Simply not worth it!!!

after $3000 in license, modules and very little help its time to call it quits.  I don't know if people here at boonex do not care or simply do not get it.  I feel as if im asking for simple things.  yet it seems to be extremely difficult for any request to be done. I know what I want, im willing to pay if it can be done correctly.  I don't have the programming skills or else I would never have looked into dolphin... yet im learning more than I figured I would because the skill set here isn't up to par either. YES I could hire someone to build it from scratch but I wanted something I could do some work on as well and learn, get a little help when needed

how hard is it to create a nice looking lightbox type gallery? for the dolphin platform apparently its extremely hard! example: I want a simple photo gallery 4 row 4 columns, click on a photo and have a picture pop up in a lightbox with no edges and slight shadow, then have the ability to click on it to have it go to full size.  cant be done here.

how hard is it to fix a module to work properly?  for dolphin developers apparently its extremely hard!!example: mp3 player pops up in second window, but it only plays part of a song because it loaded while you was listening to it. example 2: modifying a template/menu I don't want all that crap in the header, can someone fix this to be like I want it... answer is NO.  well answer is yes but can anyone who designed dolphin or the template the answer is NO... I had to hire outside help

how hard is it for the people that charge so much for there dolphin platform to contact you and help you if you have a problem that is on them and causing major problems.....  example:  if you go to my site, click log in a blank page appears and you cant do anything...... I even switch host and reinstalled dolphin 3 times and problem still persist...  must be dolphin but will anyone help with this NO!!!

That is a short list but I think you get the idea.  Bottom line, im going to go with wordpress.... the support is amazing, the modules actually work and it does not cost so much.

I would also like to mention. I finally get things figured out to an extent and BAM!!!!!!! there is an all new and improved dolphin... and if you want it.... fork over another $300+  whatever guys.... I just paid $300+ and you fix a few things and now you want $300+ more? 

LAST WORDS and no this is not a threat nor extortion.  If all this can get worked out(fixed) and previous license owners can get a big discount on the new license I might try to see what I could do with this. I will move on to a new platform with my new project. but I would be willing to stick around with my current dolphin site and see what I can do with it if some changes can get made.  If not I have no problems letting everyone know how I feel about all this and guiding them elsewhere so they do not have so much money and time wasted creating something they are not happy with.  laugh if you will, talk trash if want.  you don't know me yet but you will.

 Do you mean as a splash type thing with set photo's or as a module for members to to view their photos in a fancy way?

I think you can contact Geek_Girl . She is using a fancy lightbox type image gallery. She might help you out with this. Its upto her to take money or not for the setup.

http://www.boonex.com/n/using-fancybox-for-photo-thumbnails-to-view-larger

I have worked with geek girl, she is by far the best ive worked with.  some things are beyond her control.  I give her credit for everything she has done for me. 

and yes I mean a way to display my images in a fancy way.  I have to use 3rd party "modules" that do not work so well with dolphin.  one gallery geek girl did do for me. I liked it for the most part but when you clicked on image and it expanded it was not very clear.  its like it became larger but stretch its current pixels or whatever instead of adding them.

and very little help its time to call it quits

I hate to bust your bubble, but you've been a member of this site for about 1 year and 5 months,  To date, you've made a total of 28 posts in the forums here.  That's roughly 1 post every three weeks.

If you are serious about developing a website with Dolphin, you need a little more determination than making a hit & run post every three weeks.  If you have the same lackadaisical approach, Wordpress isn't going to work for you either. 

Yeah! Spam the forum its the only way to learn. *hides from geekgirl*

I didn't hide from geek girl... and I figured Houston would have a reply, always does... well Houston, I have contacted many privately, not just in the forums.  I also have contacted programmers etc... outside of boonex.

and I do not have a lackadaisical approach to anything I do.  just lack of patients in which I have worked on and have been waiting 1 year and 5 months for modules that I could use to build my site the way I want it.

http://www.boonex.com/m/pinter-photos

something like that? or 

http://www.boonex.com/m/Photo_Albums_for_Groups_module

the last one is for groups but i am sure it can be made for regular photo albums. 

Sinderellaman - Being one of many senior members here, we have all at some time or another wanted to do the same thing. Dolphin is not the easiest platform to work with by no means. One of the reasons why is because the amount of features it has an how it all interacts with one another.

Making a 'simple' request may not be so simple at all. For example, animated gifs do not work with Dolphin. Seems simple right, but yet so hard to get done.

In regards to licenses, you don't have to keep buying licenses for each new version of Dolphin. You license is based on your domain, not the version.

In regards to a blank page when click login - If it was really an issue with Dolphin, don't you think that everyone would be having the same issue?

I can agree that finding someone to do custom work can be a chore as well. Most of us who have been around a while have a very select set of developers we reach out to. Ones we have grown to trust over the years. Then you have those who make huge promises, charge you up front, and then delivery nothing or a module that don't work like you asked. Then they disappear.

As HoustonLively pointed out, your best bet is to pick ONE issue and post it here and let the community try to help you out. I am not talking about all of your custom requests, like LightBox. I am talking about actual problems you are having with your Dolphin base.

In all honesty, you are more than welcome to try any software but I can bet that no matter what you choose, there will always be something you want to change about it.

These were the two things that stuck out to me from his post. If I had put $3000 in Dolphin (which I wouldn't) I think I would stick with it.

I don't know what you are planning to do but if it involves a lot of members and data then I'd be surprised if it works well under WordPress, which is, after all, a blogging platform.

I came to Dolphin from WP having found for myself that what I wanted to do was not feasible on WP even using my dedicated server to carry the workload.

Just a thought though, sometimes it is worth considering what can be done rather than what we might wish to be done. Pretty much any system has limitations but a significant driver of success is to work with those limitations and capitalise upon them.

WordPress is not Dolphin, and vice versa. I bemoan the lack of ability to easily do, in Dolphin, that which I could easily do in WP. Then I remember that I can not, in WP do the core work of my site - I needed Dolphin for that.

I still use WP and would never think of using Dolphin for much of what I do with WP - horses for courses is an apt saying here. ;)

Try sitting down and drawing up a list of 'must haves', 'nice to haves' and 'not necessary' and then look at how to attain the 'must haves' in conversation with your most competent developer/coder and arrive at compromises that enable you to carry out the functions of your business.

When you have the 'must haves' start on the 'nice to haves'...