<p>I picked CMD because just like the previous post, it seemed like such a great company/alternative to others. Was I ever wrong!<br /> - CMD has a selection of templates with 2 price points - Classic ($95) and Elite ($295). I bought during what apparently was their limited 50% off sale promos in October 2009 and went for one of their Elite templates. At 50% off, it was $295 USD and I thought I was getting a deal. Don't be fooled. They always have this sale. In fact, this is pretty much their regular price.<br /> - The don't have as many Flash templates and as much as they look good, they offer very little customization. The template I picked was a full screen one and is supposed to have auto screen detection but it doesn't really work as my site visitors often report how the images are not shown properly depending on the aspect ratio of the monitor. I reported this to their tech support and has never been addressed.<br /> - Their auto-generated iPhone HTML mirrored version of the Flash site looks pretty dismal (think of a very bad and basic day 1, hour 1 project on an HTML 101 class). It has issues displaying some of the photos on my iPhone and even on a computer. I reported this to their tech support and has never been addressed as well. Because the HTML version looks so bad, I didn't really want to use them but the HTML pages are auto-generated and can't be turned off so they're out there. I wanted to put a link from the HTML site to link back to my Flash site but their tech support said that's not doable.<br>
- The proofing/shopping cart is okay. My only wish is it had a way to set global/default settings. Each proofing gallery has to be set up with repetitive things like logo, company name, contact info, copyright info, order confirmation, taxes, paper sizes and prices, etc.<br>
- Their content management system (CMS) is quirky but serves the basic purpose. My one complaint would be is once your site goes live, there is no way to preview/stage edits so all changes are to the live site.<br>
- The WordPress blog it came with is nothing special and themes are limited. But the one issue I have with mine is the preview of themes and of posts (draft/private) never worked from day 1 - this is important once your site/blog is live. I brought this to their tech support's attention after WordPress support looked into it and pointed to a possible server/installation/configuration issue. I waited a month to hear back from CMD and heard nothing. When I finally followed up on the issue, CMD put their hands up because they said it's not their product. After a month's wait!<br>
- Really need to highlight that their tech support is hugely lacking and appears to be via e-mail only. Slow to respond, if at all. And when they do respond, it gives one the impression that the issue is being worked on when that is not necessarily the case. And a majority of the issues I've raised in the last 4-5 months have never been addressed.<br /> Like with anything I suppose, buyer beware and do as much research as you can. But I will be looking at moving to another company for hosting or even a full site redo.</p>
Creative Motion design
in Wedding & Event
Posted
<p>I picked CMD because just like the previous post, it seemed like such a great company/alternative to others. Was I ever wrong!<br /> - CMD has a selection of templates with 2 price points - Classic ($95) and Elite ($295). I bought during what apparently was their limited 50% off sale promos in October 2009 and went for one of their Elite templates. At 50% off, it was $295 USD and I thought I was getting a deal. Don't be fooled. They always have this sale. In fact, this is pretty much their regular price.<br /> - The don't have as many Flash templates and as much as they look good, they offer very little customization. The template I picked was a full screen one and is supposed to have auto screen detection but it doesn't really work as my site visitors often report how the images are not shown properly depending on the aspect ratio of the monitor. I reported this to their tech support and has never been addressed.<br /> - Their auto-generated iPhone HTML mirrored version of the Flash site looks pretty dismal (think of a very bad and basic day 1, hour 1 project on an HTML 101 class). It has issues displaying some of the photos on my iPhone and even on a computer. I reported this to their tech support and has never been addressed as well. Because the HTML version looks so bad, I didn't really want to use them but the HTML pages are auto-generated and can't be turned off so they're out there. I wanted to put a link from the HTML site to link back to my Flash site but their tech support said that's not doable.<br>
- The proofing/shopping cart is okay. My only wish is it had a way to set global/default settings. Each proofing gallery has to be set up with repetitive things like logo, company name, contact info, copyright info, order confirmation, taxes, paper sizes and prices, etc.<br>
- Their content management system (CMS) is quirky but serves the basic purpose. My one complaint would be is once your site goes live, there is no way to preview/stage edits so all changes are to the live site.<br>
- The WordPress blog it came with is nothing special and themes are limited. But the one issue I have with mine is the preview of themes and of posts (draft/private) never worked from day 1 - this is important once your site/blog is live. I brought this to their tech support's attention after WordPress support looked into it and pointed to a possible server/installation/configuration issue. I waited a month to hear back from CMD and heard nothing. When I finally followed up on the issue, CMD put their hands up because they said it's not their product. After a month's wait!<br>
- Really need to highlight that their tech support is hugely lacking and appears to be via e-mail only. Slow to respond, if at all. And when they do respond, it gives one the impression that the issue is being worked on when that is not necessarily the case. And a majority of the issues I've raised in the last 4-5 months have never been addressed.<br /> Like with anything I suppose, buyer beware and do as much research as you can. But I will be looking at moving to another company for hosting or even a full site redo.</p>