Extended Partnership with Jiliko
K2Joom is very pleased to announce that we have extended our existing partnership with Jiliko.net to allow us to distribute and support a further 6 of their Joomla! extensions for K2, in addition to the hugely popular K2 MultiNotify.
This partnerships sees the sales and support of the following extension move from Jiliko to K2Joom, which allows Jiliko more time to concentrate on further development of these extensions amd custom work for K2 and Joomla clients.
From immediate effect, we now promote the following Jiliko extensions:
- K2 MultiNotify, subscription based.
- K2 Template Manger, subscription based.
- Sherpa, subscription based.
- CSS4K2, FREE
- K2Joom Fish, FREE
- K2 Link Item, FREE
- K2 USer View, FREE
All of these extensions and more can be found in the updated Extensions section of the K2Joom site.
Any subscription based extension is provided with unlimited updates and acccess to our support tickets for the duration of the subscription.
We look forward to many more years working together in providing quality solutions for K2 users.
25% Off - Special Offer
To mark the release of our Rounded template for Joomla 1.7/K2 V2.5 we are offering this limited special offer.
For the next 25 days, 25% off the purchase of K2 Rounded, either download only or with support, limited to the first 25 purchase only.
So stop reading and go and get your copy.
K2 Rounded Template Updated
K2Joom is pleased to announce, the immediate release of our K2 Template Rounded, for Joomla 1.7/K2 V2.5.
Our popular template has been updated to take into account the additional code added to the default K2 template and the new file structure for page views.
This template includes a modified k2.css, all required images and the php files for the views.
Views include: Category, Item, Author, Tag and Latest Items
This new version of Rounded is included with the previous Joomla 1.5/K2 V2.4 version in the Rounded subscription.
if you have a current subscription, simply login and the new version will be available in your downloads.
Thank you all for your support and patience.
Cleaning code in Dreamweaver
When I am editing html or php files when creating my templates, I use Dreamweaver. I have had it for years and it has always worked for me, but there has always being an annoyance.
More often than not, when the file is downloaded from the server to local copy and then opened for editing, a mass of empty lines are added between each code line, bulking out the code.
My OCD kicks in and I have to clear up these blasted blank lines, but it is tedious and takes a lot of time, now I have found a solution.
So if you use Dreamweaver and wish to remove the excess blank spaces, give this a try.
- Open the file in Dreamweaver
- Press CTRL + F to open the Find and Replace tool
- Select Current Document in the Find In selector
- Select Source Code in the Search selector.
- Make sure the checkbox calle Use Regular Expression is enabled.
- In the Findbox, type:
[\r\n]{2,}
- In the Replace box, type:
\n
- Press the Replace All button.
After a few seconds, depending on how severe the clean up is, all those rogue blank spaces will be gone.
Hope someone finds this useful.
Customising Tag Views - Information
For the last couple of years, I have been providing templates, training and customisation of these views and now that V2.5 of K2 is out, there are a couple of considerations to take into account if your creating your own.
Most view customisation continues to use the standard MVC over ride philosophy, except for the tag view to a certain extent.
What is a tag?
A tag is a way of linking content, items, which can be across a variety of categories.Imagine your selling electrical items on your site, you can use tags in items such as TV, DVD Player, PLASMA, LCD etc etc.
With the related tags links in K2, an item can not only display the tags that have been set, but also items that have the same tag, even from different categories. More information on how to use this will be covered in a future guide.
Template Assignment
Ordinarily, a K2 template over ride can be selected from within the category parameter.These templates can be either in the component (not recommended) or in the Joomla template (recommended).
You can also select a K2 template via a K2 menu link, more on this later.
The Problem
A tag can link items from different categories.Each category could have could have been assigned a different template.
Which template should be loaded?
The answer = the default template.
So if you have styled your tag.php in your template and you cant get it to display when a tag link in an item is clicked, you now know why.
An Alternative
Your tag over ride can still be used and displayed, but to see it requires a K2 tag menu link to be created.Go ahead, create a menu link, select K2, then select the tag type.
In the basic parameters you can then select your K2 template over ride. Complete the rest of the required menu link settings, don't forget to select a tag and to publish it.
Now on the frontend, refresh and click on your newly created tag menu item, hey presto, your over ride style is loaded.
A solution
So how are we going to get the tag.php file from your template to display when a tag is clicked in an item?Well, for now you will have to move your tag.php and replace the one in the default template.
Its also worth considering, that you will have to add any new css changes to k2.css in the component too.
Even if you use CSS4K2, it wont work on this view. I even tested this by creating a "default" template over ride in the Joomla template, but the component k2.css will still be loaded.
A Suggestion
I think the following would be great if it could be implimented.In the backend, we can edit tags, so why not allow the ability to select a K2 template which is loaded on a per tag basis, or assign a global template.
Assigning a global template would be essentially the same as saying hey, dont use the default, use this one on every view, but still allow the default to kick in if the view has not been included in the over ride.
Conclusion
Template over rides in K2 allow for some fantastically flexible layouts to be created, but you have to have some understanding on how best to use them, even after all these years, I am having to learn new tricks.I hope this guide provides a little insight for you, creates some questions or gets you interested in diving into templating.
Holiday Special 20% Discount
Thanks Giving, Black Friday, Cyber Monday sale at k2joom.com.20% Discount on ALL #K2 Templates and Extensions on http://k2joom.com
Simply use coupon code HOLIDAYSALE during sign up to receive the discount.
Offer ends 29th November.
Happy Days
Changes are planned
Its been a busy few months, since coming back from JAB11.
