B O'Sullivan, Cork, Ireland
I was searching for a classifieds solution for ages and found Esvon
Classifieds. The software is excellent and can be used for many professional
online website projects and not only classifieds; i.e. Real Estate, Motors,
Jobs. It also supports taking online payments. Support from Esvon is
excellent and additional modules can also be purchased. Esvon also provide
customisation if you want to do something different! Overall, i'd give the
product 9.5 out of 10!
Search engines friendly URLs use dashes instead of underscores now
"Mailing_Lists" module allows to send emails to users with certain membership
status (price plan based emails)
jwysiwyg added to the list of supported WYSIWYG editors
Activated PHP option "gd.jpeg_ignore_warning" to improve JPEG files handling
and to get rid of occasional ImageCreateFromJPEG errors
(the option is available since PHP 5.1.3)
New in "Esvon Classifieds" 4.0.7:
Several changes to bring more compatibility for the upcoming PHP 5.3
Stronger CAPTCHA image verification
Changed "multimenu" fields storage format to match "checkboxes" fields
Alternative Image Text can be specified for each Category Image now
Internal architecture improvements
New in "Esvon Classifieds" 4.0.6:
Added search type selection for text fields in Advanced Search page
(broad match/beginning with/ending with/exact match/sounds like)
Added option to allow ad placing without formal registration
Added "Disk Space (Free / Total)" information in Admin Area summary screen
Added possibility to delete multiple images at once
Some performance related improvements
New in "Esvon Classifieds" 4.0.5:
Added possibility for user to change e-mail address with email confirmation
Soundex (sounds like) search option added for "text" fields
Some internal improvements
New in "Esvon Classifieds" 4.0.4:
Dependent Menu added as supported form field type
"Report Abuse" replaced "Broken Link" module
New in "Esvon Classifieds" 4.0.3:
On-demand fields classes loading implemented to improve performance
Added TinyMCE to supported WYSIWYG editors for <textarea> fields
Added ability to export categories in Admin Area
Search by price plans added in Admin Area both for users and listings
Member price plans support realm New/Renew Membership
Bad words filtering added to Form_to_Email module
'Require Login' option added to Reviews module
When listing titles are used in SE friendly URLs, and title is changed,
added HTTP 301 redirect from the old URL to the new one (this prevents
duplicate URLs problem)
New in "Esvon Classifieds" 4.0.2:
Added ability to import categories in Admin Area
Some internal architectural changes
New in "Esvon Classifieds" 4.0.1:
Simplified 3rd party WYSIWYG HTML editors integration
Added FCKeditor support as a WYSIWYG editor replacement for <textarea> fields
(supports IE 5.5+ for Windows, Firefox 1.0+, Mozilla 1.3+ and Netscape 7+)
New settings added in Admin Area :
- Preferred WYSIWYG HTML editor selection
Added ability to search by exp. date range in Admin Area -> Search / New
(if listings exp. date is enabled)
Since version 4.0 changed files history is kept in the "upgrades/" directory
to make upgrade process between minor releases easy and quick
New in "Esvon Classifieds" 4.0:
Extended search engine friendly URLs support - added new option
"Include category names and ad titles in SE friendly URLs"
Caching engine improved to avoid serialize/unserialize overheads in favour of
native php includes performance
Brute Force Attack protection for authentication attempts implemented
Some performance improvements using MySQL 4.x features (SQL_CALC_FOUND_ROWS)
Blocks engine improved: added ability to pass parameters from templates, i.e. :
<!-- TPL_INSERT : b_Categories [cat_limit=10] -->
<!-- TPL_INSERT : b_Featured_Ad [amount=2] -->
Variable modifiers support added in template parser, i.e. :
##var|count_words##, ##var|upper##, ##var|strip_tags##, etc.
