A Developers Review
-
Simplicity & Look – 5 Stars
Simply put, a non-developer can deploy absolutely beautiful IDX search functionality on their site in less than an hour. I have used many IDX plugins for WordPress, and nothing comes even close when it comes to simplicity and beautiful appearance.Search Functionality –
4 Stars5 Stars
I really want to give this 5 stars, because the search functionality is fantastic with nearly every item in the MLS feed searchable. The search function is also very fast. However, I have run into problems in the Austin market where Realtors need “Recently Sold” search functionality. For some, the lack of this feature is a complete deal breaker.
— EDIT: 7/9/2018 —
Although they still do not have a date for the implementation of “Recently Sold” property type I recently had a problem with a property being reclassified by MLS as a “Farm” causing it to disappear from listings. They rolled out a fix within 2 days to resolve this issue for me. The Showcase IDX developers going above and beyond to help make my customer happy brings this from a 4 star to a 5 star.SEO –
4 Stars5 Stars
For the most part, SEO is on-point. There are a few problems though. First, the lack of ALT tags for images hurts your listing’s SERP rankings considerably. I have tested the same website with both IDX Broker & Showcase IDX with same listing and Google is clearly preferring the IDX Broker listing. There are a few factors that could cause this. This is mostly a guessing game because Google does not publish their algorithm. But in my experience, the lack of ALT tags on 20 images on your main page does cause Google to prefer another site with similar content over yours.
— EDIT: 7/9/2018 —
They have fixed the ALT tags, and other SEO related problems. I am changing this part of my review to 5 stars. One thing I like the most about this company is their willingness to listen to their customers and fix problems.Design Flexibility – 3 Stars
This is where the product lags behind other solutions the most. I have no idea why the developers chose not to use unique CSS classes and or CSS ID selectors in the design of their product, but it makes any style changes virtually impossible. There is a “Custom CSS” box in the control panel, but there is no default heretical preference to custom CSS so your styles will be overridden if you don’t have an !important flag. But with no ID selectors, this box is mostly useless anyway.Support –
4 Stars5 Stars
The support is mostly responsive with initial replies within 24 hours unless it’s a weekend. Staff is friendly and helpful. The support is nowhere near the level of terrible that is IDX Broker, but there is some room for improvement.
— EDIT: 7/9/2018 —
Recently the support has been more responsive, and they went above and beyond to fix a problem I had (see Search Functionality above,) so this is now also 5 stars.
- The topic ‘A Developers Review’ is closed to new replies.