How does IP Content work?

[Aiwa]

Jeff, 

You've gotten some good advise here.  IP.Content for v3 has a MUCH steeper learning curve than Pages for v4.  Pages v4 is drag and drop... Someone builds a block, you install it, pick it from a list, configure a few settings, and you're off to the races.  In some cases, the blocks are out of the box built by just picking a few settings.  That being said, before pushing your community to v4, you need to plan the upgrade process and have everything in place. 

I recommend using your -TESTINSTALL key and upgrading a backup of your site and start installing the upgraded versions of any 3rd party apps / hooks you have.  That will also help you identify what needs to be upgraded vs what can be turned off moving forward.  You'll have your v3 community side by side with your v4 community to compare what still needs upgraded / installed.  Installing applications, as well as upgrading, in v4 is easier than v3.  You don't need to upload anything to the server, it's all handled from within the Admin Control Panel. 

With regards to Nexus / Commerce... Commerce no longer requires Zend or ionCube.  There are no special requirements from your host other than they be running PHP 5.6 or later, and MySQL 5.6 or later.  Those may actually be your bottleneck depending on where you're hosting.  To check PHP and MySQL, give this file to your host and have them run it.  It'll tell them what they need to have ready for you at the server level to run IPS4. 

I'd be happy to help you get started.  I'll thrown in a few hours of time, free, to get a backup of your v3 community upgraded to v4 using your test license so you have your own v4 environment to play with.  Your v3 community will still operate without interruption until you're happy with the v4 test installation.  When it's time to upgrade your live site, IPS can run that upgrade for you, then it's just a matter of getting the applications and hooks you have installed and configured on your test installation re-installed on your upgraded live site.  

I'm not saying you have to do this today, but it's something you'll likely want to have done within the next year.  I know you have busy seasons, so you'd want to plan this around times when you've got a little more down time.  

When it comes to development, nothing new is coming out for v3, and looking for new development for v3 will be difficult to say the least.  Developers just don't want to invest time in it as there isn't as much of a return developing for a product that's end of life. 

All said and done, I think it would be a more worthwhile investment of your time to learn IPS4 than it would be to learn IP.Content v3.  

And with regards to your fair share of support tickets on v3... I believe I answered a great many of them for you.  .  

[Marcher Technologies]

3 hours ago, CaptJeff said:

Dear Marcher, I am still scary...  I honestly try my hardest to read and learn but there is still so so so much I do not understand.  The worst part of this is that I only have a small about of time to sit and learn.

Then indeed, your limited free time would truly be best served on 4. You don't have to sit there and learn HTML just to edit a page, or any of the contortions you are used to from working with 3. It no longer matters whether or not you understand code to use it.

[Joel R]

9 hours ago, Aiwa said:

Jeff, 

You've gotten some good advise here.  IP.Content for v3 has a MUCH steeper learning curve than Pages for v4.  Pages v4 is drag and drop... Someone builds a block, you install it, pick it from a list, configure a few settings, and you're off to the races.  In some cases, the blocks are out of the box built by just picking a few settings.  That being said, before pushing your community to v4, you need to plan the upgrade process and have everything in place. 

I recommend using your -TESTINSTALL key and upgrading a backup of your site and start installing the upgraded versions of any 3rd party apps / hooks you have.  That will also help you identify what needs to be upgraded vs what can be turned off moving forward.  You'll have your v3 community side by side with your v4 community to compare what still needs upgraded / installed.  Installing applications, as well as upgrading, in v4 is easier than v3.  You don't need to upload anything to the server, it's all handled from within the Admin Control Panel. 

With regards to Nexus / Commerce... Commerce no longer requires Zend or ionCube.  There are no special requirements from your host other than they be running PHP 5.6 or later, and MySQL 5.6 or later.  Those may actually be your bottleneck depending on where you're hosting.  To check PHP and MySQL, give this file to your host and have them run it.  It'll tell them what they need to have ready for you at the server level to run IPS4. 

I'd be happy to help you get started.  I'll thrown in a few hours of time, free, to get a backup of your v3 community upgraded to v4 using your test license so you have your own v4 environment to play with.  Your v3 community will still operate without interruption until you're happy with the v4 test installation.  When it's time to upgrade your live site, IPS can run that upgrade for you, then it's just a matter of getting the applications and hooks you have installed and configured on your test installation re-installed on your upgraded live site.  

I'm not saying you have to do this today, but it's something you'll likely want to have done within the next year.  I know you have busy seasons, so you'd want to plan this around times when you've got a little more down time.  

When it comes to development, nothing new is coming out for v3, and looking for new development for v3 will be difficult to say the least.  Developers just don't want to invest time in it as there isn't as much of a return developing for a product that's end of life. 

All said and done, I think it would be a more worthwhile investment of your time to learn IPS4 than it would be to learn IP.Content v3.  

And with regards to your fair share of support tickets on v3... I believe I answered a great many of them for you.  .  

So much warm and fuzzy from this post.  So much.