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Mack

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  1. Thanks, AnthonyL, for your hindsight. Your arguments in favor of Blesta would make sense to me if it were marketed as a development platform, not so much considering that it was marketed (at least to me) as an off-the-shelf software title. Perhaps I expected too much from it. I select development platforms very differently than I select off-the-shelf software. (I already have development platforms that I'm proficient with.) Based on what I know now, and especially based on your comment immediately above, I feel baited and switched. Also, while I can see the wisdom in your statement that "reinventing the wheel" may be unwise for a large organization that requires a comprehensive and automated solution, I am a small operation and do not require that. I only have to automate the features that would otherwise cause my clients to hesitate at sign-up; and otherwise find human intervention for administrative follow-up tasks acceptable, because I don't have to pay wages; and growth beyond that paradigm would be a good problem to have. My idea of "simple" may also include offering fewer options, because I've found typical website owners (and by extension hosting subscribers, I expect) need a simpler experience, not a broader range of options. I expect this design philosophy to contribute to a simpler development experience in the case of an original solution. So I won't be planning a fully-featured or fully-automated system with all the bells and whistles. It's not a final decision; I will still hang around long enough to evaluate Blesta v4, if it is ready soon and comes with complete documentation (a big "if"); but I think mine is a plausible alternative plan of action in my situation. I have built billing systems before, so I know what I'm getting into. Again, thanks for taking time to respond.
  2. Thank you Paul, I appreciate that offer. I may take you up on it at some point. I am interested in seeing v4 beta 1 before I make a final decision, to see if it is any more intuitive from the owner's perspective or better documented (though I dislike beta versions, as reliability is important to me). Depending on the timing, I may want to see v4 before making a final decision, since I have already bought it. However, based on what I know now, I'm leaning toward building my own hosting webware. Since there are less than 20 API functions I'll need, it appears that I can create a more user-intuitive idiot-proof solution for my clients by engineering my own solution. Even if I did completely figure out Blesta, I would not be able to simplify my customers' user experience beyond the limits of the software design. I have absolutely no reason for confidence at this point that a Blesta solution would enable me to create a simple UX for them. Simplicity rules. My clients will subscribe with me because I make it absolutely easy for them to do so. Or they will go elsewhere.
  3. I see. Well, that's all very helpful. Thank you. Do you know when the expanded documentation and/or the software version 4.0 is expected?
  4. Thanks to anyone who takes a moment to point me in the right direction. I'm an IT professional, a web developer for many years, so pretty familiar with foundational IT concepts. I know a thousand software titles. I usually find them easy to figure out, using the UI and manual. I'm not used to using forums, and bothering helpful people with a laundry list of trivial questions; rather, I'm used to looking up answers for myself, but not finding the means in the case of Blesta. I chose Blesta because the demo made it seem very intuitive. But after working with it for a few days, I'm finding it's not easy to figure out at all. While the public UI may be intuitive once it's set up, the owner UI isn't intuitive at all. The documentation just doesn't seem to exist. I've already spent dramatically more time trying to figure it out than any other software title (aside from programming languages) that I've ever worked with. I'm finding the Blesta user manual is incomplete (simply restating the obvious), and the developer manual isn't appropriate to navigating the owner UI, and searching the forums on the hope that my issues have already been answered has proved futile on the first few attempts. So I'm short on resources. Do I really have to depend on asking questions in the forums? (If so, it will take me months to resolve all the issues before I can launch, and surely I'll wear out my welcome before then.) Are there no complete manuals? Are there any orientation videos? Here's a list of some of my problems, each of them trivial by themselves. I'm not expecting point-by-point answers in this context, but this will give you an idea of the kind of manual-incompleteness I'm referring to: * "Merchant" gateways apparently means gateways that support in-page credit card numbers, without referring users away to a third-party website to enter their credit card number. Confirmation? * Namecheap support doesn't know anything about the Blesta Namecheap module. Does it support SSL certs, or only domreg? * I can't test the Namecheap module until Namecheap approves my account, which takes days and dollars. How many more testing obstacles will I encounter? * The Namesilo module in the marketplace is marked "beta". Has anyone used it, so they can comment on it's reliability? * If I were to download a module from the marketplace, how would I install it? (The readme file is as incomplete as the user manual.) * Is there any way to turn Support Tickets on, but Knowledgebase off? ("Installed plugins/Support Manager" doesn't have a "manage" button.) * Is "coupons" the only way to a apply a sign-up discount? (It seems a little laborious from the public UI perspective.) * From the public UI, if someone clicks "Empty Cart", then "Continue Shopping", which order form are they returned to? (It appears they're returned to the "choose your hosting plan" form I created. Do I have to put all products including domreg in one package group together, so they will appear at that top level?) Again, I don't really expect point by point answers, as there is too much information. Rather I need more resources where I can look up answers to these and the dozens of more questions that are likely to arise as I start my new business. Where are the resources? Thanks to anyone who can offer me a morsel of wisdom that might make this journey more time-efficient for me. --Mack
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