading themes, other add-ons or C5 itself in the future). You can also customize your themes and other add-ons without worrying about incompatibility with this add-on.

ADDENDUM

You see the developer response below. This is what I said about not very helpful manner. I think this add-on would be more usable if the developer put that level of energy into revising the documentation, create a vehicle to consolidate the custom mods into fewest possible places, and provide some diagnostic tools in the C5 dashboard interface that allow you to see the key variables you need when using this add-on. But unfortunately, my questions and suggestions are rejected as "invalid" and I get insulting responses.
Response by Mainio on at
Mainio
Clearly, it is impossible to please everyone but this review clearly has very little to do with the product, it's more of a personal issue of the person leaving it.

First of all, I thank you for every review we get, everyone has their own opinions and we appreciate them all. And more importantly we always look for ways to improve based on the feedback we get. But unfortunately this review has very little reference point to the product itself or our support so I cannot see any way of improving regarding this review. Also, clearly lying about the product and clearing one's own frustration of not understanding the product (or PHP) in form of a bad review just shows a bad manner and bad way of doing business with anyone.

The mention about the DIR_REL and BASE_URL is not true in this review. It is true that our add-on does not touch those constants at all, concrete5 core already sets them specifically based on the domain you're using, so these are domain-specific already automatically. The mention about the SITE constant is very true, you cannot change constants in PHP once they are defined (thus named "constants"), and once core sets that constant to the site's name, there's no way of changing that within the PHP language (or there is one but not available in most environments). Fortunately, there is a way to bypass this issue and set a site-specific name for the page titles as we clearly explain in our documentation.

It is also true that this add-on comes with its own version of the Auto-Nav block to help you with creating the domain-specific navigation structures. Contrary to the point in the review, it does not make your life harder, it makes it easier. The point of this block not working is also not true. It works very well and creates a markup similar to the core's Auto-Nav block. The reason for this person's Auto-Navs not working was probably custom templates applied to the default Auto-Nav blocks as we explained in the support thread he started about this topic. As the "Multiple Domains Auto-Nav" is a completely different block, you of course need to apply the custom templates to that block specifically, it cannot get them from other blocks automatically as any concrete5 developer would acknowledge and understand.

This is the first time we've heard that the documentation is inadequate. And better yet, no advice is given on how to improve it. Fortunately, all of our new customers are welcome to familiarize themselves with the documentation prior to purchase, so there is no risk taken there. We also constantly improve the documentation based on client feedback but it isn't much of a feedback to hear that "the documentation is rather inadequate".

About the support, we answered to each and every question this customer pointed to us. I do not understand where we were not helpful because we answered all of his questions. In the other thread, there was one unclear issue left but this person refused to give us any more details on which parts were not clear with our advice. So it is impossible to help if the response is of the same quality that this review is.

Clearly this person does not understand the value of this product and it is totally fine, this product is not for those who do not understand it. Therefore, it is marked as an expert-level add-on in the marketplace which means "made by developers for developers". Clearly you need to customize parts of your theme templates if you want to automate things around your site to work with this add-on but this is all clearly documented in our documentation which you are free to read prior to your purchase. And none of this is necessary to get the add-on working, it just covers some points/requests we've heard on a regular basis and provided clear solutions to those problems IF NEEDED.

This person also reported in the support thread not being a PHP developer, so I can understand why some of the customization that he needed to do might be hard to do for a non-developer. This is one reason for the expert-level of the add-on: if you want to do expert-level customizations on your site together with this add-on, you'll need to know PHP. Naturally, you cannot do much customization with PHP-bases system if you don't know PHP. So new customers, be aware as we explain in the very front page of this add-on: You need to know what you are doing in order to use this add-on! Please take a look at the documentation prior to your purchase. Clearly this was not clear for this customer and we got the feeling that he just did not read all of it (or very little of it).

The reason for the poor review basically comes down to the fact that this customer was asking basic-level development help through the support forum from us and trying to get it for free. No, we don't build your site for free. If you have a question related to the add-on or a clear problem with it, we're happy to help you through the support forums. We provide support FOR THIS PRODUCT, we're not an agency that provides unlimited free PHP development help for the price of this product. We are happy to so for an additional development cost if you need any development help.