- K2Joom had to be rebuilt due to a hack on our old hosting company and so we moved to Rochen, offical Joomla hosts.
- Several new partnerships were made on other Joomla products, which are working in the background.
- We launched the new K2 template manager extension, to help install K2 templates.
- Several new templates designs were made, but put on hold due to the immenant release of v2.5, which was delayed by many months.
- K2 finally launched K2 V2.5 for Joomla 1.5, 1.6, 1.7
- Joomlaworks launched the new offical K2 site, run on Joomla instead of Ning.
So whats next?
A new K2 site has been built and is in test for release before Christmas, its all a little top secret at the moment, so stay tuned.
K2Joom site is going to be rebuilt again, this time at our pace. The current site works, but could be better as it was kind of rushed at the time to get it back live after the hack.
The new site will be Joomla 1.7 and K2 V2.5.
We will be dropping Dioscouri Ambra Subs in favour of RS Memberships and dropping Dioscouri Billets in favour of RS Tickets as we have found RS to be much superior.
The Simon Says website simon.getk2.org is going to be closing, so we will move all K2 documents back to its home at K2Joom.
We will be improving the exisiting K2 template demo pages and make a few tweaks to the exisiting templates.
At this stage, we are looking to rebuild Rounded and Profiler to work fully in V2.5.
More focus is going to placed on providing K2 templates and extensions, with an improved partnership with our great friend Jiliko.net.
There are some exciting times ahead and we look forward to having you with us on this journey.
Simon
An Update
Its been a while since I wrote a blog post and since K2 V2.5 has finally been released for Joomla 1.7, I wanted to give some news on what is happening.
- K2 MultiNotify
We are in the process of updating this to be 2.5 compatible.
Once this has been tested and released, it will be made available in the Multi Notify subscription packages and a further blog announcement while be made. - K2 Templates
New template releases have been slow specifically due to the immenant release of K2 V2.5, but due to delays in its release, I too have had to hold back on the development phases of some new templates.
There is a slight difference in the file structure on 2.5 and all files have additional code to make them Joomla 1.7 complaint.
Unfortunatley, templates made in 2.4.1 are not directly compatible to 2.5.
I am looking at converting the existing templates to beboth 2.4.1 and 2.5, but they may have to be two seperate versions.
2 New templates designs for 2.5 have been designed, coding is taking a little longer due to K2 support demands and the fact that there are now extra views that need to be styled. It takes almost as long to make a full K2 template as it does a Joomla template. - A new K2 Template Manager has been released in conjunction with USJoomlaPros.
Thanks to them, they have taken my idea and coded this and now its available to purchase and download.
Again, this is currently on 2.4.1 ready, and 2.5 version is being investigated. - Discussions with other developers have been made to promote and sell their plugins and extensions on K2Joom, so there could be more downloads available soon, including some free ones, as some developers are making K2 v2.4.1 versions obsolete< i would still like to see them made available.
If you have anything you wish to be promoted on K2Joom, then let me know. - K2Joom is going to get another overhaul in the coming months.
It is hoped to become Joomla 1.7 and K2 2.5, but I am waiting on some essential components to be J1.7 ready.
The new site will be much cleaner in style, already have a template ready and we will be moving away from Ambra Subs and Billets in favour of RS Membership and RS Tickets. The support I have had from RS on a new site development has far exceeded the support received form Dioscouri.
There is also chance that Red Membership could be used too as it has some fantastic potential to be further expanded with Red List, but we will have to see what happens about some customisation that has been requested. Of all three, Red Coomponents is the only company that has shown interest in providing customisation. So they all have pros and cons. - The biggest piece of news is still being kept under wraps, but within the next 2 weeks, something seriously new is going to happen.
Until then, you will just have to subscribe to this cateogry, so that you can be kept informed of what that might actually be.
Finally, K2 does have a new website at www.getk2.org and thankfully Joomlaworks has gotten away from Ning and produced a Joomla, K2 and Kunena based site. Congratualtions on the release.
I am also please to have been made part of the K2 site team, along with William White and Olivier from Jiliko.net, so we are continuing to support K2 Users on the forums.
Thats it for now, but stay in touch for more news soon.
New Release - K2 Template Manager
I am pleased to announce that a new component has today been released in a joint collaboration between K2Joom and US Joomla Pros.
K2 Template Manager is a Joomla 1.5 extension which as the name suggests, helps you manage your K2 Templates.
The extension will display which K2 templates you have installed, allow you to edit the files within Joomla and even more importantly, allow you to install K2 templates.
Installing K2 templates manaully is not difficult if you know about Joomla over rides and K2 template structure, so for me its easy. What I have found though that despite producing several in depth guides on the subject and even providing 1 to 1 tuition some users just dont have the time, dont understand or dont need to know how to do it, they just want it done.
So K2 Template Mananger was designed just for that.
Say take a look at the extension section to learn more, purchase and download.
As with my other subscriptions, this comes with ticket support and product updates for the duration of the subscription.
Feedback is welcomed.
Change to commenting system
As of today, I have ditched the default K2 commenting system due to a daily deluge of 1000's of spam comments from fake accounts in China. Unfortunatley, it means previous comments are not shown at this time, until I find a way to display just previous K2 comments and not the comment form.
Now you will find that I am using Disqus instead, integrated into K2 content. To find out how to integrate Disqus into your K2 site, then please read my revised guide on Simon Says Get K2 website.
Feel free to provide feedback, but if you spam then theres a good chance your IP is going to be traced and blocked.
