Question Kunena 1.6 - a moderator's view

I am very impatient

I would like to return to the original discussion topic.

I want to remind people that the information, views and matter I've presented are based on a preliminary work-in-progress version of Kunena 1.6. What I have presented should not be taken as an official endorsement of what the finished product will look like. The illustrations I have given are only intended to show what people may encounter with the new version.

In future I will keep out of reasoning why certain features may exist or may not exist or operate in a particular manner. I'll just stick to the facts as I am aware of them. Others are free to add their comments if they like, but I think it would be better to wait until a version is made publicly available.

I would also like to pick up on a message that appeared in another discussion topic recently. In that topic there was a reference to a design for configuring the Kunena RSS feed. I have no comment.

Some of the most difficult questions to answer have been the login redirection ones arising from the many attempts to integrate Kunena (and Fireboard even before that) with whatever login extension is used where Kunena is installed. Whether you use JomSocial or Community Builder, some other login mechanism, or just the core Joomla login module, these problems have never quite been resolved satisfactorily.

The following screenshot (taken from K 1.5.9) shows a number of problem areas that I have highlighted in yellow:
The first issue is the login link. Kunena.com has received countless requests for advice from why the link's behaviour seems to be counter-intuitive (or doesn't work at all) to "how can I eliminate this link altogether".

An then there's the "The administrator has disabled public write access" issue.

K 1.6 changes these behaviours as the following screenshot shows:
You will observe that K 1.6 now includes a login form (to replace the link) - that I've indicated with the red rounded rectangle. The "administrator has disabled public write access" message has also been removed. But you may be wondering why there are buttons (that I've ringed in purple) suggesting public write access when I defined my forum to be only viewable, not writeable, by the public? Ah, there's the trick! If users were to click those buttons before they login, they would be taken to another screen telling them they need to login, as the following screenshot shows:
Simple, but effective!

But what if you don't even allow the public to view your Kunena forum?

This is what users currently see in K 1.5:
With K 1.6 it's not really all that different:
I rather like these changes (even though, as I continually remind people, these snapshots are taken from a work-in-progress and there is no certainty that what I have shown will make it into the final release). As you can see, there's will be a few more issues for users to become acquainted with in K 1.6. It's not merely a cosmetic face-lift!

And that ghastly "Forum Tools" Javascript feature has gone the way of the dinosaur, too! :woohoo:

BTW - the explanation for the strange subject:

yes this is much needed. Just to login now to reply to this message i had to click login > it then redirected to jomsocial community login page > which then when logged in redirected to my profile page > then had to click on forum > then had to click latest posts > then found this thread and clicked it > then clicked quick reply. phew... im exhausted

also, with the Registered Users Only message, it needs to have the same redirection to the page to login or create an account. this should then redirect to the page you came from (eg the thread you want to post into)

peetree21 wrote:

With the Registered Users Only message, it needs to have the same redirection to the page to login or create an account. this should then redirect to the page you came from (eg the thread you want to post into)

It might be a little tricky for unregistered users to complete a login form and be taken directly to the thread they want to post into, if they can't view the forum in the first place, wouldn't it? :S

Hi Everyone:

I'm interested in finding out if K1.6 will have private forums that are only viewable to moderators and admins or will they be viewable to everyone but only accessible to moderators and admins.

In my case it would be very useful to have a forum topic that is visible only to moderators and admins. I do not know if either of these features are possible in K1.5.8 which I am using now.

Along similar lines, is it possible to archive a thread and thus make it invisible, then de-archive it at a later time. On my site, we sometimes have personal threads specific to an individual and when the person's subscription on the site lapses, it would be great to be able to archive or hide this thread. Thanks!

Sincerely,
Howard