Cobalt 
Version
8.185 (last update on Feb 22, 2013)
Rating
Compatibility
Reviews
27
License
GPLv2 or later
Non-Commercial
Type
Date Added
30 June 2012
You can build almost anything: Blog, forum, support desk or private ticket system, real estate or auto market, job board or product catalog!!!
Cobalt 7 is a successor of Mighty Resources but all new, completely redone to be absolutely native for Joomla 2.5.
- Flexible CCK - Wide variety of fields text, textarea, html, image, select, multi-select, ... All fields are highly editable and will always give you more than you expect.
- Notification System - iPhone or Facebook style notifications system allows users subscribing to articles or section/categories and being notified on any occurring event.
- Multi-type - Allows you to submit, handle, search, display, order and filter different content types of data within the same section/category.
- Search & Filtering System – Smart and configurable FULL TEXT search system. Advanced search using filters by field values.
- Speed - High performance is one of our main concerns.
- Multi-Vendor - Users submit from frontend and can even create their own categories and have their own home pages.
- Comment System – Built-in comment system, along with the ability to use any other system like Komento.
- Rating System – 3 different calculating modes. Single or multiple property ratings.
- Moderator Manager – Set any users as moderator to any section, and fine-tune his permissions.
- Templates Powered - Every record list or record display uses templates which can be managed through a Template Manager.
There are much much more features in Cobalt 7 than what we can describe within this short description. Try for yourself this incredible component and become addicted by the unrivaled power of flexibility, which no other JOOMLA CCK can provide.
I'm am Mighty Resources User and i thought i'm not upgrading to Cobalt and going with another CCK. So i tried SEBLOD, ZOO and others, but i was not happy. Don't get me wrong, they all very good, but Cobalt seems to be the best in my eyes. There all have pro and cons. The most important things for me are flexibility, customization and fast learning.
So here a few details why i think so. The system is very easy to understand. Templates and Plugins have a very simple structure. I was able to write my own plugin in just one hour (it shows a thumbnail on a link).
You can do almost anything with Cobalt. I use it for a gallery, reviews, a list with icehockey stadiums (Googlemaps) and podcasts.
The only thing it lacks is a good import feature. So i can not import my Migthy Resources articles. But in there support forums they write that they are working on import feature.
Also, I have to say that the support is very responsive.
So here a few details why i think so. The system is very easy to understand. Templates and Plugins have a very simple structure. I was able to write my own plugin in just one hour (it shows a thumbnail on a link).
You can do almost anything with Cobalt. I use it for a gallery, reviews, a list with icehockey stadiums (Googlemaps) and podcasts.
The only thing it lacks is a good import feature. So i can not import my Migthy Resources articles. But in there support forums they write that they are working on import feature.
Also, I have to say that the support is very responsive.
I was using predecessor of Cobalt which was Mighty Resources and from the start I know I made the right decission. I tried almost any CCK for Joomla and I came to conclusion that MR was better than any other (lot of options, fields, easy templating, developer friendly, great community and great support).
It was no brainer to use Cobalt for my projects when it came out. And it was again the right decision. You can really build anything with it. And with Emerald (their membership extension) integration there are no limits.
The learning curve can be a little bit long but the support is always there for you. And I love that they do regular updates every thursday with new functionalities and improvments.
It was no brainer to use Cobalt for my projects when it came out. And it was again the right decision. You can really build anything with it. And with Emerald (their membership extension) integration there are no limits.
The learning curve can be a little bit long but the support is always there for you. And I love that they do regular updates every thursday with new functionalities and improvments.
This ckk is great really, i played with and now what i can tell:
+Powerfull AUDITlog
+THE BEST PERSONAL HOMEPAGE MANAGEMENT (with cobalt users can have their own hompage with their records, video, etc) COULD BE IMPROVED
+fast
+powerful video and audio field
+good gallery field
+usefull relation and read also field (could be improved)
+forum the best app forum (private comment,etc)
- no modules positions in template, then it requires moderateHTML/CSS Knowledges to do that (it seems the power of cobalt is in the templating)
-Resources had more "usefull" field like polls, etc
-Problem with some templates providers
-MORE TEMPLATES PLEASE
I think it has a great potential to be an amazing cck but currenly it is not, maybe for cobalt 9
+Powerfull AUDITlog
+THE BEST PERSONAL HOMEPAGE MANAGEMENT (with cobalt users can have their own hompage with their records, video, etc) COULD BE IMPROVED
+fast
+powerful video and audio field
+good gallery field
+usefull relation and read also field (could be improved)
+forum the best app forum (private comment,etc)
- no modules positions in template, then it requires moderateHTML/CSS Knowledges to do that (it seems the power of cobalt is in the templating)
-Resources had more "usefull" field like polls, etc
-Problem with some templates providers
-MORE TEMPLATES PLEASE
I think it has a great potential to be an amazing cck but currenly it is not, maybe for cobalt 9
Yes, the learning curve is a bit steep... and yes, there are so many settings you will feel a bit overwhelmed at a first glance, but let me tell you one thing: once you have understood how powerful this CCK is, you will drop anything else you are using for 3 main reasons:
1 - with Cobalt you can create ABSOLUTELY anything
2 - their support is outstanding
3 - the technology they use is unbeatable
if you are a joomla pro webdesigner, using Cobalt will give yout the possibility to provide your clients with incredible features and create very complex websites.
