Due to the holiday season, my technical support availability will be limited from today through January 7. Response times wiil be slower than usual, and I appreciate your patience during this period.

If you have any urgent issues, please reach out as early as possible and I’ll do my best to assist.

Thank you for your understanding, and happy holidays.

Best regards,
Alejandro

Core Improvements

The latest version of JReviews introduces several core enhancements designed to streamline your administrative tasks and improve user experience:

• Automatic uninstallation of plugins when JReviews is removed, simplifying site maintenance.
• Enhanced styling for radio and checkbox form components, offering better customization options.
• Background request handling has been improved for more reliable asynchronous operations.
• Cleaner file names by automatically stripping timestamps and random suffixes from downloaded filenames.

Maps Add-on

The Maps Add-on receives exciting new features which are coming in JReviews v6 but are already available for YOOTheme Pro map element users:

• Interactive elevation profile and chart for route elevation and distance.
• Route scrubber/player and route navigator tools for track replay and inspection.
• Automatic processing of KML, GPX, and GeoJSON attachments with elevation data.
• Fullscreen control and scroll-wheel zoom toggle for enhanced map interaction.

PaidListings Add-on

The PaidListings add-on introduces a completely new checkout experience, set to fully roll out in JReviews v6:

• A revamped PayPal handler using the modern checkout API for a smoother transaction process.
• Clearer plan rules and eligibility checks streamline the admin workflows.

YOOTheme Pro Add-on

The YOOTheme Pro Add-on now includes an elevation profile and map route navigation control within the listing detail map element, enhancing the visual appeal and functionality of your maps.

Queue Addon Update

The Queue Addon now alerts administrators if the worker configuration file is missing, ensuring quick identification of setup issues. Additionally, the creation of configuration files has been restored when saving changes.

Fixes Across the Board

• Resolved HTML tag stripping from summaries/descriptions for editors when disabled.
• Fixed incorrect login modal display for guests in inquiry blocks.
• Corrected Field SEO drag-and-drop errors affecting row handling.
• Addressed URL redirection issues in Joomla 5 review detail pages.

Full Changelogs

For a comprehensive overview of all new features, bug fixes, and improvements, you can read the full changelogs.

We're thrilled to announce the release of JReviews 5.2.9, packed with new features, improvements, and bug fixes. We highly recommend updating to this version as soon as possible to take advantage of these updates.

Important for Joomla 5 Users: This release delivers a critical fix for routing issues that appeared in Joomla 5 sites following a recent Joomla core update. If you've faced problems with click2search, submitting new listings, or accessing JReviews pages with custom URL segments, JReviews 5.2.9 resolves these, so make sure you update as soon as possible.

New Features

• WordPress Editor Embed Support: When editing listing summaries or descriptions in WordPress, pasted links from supported services (like YouTube) are now automatically converted into rich embeds. This makes it easier to add videos and interactive content to your listings without extra steps.
• Import Addon: Manually define field option values when importing and updating listings as an alternative to the auto-generated values. Read more.
• MapsPro Add-on: Enhanced YOOTheme Pro map integration with support for custom base layers, click-to-load maps for better performance, custom marker display, automatic loading of KML, GPX, and GeoJSON attachments as new layers, and integrated Street View for Google Maps users. Additionally, a new directions element is now available for YOOTheme Pro.
• YOOTheme Pro Add-on: Added new arguments for custom field dynamic sources, allowing you to choose the output format: Formatted Text, Text, or Value. Also introduced an "autodetect" feature for JReviews elements, making it easier to set up listing detail pages without configuring a dynamic source.

Improvements

• JReviews Core: You can now upload GeoJSON files as attachments.

Bug Fixes

This release includes a wide range of bug fixes addressing both Joomla and WordPress-specific issues. We encourage you to review the full changelogs for detailed information on all resolved issues.

• YOOTheme Pro Addon: Fix issue with listing list repeating the same listing info for every listing.

