Was considering purchasing but!!

Hi,
We have a client website in the process of construction and need to be able to provide some CMS facility and due to already having a number of webassist packages immediately thought of powerCMS over our usual package provided by Interactive Tools which is more expensive and is licenced by site so you can see the immediate attraction of PowerCMS, but to be honest I am concerned over the number of issues people seem to be having with installation and configuration (lack of simple instruction) and the fact that although an issue was apparently found with images it would seem that the fix hasnt been implemented into the latest software but is simply a downloadable fix which to be honest concerns me, I would expect that a new purchase now would not have the acknowledged problem and that the fix would be implemented.

I have also taken a look at the online demo and the first thing I tried was inserting a table as the client is likely to place some content in tables to be able to control layout but found that there doesnt seem to be a way to merge cells that I could see and worse still when right clicking the table to bring up the editing menu the secondary menu providing functionality displays behind the first level menu meaning you cannot see the menu options to ascertain what they do. I am using IE8 but even viewing in compatibilty mode I get the same issue which isnt filling me with any confidence that the product is fully tested or reliable.

We do need a CMS solution for client sites but am not convinced that PowerCMS is yet robust enough to do the job, obviously we only see problems in the forum so I would appreciate any feedback from those who have implemented it and are happy with it from an installer point of view and whether it has been well received from clients.

Thanks in advance for any feedback.

You are right about the documentation, it's not all there. But if you follow Neilo's add on instructions, it makes it easier to understand.

The table thing, I brought up awhile ago. They have since applied a fix to the product, but I think they must have forgotten to apply it to their demo. I am on IE8 and I don't get the overlap now. But I wish they would have customized the table properties some (cell merge, and stuff like that) because whereas it is functional...it's still a little goofy.

I agree with you completely on the point of not applying the fix for images to the finished product. To me, that is just plain lazy.

All in all, I would say this is cms is one of the better one's on the market. Once you get past all of the initial "issues".

Hi,
Thanks for that, I have discovered that the overlap issue only seems to affect IE8 as it seems fine in firefox and using firefox I have ascertained that there is in fact a merge facility which is great.

My only concern now really is the, as you put it "lazyness" of the company to a) not update the product with the appropriate fix in order to make life easier for their clients and b) the same element of lazyness or lack of concern in ensuring that the demo is kept up to date in order to create the best impression and perhaps encourage sales, both elements are closely linked to having pride in the product and service which is something we always look for when choosing a company to purchase. The lack of the above and apparent lack of client consideration in implementing what appears to be regularly requested instruction overhauls causes serious concerns over their perception of the importance of client consideration and satisfaction, although I have to say I have received two seperate transatlantic telephone calls from them in the past relating to issues with Google maps and I was very impressed with the level of support we received then although I have commented previously about the lack of in depth responses to issues in the forum, when you have to keep going back to the same issue for further explanation it dramatically increases the lost time awaiting information particularly when you factor in timezone differences.

Anyway, any further opinions on the product would be helpful and I am sure would also be helpful to webassist themselves.

I just installed the CMS on my own site - did some minor "look and feel" customization and so far, I am impressed with the CMS. While it is not as "robust" as some of the CMS solutions - I have installation/management experience with several paid and open source packages - I am under the impression, so far, that this system gives a nice bang for the cost and I do plan it offer it to clients....even though I have it initially set up the site and pages and any new pages that they need.

The documentation is a bit lacking as both of you said......but the CMS doesn't have the "overhead" that some CMS systems like DRUPAL have.............it is simplier and won't confuse clients with add on modules and things they don't need

Hi,

I just want to point out that we can't really update the demo site unless a dot release of the product is released first. We are going to be releasing a dot release for PowerCMS to fix some of the issues reported in the future, however updating the demo to include fixes that are not in the product could be an issue for new users who expect the solution to work in a certain way.

Dani is correct that we update the demo sites when a new version of the product is released. This way, the demo is giving you an accurate representation of what you can/cannot do with the product.

There is currently not a fix for this table issue. So far, we have not been able to reproduce it consistently to come up with a fix. If a fix is added and included in the product - rest assured that it will also be included in the demo.

