Joomla Extensions , Joomla Components

Today it's been exactly one year since we launched one of our exquisite component of the Joomla Community: Auction Factory. Back then, the whole development, including testing, took us over a year. After releasing, we continued to improve constantly the product and maintaining it at the top level. Here we would like also to express our gratitude to all the users which provided us constructive feedback. Now, after exactly one year since the official release, the Auction Factory Component has become not only the Auction Solution when it comes to Joomla, but also a real alternative to other PHP Solutions available.

The component can be used to organize auction in different fields of interest. Here just a couple of examples:

• Freelancing (developers, programmers, designers.)
• Constructions (materials, architects, interior design, pools, etc.)
• Technicians (utilities, locksmiths, plumbers, electricians, etc.)
• many other branches.

Surely this new Joomla Extension will be also further developed in order provide one of the most efficient solutions outthere. Like the rest of our products, Reverse Auctions will be part of the Joomla Community discount programm providing not only one of the best web-solutions on the market, but also a cost-effective one.

Many thanks again for all the support and feedback we received for the past year and stay tuned for more news.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY to the AUCTION Factory SUITE! 

• new feature: switch Submission mode between the Joomla 1.0.x style (intro, maintext in separated textareas) or the Joomla 1.5.x style (intro and main text separated by a read more tag).
• new feature: search filter by keywords, creation date & last modified period.
• fixed issue: Preview in the edit page is now in real time.
• other improvements.

Upgrade informations for our existing customers are available in our Forum.

Since the launch of RSS Factory Pro the huge interest around this product and the curiosity that rised regarding the new additions to our free flagship product -Rss Factory- convinced us of the necessity of a demo site for this Extension.  The brand New demo site based on Joomla 1.5.6 wants not only to be a presentation site for RSSFactory PRO, but is an example on how to implement this Component in order to increase the SEO.

 Notice the structured feed selection around some major themes, themes that provide a great deal of keywords, and also through refreshing the website has always new content.

 Google loves RSS syndication, and there should be no SEO concious webmaster that ignores this fact.

 A well thought RSS integration brings keyword oriented traffic - the good traffic we all want.

 Take a look at our demo site, feel free to log in as admin too and have a look at the administative option. We also added two demo pages for our RSS2Image Factory Module. The Module has several configuration options - these two instances are just samples in order to get an idea on the functionality.

Since we are also part of the Joomla Family and we want to support its growth and stability, we decided to offer for an undetermined period significant discounts to the entire.

We are also maintaining further our lines of FREE products hoping to help especially the small sites and provide them the necessary boost.

• auction Factory / 300€ / 220€ / 80€ savings
• reverse auction Factory / 270€ / 210€ / 60€ savings
• eBay Factory Module - FREE Community Tribute
• briefcase Factory / 78,99€ / 48,99€ / 30€ savings
• briefcase Factory Community Builder Plugin Pack / 18,99€ / 12,00€ / 6,99€ savings
• briefcase Factory Top Module - Briefcase Users FREEbie
• briefcase Factory Statistics - Briefcase Users FREEbie
• Vodes Credits Factory - Briefcase Users FREEbie
• eBook Factory / 78,99€ / 48,99€ / 30€ savings
• article Factory Manager / 57,99€ / 37,99€ / 20€ savings
• Content Image Factory / 18,99€ / 16,99€ / 2€ savings
• rss Factory PRO / 58,99€ / 38,99€ / 20€ savings
• rss Factory - FREE Community Tribute
• rss2image Factory / 18,99€ / 12€ / 6,99€ savings
• rss Context Factory - FREE Community Tribute
• VM Tree Factory Module - FREE Community Tribute
• Exchange Rates Factory ECB - FREE Community Tribute
• Factory Interest Calculator - FREE Community Tribute
• Factory Fuel Calculator - FREE Community Tribute
• Top Movies Factory Module - FREE Community Tribute
• Lava Factory Menu - FREE Community Tribute

Since today the 8. August 2008 is the big opening day of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games, the Factory launched also an olympic product. With more then three years of experience gathered with RSS products like "RSSreader2" or "rss Factory (Free Edition)", RSS Factory PRO is the ultimate RSS feed tool for every webmaster out there.

As presented in our sneak preview they are allot of additional options like unlimited categories or SEF compatibility. Due to the demands we received and our experience the PRO version is very SEO orientated. The tree like structure presents tremendous advantages for search engines like Google, since the articles are always fresh and new in comparison to a simple directory which is only a linkfarm.

