Latest blog entries

JAndBeyond 2013 was a huge success!

mark@stackideas.com (Mark) — Tue, 18 Jun 2013 07:36:00 +0800

This time around, we've sent 4 of our core developers over to JAndBeyond 2013 and it was our first time attending such a glorious event that we've heard so much and finally got the honor to be there. There are tons to share with you guys and I don't even know where I should begin ...

First off, the pre-event party was extremely awesome! It was a good session to begin with getting acquainted with other 3rd party extension developers. I can't express how cool this was but you can judge it by my short review and photos below:

Day 1

On the first day of the event, it was very tiring for most of us because of the jet lag. We are on GMT +8 as opposed to the time zone here in Netherlands which is GMT +1 . We were like walking zombie's ;)

The day started with Robert Deutz and his amazing keynote and it woke most of us up. We sat through the other sessions for the entire day and also met up with a couple of guys that we have been always dealing with on Skype including Ryan Bernstein and Saurabh Shah from Cloudaccess.net.

We ended the day with J.O.S.C.A.R.S and it caught us by surprise when we won the award for the Best Commercial Website. I have to personally thank our awesome web designers, both @fath and @siewho for the extreme effort that they have put in on our site. Of course, without the effort of an awesome team, we wouldn't be able to win such an award and I personally would like to thank everyone from the team for their dedication and effort.

Day 2

We started the day off pretty late still because of the jet lag and we missed our alarms! (web developers aren't that good with time :p) Headed to breakfast and continued with the rest of the sessions.

During intermissions, I took the opportunity to share a personal preview of our upcoming extension to certain people and they were really excited about what they saw! We had dinner with everyone else and the food was an interesting experience. It was an oriental restaurant and the food served were splendid.

Everyone was invited to join the Joomla bug squad team to fix bugs and we thought that it would be an awesome experience for us to join in the bug hunting / testing process. It was a really an eye opener for us to see that everyone is so connected and we could really feel the community spirit that everyone was talking about. It was a different sort of love we felt -- coding love. LOL.

During the bug squashing session, it was also the first time for me meeting Daniel Dimitrov from Compojoom and we shared lots of ideas and problems that we both faced. He was a really nice and cool guy and it's good that we could work things out even if we were competing on the same products (Komento and Compojoom Comment). In the spirit of open source community, there are no enemies or competitors, we just build extensions to compete and build a much better platform for Joomla! for the benefit of all users.

We've also delighted to meet Chiara Aliotta from Until Sunday who spoke about web designers and web developers working together towards a common goal. She nailed it with valuable tips on getting the right balance of both in building a great website. Her session came with an interesting poster that complemented the beach theme of JAB2013, too.

Day 3

The socialising continued on to this day. In fact, we didn't really stop talking to people and getting to know the Joomla crowd. To be frank, its not an easy job walking up to strangers, shake their hands and all but thanks to Joomla, it broke all barriers and chatter away.

We sat in to hear what Radek Suski of SobiPro talk about how to run a successful Joomla day. We were keen of this and who knows we might have an Asian version *hint* *hint*.

The session by Chris Davenport about REST and the importance of being HAPI gave us great insights on building better integratability between Joomla extensions, especially in our future extension development plans.

Speaking of future, I went on to show some folks with our upcoming social extension to find out what they think of it. Well, if you weren't there, you might want to stay glued to our website when we make an announcement within a few weeks.

So, there you have it. A little recollection of our exprience at JAB2013. It was a great event that make us want to come again next year.

There are more pictures to see in our Facebook page. Looking forward to the next Joomla event!

StackIdeas is on vacation!

andrew@stackideas.com (Andrew Rogers) — Thu, 13 Jun 2013 18:59:00 +0800

We'll be leaving Kuala Lumpur for Langkawi from June 13th to 16th, 2013 (GMT+8). Some of you may not know about Langkawi, it's a small and beautiful island located in Kedah, north of Malaysia. Langkawi is definitely a place that you don't want to miss when you're planning a trip to Malaysia.

Some eye teaser for you of the place we will be hanging out :

If you'd like to know more where exactly we're heading, you can have a good read at this blog - Cherly Chan Photography.

