Forum Support

Shape 5
March 29, 2024, 02:47:12 AM *
Welcome, Guest. Please login or register.

Login with username, password and session length
News: Shape 5 Forum
 
   Home   Help Search Login Register  
Pages: [1]
  Print  
Author Topic: The Journey has ended. Good luck Shape 5  (Read 6831 times)
pbdesign
Jr. Member
**
Offline Offline

Posts: 19



« on: March 22, 2017, 01:42:33 PM »

After being member for many years under 3 separate accounts we feel this is the end of the journey for us. It is sad to say that Shape 5 will only produce a theme every other month. What are we paying for? If you would adjust or discount your membership fees or allow access to Wordpress and Joomla for one price then we as a company would stay. Our company truly felt that you "Shape 5" was one of the best and original theme clubs to continue to support Joomla and keep the foundation going.

Maybe this post will not get consideration that we feel we have to acknowledge what Shape 5 has missed in their direction.

Without a customer base there is NO Shape 5 or any other Club for that matter.

When we paid for a year of service and a theme to be released every month then Shape 5 should have credited all members a discount. If you plan to keep your customers, then allow them to have access to WP or 50% off on renewal since we are only getting half of a product. If we sold a customer 50% of a product and they paid for a full year product we would have lawyers barking at us.

Reputation is everything especially with social media these days. I hope you consider your consequences in the short term to keep your base. We have seen other clubs in the last year also take such actions where they have done the same thing and now they are NON existent. Maybe this is your end goal? We hope not. Shape 5 has produced some of the best templates We have ever come across.

We still say the best themes were...
Game Crusade (#1)
Hexicon
Cali Rush (amazing)
Shenandoah
Sports Nation
Salon Spa.


WHY IN THE HEAVENS HAVE YOU NOT MADE THESE THEMES FULLY RESPONSIVE and Joomla 3.6 ready or WP? Bring them into the NEW era of modern themes? This is what brought us to your wonderful club.

We have seen other clubs update their 1.5 and 2.5 to today's modern and lightweight design. If you would accomplish this then I truly think you may have a niche for your fans and members. Yes we have been asking this for a long time to redo these themes and still this has never happened.

Shape 5 will always be known for their diversity and design with a framework that was simple and easy. One of the BEST featured that your club offered that you did NOT follow was the fact that you made your themes without the use of K2. Too many clubs relied on K2 for their styles, animations and such. While many of us want simple and easy to use designs that is what you provided.

In closing, Our company has been around for 29 years will continue to grow but not with using Shape 5 at this time. I wish you all the best success on how you will manage your company or make "decisions" that matter to the customers and that will matter to us as well! We have only a few days left on our (memberships) and if things would change or someone would apply a 50% discount or WP and Joomla bundle price (for both clubs together) then we would consider all options.

We are sad to say goodbye, The Journey has ended. Good luck Shape 5.





« Last Edit: March 22, 2017, 01:46:54 PM by pbdesign » Logged
mikek
Administrator
*****
Offline Offline

Posts: 28743



WWW
« Reply #1 on: March 23, 2017, 08:36:07 AM »

Hello,

Thank you for being a loyal customer, and we appreciate your feedback.

We have addressed each of these questions several times before, so I will not address each of them in detail.

Joomla and WordPress memberships have always been separate clubs and will continue to because they are separate markets. It is very rare that we get requests from members wanting both.

We offer over 100 designs, most of which are responsive and only a base price of $49.99. That is the same price you will pay at most place for a single design. There is no reason to discount our prices because of this, we are still offering a very good deal to customers; one that you cannot get from most providers. We also have never promised a set number of releases in any time frame.

Almost all of our members have been fine with our changes and decisions of what products we focus on. There have only been a handful of users that have raised concern.

The designs you mentioned are simply not in demand and are aesthetically out of date. Re-doing them would not add more appeal or there is no virtually no demand or request for these older designs. It would be wasted efforts to re-do these designs for only a handful of customers.

I'm sorry to see you go!
Logged

Mike Knott
------------
Shape 5 Team

- Need a great host for your website? We highly recommend siteground.com!


- Put your trust in the hands of our extremely qualified staff to get your job done right!


- Firebug is the most powerful web development and debugging tool, and it will save you a lot of time, frustration and forum questions:
Install Firebug
jonahh
Administrator
*****
Offline Offline

Posts: 23789



WWW
« Reply #2 on: March 23, 2017, 12:41:23 PM »

Hello,

I'd also like to add it wasn't an easy decision for us and it was because of what you said here:

Quote
Without a customer base there is NO Shape 5 or any other Club for that matter.

