Question Smileys/Emoticons

Alistair wrote:

Oh! Cheers. It never occurred to me that the errors could be in the template I'm using(default_ex_pink), yet I recall @quila warning me about template bugs... sorry.

yep that would be it as Default_ex_pink is a template for the OLD kunena 1.0 and is not fully compatible with K1.5 thats why this issue is present

if i was you id keep an eye on kunena 1.6 as if i had an image of the old pink template i could maybe build a version for K1.6 to be released when the stable version is released



EDIT: pink template complete and will be released when K1.6 is stable

I remember your default_ex_pink template. If I recall correctly, I think I even helped you with it.

But this is really, really important. Whenever users create their own templates, or borrow/use someone else's template, or change something in the template ... with K 1.5.x you are creating conditions for a problem in upgrading to the next version of Kunena. The underlying fault here is not yours. The underlying fault is the design of K 1.5.x that allows CSS and PHP code to be live separately from the core Kunena system. This means that, when you upgrade Kunena you need to review all the template changes that you made to your template files because they probably haven't kept pace with other changes made by Kunena.

On the one hand, when users write to us and say they have problems, our advice is for them to upgrade and to use the default_ex template. Then the users write back, complaining that they can't possibly upgrade because they've made too many customised changes to their template. It's a no-win situation: we can't help the users and they can't help themselves, either!

I realise that a lot of what I'm writing is borderline off-topic but I feel that this is an important message to get across. This is what I wrote on the subject not very long ago:

Allow me to make a personal observation - I'm not going to criticise you or others who find themselves in this situation - about the dangers of over-customising websites.

Even from the time that K 1.0.7b first appeared on the scene, users have asked questions about how they could change this or how they could change that. Judging from the number of questions asked by some of our regulars, some users must have made 20+ customisations to their websites and, when confronted by an unsolvable problem they are challenged beyond their ability to upgrade because they risk "losing" all those customisations.

Well, I'm sorry to say, for many of those users who have kludged, fudged, band-aided, patched-up, lobotomised and crippled Kunena because they like how their version "looks" ... I have little sympathy.

The biggest problem is that Kunena has been a moving target for over 12 months. In the past year there have been 13 releases; that's means that each version has had an average lifetime of less than 4 weeks before it has been made obsolete by a new version. With such a high turnover, is it any wonder that I question the lengths that people go to to implement and support their hacks, changes and customisations? Is it any wonder that, when people change this, change that, change something else that their changes are short-lived but worse, because they've painted themselves into a corner, they "can't" upgrade?

I cannot accept "can't" in this context. I think it's more a case of users who are reluctant or too lazy to upgrade! Let it go, move on, get ahead ...

So, I make things easy on myself. I work from the principle that Kunena is not totally solid (well, K 1.5.11 is the most solid version that I've used up to now) and, knowing this, I don't make any changes to the product for the websites where I have installed it. This means that I can install a new version in virtually no time at all, instead of agonising over what "customisations" I need to research and figure out how to reapply.

I have one other point to make, too. Because Kunena has been a fast-changing product in its [relatively] short time, the more experienced Kunena users among us have kept up-to-date with the latest release. For the most part we have forgotten about (or have scant interest in) "issues" that users are only now experiencing with versions that went out-of-date months ago. It's simply impossible for a small team of enthusiasts and volunteers to support every version of Kunena that's ever been released. For that reason, only the latest stable version (currently K 1.5.11) is supported.

So, in conclusion, try the situation again using the default_ex template and remember that, as far as K 1.5 is concerned, There is only one endorsed and supported Kunena template ... default_ex