During these 4 days, we may not be able to get online due to limited internet access. Hence, our support might be delayed. Nevertheless, we'll still cope with the support as much as we can. We're really sorry if there is any inconvenience caused to you during this time.

We'll be back on June 17, 2013 with a fully re-energized team to serve you even better!

Until then, Langkawi here we come!

Komento 1.6 is in Store Now!

apson@stackideas.com (Apson) — Wed, 12 Jun 2013 12:20:00 +0800

After releasing EasyDisucuss 3.1, we are now ready to release another Joomla must-have commenting tool, Komento 1.6. It now includes new features and plugins that can make commenting even more fun!

We have an improved version of Komento 1.6, and here are some of the highlights:

New Themes

We all know that style is nothing without substance, so we have added two brand new themes in Komento 1.6 -- Cleo and Freso. Best part is, they are RESPONSIVE too!

Cleo is available for users of either Komento Free, Komento Professional and Komento Unlimited versions.

Freso is EXCLUSIVELY available for users with Komento Professional and Komento Developers only.

Picture Perfect

You can now view images in original quality. Komento 1.6 includes a Lightbox feature that allows you to view better images without the need to resize.

User Rank Bar

Users can now be in the know of your activity status by looking at the ranking bar just below your avatar. Good way to show them how involved you are in giving comments.

Preview comments in article listing page

Komento now shows comment preview from the article in the listing page to get you up to speed on the recent comments made without going through the full comment list.

Follow This Post?

You do not need to insert any comment to be part of the discussion anymore. Just click on the subscribe email button to stay updated.

Customized Smileys

Express yourself when you place a comment, with your own customized smileys! You can now upload your own image or icon and use it as a smiley to amplify your expression.

These are just some of the new features in Komento 1.6, and there are more to explore. To know more about our full release note, click here to view our change log.

Love it? Go get yourself a copy of Kometo 1.6 today!

Renew Your License OR Buy Komento 1.6 Now

Joomla template creator ThemeXpert has a new website

andrew@stackideas.com (Andrew Rogers) — Mon, 10 Jun 2013 13:20:49 +0800

We've been partners with ThemeXpert since the beginning. They have been diligently producing useful templates for Joomla 2.5 and 3.0 for the world. Their site was hacked last year and they decided that a stronger, more secured site is needed for peace of mind to their users. It took a while for the new site to be up due to many technical and timing constraints.

Today, we are happy that their brand new site is launched! If you are looking for cool Joomla themes and templates, do check ThemeXpert out.

The new site is easier to navigate and access information on their creations. New template documentations had been added as well as a new blog and forum, too. We're really happy that they've selected EasyBlog and EasyDiscuss to power the blog and forum section of the site. We couldn't thank them enough for the trust and love!

To celebrate the release of their new website, the ThemeXpert guys are happy to give you 15% discount on their templates with discount code TX2STACKIDEAS15 when you purchase a membership. The coupon code lasts till this Friday, June 14th 2013.

See if they got the templates you are looking for ... and oh, don't forget to leave a comment on the design and layout of the site -- the ThemeXpert team is ever willing to hear you guys out.

Win Joomla themes from TemplateMonster

andrew@stackideas.com (Andrew Rogers) — Thu, 06 Jun 2013 11:54:00 +0800

How about some free Joomla templates? If this just got you charged, then read on and learn about the giveaway that we're hosting here at StackIdeas, thanks to TemplateMonster!

To stand a chance to get a free Joomla template, please comment on this post and let us know which Joomla Template from those available at templatemonster.com you would like to get and why.

For example:

“I want to win a Joomla Template # 43876 because it’s perfect for my corporate site”.

- by Angie Earhart (angie at flyingschool.com)

The prizes are offered by TemplateMonster and if you win, you can get ANY premium Joomla Template from their collection for free!

TemplateMonster has over 1100 Joomla templates to choose from and more than 200 of them are responsive Joomla Templates, meaning you can easily find the right design for your Joomla site there. Best part of it all, our Joomla extensions EasyBlog, EasyDiscuss, Komento and SectionEx integrates smoothly with their themes, too.