Upgrading to 5.2.9

We recommend all users upgrade to JReviews 5.2.9 to benefit from these improvements and fixes. As always, please back up your site before updating and test the new version in a staging environment if possible.

Use JReviews Deploy to upgrade with a single click from JReviews 4 or even from your current JReviews 5 version. Find out more about JReviews Deploy.

Full Changelogs

For a complete list of new features, bug fixes, and improvements, you can read the full changelogs.

The End of Year Sale ends tomorrow. Use code HOLIDAY to save 20% on all new purchases, including add-ons in the Standard Plan. Shop now and save!

We're excited to announce the release of JReviews 5.2.6, with many improvements and bug fixes. We highly recommend updating to this version as soon as possible.

JReviews 4 End-of-Life

Last July with the release of JReviews 5 stable, we also set the date for the JReviews 4 End-of-Life to December 31, 2024. This means JReviews 4 no longer receives support & updates. Please upgrade to JReviews 5 to maintain compatibility with Joomla, WordPress, and PHP.

We released a tool called JReviews Deploy last year to make upgrading between major versions simple. You can download JReviews Deploy and learn more in the documentation. Be sure to also review the server requirements for JReviews 5 before upgrading. These include new requirements related to background processes.

Amazon S3 Storage

In the last JReviews release we made a change related to file visibility to fix an issue with buckets created after April 2023 which no longer have ACL enabled by default. It turns out the solution wasn't that simple.

We've now added automatic checks to see if a bucket is properly configured and use that information to determine how the file is uploaded.

Note: If you create new Amazon S3 buckets or use buckets created after April 2023, add a bucket policy to ensure files are publicly readable. Details are in the Amazon S3 Storage Setup documentation.

YOOTheme Pro Add-on

The YooTheme Addon is now able to set SEO meta tags in the JReviews listing detail page. This includes the title, Facebook and Twitter/X tags. We are already working on adding support for Schema.org markup with a brand new solution that will switch to using JSON-LD markup. Keep reading for more information on this.

JReviews Frontend Development Update

The JReviews front-end development work continues. You can find the last progress report in the previous blog post. We've made good progress since then to implement functionality related to meta tags, canonical tags and Schema.org structured data. We've built the new view all reviews page for a listing including pagination, sorting and search.

The upcoming Schema.org implementation includes:

• A setup page for selecting Schema types supported by Google.
• Field association with different Schema properties.
• Options to set default values for any property, such as the country address field.

Full Changelogs

The list of changes is too long to display here. View full changelogs to see all new features, improvements and fixes.

I wanted to let you know that due to the holiday season, my technical support availability will be limited from today until January 7th. Response times may be slower than usual, so I appreciate your patience during this time. If you have any urgent issues, please reach out as early as possible, and I’ll do my best to assist you. Thank you for your understanding, and happy holidays!

Best,
Alejandro

Amazon S3 Storage

If you are using Amazon S3 for storage this is a critical update because it fixes a problem with uploads not working on new buckets. AWS made a change so new buckets don't have ACL enabled by default. After updating to this version of JReviews means you don't have to make any changes to your new buckets for uploads to work.

PeepSo 7.0.0.0

For JReviews WordPress users that also use PeepSo, once you update to PeepSo 7.0.0.0, you must also upgrade to the latest version of JReviews and the PeepSo and Everywhere add-ons if you use them. There was a breaking change to the name of the PeepSo directory that JReviews relies on to determine whether the PeepSo plugin is active.

YOOTheme Pro Add-on

If you are using the YOOTheme Pro add-on, available only in the JReviews Professional plan, it now registers a new template for the JReviews Search Results page which allows you to design on your own results list. Keep in mind the add-on remains in beta, and for the time being native JReviews functionality like live filtering will not work on the YOOTheme Pro version of the search results. This addition to the add-on is very exciting because now there's a path forward for other pages in JReviews, even possibly adding a new builder element that renders the JReviews output, while allowing you to use the builder for the rest of the page.

