Hello Intelligent Media LTD

I understand your situation. Please allow me a couple of days. I will let you know after talking with the developer team.

Best regards

Hi there and thanks for your reply.

I will really wait for your official reply in order to decide what path we should take in the future.

Nevertheless, we cannot really wait a major update with everything that goes on security wise with Joomla right now. Therefore, we have proceeded with updating our staging site to Joomla 4.2.8 and Helix 2.0.11. We fixed what we could but it is necessary for you to intervene and modify files as follows (everything that identifies the website, is provided in the Hidden Content section):

1. The Helix update has created SP Page Builder errors whenever a new article is added. I provide indicative links where you can see the errors. Also, the template specific add-ons, especially those in tne home page, have to be validated.
2. The Joomla update has a more serious problem. Because the core search module is no longer supported in the 4.2.8 Joomla version, we had to use the Smart Search module, a choice that completely breaks the header section, whereas the smart search module itself does not function properly.

After you fix the above issues, it is essential that you provide the files that were altered in order for us to replace them in the live site.

Needless to say, it is urgent to get up to date since I have already said that we operate a commercial news website.

Best regards

I have communicated with the developers. The template will be updated next month. Hopefully, the issues will be fixed then.

Hi there and thank you for your reply on the long-awaited template update. I will keep this question open until we get that update.

Nevertheless, what I asked as fixes cannot wait till next month. Please have your team take a look at them. They are neither that many nor that difficult. But they make all the difference if our website continues to operate smoothly.

I will wait for your response.

Best regards,

Well, everything will be checked in the update. Hopefully, we will release the update in March.

Hi there,

I assume that the meaning of what you're saying is that you are not going to make any modifications to our website and we will have to wait for the update, thus jeopardizing the security of our work for something that your team should already have done after so many months that Joomla 4 is in production and since the template is not EOL.

Sorry to say that but you had us used to a higher level of support. Please revisit our issue with your team and I hope that they see to it.

Regards,

Hi there,

as it is obvious, my initial post is already about two months old and nothing has happened yet regarding the Gazette update. It seems like major security issues and challenges that we face are not much of a concern to your support.

In your last post you stated that the template would be updated in a month's time, but this time has passed and from what I observe from other, more recent, relevant threads, you do not want to get too specific regarding the update delivery date.

Moreover, even though the issues that come up after trying to update to the latest Joomla version are not that many, you have been constantly denying to apply emergency fixes to our website,

Anyways, we have been a client of yours for many years but unfortunately I understand that a good past experience does not guarantee a continuous good experience.

I am going to ask again when the delivery will be made available. I hope that we get a more concrete reply this time.

Regards,

Apology for the delay. Could you please specifically describe your issues with screenshots and links? I have not found any issue looking at the right column as you mentioned. Please share the details so that I can share it with the developer team. They will check your staging site and fix those issues. You do not have to wait for the template update.

Hi there,

thank you for the understanding. Since I provided the hidden info we had to revert our staging site to Joomla 4.1.5 by applying an image of our production site. We are looking at how we will make updates in the staging site, bringing it to the latest Joomla version, so you can be able to observe and correct the errors.

I will get back to you soon.

Thanks.

Hi there, we have performed updates of our staging website in the latest Joomla and Helix versions.

1. You can observe the errors stemming from the template specific add-ons on the homepage. You may also observe a similar error in the template article add-ons in the right column of the blog layouts. These are the major errors we face.
2. Another issue that I mentioned last time had to do with the deprecation of com_search and the need to use SmartSearch instead. In the Joomla 4.3 version it seems that com_search is working (it didn't work in 4.2), and we will keep it this way in order not to perplex things further. Nevertheless, in the coming template upgrade you will have to adopt SmartSearch layouts because I do not think that the current template has this option.

In the hidden section, I provide all necessary access info. As soon as you correct the errors, please provide us with the files altered so we can replace them in the live site and make the updates there, too.

Waiting for you actions.

Best regards.

Hi there,

my last post, which was more than a week ago, has gone unanswered. Are you going to fix the issues in our staging site so we can proceed with Joomla updates? Your last communications were very encouraging but nothing of the essence has happened after that.

Also, do you have any solid update regarding the Gazette template new version?

Please respond ASAP. The thread is now more that 2 months old. That is too long by any standard.

Thx.

Apology for the delay. Please activate the access again to check the issue.

In the hidden section, I provide the new credentials.

Waiting for your actions.

Regards,

Hi there, any news?

Thank you.

I would like to add my voice for an update here. I have also been patching the template for a while. The image handling needs to be improved to improve load speed as Google fails my site. This is a great template and needs to be brought up to latest web standards.

Just like to add my frustration to this posting. I think today is the day I quit this template and work with my customers to take the hit and get a new look. I am troubled by the fall of Joomshaper, perhaps you guys dont have a good business model and are either trying to do too much for a shrinking market, or just underestimated the problems. But my professional opinion is that you just dont have good technical leadership. Other templates I have worked with are modular and share lots of common code so fixes and updates can be shared, you guys seem to come up with a new smart layout that is independent and poorly structured, then you loose interest as the next big thing comes along. I feel for the user at the start of this post, after so many months he dident get the answer he should have got, this template is effectivly dead and unlikly to be fixed. My problem is that do I even stay with Joomla, the days of an alternative to WP seem to have dried up. I urge you guys to chose a subset of templates that you will provide long term support for, then I could choose one of those with confidence, right now it seems like a lottery. Any help on selecting a well supported templarte to invest my time in would be welcome.