One thing to keep in mind is that PowerCMS currently uses our older iRite instead of the HTML Editor Dreamweaver extension that may not have this table issue. The next version of PowerCMS will be using HTML Editor and will probably not have this issue. It takes time to update products and create new releases - laziness is not the issue.

okay okay okay....I shouldn't have used the word lazy. I get it.

But why isn't the image fix applied to the file ?

Why can't we get an answer?

What is the timeline for the updated docs? ( I have seen several references to this )

I really didn't mean to offend, for THAT, I apologize. I gets a little annoying that some of our requests ( YOUR CUSTOMERS ) fall on deaf ears. Such as DOCUMENTATION UPDATES. It also gets tiresome seeing the somewhat pointed comments directed back at users (YOUR CUSTOMERS) who were simply trying to help other users (YOUR CUSTOMERS)
perfect example....showthread.php?t=7598 post #9

have you noticed that since that thread, Neilo hasn't been around much to help others? I sure have !! Did you also notice that on that thread mentioned above, that it took 9 posts before a WA rep. would respond?

I think I will follow suit, keep my mouth shut, and let you guys answer the questions instead of trying to help. And stop recommending folks to check out your products while I'm at it.

Hey clickhappy,

Don't forget that techie types tend to be very binary - black and white, no gray areas. As a result it's easier to get into confrontations. I found that walking away from frustrations for awhile is very helpful.

I can't figure out the system WA uses for their documentation either. Just when I think they're all on vacation, a whole bunch of useful stuff comes out all a once.

It's easy to beat up the documentation team and blame them for everything that people get stuck on, but I found supplementing what they do to be more rewarding. Oh course you occasionally expose yourself to unappreciative people in the process, but it's worth it when you get a little positive feedback. :)

Hang in there

Regarding the image issue fix. At the moment, we are providing that as a Known Issue fix to bypass the typical hurdles that we must go through when creating new builds of our products. For example, each dot release or new release needs to go through our QA process to ensure everything is working properly. This takes time, and since QA is tasked with other projects - not something that can happen in the immediate future. Fortunately, instead of having to wait for the next dot release, we can give you this fixed file, so that the problem can be resolved. We know this isn't perfect, but much better than in the past when you would have to wait months for us to be able to devote all the necessary resources to create a new release.

Let me also mention that we very much appreciate the support provided by our community members. The help you provide to our customers and to us, includes valuable feedback, and time to improve our products, and over time, documentation.

Hi Neil,
Thanks for your explanation re the demo, it was mentioned in an earlier post that an upgrade is in the pipeline, would any purchase made now be entitled to that upgrade free of charge? and also what sort of timeline are we talking about? as we have witnessed within the forum customers can be picky and expect everything to work correctly and we need to feel confident that the product will work simply and reliably for the client and your advising that the menu issue hasnt been fixed with IE8 is of course a concern.

Also, and please dont take this the wrong way but your comments re QA being busy with other things and not being able to get involved with checking an update release in the immediate future, if not careful it is going to come across as though all webassist are interested in is developing new products to sell but with little time to ensure that they work properly, I would assume that the ability to upload images in a CMS application was a pretty basic and important part of the package and that if full testing was carried out prior to release that it would have come to light then with less embarassing results.
I know all systems are different and the difficulties in trying to ensure compatibility across platforms etc but it is my understanding that this wasnt an issue just affecting some installs but all.

Just trying to be helpful in advising how things can be interpreted sometimes. I am sure that like me everyone is grateful for the support you provide its just that sometimes it's nice whatever you purchase to have everything working and sufficiently documented straight out of the box, it saves aggravation for the client and releases tech staff to keep developing instead of supporting. It would also possibly prevent clients like myself from delaying potential purchases through doubts about reliability and support.

Again I and I am sure everyone else appreciates the work you do, perhaps just a little consideration and understanding that few if any of us out here have the same understanding of your products as those who have developed them and that we are all starting to use them with different levels of experience and knowledge so its probably far better to document on the understanding that every potential user knows nothing, after all they are very likely the types of client who are attracted by your own advertising phrases such as "No Coding required" etc which is like a magnet to those with little experience.

I apologise if I have brought clients annnoyances to the fore again, all I want is some positive feedback from users to remove my concerns of reliability etc.