Most Robust REVIEWS Extension/Feature for OpenCart ???

As you can see by my "join" date, I have recently "discovered" OpenCart as a seriously viable solution for a somewhat ambitions ecommerce project I have been developing. So far, I am very excited about the (from what I can see thus far) dynamic capabilities of OpenCart - not to mention the relative affordability of the various extensions and add-ons ... compared to say, Magento.

I know that OpenCart comes with a fairly decent "reviews" function out-of-the-box ... and I have seen a few additional "Reviews" extensions within the OpenCart Extension Directory. I guess my question is - to/for those of you who have been working with OpenCart for a while and/or to/for the OpenCart Development Community . . . What is the most dynamic and robust REVIEWS extension available for OpenCart


Throughout my several years of research and self-education on ecommerce, I've seen many TOP ecommerce sites utilizing the PowerReviews component. I'm wondering if there are any OpenCart compatible Customer Reviews extensions out there (or in development) with similarly robust features.


Looking forward to any thoughts, insight and/or direction/resources.

Those are some nice features though the "patented" bit makes me very leery.

rph wrote:Those are some nice features though the "patented" bit makes me very leery.

Not quite certain how you can "patent" a digital customer review configuration ...
but then again, I am not an Intellectual Property Attorney.

I would think that a "mad-skills" coder/developer could take some of the cool features from Power Reviews - and some of the cooler features from, say, Amazon.com Customer Reviews - and create a "best of all worlds" extension for OpenCart that is every bit comparable to them.

Another cool "Reviews" component - albeit for Joomla - with some very nice features is JReviews
(again, for possible ideas)

TomC wrote:

rph wrote:Those are some nice features though the "patented" bit makes me very leery.

Not quite certain how you can "patent" a digital customer review configuration ...
but then again, I am not an Intellectual Property Attorney.

In a sane patent system you couldn't. Unfortunately we don't have a sane patent system in the United States and people have been known to patent everything from peanut butter and jelly sandwiches to swinging. The most applicable case is Amazon's 1-click checkout patent which was ultimately upheld.

Hey Tom,

Did you ever find anything that is comparable to Power Reviews?

D

Unfortunately, not yet ..... still hoping someone will take up the challenge.

no one should be able to patent any software.

ridiculous. basically corporations telling you that you can not give out something you wrote from scratch with out paying them money.

any programmer worth there salt will be build what ever system some one asks them to build. they don't go around searching though patents to copy ideas.

I already map out most programs in my head before i even start to code. takes a few minutes thinking only. i don't need to look at anyone else's coding.

Which is exactly why I - and I am certain many others - would love to see a zealous programmer/developer create a "professional grade" dymanic, multi-level REVIEW system/extension for OpenCart . . . . perhaps taking cues from systems such as POWER REVIEWS and JREVIEWS in terms of the dynamic/multi-level review structure/options, such as:
- Detailed multi-criteria ratings, user and editor reviews
- Favorites and MyListings management
- Multi-field search capability
- Comparison functionality
- Facebook, Twitter, Pintrest, other social media integration
- Templating and presentation modules
- Multi-faceted "social commerce" funtionality

Europe doesn't allow for software patents so you can try hiring a developer from there. I'd still be cautious if your store is based in the US. The New York Times recently ran a good article explaining this whole mess:

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/08/techn ... d=all&_r=0

Ahhh.... a topic I am passionate about!

I'm in the US and also think the patent system here is a big joke. In fact, big companies like Apple, Amazon, Google and M$ probably think the patent system is a joke too. It seems the reasons they get patents now is to protect themselves from other big companies and their patent portfolios.

That being said, I really couldn't care less if every site/web app I ever build infringed hundreds of patents because in reality all of us are probably breaking patent laws every single day... at least for businesses in the USA.

For example, Apple patented the virtual page turn. http://www.cnn.com/2012/11/16/tech/inno ... index.html

Hundreds if not thousands of applications and flash based movies have used a virtual page turn for as long as I can remember. This is a joke that Apple was able to get a patent on this.

Again, I don't think us 'little guys' have anything to worry about. In the USA, you probably can't do anything on a computer with code that doesn't infringe someones patent somewhere. I don't worry about it.

Apple also got away with patenting a "device with rounded corners"

http://www.businessinsider.com/apple-ip ... 12-11?op=1

What a joke patent law is!