JReviews Frontend Development Update

In the last JReviews release blog post I mentioned we started to work on a front-end re-write of the listing detail page functionality. The idea is to create individual "blocks" which have self-contained functionality so it's easier to re-use them in templates and also in page builders like YOOTheme Pro. So far the following blocks and functionality are in progress or done:

• Write/edit comment/review form with integrated media uploads
• Individual comment/review layout
• Report comment
• Manage comment
• Comment helpful/not-helpful voting
• Manage comment dropdown
• Manage listing dropdown
• Manage media for listings and comments (reviews)
• Add to favorites
• Claim listing
• Send inquiry
• Compare listing button and comparison drawer.
• Audio player
• Attachment downloads
• Rating star
• Image lightbox with navigation
• Custom fields output
• Listing detailed ratings summary
• Listing rating histogram
• Page meta tag manager

This is one of those jobs where as soon as you finish one task in the todo list, ten more appear! and the list is still quite long. However, things are moving forward and we can't wait to show you the results. The current plan is to introduce an early access toggle within JReviews that will allow switching to the new system once all the pieces start coming together.

Full Changelogs

The list of changes is too long to display here. For a comprehensive overview of new features, bug fixes, and improvements, you can read the full changelogs.

This update includes enhancements and fixes across both the front and admin sides. In the administration area, you can now quickly access the edit screen by clicking on titles in setup table lists. Additionally, the Field SEO settings for controlling Click2Search page headings and descriptions, which were missing in JReviews 5, have been restored. On the frontend, we resolved an issue where some images converted to WebP were not appearing in lightbox and edit dialogs for some clients.

The YooTheme Pro Addon, currently available only for JReviews Professional plans, also received updates. You can now select from even more image sizes, including the original image, when using dynamic JReviews image sources.

In the Import Addon, we fixed an issue when dynamically creating new field options where the generated option value wasn't correctly checking for duplicates, causing identical options with different text casing (e.g., "Sony" vs. "sony") to be created. Additionally, a bug that caused the import process to stop when using the feature for checking duplicates based on a specified field was resolved. This feature now works properly, ensuring that if a matching listing is found based on the CSV row's field value, the listing is skipped.

In addition, we've begun a complete re-write of the listing detail page, similar to the overhaul of the JReviews 5 admin interface. Stay tuned for further updates!

Full Changelogs

The list of changes is too long to display here. For a comprehensive overview of new features, bug fixes, and improvements, you can read the full changelogs.

We're also announcing the JReviews 4 End of Life for December 31, 2024. Upgrade to the latest version to ensure compatibility with newer versions of PHP, Joomla, and WordPress, 3rd party integrations, and to keep your site secure.

Read the complete blog post

I am looking for volunteers that would like to test this on their JReviews 4 sites to upgrade to JReviews 5. If you are interested, reply to this post (and follow to get notifications) and I'll let you know when it's ready. 

I've put up a documentation page for the updater, but the downloads are not available yet.

https://www.jreviews.com/docs/jreviews-deploy

We're thrilled to announce the release of JReviews 5.0.10 RC3, and we hope this will lead to the first stable version of JReviews 5 soon. Your feedback is invaluable, so please take a moment to test this version.

We’ve also launched JReviews Deploy, a separate WordPress plugin and Joomla component that simplifies updates between minor and major versions. This tool automates the upgrade process, ensuring you stay up-to-date with the latest versions. Learn more about JReviews Deploy and download.

Highlights:

• WordPress JReviews Menu and Widget Settings: We’ve rebuilt this from the ground up, improving functionality and performance.
• Performance Improvements: Significant optimizations for sites with very large number of records.
• Import Add-on: Performance improvements and added ability to resume import jobs if needed.

In JReviews 5.0.7 Beta 2, we've tackled reported bugs from Beta 1, addressing issues like installation errors, incorrect admin settings, and broken attachment download links. For JReviews 4.6.3, we've fixed bugs related to module publishing, frontend media editing, and compatibility with WordPress themes like Avada.