Fortunately there are already many happy customers with the product we love to work with and hopefully many more to come! I cannot say that we would be sorry for not custom building this customer a fully functioning multi-domain site with concrete5 for the price of this add-on. No one should expect that. This is a TOOL that saves your time solving the related problem behind and of course every time you need to customize something, you'll need to dig your hands into code. Have a problem with the tool itself? - We're happy to help you out through our support channel!

So, if you expect us to build you a fully functioning multi-domain site for the price of this add-on, it is not for you. If you want a great tool that saves you money and time, then it is for you but you should know what you are buying.

Best regards,
Antti Hukkanen
Mainio Tech Ltd.

RE ADDENDUM:
Still as already said, all the questions were answered that this customer directed to us. We pointed the correct points from our documentation for his problems and pointed out what might be wrong. We could not be 100% sure since some of the questions were not providing enough information on those problems and the customer did not provide any additional information on which parts we were unclear although we clearly asked what we were being unclear about.

We did not reject them as invalid, although the threads were marked invalid because we did not see them as support related issues. They did not demonstrate any issue with the add-on itself. We simply did not see them as support related issues. Still, we provided answers to all of his questions although they were not directly support related questions. We did not leave one single question of his unanswered. All customers are free to see these support threads at the support section and make their own judgements based on that. The claim that they were REJECTED AS INVALID is yet another lie. And we providing insulting replies - well, I'll let the karma points under our account answer that, basically 90% of those have come from helping out people at the forums. I don't see where we have insulted this person on and anyone else is free to see the support threads to make a judgement on that as well.

There are some customizations you need to make in certain situations if you want to automate things around, sure. We cannot create a "vehicle" for that since we do not have any control over the concrete5 core. In these terms we actually HAVE created "the vehicle" to solve these problems. Each and every single one of these problems have come from our customers and we've provided solutions to them in form of improving the documentation or already available overrides in the package that you just need to apply to the site. We do not own the concrete5 core, so we cannot make it much easier than that. Adding one override takes you less than a minute so I don't see what the fuzz is about adding a couple of overrides IF NEEDED. The time spent doing that is less than 5 minutes.

Also, this customer makes a suggestion that we would provide some kind of "diagnostics tool" for C5 dashboard interface (which is by the way the first time we hear this from this customer). Well guess what, we do already provide such a tool and have been doing that for a while. Just take a look at our documentation and search for "debugging tool". Still, no information is given on how to improve that. "Key variables you need when using this tool" - what does that mean particularly? I don't know any "key variables" myself that you would need with this tool since it basically works out of the box when you install it and our documentation explains the rest. Even the installation screen tries to make sure that you have set the DNS and VirtualServer settings correctly prior to installing this add-on. And we even provide a testing tool, integrated into the package, that allows you to test whether these settings are set correctly.

It's very hard to improve on any level if the response you get is something like:
- "You should provide a tool" - Well, what would you like that tool to do? We already provide a debugging tool that is freely available for download at the documentation page. You can download it under the "Common issues" (link below)
- "You should improve documentation" - Well, what parts of the documentation are not clear to you? Everyone is able to read that already prior to purchase and let us know if there is something unclear.

Here's a link to the spot of the documentation that points where to download the debugging tool:
http://www.concrete5.org/marketplace/addons/multiple-domains/docume...

I think I have already explained what the issue with this customer was so I don't think I need to repeat myself.

P.S.
If you have questions or suggestions to us, please direct them e.g. through PMs. This is the wrong place to direct those on. This should be about reviews on the PRODUCT, not personal issues with any person. I also welcome anyone else naturally to send us any Pre-Sale Questions you might have on your mind if you have some you need to get answered prior to your purchase!

