Question Kunena 1.6 - a moderator's view

hmm, ok Sorry :blush:

SPAM removed

It's been over a fortnight since I last wrote something in this topic. Like most others here, I've been fully occupied with many interests and I haven't updated this topic with further news/views about K 1.6. Sorry about that.

As users will know, K 1.6.0a has been publicly available for testing/familiarisation for a couple of weeks. At this time, the version that was released (Build 2587) is now considered "out of date" since many improvements have been made to it. Although the latest alpha version of K 1.6 still needs a couple of minor changes to make it suitable for users to play with, we have moved a long way past the feature set that was incorporated in the first version available for public download. A new "alpha 2" version will be available (shortly, I expect) for users to trial. As we've continually stated in the past, users should always remember that alpha versions are not fully feature-functional, the design is subject to change, and test versions should not be used on live production websites.

Even though the developers feel comfortable with the stability of K 1.6.0a, Kunena 1.6 is still not at the stage where it is a supported product.

We still encourage users to download the current "alpha 1" version at the present time, if they have not already done so, but they may want to consider holding off reporting problems with that version until the "alpha 2" version is made public. We'll let you know when this happens.

I will try to write more, next time, about the improvements brought with K 1.6.0a2: new template manager/installer, thank you, user moderation features, etc.

K 1.6 will be released soon and, when I write this, I mean that a "stable" version of K 1.6 will be made publicly available that will include a [mostly] complete feature set. At that time, all this discussion about alpha/beta/release candidate versions will stop and we can all breathe a lot easier.

We cannot say for certain when this will happen or what conditions need to be firmly established before we can make such bold claims as these, but we're talking in terms of only a few weeks, not a few months. If people would like to know more about K 1.6 news, they can participate in the Kunena Fan Club at the Joomla People site, follow the news on Twitter , or get involved in downloading K 1.6 and familiarising themselves with it.

As each day passes, the confidence level of the development team continues to rise - this is a very good sign - but there's still a massive amount of work to do.

K 1.6 changes the way that people uses Kunena. I've been saying this ever since I started this 'blog 4½ months ago and I will continue to write it. But, no matter how many times I write it, when K 1.6 is eventually released as a stable version its changed behaviour will surprise, startle and (possibly) annoy people. K 1.6 is different, that's all it really is, and that's why it's important to introduce the differences gradually rather than suddenly "ambush" people with the changes all at once.

We need your help now. For various reasons (most of them have to do with the fact that we have our own lives) we cannot complete all the necessary preparations ourselves. A big area that needs help is with our user documentation and tutorials that explain, to new users (and to a few of us older users, too ) how to use Kunena 1.6. You don't have to be a great word-smith, but if you can help then, please, don't wait for us to send you a special invitation! Just do it and try your best and we'll do our best to encourage and support you. If you have any private worries or questions about this then, please drop me a line (PM me) and I'll see how I can help.

Sorry, didn't have time for more screenshots or updates about K 1.6. I'm still fairly busy now that K 1.5.12 has been released .

The long-awaited announcement that, in effect, "Kunena 1.6 is here to stay" must come as extremely exciting and welcome news to our users. Even though K 1.6 is currently not released as a mature, "stable" release (i.e. fully supported) it is, for most practical applications, fairly stable.

With this announcement still ringing in our ears (with many users eager to download Kunena, convert your old K 1.5 - or even older versions -to K 1.6 and possibly even want to customise the new version to your own particular needs), I would like to make a couple of suggestions to our users to help us to help you better.

There are at the moment two versions that users should consider for their needs: K 1.5.12 and K 1.6. As we move forward, focusing our attention more on K 1.6, some new users of the forum at www.kunena.com may be a little confused where to ask their questions and how to ask for help.

There are two main sections of this forum devoted to helping Kunena users:

• Kunena 1.6 : As the title suggests, this area deals with receiving reports that users have in testing the new version and a very limited amount of support is offered here. This section also allows you to ask questions about what's in the new version and how to use the new features
• Kunena 1.5 : As the title suggest, this area deals with Kunena 1.5 and, in particular, with K 1.5.12 (the current stable release that we recommend for production sites). This section allows you to seek support for difficulties you're having with the core features of Kunena, for asking questions about K 1.5 features, design and template issues, customising to your particular needs, etc.

