Thread: Pre-Sales question regarding Vantage

Pre-Sales question regarding Vantage

Hi,
I am very interested in buying your Vantage Business Directory theme but I am hesitating because I'm not 100% sure if I can use it for what I need.

Basically, I want to build a Global Directory of FREELANCERS. I'm not interested in posting any jobs or hiring via the website, I just want a directory that lists different types of freelancers and gives each freelancer has his/her own profile page with information about their skills/Portfolio/Qualifications/Location/Contact info.

What I need is almost identical to a business directory, except instead of business/company info, it will list individual freelancers.

On the face of it, Vantage looks suitable for what I need but I need to know if I can easily change all references to listing a business/company into a listing for individual freelancers without having to edit the core theme files?

One area that really concerns me is the Homepage search box that contains two options 'Businesses' and 'Events' as neither of these would work for me, I would need options like 'Freelancer' and 'Skills' instead. Is that possible?
Also, can I use the theme without the EVENTS?

Obviously, you know your theme inside-out so I hope I've made sense. Can you see any other potential problems for what I want to build this theme into?

There are no specific settings within the theme's admin dashboard which will allow you to change the references to business, so it would require some customization of the core theme files. Our themes are not encrypted, so it's certainly possible to make the relevant changes, but you will need some coding knowledge in order to do so (as applies to any other modifications relating to search). The Events functionality can be disabled via a setting in the admin and doesn't require customization.

If you're not looking to make the changes yourself, AppThemes does not offer customization services, however we do have a certified partners page where you can find developers for hire who are experienced at working with our themes. If you make contact directly with an outline of your requirements, they can provide a quote for the work. Thanks.

What Version of Vantage Theme is for sale?

What is the latest version of the Vantage theme?

The latest version of the Vantage theme is v1.3.2. Thanks.

Thank you Pepsi, that was very helpful.
I'm fluent with HTML/CSS but not with php and Javascipt. Saying that, I can read and edit the code, I'm just not competent enough to write my own just yet.
I think I will go for it and use your theme because it looks great for what I need. If the changes I need are beyond my abilities, I'll follow your advice and find a developer. I don't imagine any of the changes I need will be too big so it's wouldn't cost very much.

One quick question, would I be okay to make my edits to the core files within a child theme? I've only used child themes for style changes in the past so I'm not sure if it's okay to edit the core theme files this way because couldn't this break any future updates to the theme?

Anyway, thanks again, you've convinced me to purchase Vantage. I was going to use a cloud-based (SaaS) directory service called 'Brilliant Directories' as it looked really powerful and 100% customizable but it was far too expensive to justify a start-up directory website with zero paying customers yet. I nearly fell off my chair when I saw their service was $100 a month for their most BASIC package. It clearly makes much more sense for me to use your theme for a start-up like mine.

You're welcome, and thanks for your feedback :) Yes we certainly recommend the use/creation of a child theme if you're looking to make customizations as it will prevent you losing all of your changes in the process of an update. You can read more about this in our documentation here. Thanks.