Admin can browse online users, view their IP addresses and force user logout
from a current active session
'Disallow user account sharing' option implemented to prevent other users
from logging in under the same user account at the same time
"Renew ads on subscription renewal" option added for user price plans
Added optional usage of verification image on Place Ad / User Registration pages
Category Extras Setup
( Users must be logged in to Browse the following Categories,
Users can not add listings in the following Categories )
Added ability to change from Admin Area PHP option 'display_errors'
New settings added in Admin Area :
- Online Sales Tax, %
- JPEG resizing quality
- Max. allowed keywords amount in Keywords Search
Some internal improvements
New in "Esvon Classifieds" 3.0.797:
Keyword search rewritten to use MySQL full-text search (MySQL 3.23.23 or later
is required)
Upcoming "Bulk_Loader" module support implemented
Online users tracking performance optimized
Content compression statistics is displayed in debug mode now (GZIP'ed output)
New in "Esvon Classifieds" 3.0.796:
"Sectioned (dynamic) category selection" option added. It is useful if you have
many categories/subcategories and they are difficult to scroll if all shown
in a single drop-down menu. This setting affects Place Ad, Modify Ad, Advanced
Search pages
"Insert into Ad Details page" option is available now when you add new field
in Admin Area -> Manage Fieldsets. It allows to add new field into "details.htm"
template automatically
Ad Extras appear now at "Order Ad Placement" page only if ad is not expired
or price plan is selected to avoid ad extras ordering for expired ads which
are not displayed at the website
New templates added (order_ipn_declined.htm, order_ipn_paid.htm) to display
payment transaction status to the customer after payment is made. This ensures
customer awareness of the payment status (confirmed or declined) for some payment
gateways that don't provide such information to the customer after payment takes
place (e.g. Authorize.Net SIM integration)
"Extra_Pages" module updated, custom index page is created immediately now
when you create extra page with id "index"
New in "Esvon Classifieds" 3.0.794:
Non-modifiable fields support added for single line textboxes and drop down menus
(the value can be entered once but can't be changed later - Readonly or Hidden status)
Custom PHP code can be inserted in the templates from now,
regular tags should be used ( <?php and ?> )
"Allow Decimals in Price Field" option added
New in "Esvon Classifieds" 3.0.793:
User friendly ad fieldsets management implemented in Admin Area
New in "Esvon Classifieds" 3.0.792:
Changed price plans / extra options expiration handling
Enhanced automatic Cron Job execution (available even on Windows platform from now)
Instant user price plan switching added if user browses website and user account
expires (no dependence on cron job execution time from now on)
Email sending improved in "Mailing_Lists" module
Extra Pages module updated, dynamic blocks from "inc/blocks/" directory
can be inserted into extra pages now
Spam Prevention page added in Admin Area for quick ability to delete spamer ad(s),
spamer account and to ban spamer IP addresses from one page. Admin work to protect
website from spam and website policy violation by posting bad content should be easier
from now
Text/HTML optional selection added for "textarea" fields (to allow newlines to
be converted to <br> or not)
New in "Esvon Classifieds" 3.0.788:
Category specific search results layout (headlines) improved
"Sort By" option added in Advanced Search page
User registration IP, ad poster IP, payment transaction IP tracking added
to have better ability to prosecute fraudsters
"Availability" module support added
New in "Esvon Classifieds" 3.0 - 3.0.787:
Ad / User Price Plans grouping added (only certain ad plans can be allowed
for certain user plans) - improved price plans flexibility for advanced users
charging options
Search engines friendly URLs implemented for ads browsing (and navigation)
Improved Ad Extra Options management (Featuring, Priority Ranking,
Visibility, Highlight Color)
HTML generating procedure rewritten, database queries caching added
for best performance and instant pages loading on high-traffic websites
Templates parsing system improved
"Optimize/Repair DB Tables" option added in "DB Backup" section
Users login details one-click emailing added in Admin Area
Usability improved, more error proofing added
Updated images resizing process using GD2 to have excellent quality so
ImageMagick is required only if you want to handle other than JPEG and PNG
formats
Search engines friendly URLs support added (you need Apache module
"mod_rewrite" installed for this)
Search engines robots friendliness added. If search engine robot (spider,
crawler) is detected session is not started and URLs don't have session id
embedded in it. All major and many minor search engine robots are identified.
