jcatalog

I don’t usually do this kind of reviews, but this one deserves it. Here we go: Upon download, you are getting 30 Megabytes (!!!) of 6323 (!!!) files just in the plugins/jcatalog folder. WordPress alone is 18.3 Megabytes and 1216 files. The plugin checks if you are using WordPress or Joomla. So it could work for Joomla with the same code base. “Sweet”, eh? After you install the plugin, you get 3 folders of the plugin in WordPress root (why?!), with overall size of 27Mb and 6463 files. Sounds like a cancer to me. These are “cache”, “tmp” and “joobi”, the latests being with tons of php files inside. Getting around 160 new tables in the database does not seem like the best idea ever. Plugin authors do not keep track of older versions of the plugin in the SVN repository Plugin authors do not maintain the change log, which could lead you to wondering if you should update it at all Deactivating and activating the plugin again, as well as activating it on several subsites in a Multisite installation leads to loads of warnings and notices. I should report them in the support forum, but am a bit not sure if it’s worth the effort, as the authors didn’t do the effort to test these things on the first place. If you want to have a CMS inside the CMS, something like the Alien, but in PHP, written by Joomla* developers, then I can’t recommend this plugin enough to you! *I don’t have any prejudices neither on Joomla, nor on it’s developers. It’s just the standard of development that is different. If you are not looking into your code, you should be just fine.

Plugin failed to initialize. Never gave me permission to access its settings page. And worst of all – left tens of database tables behind. Support disappeared from the chat the moment I asked them about it. I had to manually go through the plugin’s install script fishing out each table’s name and selecting it in my PHPMyAdmin. If anyone needs to know which tables this plugin creates – here’s how I got rid of them: DROP TABLE wp_actions_type, wp_action_node, wp_address_node, wp_captcha_node, wp_conversation_node, wp_conversation_status, wp_conversation_to, wp_country_language, wp_credentials_node, wp_credentials_type, wp_currency_conversion, wp_currency_conversion_history, wp_currency_country, wp_currency_echangesites, wp_currency_node, wp_dataset_columns, wp_dataset_constraints, wp_dataset_constraintsitems, wp_dataset_foreign, wp_dataset_tables, wp_dropset_node, wp_dropset_trans, wp_dropset_values, wp_dropset_valuestrans, wp_eguillage_action, wp_eguillage_node, wp_eguillage_roles, wp_eguillage_trans, wp_emanager_handled, wp_emanager_mailbox, wp_engine_languages, wp_extension_dependency, wp_extension_info, wp_extension_languages, wp_extension_level, wp_extension_leveltrans, wp_extension_node, wp_extension_trans, wp_extension_translation, wp_extension_userinfos, wp_extension_version, wp_featured_item, wp_featured_node, wp_featured_trans, wp_fields_node, wp_fields_trans, wp_filters_node, wp_item_syndication, wp_item_terms, wp_item_terms_trans, wp_item_viewed, wp_joobi_countries, wp_joobi_files, wp_joobi_languages, wp_joobi_states, wp_layout_dropset, wp_layout_fields, wp_layout_listings, wp_layout_listingstrans, wp_layout_mlinks, wp_layout_mlinkstrans, wp_layout_multiforms, wp_layout_multiformstrans, wp_layout_node, wp_layout_trans, wp_mailbox_messages, wp_mailbox_node, wp_mailer_node, wp_mailing_node, wp_mailing_queue, wp_mailing_statistics, wp_mailing_statistics_user, wp_mailing_trans, wp_mailing_type, wp_mailing_type_trans, wp_members_details, wp_members_lang, wp_members_node, wp_message_queue, wp_milestone_node, wp_milestone_trans, wp_model_fields, wp_model_fieldstrans, wp_model_fields_type, wp_model_node, wp_model_trans, wp_orders_products, wp_productcat_category, wp_productcat_node, wp_productcat_product, wp_productcat_trans, wp_productcat_type, wp_product_bundle, wp_product_downloads, wp_product_images, wp_product_node, wp_product_poptions, wp_product_price, wp_product_related, wp_product_trans, wp_product_type, wp_product_typetrans, wp_project_extension, wp_project_members, wp_project_milestones, wp_project_node, wp_project_trans, wp_role_joomlacategories, wp_role_joomlacontent, wp_role_joomlasections, wp_role_members, wp_role_node, wp_role_trans, wp_rule_condition, wp_rule_dictionary, wp_rule_node, wp_scheduler_node, wp_scheduler_processes, wp_scheduler_trans, wp_scheduler_url, wp_sesion_node, wp_site_node, wp_space_node, wp_space_theme, wp_space_trans, wp_theme_node, wp_theme_trans, wp_ticket_clickyesno, wp_ticket_files, wp_ticket_node, wp_ticket_rating, wp_ticket_reply, wp_ticket_replytrans, wp_ticket_reply_files, wp_ticket_template, wp_ticket_templatetrans, wp_ticket_trans, wp_ticket_type, wp_ticket_typetrans, wp_topic_task_comment, wp_topic_type, wp_topic_type_trans, wp_translation_en, wp_translation_populate, wp_translation_reference, wp_vendor_node, wp_vendor_trans, wp_widgets_node, wp_widgets_trans, wp_widgets_type, wp_widgets_type_trans, wp_wishlist_node, wp_wishlist_products, wp_wishlist_trans; Remember to replace each instance of wp_ if you use a custom database prefix.

This plugin has a huge functionality and possibility offered for free. The support people I talked too in the chat are helpful in helping me realize my catalog display. However the default Bootstrap kind of look is not my style and it does not work well with my template. I recommend to focus on the front design and improve it. This plugin has a huge potential.