1.4.1 - 0.9.9

Review posted by SMARTdesigns on at

One Add-On to rule them all - the only option for a SEO-friendly multilingual site

SMARTdesigns
While creating multilingual sites quite often, where domain-separated SEO-friendly URLs are a must, I would never consider Concrete5 platform as an option without this Add-On. Combined with Internalization and Translations Manager Add-Ons, this creates a robust, easily maintainable solution.

Works well also with subdomains. Will use it many more times.
Response by Mainio on at
Mainio
Thank you for the review!

I just want to clarify the point on the Internationalization usage here (just for the record):
You can use the Internationalization add-on with Multiple Domains if you just have a single site and you want individual domains for each of the languages you're running. However, if you are planning to build multiple multilingual sites within the same concrete5 installation, that would not happen out of the box. That's of course possible as well but you'll need to customize the Internationalization add-on. Just wanted to make this clear so that no one would be misguided on this.

1.4.1 - 0.9.9

Review posted by designserve on at

This Addon is AMAZING!!!

designserve
Time to leave a review. I still have a few small things to resolve (EDIT: NOW EVERYTHING IS RESOLVED) with my sites using this addon, I've had it installed for about 36 hours and I've worked at customising my site for about 20 hours of that time (with some great support from the developer).

HOWEVER, don't be put off by the work, have patience. I have to tell you that the addon is superb and the support & enthusiasm of the developer is first class.

If you purchase this addon, be aware that it is for experts. I don't claim to be an expert but I get by with a lot of hard work and searching through the C5 forums. So, be an expert or be prepared to put the hours in,

The documentation is excellent, just be sure to follow it carefully word for word. Also, bear in mind as you follow the documentation that several of the amendments that you need to make apply to the THEME of your site. So, be prepared to edit-up a customised theme every time you install a new theme on your Multiple Domains site,

Several of your usual addons will probably also require customisation, especially the autonav, where you will need to apply the autonav templates of your themes and addons to the multiple_domains_autonav block. Some of the other addons I haven't fixed yet but I'm confident that they can be made to work as I'm starting to understand how Multiple Domains works.

What I will promise to do is to post updates in the forum for this addon when I find fixes, as a thank-you to the guys who developed this, it will hopefully save them time supporting others.

In summary, be prepared to work at it, it will install like a dream but that is where your work starts.

I can not recommend this addon and developer highly enough!. 100%

EDITED:

I would also like to add that there is a negative review further down the page form another member. I had the same issues as them. These relate to editing the THEME. They don't relate to this addon. I've posted a fix for those issues, relating to editing the C5MIX Slate theme (which is superb) and also relating to editing themes in general. So, again, be aware that you have to work but that review is not correct for an addon with an expert rating in my opinion.

The fix is below:

http://www.concrete5.org/marketplace/addons/multiple-domains/forums...

UPDATE

I want to thank Antti for the incredible support he's given me with this addon. I started from a position where I already had a site up and running so it was slightly more complex than installing on a fresh base. Most of the issues I had were due to my lack of knowledge and one of them I would never have come close to fixing because it was connected with my server settings.

I have rarely come across a developer who is so keen, fast and persistent in helping. I call this extreme support! I wouldn't hesitate in recommending the addon and the developer to you!

1.4.2 - 0.9.9

Review posted by solenis on at

Effective add-on with excellent support

solenis
The Multiple Domains add-on services our multi-tenant install perfectly.

I would like to leave an extra high recommendation for the excellent level of support we have received from the developer. Initial responses have been obtained in less than 24 hours.

In one particular highly unique IE "bug" the developer went above and beyond the typical expected level of support and provided multiple workaround solutions to what ultimately is an IE "anomaly."

Thanks again, we will definitely purchase this add-on for future clients and would recommend to concrete5 implementors.
Review posted by R4YM3 on at

Great addon! A+

R4YM3
Does what is says, with great support!
I recommend it
Review posted by ckjs2015 on at

Great addon - good support!

ckjs2015
A really nice addon - quite simple to set it up having the necessary knowhow (the documentation seems quite a bit to complicate for me, as on many hostings you can redirect your domains without need of making changes on file-level).

This addon is actually much easier to get it work, than the another one from the c5 core Team...

Good job!

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