Multiple payment gateways support integrated (it is possible to provide
some alternative payment methods like Paypal, Credit Card, e-Gold, etc
for customer to select the preferred one)
Ad Category & Ad Details urls can be made search engines friendly
easily now if Apache module "mod_rewrite" is installed
New in "Esvon Classifieds" 3.0:
Login security improved (random one time passwords are used)
Sessions security improved (browser/IP fingerprint control added)
Allowed HTML tags control added
E-mail subjects are specified in email templates now
Engine updated to be ready for upcoming Shopping Cart, Auctions, Coupons,
Auto Rebilling and more modules
Payment Transactions management improved
Ads Management improved in "My Account" area
Auto filling out of of certain ad fields based on user profile at
"Place Ad" page
Sold sticker on ad supported
Payment methods can be easily turned on/off now, Direct Funds Transfer
payment method added
"Who is Online" page added
Printer friendly page support added
"Recently Viewed" ads block added
Ad images slideshow added
Price plan expires to another price plan option added
Updated to use MD5() for admin passwords encryption instead of PASSWORD()
because of changed PASSWORD() behaviour since MySQL 4.1
IPs banning ability added
New in "Esvon Classifieds" 2.9:
WYSIWYG HTML editor added as supported form field type (htmlarea)
Pending payments viewing added for money/cheque orders in admin area. Admin can
see a table of unapproved payments.
Fixed size thumbnails generating added
Search results layout switching support added (matrix / rows)
Cron module enhanced. DB tables optimizing and HTML generation options added.
Credits module is supported now. It allows to have a system where people could
pre-purchase ad placement/membership credits
Ad visibility (bold, bold red headings and so on) option added and posibility
to charge for it
Option to hide empty categories at browsing and generated HTML implemented.
WYSIWYG HTML editor added to simplify "Extra Pages" management
Category-specific price plans added. You can charge different prices for ads
placed in different categories now
Random Ad(s) block added
Modules management improved
New in "Esvon Classifieds" 2.8:
New cool feature - blocks functionality added ! You can have any content
blocks (including database-driven) in header and footer now. 2 modes are used
for blocks rendering: static and dynamic (this is block specific). In static
mode block is rendered during HTML content generation. In dynamic mode block is
rendered each time PHP page is requested. Dynamic blocks provide always up to
date information but increase server load, it is ok to use dynamic blocks always
if you don't have any server overheads problems (small- and middle-size
databases, not too high site visitors traffic). So even if your site rocks and
is very popular you'll hardly have server performance problems with our software,
that's it !!!
Blocks available now: Categories, Featured Ad, Who is Online, Latest Ads,
Top Rated, Most Popular
Payment transactions management improved, filtering by date added.
Expenses management in admin area added (for expenses tracking for advertising,
custom programming, additional software, etc) to help you in monthly / yearly
profit analysis and taxes calculation.
Option to store PHP user sessions in database added
Administrator/editors passwords are stored encrypted in database now
using MySQL PASSWORD() function
Admin Area Authorization History added (all admin area authorization attempts
are tracked and recorded)
Some general program engine improvements
New in "Esvon Classifieds" 2.7:
Payment plans management improved, fee- and subscription-based plans
are supported with ability to charge for ads placement, featured ads,
images amount, ads weight (better placement) and so on.
Also different levels of membership are supported for subscription-based sites.
File permissions verification added in admin area
Rewritten to be modular for best flexibility. Amount of database tables
reduced. Only if module is activated additional needed for it database tables
and fields are created (and deleted if module is removed)
New in "Esvon Classifieds" 2.6.1:
Register money order / cheque payment added
File added to supported form field types
Program settings are saved in database in encrypted format now for better
privacy and secure storing of payment gateways settings (Authorize.Net
Transaction Key, etc)
Possibility to search by multiple options added for all menu field types
Multiple menu added to supported form field types
For checkboxes and multiple menus min./max. amount of selected options
restriction added (optional)
New in "Esvon Classifieds" 2.6:
Admin email notification settings added. Can be notified when ad posted [modified,
deleted], user registered, "tell a friend" used, HTML generated, etc.)
Ads posting to final categories only (w/o subcategories) option added
Form submits flood protection added
Option to use username to login instead of email (helpful for migration from
other scripts)
Dynamic browsing results option added (for new ads to be displayed instantly
without need to generate HTML)
Generate HTML content functionality improved (different generating levels
are supported now - basic pages, browse ads area, ad details, etc.)