To be honest, I was so dissapointed by the template support after so many tries that I had decided to let things move in their own pace, if ever. Nevertheless, Nevertheless, I see that other people are on the same wagon and I decided to make a last try.

Three months ago you stated that the template would be updated next month. I should have asked "next month of which month", no?

I will ask only that. If I provide you (for the third time) with temporary admin access, will you take the half hour necessary to correct not more that a few lines of code?

Please be kind enough to answer that. It is the least that I can expect after so many months of waiting and keeping our website in a vulnerable status because we cannot update to the latest Joomla version.

Thanks.

Hi Guys Maybe we should start a Gazette supporters club :) I must say. My Gazette is stable now. Latest Joomla 4. PHP 8.0. I really had great support in my transition to Joomla 4. Toufiq really went out of his way. Getting my test version to work. Helping me with a hosting change due to PHP 8. Dealing with some issues in PHP 8. Then ultimately going live. I cannot complain about support. I do not believe Wordpress will be the solution. I hear my friends with Wordpress sites complain about the same issues. Template support, temaplte updates breaking sites. I would really suggest you start a new forum thread for every issue helping you in your transition. If you don't get helped on this thread start a new one linking to this thread. Gazette is built on Ultimate which I think is still the latest Helix so it should stand the test of time. OK Joomshaper guys - our template has 18700 downloads - pleaaasseee update our template to work with all your latest tech... and to stop failing the Google image handling, load speed requirements...

I like the idea of a group of us supporting each other. I think this forum is a bit limited, I tried to share some files and had to link to my own servers since you cannot upload. I have patched the template mostly by myself, issues seem confined to the template/html folder which has not kept up with current joomla. I patched the mod_login to restore the popup login, that file is referened someware in this forum thread. I just fixed joola articles not showing up with text and images and the catagories not being displayed correctly by replacing all the files in html/com_content from a later templat "nuron" which has clearly already been fixed. There is still a problem with com_users in tghe original html, but just removing that file defaults back to the Joomla core and that works for my application. I would have thought the developers would have a software version control tool that would make it almost automatic to rebuild templates as component pieces get replaced, thats all I am doing by replacing files in template/html but things like popup login menus and such use quite custom versions that need hand editing. For now I have kept using the template. Lets see if the developers react. You all stay safe.

Hi there and thx for the support to my rightful cause :-).

The thing that really bothers me is that it seems that corrections - at least in my case - are limited and they only concern template specific add-ons. And this is really something that it would take nothing for them to fix, even if they did it on my site exclusively.

What is amazing is that Joomshaper has updated a bunch of past templates and Gazette seems abandoned with no apparent reason. And this is a news website template, which you would normally use in order to build a (spoiler alert!) news website which you normally would base on advertising. And still this simple logic doesn't seem to resonate with the Joomshaper team.

Anyways, I am still waiting for their response to my last request. Hope they reply and act.

Dear All,

Thank you for reaching out to us and expressing your concerns about the recent lack of updates to Gazette. We truly understand the importance of regular updates and the value they bring to our customers.

Firstly, I want to assure you that your feedback is extremely valuable to us, and we appreciate you bringing this matter to our attention. Our team takes customer feedback very seriously, and we are actively working on addressing the update situation.

Updating a template requires careful planning, development, and rigorous testing to ensure that the updates not only address the issues reported but also maintain the stability and quality of the product. This process takes time to execute effectively. We are committed to delivering a high-quality update that meets your expectations.

I'd like to inform you that our development team is already hard at work, focusing on resolving the reported issues and incorporating valuable enhancements to the product. While I cannot provide an exact timeline at this moment, I want to assure you that we are prioritizing this update and working diligently to release it as soon as possible.

We genuinely value your continued support and are committed to earning and maintaining your trust. We understand the impact that regular updates have on our customers, and we are taking all necessary steps to ensure that you have the best possible experience with our product.

Warm regards

Hi there,

In the hidden section, I share the required information and please act on them ASAP since security issues are out of hand after so many months.

Since I am providing you with the staging site environment, besides fixing the issues on the version of the site, please make sure to provide the exact files that you altered so we can apply them in our production site as well.

Waiting for your prompt response

Thank you in advance.

Thanks for sharing it again. The PHP warnings are gone now. I have modified these 2 files.

1. templates/shaper_gazette/sppagebuilder/addons/articles/site.php
2. templates/shaper_gazette/sppagebuilder/addons/articles_vertical_slider/site.php

Hi there and thanks for the fix.

Nevertheless, when we added two new articles, the latest articles (addons/articles_vertical_slider) broke down. Please see the image in the hidden section and proceed with additional fixes, providing again the altered files, if different.

Best regards.

Hi there,

please expedite the fix I refer to in my previous post so we can update our Joomla installations.

Thx.

Kind reminder, please take a look at the bug that needs fixing. We have to upgrade our Joomla installation.

You made the first fix really fast and now, it is the third communication I have to make.

Thanks in advance.

Another kind reminder, it's been more than a week that I've been expecting a solution.

Thanks.

Hi there, I am wondering, should I stop writing?

Please provide me with a straight answer if the bug that I am referring to is going to be fixed. It is no more that half an hour work, is it that difficult to understand that there is a serious problem?

I am really astounded by the way you have come to treat loyal customers.

Thanks.

Apology for the long delay. The issue with Article Vertical Slider has been fixed. Please go to this location:

templates/shaper_gazette/sppagebuilder/addons/articles_vertical_slider

and replace site.php file with the attached file. You need to unzip the file and then replace.

site.php.zip