I have spent 2 days on this forum and its of no use.

K2 is good, I say this after testing few CCK for Joomla.

Ok you may ask what I tried,

1. flexicontent - good but only for J1.5
2. Zoo - its dependent on widgetkit, couldnt get it work that much easier.
3. K2 - I was really impressed by the power.

but with such a powerful component, we should be able to flex and shape Joomla site the way we like, but its not possible.


the problems I faced with K2 - it should be the same case with everyone.

-Multiple Extra Fields for same category not possible.
-search in K2 is poor.

may be the developers are busy with K2 development and we are really grateful for this component, but what I suggest is K2 developers must have a idea pool and integrate those ideas in future releases. As I learned, the search problem is existing for many of the released K2 versions.

Now I am really stuck , and I dont know what I am going to try next.

There is a great wealth of video tutorials in the old K2 Community, located here: community.getk2.org/video

Same goes for any questions that might occur while developing a site with K2. The old community and soon the new one, provide the best source to learn K2 and solve issues.

Now that v2.5 is out, we plan to gradually fill the documentation section in this site with small practical tutorials covering all aspects of using K2. I personally plan to write 5 small tuts per week.

If you are just getting started, I can only say that working with K2 is like working with default Joomla! articles, only much easier and concise.

To get started, try this:
- Install K2 in an existing site.
- In the items list, top right, hit the import button. This will import your Joomla! articles into K2. Don't worry. The original Joomla! articles are left intact. This will allow you to have some content inside for you to play around.
- After the import, you already have some articles (items in K2 lingo) and categories that form your K2 content's structure. Now start creating some menu items to the K2 categories or items.
- Experiment with the K2 category options. When you flip the switch in some parameter in a K2 category, the switch will be enforced in all items of this category, everywhere in the site (unlike Joomla! articles).
- Enrich your K2 items: add tags, a K2 item image, video, gallery, upload some attachments.
- Extend your K2 item forms: go to the "extra fields" page in the K2 backend and create some new extra fields. "Extra fields" are new form items that extend the base K2 form. And that's one of the beauties of K2. You got a solid starting form for your item and you can extend it with additional fields. Imagine wanting to add a table of data (e.g. details about a movie) inside your items. Extra fields are the way to go. Once you create a few extra fields (you'll see that K2 asks you to group them), you "attach" these extra fields to your item forms, by assigning a particular extra field group to a K2 category.
- A K2 category can only be assigned to one extra field group. An extra field group however can be shared among many categories.
- Now after you've setup your extra fields (and groups) and assigned them to one or more categories, you can start adding more content to your K2 items. When you select a category that has an extra field group assigned to it, these fields will display in the "extra fields" tab inside the K2 item edit form.
- Create more menu items to users (user pages/blogs), tags or the uber-cool "latest items by users or categories" view.

Some additional things to keep in mind:
- K2 makes proper use of its "global" parameters. These parameters will most likely be set only once from you. Browse these parameters (see the button top right in all K2 lists in the backend). If some parameter seems funky too you, hover above its name for an in-depth explanation in the form of a "tooltip".
- We have a few but very powerful modules. One you'll be using most of the times and that's "K2 Content" (mod_k2_content). This is the primary module to fetch content from anywhere in K2 in dozens of combinations. The other modules allow you to fetch comments (K2 Comments/mod_k2_content), user lists (K2 Users/mod_k2_users), the K2 tools (mod_k2_tools) module allows you display lists like archives per year/month, a drop-down of your K2 categories, a calendar, a K2 specific search box, a tag cloud and more. Finally we have the K2 User (mod_k2_user) module, which is a replacement of the Joomla! login module: you use this module to allow your users to log into (and out of) your site. When they are logged in, they see some special actions, in relation to K2 and the powerful access rights that K2 can give to specific groups of users in K2.

More soon ;)

Hey, we've got a network of news websites that are powered by K2:

 

 

www.PrescotteNews.com

 

www.ChinoValleyeNews.com

 

www.eNewsAZ.com

 

In addition, we've got a brand-new site we're just working on: www.eNewsa2z.com

 

My only frustration is that I'm sure we're not using K2 to it's full potential. We'd love any tips and pointers from the K2 community. 

 

 

Greetings my fellow K2 community members! It is almost 4am here on the united states 's west coast and i can't sleep. So I figured I stay up a little longer and ponder the wonderful world of K2, joomla, joomla's cache, and how they play with one another! Here i have a few caching questions that i am sure everybody in the community can benefit from. It is my hope and humble request that a few of you seasoned K2/joomla power users can share some of your cache technical wisdom.