It is absolutely worth the effort to spend a couple of weeks to learn everything Cobalt can do.
1 - with Cobalt you can create ABSOLUTELY anything
2 - their support is outstanding
3 - the technology they use is unbeatable
if you are a joomla pro webdesigner, using Cobalt will give yout the possibility to provide your clients with incredible features and create very complex websites.
It is absolutely worth the effort to spend a couple of weeks to learn everything Cobalt can do.
This is the first time I have reviewed anything and COBALT has given me the reason to.
This extension is incredible and very easy to use. If there was any problem the tech support was super fast and had the problem fixed instantly. I will continue to use this product and look forward to anything these folks have to put out!
Thanks again to Team Cobalt for doing such amazing work!
This extension is incredible and very easy to use. If there was any problem the tech support was super fast and had the problem fixed instantly. I will continue to use this product and look forward to anything these folks have to put out!
Thanks again to Team Cobalt for doing such amazing work!
First review for me here on JED, and for a very good reason.
I was delivered the job to build a bussiness listing website with a little complicated forms. Having few knowledges of php i first looked for extensions like SOBIPRO, JSEBLOD and FABRIK.
SOBIPRO is/was slow and nowhere near the capabilities of Cobalt.. Fabrik not so easy for me and JSEBLOD looked like it was the way to go.. but then i found Cobalt. So here it goes:
Excelent Support - one the best i've seen, Sergey is very active on the forum, and some subscribers members are helpfull too. Usually the answer comes within 12 hours and always very helpfull.
At start i wanted to ask some questions and they answered to all of them on the forum, without having bought any subscription. Cobalt is free but if you want to take it to a new level... you won't regret buying a subscription.
Features - Every thursday they release updates and new fields if available, and anyone found any bug? no problem.. fixed in the same day. They always listen to the clients requests and think about ways to implement it.
Fast - One of their priorities.. if a feature turns Cobalt slow.. they don't implement it unless they can make it even faster. And believe me they well not rest until it's done.
Solutions for everyone - The fields cover most if not ALL scenarios. Relation fields, e-commerce fields, contact forms, comments, video, galleries, modules for everything, one of the most powerfull geomap fields i've seen, plugin, integration with Falang as well as many other extensions.
Never stop - They are always inovatting, they are never satisfied with what they deliver to their clients which for me is something that always will be reminding me that if i want to build a website.. i always think about using Cobalt first.
I was delivered the job to build a bussiness listing website with a little complicated forms. Having few knowledges of php i first looked for extensions like SOBIPRO, JSEBLOD and FABRIK.
SOBIPRO is/was slow and nowhere near the capabilities of Cobalt.. Fabrik not so easy for me and JSEBLOD looked like it was the way to go.. but then i found Cobalt. So here it goes:
Excelent Support - one the best i've seen, Sergey is very active on the forum, and some subscribers members are helpfull too. Usually the answer comes within 12 hours and always very helpfull.
At start i wanted to ask some questions and they answered to all of them on the forum, without having bought any subscription. Cobalt is free but if you want to take it to a new level... you won't regret buying a subscription.
Features - Every thursday they release updates and new fields if available, and anyone found any bug? no problem.. fixed in the same day. They always listen to the clients requests and think about ways to implement it.
Fast - One of their priorities.. if a feature turns Cobalt slow.. they don't implement it unless they can make it even faster. And believe me they well not rest until it's done.
Solutions for everyone - The fields cover most if not ALL scenarios. Relation fields, e-commerce fields, contact forms, comments, video, galleries, modules for everything, one of the most powerfull geomap fields i've seen, plugin, integration with Falang as well as many other extensions.
Never stop - They are always inovatting, they are never satisfied with what they deliver to their clients which for me is something that always will be reminding me that if i want to build a website.. i always think about using Cobalt first.
I have been a user of the components made of Mighty, in Kyrgyzstan, from 2008 of. It has always a excellent support, extensions that have a lot of hidden functions (i was still possible to find functions after i have used Resources component in four years, now Cobalt). If something don't work, its easy to report, its easy to be understand and its fast fixed.
If i had the election today, about K2, Cobalt and a few other CCK's, i definitive have elected Cobalt of its strange!
If i had the election today, about K2, Cobalt and a few other CCK's, i definitive have elected Cobalt of its strange!
At the outset, I need to stress that I am utterly clueless in all things php and similar. Having said that, I looked at a number of options before going with Cobalt 7 and have to say I'm still awaiting responses to pre-purchase questions on some of them!!