CONTEST DETAILS:

This contest starts today and will close on Tuesday, June 11th, 2013 and the five winners will be chosen randomly. Each winner will get a Joomla template of his/her choice as stated in our comments area below.

The winners will be contacted by email. So, be sure to use your valid email address when you comment on this post. Your email address will only be used to notify you if you win.

So, hurry and tell us which Joomla template you would like to have and tell us WHY in the comments area below.

We wish you good luck!

iWE Studios Likes EasyDiscuss and EasyBlog

apson@stackideas.com (Apson) — Mon, 03 Jun 2013 19:07:32 +0800

Site Of The Week is a section where we feature Joomla sites that use our extensions on their sites. It can be a place for you to share ideas and see how our products work with different kinds of Joomla sites.

This week, we are featuring iWE Studio which is a specialist education consulting agency driven by a passion for cultivating tech-savvy distributed communities of practitioners. We managed to have a casual discussion with Lani Fraizer, owner of iWe Studio and below was our discussion with her:

1. Have you used any Joomla extensions before?

Yes. I have used various extensions in the areas of (categories based on Joomla.org): administration, access & security, authoring & content, calendars & events, communication, news display, photos & images, social web, structure & navigation, style & design.

2. How did our products help you better manage your site compared to your previous Joomla extensions?

Stackideas products provide the rigor we need to manage our blog and forum needs, while providing the simplicity required for administrators and front-end users. We also needed an extension that was compatible with three other key components we are using, and Stackideas products fit the bill.

3. How did you get to know about our extensions, and why did you choose them for your site?

I started using Stackideas products in 2011, found in Joomla Extensions Directory while in the search for alternative blogging extensions to replace what came with Joomla. Needed more flexibility in managing the blogs, comments and feeds from the front-end and back-end.

4. If there is one thing you can add or change in our products, what would that be?

I noticed that Stackideas are partner resellers for many orgs who sell templates. I think you should pick the top themes that look amazing with your products (with css slightly adjusted to fit the template) and sell a quick install download for a fee. I would pay extra for the stackideas membership and the joomla template for this. I think it's a win-win for you, your template partners, and your loyal customers who need the extra help to deploy a joomla site + stackideas.

I also loved your old site from 2011 -- I would totally buy that Joomla template if you had it as a download :) Might as well give it or sell it to your members vs archiving it :)

5. What do you think about our support team? Do you mind sharing your experience with us?

Your support team is what kept me coming back to Stackideas. I've used competitor products and support is nowhere near what Stackideas offers. The general vibe of the organization is welcoming, helpful, knowledgeable, and frankly I think you guys kick-butt in this department.

For example, this quality was first evident back in 2011 when I wanted to lock the forum topics on EasyDiscuss. Back in Aug 2011, ED didn't have the password capabilities yet like the versions we have today. Jack from your team helped hack the ED code in the back-end and I was able to assign passwords to a forum post of my choice. Approximately 60 of my students that year benefitted from this feature as I deployed it shortly after as part of a university class I was teaching.

Since that experience, I knew that Stackideas was a different breed. Aside from the products, the support and personal attention is priceless.

iWE Studio is using EasyBlog and EasyDiscuss in their sites. See how these two extensions blend in:

EasyBlog

EasyDiscuss

Lani Fraizer, owner of iWE Studio

EasyDiscuss 3.1 is Released!

apson@stackideas.com (Apson) — Wed, 29 May 2013 23:01:00 +0800

The moment that you have all been waiting for is here! We are proud to announce that EasyDiscuss 3.1 is finally released and packed with even more exciting features!

Two weeks ago, our lead developer Mark Lee wrote a blog and posted some screenshots of the new features to be found in the new EasyDiscuss. It is definitely a good read, and you should take a look on what Mark had to say about why you will fall in love with EasyDiscuss 3.1.

EasyDiscuss 3.1 has some new and exciting features that you will love. Here are some of them:

New Theme

This time we added a new theme called Flatt. The theme is designed to make EasyDiscuss look simple yet elegant, and it is pleasing to the eyes.

Built-in Captcha

You can now have spam free conversations in EasyDiscuss with its own built-in Captcha tool.

Improved Management Tools

Site administrators can better manage tags and badges for each discussion. You can enable/disable tags and badges in the backend at any time.