Additionally, the Dashboard Addon now includes a fix for Google Analytics setup, ensuring smooth functionality even if properties have changed. And for users of the YOOTheme Pro addon, we've introduced new multiple item field sources, streamlining the process of creating custom layouts for listing detail pages like the one shown below which includes favorites and inquiry buttons, an image gallery and map, listing description and several custom field groups.

• JReviews 5 beta 1 launch
• Performance improvements
• New theme brand selector
• Dashboard addon optimizations
• Everywhere addon EasySocial fixes

Learn more in the release post https://www.jreviews.com/blog/jreviews-4-6-2-and-jreviews-5-beta-1

JReviews 4.6.1 includes several bug fixes for Joomla and WordPress, and in particular some important fixes for Joomla 5.

JReviews 5.0.5 alpha includes fixes for all reported bugs, as well as many changes to how styles are handled for dark mode, and a complete re-write of the styles used for view components used to render things like buttons, badges, notifications, and more.

The next release of JReviews 5 will remove the legacy admin panel that's still available, as well as all the legacy code for the admin side of JReviews and addons. That will probably be the last alpha release.

At this time it's only available for JReviews v5 and given the limited functionality it's only for the JReviews Professional and Developer plans which give you access to all the add-ons.

Learn more in the documentation.

Just quickly before I forget, the JReviews Holiday Sale ends soon. If you want to save $85 on a new JReviews Professional license 👉 follow this link

JReviews v5 has arrived! 🚀

I am very excited to announce the the first alpha version of JReviews v5. This has been a year-long project to completely re-write the JReviews administration, including all addons.

You can head over to the demo sites for Joomla and WordPress to take a quick peek. While the front-end functionality remains the same as JReviews v4 this is trully a 100% re-write so it's important to thoroughly test it. A link to load the legacy dashboard is included and will be removed in a future version.

Some important things to note:

• JReviews v5 requires a minimum of PHP 8.1 and has been tested on Joomla 4 and Joomla 5.
• The GeoMaps and AMP addons have been discontinued and won't be available for JReviews 5. If you are on a Legacy or Standard Plan you will no longer be charged for these on renewals. MapsPro is also now avaialable for purchase in the Legacy plan.
• JReviews v5 is a major version upgrade so you need to uninstall both JReviews and s2framework and install the new versions downloaded from our website.

Cheers,

Alejandro

Most addons requiring it where also updated to ensure compatibility with Joomla 5. The Joomla 5 compatibility doesn't require the use of the new backwards compatibility plugin, but you need to make sure all of your extensions can work like this before you disable it.

Since this is the first release for Joomla 5 compatibility, there may be some issues remaining so please submit a ticket to report any problem you find.

Even if you are not on Joomla 5 or you use WordPress, you should update to ensure you get the most recent bug fixes for JReviews and addons.

Stripe Payment Addon

The Stripe payments addon also has a new feature that can be enabled within the Stripe payment handler to automatically send generate and send an invoice from Stripe to the client on successful payment. This happens automatically with subscriptions because they require invoices, but up till now it was not possible with one time payment plans.

I recently created a JReviews Discord server to give you a way to interact with other users of JReviews in a more personal way. It could be useful to share ideas, your specific customizations, ask for help from other experienced users, and more. I don't want this to become yet another official support channel because we already have those and I take care of all the support requests. I see this more as a community driven thing where actual owners of JReviews sites can talk to each other and I will be happy to contribute however I can. 

Join the JReviews discord

Here's the original post.

JReviews v4.3.0

• Bug fixes and PHP 8.2 compatibility changes.
• New `listing_favorites` shortcode.
• New output format {schema_date} tag for date fields for use with Schema.org markup.
• New Joomla JReviews content plugin setting to allow showing default Joomla article pagination.

AssistAI 1.1.0

• New completion model setting to allow choosing between Chat GPT and Text completion models. Chat GPT is the default now and significantly cheaper.

EventsCalendar 1.1.0

• Bug fixes and PHP 8.2 compatibility changes.
• New action hook `eventscalendar:day_view.after_title`.

