PLC Review Section (beta) has been added

As per this thread a PLC Review section has been added to the site. It is currently in beta. Try it here.

Please feel free to try it and suggest improvements. Please also point out any bugs.

It should work (and look ) just like the Amazon.com review section.

The beta allows you to post more than 1 review per product. The final version will only allow one review per person per product.

The beta allows you to vote whether a review was helpful or not an unlimited amount of times. The final version will allow one vote per person.

Disregard the 'pretty-ness', lack of menu bar/logos, etc. Those get added later.

Enjoy,

I like it. Very cool, Phil.

beta 2 released

Hi Folks,
Beta 2 has been released.
Extra space bug in posting has been fixed.

New main screen has been added.

If no further bugs we'll release it.
Please check it here.

Enjoy,

Looks Nice

Your going to have a pretty extensive list on your hands when you put the real PLC's in there. But it looks very nice.

you're right...

Webhead said:

Your going to have a pretty extensive list on your hands when you put the real PLC's in there.

Click to expand...

You're right...

I was thinking about integrating it with this page. I have to re-verify each of the links first.

Most of the brands there aren't too popular so I doubt I'll list each model for every brand. Perhaps just the top 10 vendors (or at least the ones that contribute to the community here... )

Suggestions about that are welcome if anyone has ideas.

Enjoy,

Well I would like to see something on Motorola PLCs. That being Moscad & Moscad Light. If you need any information on these processors and IO let me know.


I work for the leading VAR's of Motorola equipment in Florida and it is our primary PLC used. It's a quirky littel processor but once your used to it you can do just about anything.

Phil,

I was giving some thought to this review section and have something for you to consider.

There are two parts to a users experience with a PLC. One is the PLC itself...the other is the software. The software generates a good majority of questions on this site. Do you think there will be confusion between rating of the PLC and software? The reason I question this is because it is the software that most interact with.

Would it be possible to have a review for specific controller hardware and a separate entry for programming software.

I could be wrong but thought I would pose this to you for your input.

Other than that, what you have done for a review section is excellent.

God Bless,

It may be difficult to do, but I could not agree more with Stephen Luft. Unless you are an Electrician/Technician/Engineer, how much time do you spend wiring/installing PLC's? Even if you are one of the above, you may never touch a pair of wire strippers but rather a mouse/keyboard.

For those, it either works or does not. The software is everything.

Phil, still want you to come to my Hunting Camp in Northern Ontario.

Johnny

more features added

Beta 3 posted.
1- Minor bugs fixed and other 'behind the scenes' fixes.
2- Link to the 'brand owner' has been added in preparation to link manufacturers websites.
3- 'Experience level' choice has been added to reviewer page.

Instead of listing software seperately (causing the need for the reviewer to create 2 reviews) how about if I create 'stars' for it.
Ideally, additional star groups for:
software
documentation
Anything else needed? Maybe cost??
Maybe support... but not everyone uses it and it might depend upon the local distributor/rep skill so it varies across the world.

Enjoy,

Maybe not cost, but value. Bang for buck.

I agree with Rick, but maybe cost is also important. It really 'drives' the PLC industry.

Perhaps a section such as 'Projected Budget' (with stars)

1)$1000.00 (just trying to make this work in a day)
2)$5000.00
3)$100,000.000
4)Unknown - not involved
5)Other

Johnny

Good point. I'll use value...

Organization of brands, models.

Maybe I missed it, but is there a way to sort by model/brand? For example if I wanted to review other posts of a spicific model, or if I wanted to post a review of a spicific brand (not yet reviewed), how would it appear in the tree?

For example:

BRAND X......RATING Av.
model: A123 ***
model: B234 *****

BRAND Y
model: C345 **
Model: C456 *

So lets say there is a tree like the example; I could click on a reviewd model and read or add my own rewiew. OR add a BRAND &
model and post a new review. Then my new brand and model would appear in the tree...

Just a thought....or two..

This is a really cool feature, but I agree that there should be a section for software.

For example, I think Mitsubishi has an awesome instruction set, and are overall very nice PLCs, but GX developer is fairly clunky programming interface.

beta 4 released

Beta 4 has been posted. See it here.

Includes a few bug fixes plus:
Star ratings are now added for software.
Star ratings are now added for documentation.

I didn't add 'value star ratings' because after thinking about it, it seemed like the 'overall rating' was really for value.

I don't want to give the reviewer capability to add brands or models because it will open a 'can of worms'. When things are anonymous people will add brands like "insert censored words here" and "visit my spam site for the latest meds", etc. At least for reviews I have a moderated function built in if needed.

Ideally, I'll take the info from the manufacturers links page and add it to the brands column with hyperlinks back to their sites. Underneath selected brands I'll add their models. I only expect to add models to about 10-15 manufacturers. (Yes, I'll be asking for help in listing all models. ) If any are not added and somone wants to add a review a simple email will result in the model added.

Feedback and suggestions are welcome.

Enjoy,