Nice Colorful Button

Have you always wanted another color for the "Ask a Question" button? With this release, you can now change the color according to your preference.

Love the new EasyDiscuss? What are you still waiting for? Hurry and get a copy of EasyDiscuss for yourself now!

Notice to existing EasyDiscuss 3.0 users

Please do not uninstall EasyDiscuss 3.0 from your website as the uninstallation will corrupt your existing files. To prevent this, please kindly install patch 3.0.8598 here before proceeding to your latest EasyDiscuss 3.1 upgrade.

Renew Your License OR Buy EasyDiscuss 3.1 Now

SectionEx is Joomla 3.0 Ready!

apson@stackideas.com (Apson) — Wed, 22 May 2013 16:01:00 +0800

Just so you know, SectionEx is now compatible with websites that are using Joomla 2.5 and Joomla 3.0!

You can now have a beautifully organized Joomla website the way you have always wanted. SectionEx works like a site map or directory tree, where you can browse all your articles and categories in a listed format.

It has an easy-to-use and smooth interface for both front and back end. Our designer came up with a new theme for SectionEx, it is called Default.

You can learn more about the features of SectionEx 2.5.93 here or grab the latest SectionEx by clicking the button below:

I want my SectionEx

Why you will fall in love with EasyDiscuss 3.1

mark@stackideas.com (Mark) — Fri, 17 May 2013 13:23:53 +0800

Based on the feedback that we have received from our users when we released EasyDiscuss 3, our dedicated developers have been burning the midnight oil working on EasyDiscuss 3.1. Before I start bragging about some of the key features of EasyDiscus 3.1, it is my duty to let you know that we are also working on a new extension concurrently. More details will follow up very soon about our new extension, in a separate blog :)

Here are some of the reasons why you'll love the awesome EasyDiscuss 3.1:

A new theme

Twitter Bootstrap is great but we noticed that there are just too many sites that solely rely on their base styles. This makes every site look pretty much the same and kinda boring too! Some improvisations were done and our design engineer crafted this:

And oh, if you must know, our creative designer is now working on another prototype design (Still in the works, yeah).

Branching

Quite often on your site, some of the replies are worth being a discussion itself. In EasyDiscuss 3.1, we have introduced branching where you as the site administrator or your moderators can branch existing replies to be a discussion itself.

Converting comments as reply

At times, your user might post their answers through the built-in comment in the discussion itself and there wasn't any way to move the comment into an existing discussion and have it work as a reply. With EasyDiscuss 3.1, you will be able to convert existing comments on the site into a reply.

Online Status

A problem that most site owner's had previously was when the user's does not know the online status of another user. There is no way to tell if the moderator is currently online or not. In EasyDiscuss 3.1, we have introduced the new online state which appears beneath the author's avatar and name. This of course, is configurable as well.

Post types

In EasyDiscuss 3.1, you will also be able to define new post types for your site. When users create a new discussion, they would then be able to select the type of the post. It could be feature request, issues, tasks, bugs or anything else that would suit your site.

New post statuses

In EasyDiscuss 3.1, moderators can assign additional post statuses for the discussions on the site. This would then allow other users to view the state of the current discussion.

That's all folks. Stay tuned to updates from our Facebook and Twitter page.

Video: Learn How to Blog in Joomla with EasyBlog

andrew@stackideas.com (Andrew Rogers) — Thu, 16 May 2013 17:00:01 +0800

We recently conducted a webinar on how to blog in Joomla with EasyBlog. The webinar was organized by our partner CloudAccess.net who specialized in cloud hosting solutions where over 200 Joomla users around the world participated in it. For those who missed the webinar, you could view the recorded version below:

(We hope you could finish the entire video, watch out for a SPECIAL GIFT at the end of the video :D)

There are other features not covered in this video but you could still check out our Documentations on some how-tos such as:

Installing EasyBlog in your Joomla
Setting up Facebook autoposting
Setting up email blogging (post blogs from your email client)
and more ...

You could also refer to the following tips to get MORE out of EasyBlog:

We are ever ready to support you for that smooth experience in using this powerful blogging extension for Joomla websites. Feel free to contact us.