It's important for your sake, and for the benefit of other users who may have similar issues to you, that you try to keep the issues affecting these two versions separate.

For your sake (and for the benefit of others) it is to your advantage if you choose a meaningful subject title when you are posting a new topic. I suggest that you adopt the convention that we've found helpful in the past and that is to include "K 1.x.y" (where "x" is the major version number and "y" is the update to that version) in the subject heading. This makes things easier for us, as moderators, and for other users who may be able to help, to get help to you quicker. If you don't include this information then we're only going to ask you for it, anyway. So, as a time-saver, you'll be helping everyone.

It's also important, when you post a new topic, to include something about your issue. Topics that have the title "Please help me" don't tell us anything about your problem or what version you're using unless we spend time reading the whole message ... and even then we may be no closer to providing you with help if the issues are unclear. So, instead of "Please help me" (and we always try our best to help our users, anyway) choose something a bit more meaningful like "K 1.x.y: Error 1234 on installation". Other users may have encountered the same situation as you have and they may have discovered a way to fix your problem if you give as much information as you can.

A few extra seconds of your time, choosing the right category to post your topic and providing us with a few clues about the version of Kunena that you're using, could save you hours or even days waiting for a reply and your help will save us time trying to sort out what your problem is really all about.

If you are in doubt about what category is appropriate to your situation, please read the "sticky posts" in each of forum categories. That's what "sticky" posts are for.

A constantly recurring issue that has caused numerous problems for the users is the "Use Joomla Style = Yes" configuration setting.

This seems to have been a hangover from the old Fireboard days. I never discovered a use for the feature in K 1.0 nor in K 1.5, nor have I seen an example site where the feature doesn't pose any problems. Basically, the feature has caused more problems than it was worth using - and new users are always over-eager to try changing everything in the configuration settings before they've tested them to understand how they work. "I'll just change a few dozens settings and hope for the best ... oops, why isn't it working? I'd better post a message to the support forum ... " :whistle:

The really great news is that this "Use Joomla Style" setting has been removed from K 1.6. From this point on, users will be able to adapt the way that Kunena works by using the new K 1.6 template features.

Even though Kunena has an extensive variety of configuration settings that allow you to quickly and easily change its behaviour, more and more Kunena is getting to the stage where users should not ever need to change anything after they've installed it.

From a support perspective, this is an absolute godsend! :woohoo:

This has been an incredible journey over the last 6 months. My small contribution to the project has been to spend a few dozen hours, making screenshots of the various changes that people will see in K 1.6, describing some of the differences between K 1.5 and K 1.6 and, generally, trying to take the heat off the developers in handling the continual stream of questions about ... well, just about everything.

All of this was, in my case, a prelude to upgrading my very first live production site to K 1.6 (and I've only got another half-a-dozen still to do)! :whistle:

But, now that K 1.6 is here and users can see for themselves what it's all about, I think my task here is just about done, this thread has served its purpose (if nothing more than a kind of personal 'blog about my daily adventures in Kunenaland) and it's probably time to close that chapter in the Kunena story.

My few dozen hours in writing about K 1.6 is nothing in comparison with the hundreds of man-hours that the developers contributed. There are many people to give credit to but foremost among them is Matias, who generously and patiently gave his time to answer the hundreds of questions that I and others have asked, put his heart and soul into making Kunena a product - a standard to measure other software against - and still juggle the daily pressures of looking after his family and the everyday things that affect all of us. Whenever you see something that he's written to the forum, whenever he's taken time from his busy life to help you, please use the Thank You facility.