Everywhere 4.1.0

• Bug fixes

GeoMaps 5.0.7

• Bug fixes and PHP 8.2 compatibility changes.

MapsPro 4.0.10

• Bug fixes and PHP 8.2 compatibility changes.

MyLists 4.1.0

• Bug fixes and PHP 8.2 compatibility changes.
• New `listing_mylists` shortcode.

It's been 4 months since I started working on the JReviews admin re-write. You can follow the updates in the JReviews Twitter account. The JReviews core re-write is well on it's way to being done with a few big tasks remaining like a new admin settings search, media uploads, and the JReviews App Store. After that it will be necessary to re-write the administration for all add-ons before this can all be released.  It's looking great so far!

Documentation updates:

• Working with Schema.org dates
• Apply SEO title tag replacement for listing heading in listing detail page only
• Listing favorites shortcode
• Listings MyLists shortcode
• eventscalendar:day_view.after_title action hook

• JReviews v4.2.5 released. Several bug fixes and a potential security fix with an updated version of jQuery UI. Previous versions of JReviews are using an older version of jQuery UI that was flagged for several security vulnerabilties. The exploits are functionality-specific, and at first sight, it doesn't look like the way JReviews uses the library makes it vulnerable to any of them. However, to be on the safe side, this update now ships with the latest version of the library and it's recommended that you update it as soon as possible.
• GeoMaps / MapsPro. A previous SEO improvement change broke other things in both infowindow and map sidebar, like showing custom fields, and this is now fixed with the latest update.
• PaidListings. If you are using the addon with PayPal this is a very important update to fix an error with the PayPal IPN requests failing if you are using PHP 8.
• ListingResources. Fixed external link redirects not working on some environments.
• MyLists. User avatars missing in list detail pages, where it shows which user created the list.
• CommunityBuilder. Important refactor to support the latest version of CommunityBuilder.
• Import. Fixed errors with Maria DB v10.6.0+.

I continue working on the JReviews admin re-write and have made good progress. You can follow the updates in the JReviews Twitter account.

Documentation updates:

• If you are using PaidListings with PayPal and the Joomla HTTP Headers plugin, check the new Content Security Policy section in the docs. Without some adjustments to allow PayPal requests it's possible users are getting automatically logged out when returning to your site. The same applies to any site when using the X-Frame header with the SAMEORIGIN value.
• Using custom where to filter listings based on Joomla tags
• If you use an email custom field as the recipient for inquiry emails, you can use a hook to disable inquiries if the email is empty. Otherwise the email goes to the site admin.

Some recent posts from the JReviews blog:

• How to Create a Joomla 4 Plugin to Allow User Login with Email new!
• Google Analytics alternatives for Joomla and WordPress websites
• How to add BuddyBoss private messaging to your directory
• How to add member profile reviews to BuddyBoss
• Making PeepSo multiple select profile fields searchable

• JReviews v4.2.3 released. I received several bug reports for JReviews 4 and these have now been fixed.
• GeoMaps and MapsPro addon update to fix Google indexing issue. The update include changes to stop Google from indexing links and images within Javascript templates.
• Related reviews detail page widget has a new option. The new option allows showing reviews from other listings that share the same listing owner. For example, a person has a business listing, and the same listing owner has other listings. With this widget, the business reviews can be shown in the other listings submitted by this person.

I posted a Twitter thread showing off something I started working on to rebuild the JReviews administration. If you are curious this is the link to the Twitter post. Often times I just post quick updates there in case you want to follow the account.

In case you missed it, JReviews now has support for:

• Cloudflare Turnsile, a privacy-focused captcha alternative to Google recaptcha
• WebP thumbnails, saving a ton of space with smaller image files, and improving page loading time performance.
• Google Analytics V4 as a service provider in the Dashboard Addon. I prefer Fathom Analytics, but historically have tried to offer choice whenever possible.

Some recent posts from the JReviews blog:

• Google Analytics alternatives for Joomla and WordPress websites
• How to add BuddyBoss private messaging to your directory
• How to add member profile reviews to BuddyBoss
• Making PeepSo multiple select profile fields searchable

And that's a wrap!

