The good:
- It works. It's stable.
- The forum and media capabilities are very good. You can either use simple discussion threads, or allow them to use full forums. Same goes for media, either simple photos, or full media XFMG categories.
Room for improvement:
- The front page could use a face-lift and some design improvements. It doesn't seem to have been updated since the first release. In these times people want to find the relevant content fast. The front page right now doesn't hold information that would be useful, it is JUST a name. Nothing else. That's not a good design. Look at IPS Clubs for inspiration.
A) Location. Sure you can add a few categories, but you can't add for every single country in the world. So you add Google Map Embed, and you can easily view groups by location on the index page. Want to easily find a group close to where you live? Browse by location!
B) FILTERS/group tags! And sidebar on index. So you can show both categories (in sidebar), and "popular group" view at the same time, if you want. And it needs options to filter the groups. Location (as mentioned above), but also through custom fields, club type, tags etc. Make it easier for your members to find relevant groups! That what us forum owners want, engaging our members in the group feature and letting them easily find the right groups for them!
C) UI. So the groups would have banner behind their names, but also shows avatar of the owner, number of members, latest activity etc. Just some useful information about the group, without having to click into each one. Nice!
D) Show featured groups on the index. Just like for XF RM and XF MG.
- Group information page is a bit pale. It could use group location, recent activity feed, custom fields, new members widget etc. Something to bring what is essentially the front page of the group, to life.
So far the addon is at 4 stars if I'm generous. It has room for improvement to bring it into 2020, things have changed since 2017, and the competition is sharper.
But then there's the calendar.
- The calendar is extremely bare-bones. You can't RSVP to events, which is the biggest issue. So you can't say that you are coming to an event.. You can't see a guest-list, since there is no way to register for it. Can't set location of event by using google embed API. Can't invite specific members to events. Can't comment on events. So, yeah... I've had my test group go though the site (including the group addon), and most of them were really puzzled with the event calendar not really being useful and not being able to do basic things like RSVP and comment on the events.
TLDR: As it stands right now, for me, it is average. I bought this one instead of the other main competitor, as I thought the creator seemed more reliable (which for me has often been very important when picking creators that listen to their customers), as he had favorable reviews, and the other one had some privacy issues (though that has later been resolved, and I've seen that the other addon has received much more frequent updates and improvements that are not present here).
That said, there are a lot of potential, but it isn't utilized. I am however happy to edit this review, if it is updated later on, but as it stands now, this rating is accurate.