It takes only takes a second but he, more than anyone I think, deserves more thanks than people have given to him. There are a lot of other people, too, who spent endless days and long, sleepless nights cranking out code, designing, testing, tolerating my nuisances and helping all of us so that we're better prepared to help you! You'll see some of these names listed in the "Powered by Kunena" link at the bottom of this page. Please don't dismiss the credits list lightly - these people did these things for you - and display that link on your websites when you install K 1.6.

To all the other people whose names are not listed in the credits page, we know who you are and we thank you (even if we've not included your name in the list of credits).

And to all of you, to the thousands of people who have followed my rambling narrative, thank you too.

Regards

"sozz"

As we near the end of the long development road towards a stable K 1.6 product, and as more users use this time to take up the developers' offer to use a K 1.6 release candidate version, there are still a number of matters that I would like to write about. So, maybe this thread isn't finished after all?

I would like to write a few words about J! 1.5 "legacy" mode in the context of K 1.6.

The main message that I have been trying to give to users is that K 1.6 is very different. It's not only different in the ways that you use it, or the way that it's installed and set up (although most of the installation process is automated), it's structurally different to K 1.5. K 1.6 uses a different database, it approaches SQL queries differently and it utilises the latest advances of Joomla.

As far as our testing of K 1.6 is concerned, we have focused our attention on Joomla 1.5 native mode. Some testing has been done with J! 1.6 (and there is still work left to do with that) but little effort was put into testing J! 1.5 running in "legacy" mode.

It's not that J! 1.5 "legacy" mode does not work with K 1.6. It's that, unless there is a need to run J! 1.0 components, modules, plugins, templates or languages, there's no need to enable the J! 1.5 Legacy plugin. If users encounter problems running "legacy" mode, it's unlikely that the plugin itself is the cause of those problems. It's more likely to be the J! 1.0 things that users still have running on their websites.

A while ago I wrote an article for the Wiki ( Legacy mode ). The purpose of legacy mode was to enable developers an extension of time to upgrade their products's compatibility with J! 1.5. The purpose was not to allow running J! 1.0 things on users' websites to continue indefinitely.

Kunena is moving forward to keep pace with the developments in Joomla. Joomla 1.6 will not have any "legacy" mode for J! 1.5 extensions (although most of those extensions should be able to be converted into J! 1.6-compatible extensions). J! 1.0 support was withdrawn in July 2009. Therefore, if users are still dependent on such things they really need to maintain an awareness of current trends if they intend to move ahead. J! 1.6 will not support J! 1.0 things in any way at all!

In the world of "disposable software", where the new software you serve on the table at dinner time tonight is stale by breakfast time tomorrow morning, there is only a handful of good reasons why you should be hanging on to relics of the past ... such as software written for Joomla 1.0! It may be fair to say that Joomla! 1.5 "legacy" mode should have negligible impact from user's perspective and there may be little appreciable loss of functionality or performance if you use it. The important matter is that "legacy" mode was only ever meant to be used as a transitional feature ... and it's a feature that that won't be around forever. For users who want to future-proof their Joomla! installations, they should eliminate their dependence on legacy mode, where possible, and shop for products that are built to run as native J! 1.5/1.6 extensions. That's really the bottom line: most customers want to run Joomla! 1.5/.6 natively; it's the market that's driving developers to stay focused.

For some users it's already difficult enough making sure that their sites are "up to speed" for K 1.6. You need to have J! 1.5.19+ installed for a start. There may be other extensions that you also have to upgrade, too. Let's eliminate the potential for really old Joomla 1.0 software to make things even more difficult. :ohmy:

If you're running "legacy mode" I believe it's about time to see why you're doing that and to get rid of the extensions that are holding you back ... and then turn off the plugin!

Please important advice for K 1.6 users about Legacy Mode

Hi:

The only extension I use that depends on Legacy Mode is DocMan. I'm aware that they now have a 1.5 native commercial version but I haven't upgraded to it because I have been very satisfied with the current free version and do not want to introduce anything potentially disruptive to the site.

Key Question: Will keeping my present version of DocMan running in legacy mode on my J 1.5.20 site be a problem when I upgrade Kunena to 1.6? I'm presently running K 1.5.12.

Sincerely,
Howard