 

If you don't know the answer to all the questions, then I would greatly appreciate if you can answer those that you do know! :)
I've been clearing the whole cache when saving new and/or editing K2 articles. But as the website's cache rebuilds itself, it takes about 4-7 seconds for each page to download, as oppose to less than a second when the cache is fully rebuilt. I often notice a drop of page views (on google analytics) per visitor and overall on the day when the cache is rebuilding itself. It doesn't make sense to clear the whole cache when making a simple K2 page update--specially for larger sites.

So, it is my goal and objective to make sure that that my server serves cached K2 content fast, snappy, and in most efficient manner in order increase page views, reduce the "bounce back" rates, and overall improve visitor's experience!

So, okay, let me get right to it. Lets assume a K2 website is updated weekly, but sometimes daily. And let us also assume this is the
website's setup:


Joomla v1.5.23
The whole 100+ page website is built on K2 v2.4.1.
NoNumber!'s "Clean Cache" plugin is on and set to clean everything on "apply" and "save" on both the frontend and the backend admin interfaces.
"Global Configuration" >> "System" >> "Cache Settings" set to "yes", "Cache time" set to "43200" minutes (one week).
"System - Cache" plugin is published (last one in the order or plugins) with "Use Browser Caching" set to "yes" with a "Cache lifetime" of "43200" minutes (also one week).

Moreover, let us assume that the "new" K2 content exists on: - Home page as featured (newest articles) content - As a combination of modules (K2 content and K2 tools) on a blog section of the website.

- It exist in its default page, which is a K2 sub category menu listing.

- Over all, the newly created K2 content exists in about 20-25% of the website.

So here are the K2 cache questions:

Question # 1: When saving a new K2 page (or editing an existing), what does K2
actually do with the cache?

Question # 2: Specifically, how is K2 handling of the cache different from the way joomla articles handle theirs?

Question # 3: What would happen to the K2 articles, and K2 modules content (for both new and existing articles), if we choose not clear the whole cache when adding, and/or editing articles? Is there even a need to clear the whole website cache when saving or editing K2 articles because of the way K2 handles cached content?

Question # 4: This is more a joomla cache question. In order to speedup the website when registered folks are logged in, is there a way to force 90% of modules to be cached (and therefore reducing the amount of database queries)?

Question # 5: If we were to change the K2 sizes of the images in the K2 parameters, will the whole website rebuild the images from the original uploaded image file? For a larger website it wouldn't make a lot sense to re-upload every single image in order for the new size parameters to kick in...

Question # 6: Have you guys tried JotCache? And if so, can you share your experiences with it?

 

Question # 7: Do you guys know when the search engines web crawlers go through a joomla site if the cache pages gets rebuilt if that page hasn't been accessed by a "normal' visitor?

Question # 8: Do you have any tips, tricks, or suggestions?

Hello

 

Dont know if this is possible but would be reall cool to implement on k2.

Something like wordpress does:

justintadlock.com/archives/2009/05/06/custom-taxonomies-in-wordpress-28

 

Tags can be translated and are user friendly, the searchable extra items not.

 

Righ now we have:

 

Product Name

Tagged under: blue, big, cheap, leather

 

If we could have multiple tag types and could translate tag to whatever we like we could have something like this:

 

 

Product name

Color: Blue

Size: Big

Price Range: Cheap

Material: Leather

 

 

Tags are very powerfull and will be great type of extra field,

We could make a menu item by tag type, translate the tags, etc

 

 

I have multiple templates and multiple category.php files so to get around this I guess I could manually add the code into each sub tempate category.php file. I have multiple menu links to category lists for all my major sections and my whole site is powered with k2 so I have to address this some way. Would prefer not to add it into the html of the template. It would be great to be a able to do this via the backend however.

How would one go about adding <meta name="description" content="description text" /> into the category.php file to override the global description which appears currently? Where exactly should I place it in category.php?

Hello,

Maybe someone reed this and will take a look @ my problem.

 

Is there a way to categorize comments on items?

 

I have a forum witch i want to change in a joomla K2 site.

its some kind of online knowledge base site for electronics.

the basic meaning is that users could add service tips etc.

 

So if you take for example "cell phone" type: XXXX witch is the "item"

It should be possible that users ask or get information abouth that item.

so far no problem, but when looking deeper on this i have some serieuse problem.