Cheers,

Alejandro

Shop now and save 20% with coupon code  HOLIDAYDEAL

The sale is valid for new licenses of JReviews Standard, Professional and Developer plans, Vivaz Joomla 4 Template, and iReview WordPress Theme. You can also use it for new addons in new or existing JReviews licenses.

• JReviews Standard - $179 $143 - save $36
• JReviews Professional - $427 $342 - save $85
• JReviews Developer - $999 $799 - save $200

Of course it goes without saying that JReviews Professional and Developer are the better deals here because they include all current and future paid addons, Vivaz Joomla 4 Template and WordPress iReview theme. Also you can use a JReviews Developer license in both Joomla and WordPress and get support & updates for 5 sites.

Existing JReviews customers always get an automatic renewal discount, even for expired plans.

Shop now and save 20% with coupon code  HOLIDAYDEAL

Best wishes for a wonderful Holiday and a very Happy New Year!

Alejandro

Read the 2022 Year in review 

Heads up, mark your calendar because the once-a-year Holiday Sale begins next week!

The most important highlights below:

Dashboard Addon

After a lot of very painful trial and error due to poor documentation on Google Analytics Data API I was finally able to port the Google Universal Analytics (GA3) integration to use GA4. If you haven't heard, Google is deprecating Universal Analytics and will stop collecting data from your site in mid 2023.

This is a breaking change. Once you update the addon, if you were previously using it with Universal Analytics that will no longer work and traffic data will no longer display for listing owners. This was unavoidable and the best I could do was actually spend time developing the integration with GA4.

If you want to continue using Google Analytics you need to create a new property using GA4, and it is not possible to import your previous property data so you are basically starting over. I created a GA4 property just to work on this integration and to be honest, I found the user interface so confusing I am not even sure what I am looking at. Also, it takes at least 24 hours for the data to be made available to the API, so I had to wait 24 hours to be able to check if actions taken on the site made it to the API.

Enter Fathom Analytics

The Dashboard Addon also works with Fathom Analytics. We've been using it for over a year now and are very happy with it. If you are starting over with your site analytics you might as well consider a service that is privacy-focused, well supported and nice to use. They are also working on an import feature so you can bring over your data from Google Analytics.

If you want to check Fathom please use are affiliate link below. We only recommend this service because were also using it ourselves.

Get $10 off when you sign up for Fathom Analytics

Custom Events

A new feature in the Dashboard Addon is the ability to display custom events to the listing owner. Both the total completions and unique completions, but also historical using the same chart used for pageviews. This works for both Fathom and GA4.

👉 Learn more about displaying events

BuddyBoss Integration

The BuddPress Addon has been updated so it also works with BuddyBoss. The BuddyBoss Platform has a free option version if you want to check that out. 

The Everywhere Addon was also updated to work with BuddyBoss so you can use the JReviews review system in BuddyBoss profiles.

If you already use BuddyBoss and are active in their communities and can help promoting this integration I would be very grateful. 

I just relaunched jreviews.com with a brand new template. Behind the scenes I also upgraded lots of things like Joomla ( not Joomla 4 yet 🙄 ), JReviews and I also had to re-write a lot of the code used to manage the licenses and the store.

In case you are wondering, this isn't a template that can be shared. It's all custom made with lots of hard-coded stuff. So for most changes, I need to edit a file instead of using the website, and that's just fine by me 😎

I hope there aren't too many issues, but if you do run into any problems, just submit a support ticket and I will look into it.

I hope you like the new site!

Alejandro

Some of notable improvements mentioned by OpenAI

• It produces higher quality writing. This will help your applications deliver clearer, more engaging, and more compelling content.
• It can handle more complex instructions, meaning you can get even more creative with how you make use of its capabilities now.
• It’s better at longer form content generation, allowing you to take on tasks that would have previously been too difficult to achieve.

Learn more about Assist AI