Random featured ad displaying across all pages option
Bad words filtering option added (censoring system)
Option to allow ad expiration date modification for all (specific) members added
HTML email support added for mass mailing (with preview/create like facilities)
Enable user fields in ad details / search results option added
Ad preview facility for members added
Field Set - specific templates management added
New in "Esvon Classifieds" 2.5:
Checkboxes sets (options) added to supported form field types
Members Management functionality extended
More portability added, updated to work smooth with PHP configuration
"magic quotes gpc" (in php.ini) ON and OFF
MAIL NOW feature added (as addon to cron-executed mailing)
Option to enable/disable e-mail confirmation at registration added
Search engine rewritten for best flexibility and performance
Ability to set ads allowed per member, Images allowed per ad, Image max. allowed
filesize restrictions added
Option for images width and height checking added with ability to force
autoresizing / reject if max. allowed sizes are exceeded
(both Imagemagick and GD library are supported)
Option to check image files validity added (check if uploaded files
are images, reject if not)
Improved login functionality (now user is redirected to the last
accessed page)
Page Templates and Email Templates management separated
Modular payment gateway support integrated. Paypal and Worldpay modules
are available, new gateways can be added easily now. The only requirement
for automatic payment handling is IPN (instant payment notification
or callback functionality) support by your preferred gateway.
Improved categories selection/change at add/modify listing pages
User accounts disabling and manual approval added
Categories weight (priority) support added
Proxy servers handling added for valid hits/votes counting
Added date and datetime field types support (drop-down menus)
Interface for extracharges for placed ads added (charge for featured option,
for priority in search results / browsing, for extra visibility like bold/red
titles, etc.)
New in "Esvon Classifieds" 2.2.1:
Added support for different field sets in different categories.
Now you can have personals, accomodations, cars, jobs in
your single site, each category can list different things.
Online users displaying support added
Current user page determination added
Listing preview in admin area added
Categories and users management improved in admin area
E-mail confirmation before registration improved.
Case sensibility added to logins/passwords and confirmation codes.
Custom pages management added, you can add new pages to your site
easily now.
Checkboxes support integrated for custom fields
Admin-only custom fields support added (for listings and users table)
Language file format changed.
New in "Esvon Classifieds" 2.2:
Admin area layout redesigned to be more professional amd Netscape compatible
Registered members mass mailing added
Mailing lists engine improved. Now sending date is set and e-mail are sent
by perl script in background (using cron job or manually).
Backup feature added
Quick Search by users (all fields) added in admin area
Quick Search by listings (all fields) added in admin area
Listings expiration date support integrated
Both one-time and reccuring billing are supported now
Generated INDEX,HOT,TOP pages are made fully customisable
Files/images support added to USERS custom fields
New in "Esvon Classifieds" 2.1:
Advanced templates parsing technology developed and integrated.
No more html templates pieces in separate files.
Loop-based templates structure is supported now with multiple cell variants
iBill support added
New in "Esvon Classifieds" 2.0:
Admin area - search for user by login/email/userid added
Both related links and related categories are now supported
Improved Configuration Setup in admin area
Login scheme update, username field removed from user table - now email
is used as login and is unique key defining user
If user account is not confirmed then confirmation url is included into lost password
email.
Last login date / IP for members added
Editors assigning to multiple categories added
Editors notification added when listing is added to one of their categories
Performance improvement : preg_match() function replaced with more efficient
strpos() in many cases
Updated column types in tables for database to require less storage space
Paid membership support integrated (Paypal supported, other payment systems will be
added upon request), custom payment conditions for certain members supported.
Improved search keywords logging - no more logging of the same keywords from the
same visitor, browsing of search results will not affect search keywords log any more.
Mailing list sending progress indicator added
Confirmed/pending users filter added in users management, export users data
updated - now filtered part of users table can be exported.
Listed by user, browse user listings feature added.
Pages separation added to Editor's Pick page.
Added user-friendly disabled/unexisting listing details displaying instead of 404 Error.
Modify listing by user.
New in "Esvon Classifieds" 1.3:
Multiple languages support at the frontstore side
Full-text search capabilities
Some usability improvements, ad rotation module created.
New in "Esvon Classifieds" 1.2:
