Morgain
Well-known member
Well I've found that CT does take a bit of time to get used to. I learned it over 2 days. It lacks a manual to guide you around it.
But the developer Philipp is very good indeed - patiently answered all my many questions on his XF forum.
You can see how I'm doing with it on my forum
www.housemorgain.co.uk/circle
See link to Library on the navbar.
Here's my assessment do far.
30 days free trial period to get it comfortable.
Installation is good; good instructions.
Integration with XF is OK - it worked straight away. The instructions on how to set it up are good. (See "Manage Forum Integration" in the Main admin menu block. You can also enter the data for this during the installation.
What this does is make the CT work from the same user registrations, and moderators, and it places a "Forums" tab at the top of the CT pages.
You have to add a tab on the forum pages to link to CT. Instructions by Brogan here
http://xenforo.com/community/threads/creating-new-website-tabs-and-links.12548/#post-165579
I also have a custom sidebar both on XF and my CT "Library" for navigation which looks the same. It has a link to both forums and CT "Library" on it.
Developer has been delayed producing an XF theme due to illness but it is promised soon. I managed to get a fairly good match. Still working on it. Design controls are very detailed.
There are a lot of different modules and it is best to set up just one or two at first. Otherwise it's confusing. There are many useful functions - e.g. "Content" = single pages which can include forms; and Articles paginate.
To integrate with the XF node tree for selected CT pages, use the XF forum redirect to point to the CT page URL.
Entering content can be done either in blockcode or in bbcode, the same tinyMice editor as on XF. But to do bbcode you have to enable it for each component. This can be done quickly for all, by using the Search on admin which is very good.
It looks like you can duplicate an existing module and then customise it. I haven't quite got that working yet.
Phrases are not yet separated from the templates but Philipp says he's working on that.
Over all I'd say this is excellent software. It has a lot of modules/ components and very detailed design controls. I love the way discussion can be linked to a selected forum, but you can just have the blog style comments instead if preferred. Forum comments duplicate on the Article page anyway.
It needs a manual to describe the basics of setting the header logo, background colours, what each module does, creating a sidebar. It is all there on the forum due to Phillip's answers but much better all together. (If I was time rich and cash poor I'd offer the developer a deal to write it for him based on my experience and the forum posts in return for a free CT)
It needs an instant XF theme. This can be done but it's fiddly.
It needs separated Phrases.
I would also like to see a budget version of CT offering one module only - either Articles or News. The price is very fair for what you get but it's way beyond what a lot of admins can afford. If you could buy a limited version and then upgrade later I think this would help everyone including the developer.
But the developer Philipp is very good indeed - patiently answered all my many questions on his XF forum.
You can see how I'm doing with it on my forum
www.housemorgain.co.uk/circle
See link to Library on the navbar.
Here's my assessment do far.
30 days free trial period to get it comfortable.
Installation is good; good instructions.
Integration with XF is OK - it worked straight away. The instructions on how to set it up are good. (See "Manage Forum Integration" in the Main admin menu block. You can also enter the data for this during the installation.
What this does is make the CT work from the same user registrations, and moderators, and it places a "Forums" tab at the top of the CT pages.
You have to add a tab on the forum pages to link to CT. Instructions by Brogan here
http://xenforo.com/community/threads/creating-new-website-tabs-and-links.12548/#post-165579
I also have a custom sidebar both on XF and my CT "Library" for navigation which looks the same. It has a link to both forums and CT "Library" on it.
Developer has been delayed producing an XF theme due to illness but it is promised soon. I managed to get a fairly good match. Still working on it. Design controls are very detailed.
There are a lot of different modules and it is best to set up just one or two at first. Otherwise it's confusing. There are many useful functions - e.g. "Content" = single pages which can include forms; and Articles paginate.
To integrate with the XF node tree for selected CT pages, use the XF forum redirect to point to the CT page URL.
Entering content can be done either in blockcode or in bbcode, the same tinyMice editor as on XF. But to do bbcode you have to enable it for each component. This can be done quickly for all, by using the Search on admin which is very good.
It looks like you can duplicate an existing module and then customise it. I haven't quite got that working yet.
Phrases are not yet separated from the templates but Philipp says he's working on that.
Over all I'd say this is excellent software. It has a lot of modules/ components and very detailed design controls. I love the way discussion can be linked to a selected forum, but you can just have the blog style comments instead if preferred. Forum comments duplicate on the Article page anyway.
It needs a manual to describe the basics of setting the header logo, background colours, what each module does, creating a sidebar. It is all there on the forum due to Phillip's answers but much better all together. (If I was time rich and cash poor I'd offer the developer a deal to write it for him based on my experience and the forum posts in return for a free CT)
It needs an instant XF theme. This can be done but it's fiddly.
It needs separated Phrases.
I would also like to see a budget version of CT offering one module only - either Articles or News. The price is very fair for what you get but it's way beyond what a lot of admins can afford. If you could buy a limited version and then upgrade later I think this would help everyone including the developer.