I need to categorize the issues with are for example : power,display,connectivity,... failures.

Otherwise its kind of messy when all the posts are under one comment "item" .

It will be much cleaner when the users could post specific problems under the correct category.

 

I hope anyone could give me the right tip to go further

 

After all thank you for reeding this

 

Wimm72

Hi,

 

Thanks for the compliment.

 

If you are talking about the 4 modules on the front page it is Gavick News Pro GK2 but on the actual pages with the tip's, it's just a normal K2 article with a table. I use JCE as my article editor.

 

Ed

 

nano02 said:

I love the page. One question, what module you use for tips?

I love the page. One question, what module you use for tips?

Hi BN,

All the tables in the articles are static.

Ed

BN said:

Hi,

Is the table in your article static or driven from a database? I wanted to create something similar to that but not static

Hi,

Is the table in your article static or driven from a database? I wanted to create something similar to that but not static

Hi,This is my 3rd site using K2. It's a free sports tipping and betting info site. It's still a bit low on content but the latest tips are up.As always, any feedback would be appreciated.TheSportsTraders.comEd

Hi Greenslot,

Here's an example of an insert query for the #__k2_items table :

INSERT INTO `dev_k2_items` (`id`, `title`, `alias`, `catid`, `published`, `introtext`, `fulltext`, `video`, `gallery`, `extra_fields`, `extra_fields_search`, `created`, `created_by`, `created_by_alias`, `checked_out`, `checked_out_time`, `modified`, `modified_by`, `publish_up`, `publish_down`, `trash`, `access`, `ordering`, `featured`, `featured_ordering`, `image_caption`, `image_credits`, `video_caption`, `video_credits`, `hits`, `params`, `metadesc`, `metadata`, `metakey`, `plugins`) VALUES
(1, 'Welcome to Joomla!', 'welcome-to-joomla', 5, 1, 'Joomla! is a free open source framework and content publishing system designed for quickly creating highly interactive multi-language Web sites, online communities, media portals, blogs and eCommerce applications.
Joomla! provides an easy-to-use graphical user interface that simplifies the management and publishing of large volumes of content including HTML, documents, and rich media. Joomla! is used by organisations of all sizes for intranets and extranets and is supported by a community of tens of thousands of users.

', 'With a fully documented library of developer resources, Joomla! allows the customisation of every aspect of a Web site including presentation, layout, administration, and the rapid integration with third-party applications.Joomla! now provides more developer power while making the user experience all the more friendly. For those who always wanted increased extensibility, Joomla! 1.5 can make this happen.

A new framework, ground-up refactoring, and a highly-active development team brings the excitement of ''the next generation CMS'' to your fingertips. Whether you are a systems architect or a complete ''noob'' Joomla! can take you to the next level of content delivery. ''More than a CMS'' is something we have been playing with as a catchcry because the new Joomla! API has such incredible power and flexibility, you are free to take whatever direction your creative mind takes you and Joomla! can help you get there so much more easily than ever before.

Thinking Web publishing? Think Joomla!

', NULL, NULL, NULL, '', '2008-08-12 10:00:00', 62, '', 0, '0000-00-00 00:00:00', '2008-08-12 10:00:00', 62, '2006-01-03 01:00:00', '0000-00-00 00:00:00', 0, 0, 1, 0, 0, '', '', '', '', 92, 'catItemTitle=\ncatItemTitleLinked=\ncatItemFeaturedNotice=\ncatItemAuthor=\ncatItemDateCreated=\ncatItemRating=\ncatItemImage=\ncatItemIntroText=\ncatItemExtraFields=\ncatItemHits=\ncatItemCategory=\ncatItemTags=\ncatItemAttachments=\ncatItemAttachmentsCounter=\ncatItemVideo=\ncatItemVideoWidth=\ncatItemVideoHeight=\ncatItemVideoAutoPlay=\ncatItemImageGallery=\ncatItemDateModified=\ncatItemReadMore=\ncatItemCommentsAnchor=\n =Advanced\ncatItemK2Plugins=\nitemDateCreated=\nitemTitle=\nitemFeaturedNotice=\nitemAuthor=\nitemFontResizer=\nitemPrintButton=\nitemEmailButton=\nitemSocialButton=\nitemVideoAnchor=\nitemImageGalleryAnchor=\nitemCommentsAnchor=\nitemRating=\nitemImage=\nitemImgSize=\nitemImageMainCaption=\nitemImageMainCredits=\nitemIntroText=\nitemFullText=\nitemExtraFields=\nitemDateModified=\nitemHits=\nitemTwitterLink=\nitemCategory=\nitemTags=\nitemShareLinks=\nitemAttachments=\nitemAttachmentsCounter=\nitemRelated=\nitemRelatedLimit=\nitemVideo=\nitemVideoWidth=\nitemVideoHeight=\nitemVideoAutoPlay=\nitemVideoCaption=\nitemVideoCredits=\nitemImageGallery=\nitemNavigation=\nitemComments=\nitemAuthorBlock=\nitemAuthorImage=\nitemAuthorDescription=\nitemAuthorURL=\nitemAuthorEmail=\nitemAuthorLatest=\nitemAuthorLatestLimit=\nitemK2Plugins=\n\n', '', 'robots=\nauthor=', '', '');
Olivier