You are correct and over the last 2 years this base dropped dramatically. So much so we couldn't afford to release every month. Thus because of the lack of income for the company (due to the lack of popularity with Joomla) we had to make a decision. If memberships/Joomla increases again then we'd most likely go back to the old release schedule. We love making templates and love Joomla. We've been doing this for 10 years now it was very sad for us too. But we are still here and we are still releasing new templates Smiley

I also am sorry to see you go.
Logged

Jonah Hall
------------
Shape 5 Team

- Need a great host for your website? We highly recommend siteground.com!


- Put your trust in the hands of our extremely qualified staff to get your job done right!


- Firebug is the most powerful web development and debugging tool, and it will save you a lot of time, frustration and forum questions:
Install Firebug
ossi2612
Jr. Member
**
Offline Offline

Posts: 101



« Reply #3 on: April 03, 2017, 05:27:54 AM »

Oh!  That sounds not very good...I wondered too, why only one Joomla-Template rolled out this year.  In Germany Joomla is very popular.  Ok, I understand, that there is a problem, if demand is to low for a monthly template.  But - on the other side - paying full developer licence but just getting only a few new templates a year is hardly fair...
Logged
mikek
Administrator
*****
Offline Offline

Posts: 28743



WWW
« Reply #4 on: April 03, 2017, 07:16:05 AM »

Hello,

Yes, we still believe that is a very fair price even for a developer license. We are not selling access to just the templates that come out in your 12 month period, you have to over a 100 templates before that. Most providers charge $49 to $79 for just a single theme that's of decent quality. A developer membership gives you access to as many as you want, and six brand new ones within that time period.
Logged

Mike Knott
------------
Shape 5 Team

- Need a great host for your website? We highly recommend siteground.com!


- Put your trust in the hands of our extremely qualified staff to get your job done right!


- Firebug is the most powerful web development and debugging tool, and it will save you a lot of time, frustration and forum questions:
Install Firebug
ossi2612
Jr. Member
**
Offline Offline

Posts: 101



« Reply #5 on: April 04, 2017, 06:30:24 AM »

 Smiley  Ok - alright - then I wait for your next super good template - please get on with Joomla, it is worth!
Logged
Gutshot
Jr. Member
**
Offline Offline

Posts: 489



« Reply #6 on: April 07, 2017, 02:29:07 AM »

Hi,

My opinion is that the way to more "succes" can be to develop some extensions that gives more freedom to modify a template. Dunno how to put it correct in English but maybe you get the idea of the following.

The development of extra usable extensions is a bit low while the demand of such items is there.

For example, take this source: http://www.unitecms.net/addon-library or https://smartslider3.com/sample-sliders/

Using such items can add much extra freedom and flexibility to the proces of building a new site, this in combination with S5 templates can be a powerful combination.

Why not dive into this demand and develop some of your own ? The offer of extra extensions is a bit low lately. Most templates are using the IACF, tab show or Masonry.
Why not take it to the next level and offer such extensions that can add that freedom.

Maybe templates are losing popularity because they take away freedom, look at the Divi builder (Wordpress); it allow you to knock up a site using that framework any way you want. And you guys own a hell of a good framework!

Another thing is helping out others/members with good tutorials on a periodic base.

For example; now Google pushing https.
Lot of websites (read most) are still not https, why ? Because most dunno how to do it properly, people may need guidance. Tried one existing website based of a S5 template myself and within minutes I ran into trouble because css broke down, error etc. Had to look all over the web for answers how to do it. I still like to see a good tutorial how to manage that. I know not every site it the same but we all use S5 templates, so in big lines such a tutorial can cover the most issues or problems.

Once the tutorial is finished, use the social channels to release it.. let see you give the extra thing people are looking for. Some say Joomla isn't populair.. I think Joomla is getting better and better and still more powerful then Wordpress. You see the new approach of the Joomla Community.. the are stepping more out lately, renewing, using more social media, the even launched an test to get certified.

I have accepted the price went up or the offer was cut in half (depending how you see it  Wink) Even renewed my developers account recently because I really love your work and want to support you guys. Now and in the future . But we haven't see any innovation/new stuff/help/items which compensate our loss so far. With the reducing of the amount of templates you would say there is some more time. I could be wrong...

Dunno of the idea what I mean is coming through, but this is the way I look at it. For me it is not about the money, it's the service that gives me my loyalty at the end.

Kind regards.
Logged
Pages: [1]
  Print  
 
Jump to:  

Powered by MySQL Powered by PHP Powered by SMF | SMF © 2013, Simple Machines
Joomla Bridge by JoomlaHacks.com
Valid XHTML 1.0! Valid CSS!
Looking for the largest variety in template designs? Look no more. Never buy 1 theme again. Signups start at just $89 for access to all of our themes.
Send Us An Email
Please send us your questions and we will email you back as soon as we can. Product support questions should be posted in our support forums under the Help menu. Our staff will assist you from there.