We hope that this PROfessional version will accomodate the wishes of any professional webmaster. A detailed description can be found on the product page. For any questions, issues or possbile next features please just visit our forum. Thank you and let the games begin!

rss Factory PRO combines all the abilities of rss Factory FREE Edition with a multitude of professional features. Here is the comparison chart between the two versions:

RSS Factory features	FREE	PRO
•  Categories & Subcategories (unlimited number of levels)
•  Category Management
•  Category Description
•  Category Pathway
•  Related Categories
•  Category Tree within one, two, three or four columns
•  SEF (compatible with Artio JoomSEF)
•  Session based tracking of already readed news (Feeds will appear “unchecked” if they have already been read)
•  easy Language Management
•  automatic unpublishing of erroneous feeds
•  Tiled View
•  List View
•  Tab Titles View
•  Sliders View
•  Draggable divs View
•  configurable display to show in list of feeds the feed name or the source
•  Pagination available for each RSS source
•  Date Format Customization
•  Dynamic Page Titles (SEO)
•  MetaTags
•  FavIcons for feeds (pulled from the feedsite or custom uploaded)
•  Color customization of Overlib Output
•  Font Size customization for Overlib Output
•  replace ">> >>" with custom words
•  Preview of Feeds in Category List
•  customized output styles
•  several configurable display tweaks
•  Automatic Refresh of feeds though a pseudo-CRON process and CRON
•  Refresh of Feeds using AJAX (backend only)
•  Search Mambot (allows you to search through feeds along with searching through content)
•  Refferal verification to avoid hotlinking
•  automatic Install & Uninstall of Module and Mambot
•  Ads & Banner management
•  Back-up utility
•  automatic Version Check
•  Public Support (available on Forum)
•  Extended Support (personal guidance available through our Ticket System)

ETA: mid August 2008.

The latest briefcase Factory 1.3.0 released on August 1, 2008 brings major features for the administrator and also support for Joomla 1.5.x Legacy Mode. From the new features available in the administrator control panel we are mentioning the following options:

• enable/disable the public tab and the publics uploads
• enable/disable that registered users can only share files with administrators
• enable/disable that when registered users upload a file, that file must be shared automatically with admin users. If it is enabled, they would not need to select anybody; the list of users would not appear and the file would be shared with several administrators. There is also a setting to select the administrator users that are choosen to receive this kind of shares.

The version also includes plenty of improvements and code optimization. Also the available Plugins for the Module where updated to support the legacy mode.

Testing. New customers can test the Briefcase platform on our Demo-Server. There we provide access also from the Front-end as several users, but also from the back-end as an administrator. Feel free to test it anyway you like, since the platform resets itself every hour.

Updates. For updates please read first our Terms & Conditions and Customers FAQ's pages. Also please check the post in our forum regarding upgrades. 

The new version of auction Factory 1.4.1. launched on July 30, 2008 has a couple of new interesting features and also fixed issues. From the new features we gonna mention the new Search Mambot which will allow to perform search directly from Joomla, the new Meta Tags available in the auction details page in order to make the component even more SEO friendlier and also the ability to change the page title with the auction title. With this new feature we are introducing also the possibility of selling using a Reserve Price. 

A reserve price is the lowest price at which you are willing to sell your item. If you don’t want to sell your item below a certain price, you can a set a reserve price. The amount of your reserve price is not disclosed to your bidders, but they will see that your auction has a reserve price and whether or not the reserve has been met. If a bidder does not meet that price, you're not obligated to sell your item. The Reserve price option is only visible for Online Auction format; it is not visible for Fixed Price. You may lower your reserve price after you receive bids on the item. If you don’t want to use a reserve price, leave the field blank.

Why have a reserve price? Many sellers have found that too high a starting price discourages interest in their item, while an attractively low starting price makes them vulnerable to selling at an unsatisfactorily low price. A reserve price helps with this.

Example: Imagine a seller wants to sell an item for at least $100, but he is worried that a starting bid price of $100 will discourage potential bidders from bidding. If the seller uses a reserve price, he can list his item with a starting price of $.99, $5, $10, or any amount below his required reserve amount. The seller can then enter a reserve amount of $100. By listing his item this way, bidding will start at the lower price, but the seller won’t be obligated to sell the item unless the bidding reaches at least $100—the reserve price.

Features involving images are also available in the 1.4.1 version. The administrator can set images as required and specify the number of MB he wans each image to be reduced (image resizing).

Fixed issues with the 1.4.1 version are regarding: search tags, proxy bid (first bid), modul (picture display), BIN < Max. Bid + increase, date format, last day of month bidding, back-up & restore, choosing winner when auction is expired, included all xml paramaters into language file, My ratings on the CB tab, Template in IE and html tags, etc.

Updates. For updates please read first our Terms & Conditions and Customers FAQ's pages. If you are eligible then please send us your request as specified in the Customer FAQ, including name, order number, date of purchase.

Testing. New customers can test the auction platform on our Demo-Server. There we provide access also from the Front-end as several users, but also from the back-end as an administrator. Feel free to test it anyway you like, since the platform resets itself every hour.