Question Kunena causes trouble with Website-Layout

Hi Riona,
I'm having the same problems and have noticed that it has everything to do with the modules (Latest News etc) that sit within my right column, when I hide these modules the forum looks as it should. Obviously the solution of hiding these modules isn't practical and I hope to be able to re-instate them. I am posting this reply in hope that others may help to resolve this problem we are having.

For what it is worth, I would expect this to happen with most joomla templates that incorporate a left or right column of module positions and you are actually using them. I noticed that having a "Big Space" is inherent in the Kunena history as noted in documentation such as this:

docs.kunena.org/index.php/Big_Space_betw...der_and_Kunena_Forum

Now...This is a wonderful document to find...but...the directory names are not applicable, and the text in the css file doesn't exist in my default template(Blue Eagle)...so the document doesn't help me. But..no biggie, you can't expect there to be a document for every little problem. But what it does tell me is that this is a known and historical problem.

Forums are best, so there's some interaction and you can take guesses where the information comes up short...then re-share with others.

But anyway...back to the problem. The Big Empty Space

I also noticed that....let's say you have a bunch of menus in the left module position, so they go vertically down the left side. Your Kunena forum will have a giant empty space that corresponds to the vertical distance of all those menus. As you deactivate those menus, one-at-a-time, you will see your Big Empty Space shorten up with the reduction of vertical items in the left position.

I thought that was interesting because the Kunena forum doesn't reside in the left or right position, but it seems to be impacted by them.

My work-around was to create duplicate modules of menus and stuff that were in the left position. These duplicates are specifically for the Kunena page and I stick them up in the top of the page, in my case...positions user1, user2 and user3. The rest of the website has them in the left position, as normal.

Anyway...this seems to work. And I ain't complaining about the Kunena Forum. In fact...considering it's phenomenal integration with a Joomla site...I give it 5 stars.

JohnHart wrote: I noticed that having a "Big Space" is inherent in the Kunena history as noted in documentation such as this:

docs.kunena.org/index.php/Big_Space_betw...der_and_Kunena_Forum

Now...This is a wonderful document to find...but...the directory names are not applicable, and the text in the css file doesn't exist in my default template(Blue Eagle)...

I understand your frustration and I agree with your assessment. The document that you referred to was written for K 1.5 and the whole templating system has changed since that time. It is very hard to give prescriptive answers to this kind of problem because there are a million possible different Joomla site templates that people can use.

Therefore, if you approach the article you referred to in a specific sense, the actual solution is incorrect (and retaining that article in the Wiki does not serve any useful purpose today). The general approach to dealing with these "conflicts" between Kunena and the millions of Joomla site templates is to analyse the underlying CSS. This means that you either need to doctor the site template (using design tools like Firebug, for example), pay someone to fix them for you (or seek help from the template designer who wrote the template that you're using) or shop around for a template that works.

Thank you for your fair and objective rating of Kunena. It would be really good if you put your feedback on the Joomla Extensions Directory , too.

Thanks Sozzled....I submitted my review on the joomla site as you requested.

I do not see this "Big Space" problem as a limitation of the Kunena application. There should be no expectation on the part of the website owner, that every extension should integrate perfectly with every little nuance of their site installation. To expect that, is to disregard the impossibility of programming every extension for every scenario. That's just crazy-talk.:woohoo:

Nope...this "Big Space" problem is simply a little bump in the road...especially when considering the tremendous mountains that Kunena has scaled in the many problems associated with joomla/forum integration. (I've struggled with all of them)

I'm perfectly happy to re-arrange my module positions for the forum pages so that Kunena has the full width of the screen. When you get right down to it, all that's really necessary is to have a "Home" menu item to get the user back over to the left and right navigation features of their website.

I suppose if someone absolutely needed stuff in the left or right columns (like advertising or whatever), then they should take your advice and seek some css help. But then, a little imagination can go a long way with this particular characteristic.

I to am having issues with white space I made my Joomla template myself and it is still in development stages but I am confused as to how I remove this white space.

As stated in the other post the white space corresponds to the number of items in my menu bar on the right im guessing its something in my CSS causing this to happen.

The key point that we need to make in this topic is that these troubles are caused by the Joomla site template CSS. As is often the case, when people ask how they can rectify problems with spacing issues, or font sizes, with background colours or increasing/decreasing text sizes - and this one "the big space at the top of the page" - all of these are defined by whatever is in the site template CSS.

The key point to make is that the site template CSS is the last thing to be used when a webpage is loaded in your browser. The site template CSS - in effect - pretty much overrides everything else.

All of these problems can be resolved, quickly, easily and without fuss, if you know a little about CSS and you use the developer tools that come with most browsers:

• F12 if you use Internet Explorer 8
• CTRL+SHIFT+I if you use Google Chrome
• F12 if you use Firefox - you need to install Firebug first

Simple, easy, effective and smart!

For those who don't know CSS or understand what it means, there are specialists who know this "stuff". Therefore, when we read about these kinds of issues - where people have a site template that does not accommodate Kunena in a neat and seamless way - it's not unreasonable to seek out and obtain this specialist professional help and it's also not unreasonable that you should expect that you will have to pay for this kind of service.

When people ask us. in this forum, I have constructed my own site template, I can't get Kunena to work properly, and they don't give us the address of the site where these things happen, what do you think our response should be to that question? It's a bit like saying, I've built my own car body and I'm trying to fit an assembled engine into it but something is stopping it from working right. If you don't understand the mechanics, it's difficult to describe the problem. Even if you do understand the mechanics, you may actually need to give other people access to where these things happen so that they may can help you with the specific issues that you're having. Merely describing the problem in words (or pictures) may not be enough.