This is the first version of K2 powered website.The structure is not the final but the site is ready.

Powered by latest K2 component with multiple editors seperated with K2 user groups.

www.ultras.gr

Hi Folks,.... need to have a little help here.I want to create a catalog with (extra functions) but i got stuck.I see the catalog demo is almost perfect for me . (almost)The problem:The function i need is that users are able to input data to the item.Problem/Solution function ... sorry could not find another name for itMore specified.The users needs to be able to input data about repair tips.Maybe this could be done with comments ?Example: my item : cellphoneuser want to add problem:so the (comment's) also needs category's : power problems,display problems,audio problems,etcAfter the user has added his problem, other users must be able to input the solution.and also here ,i see no exit in my problem.If anyone could get me on the right trackHow can i create category's for comments in K2 ?

Hi guys, i've got a bit of a dilemma on my hands.  I've been using k2 for a few days and think it's awesome, however have noticed that my modules are loading where they shouldn't.On further investigation, i notice that when i visit certain article pages, they're being treated as if they are the home page, so any modules that are ONLY supposed to load on the home page are loading on my articles also.
ie. on this page, the news ticker and right sidebar should not be showing at all.

www.succeed2k.com/powerplay-manager-guides/ppm-new-manager-tips.html

I am at an absolute loss as to why it's doing this.  Can anybody help please?

www.samratbazaar.com.sghi friendspls comment on my k2 powered categories embedded inside joomla.since i am running an IT portal, all the consumables and accessories i uploaded in K2pls scroll to the bottom of the homepage and look to the printer consumables category on the left a request note to all the learned teacherspls advise some tips, tricks and clues where ever possible for K2, to improve my sitethanksthambisingaporehttp://www.samratbazaar.com.sg

i love this question but i think maybe sobi2 should also be included in the discussion

IMHO k2 is weak in two ways:

1. tag management
2. search or filtering

in my testing site, when i try to search a value of a custom field, i get a blank page (i did not have sef on yet while doing this).

not so familar with mtree so far, but sobi2 has powerful search.
i think k2 need to get more powerful tag management to become the most powerful CCK.

1. multiple tags menu (link) or tag group
2. tag ordering by id, alpha, number of items associated, etc
3. highly customizable tag cloud templating which allows tag lists or tag group lists displayed as "categories"
4. full content filtering including custom fields and user profile (if made public by the user himself)

a little bit more thoughts -

1. contact owner on item view ( which is key for mtree / sobi2)
2. extra fields on the fly (even for frontend adding)
3. google map

Keep this topic alive...

Hello everyone,I was looking for some clues to change the way images are displayed in an item, but failed anyway. Can anybody give me some tips and directions where I can hack around to change the default lightbox function or even disable it? I did not mean the gallery powered by SIG pro. I was talking about the built in image in any items created by K2. Any help is highly appreciated!

Hi there,

I also think it would be very useful to be able to set category restrictions for backend users.
The site I'm working on uses K2 to present a project portfolio with many subcategories as well as a Vacancy "database" with multiple categories.
While one group of users maintains the regular content and the projects portfolio, another group maintains the vacancies categories.
I would like to be able to assign access for these groups so that they can only edit and add items in their own categories. This is of course possible for the frontend using user groups, BUT ...

This is a multi lingual site, so I have to use joomfish in combination with K2.
Since running Joomfish causes K2 to disable front-end editing, the option of restricting user access to certain categories through the front-end will not work for me. I had to give both user groups backend access.

For these cases I think it would be very useful to be able to restrict access to certain categories in the backend as well.

Anyway, thanks for K2, i think it is very powerful and a great (well written) component.

Keep up the good work!