Despite my limitations I have managed to put together a site with (for me) some complicated permissions, custom forms and article layouts... What stands out for me here is the client service - these guys are phenomenal when it comes to patience, explanations, helping me learn
Cobalt 7 may be new but even as a novice I see tremendous potential and look forward to additional features in Cobalt 8. It's actually fairly simple once you get the hang of how things fit together, and the team have walked with me every step of the way. I am impressed and do not regret my choice at all
Despite my limitations I have managed to put together a site with (for me) some complicated permissions, custom forms and article layouts... What stands out for me here is the client service - these guys are phenomenal when it comes to patience, explanations, helping me learn
Cobalt 7 may be new but even as a novice I see tremendous potential and look forward to additional features in Cobalt 8. It's actually fairly simple once you get the hang of how things fit together, and the team have walked with me every step of the way. I am impressed and do not regret my choice at all
Sure this is a good extension and support team is amazing but i give 4 stars because it is not perfect :
currently we don't have jomsocial or anahita integrations, we have gravatar. we don't have lots of modules to diplays articles except from spiralscript (seems very goood but i did not purchase)BUT seems they have good seo features (rare for a cck) and a really powerfull forum (in several case better than Kunena or agora)
Conclusion : Really good CCK but need more features (integrations, facebook / twiiter)
Now i use another CCK but i think purchase mintjoomla membership if cobalt has more features in futur because with the next generation of cobalt, cobalt will become the best cck
currently we don't have jomsocial or anahita integrations, we have gravatar. we don't have lots of modules to diplays articles except from spiralscript (seems very goood but i did not purchase)BUT seems they have good seo features (rare for a cck) and a really powerfull forum (in several case better than Kunena or agora)
Conclusion : Really good CCK but need more features (integrations, facebook / twiiter)
Now i use another CCK but i think purchase mintjoomla membership if cobalt has more features in futur because with the next generation of cobalt, cobalt will become the best cck
I have my first site working with Cobalt.
I was looking for some tool supporting multiple categories, and in which the users could enter the contents them selves.
Cobalt is very flexible and offers lots of possibilities.
The support is very helpful and efficient: solved every issue.
I was looking for some tool supporting multiple categories, and in which the users could enter the contents them selves.
Cobalt is very flexible and offers lots of possibilities.
The support is very helpful and efficient: solved every issue.
My experience with Cobalt 7 and it's dev team has been great. I am using this tool to create a staff directory for a university where faculty can be linked to classrooms, labs and departments using the relational field in Cobalt. I recommend buying the complete package to get all of Cobalt's features. Support has been top notch.
I had a very positive experience with Cobalt and the team behind it.
I wanted a system that would keep users on the frontend but give them the option to enter articles using particular fields in a very simple manner. Cobalt achieved this, I did have to go through some documentation but it was all worth it.
I asked on the support forum about a feature and they had it ready in the next build a couple of days away - I don't know if it was planned or not but it felt really professional. I was also able to find a Russian translation (still to be installed).
The team was very helpful with several queries. 10/10, and it's free!
I wanted a system that would keep users on the frontend but give them the option to enter articles using particular fields in a very simple manner. Cobalt achieved this, I did have to go through some documentation but it was all worth it.
I asked on the support forum about a feature and they had it ready in the next build a couple of days away - I don't know if it was planned or not but it felt really professional. I was also able to find a Russian translation (still to be installed).
The team was very helpful with several queries. 10/10, and it's free!
I have nothing but good things to say about Cobalt, The Unbeatable CCK. It is an awesome extension and a must have for those who wants to build an outstanding website.
As far as we know, standard Joomla installation only support standard article publishing. When we post article, we only provide title, category, article content and access rights. Nothing special. Our imagination is limited and we couldn't do anything to expand our website features.
I've been used Mighty Resources, the predecessor of Cobalt for years now. The same as Mighty Resources, Cobalt give me a chance to develop a customized website in Joomla. Whatever imagination do you have, you could make it real with Cobalt. The sky is the limit.
As Flexible Content Construction Kit (CCK), Cobalt open many possibilities. We could have a business listings, product catalog, knowledge base, real estate, cooking recipes website, etc.
Here are some highlights about Cobalt:
1. THE SKY IS THE LIMIT: You could create any website. I suggest you use it for complex website to maximize its power.
2. TEMPLATE MANAGER: You could display content/article in many ways or add standalone php code in Cobalt template.
3. ADVANCED CONTENT FILTERS: You could filter contents with many criteria through many fields (text, select simple, select relate, etc)
4. MULTI FEATURES: Votes, ratings, tags, notification system, content relationships, comment system, etc
5. FOR EVERYONE: Everyone can use Cobalt from novice to expert. If you already have some knowledge about HTML, CSS, Joomla, and PHP, then nothing to worry about. If you know a litle just like me, be prepare to spare some time to learn it but don't worry, your effort will not go in vain.
6. ALWAYS THERE WHEN NEEDED: Outstanding support from ME Team. Sometimes there are some misunderstanding because of language barrier but overall the people behind Mighty Extensions is helpful and know what they're doing.
Thanks for everything, Sergey and the team! Keep up the great work!
As far as we know, standard Joomla installation only support standard article publishing. When we post article, we only provide title, category, article content and access rights. Nothing special. Our imagination is limited and we couldn't do anything to expand our website features.
I've been used Mighty Resources, the predecessor of Cobalt for years now. The same as Mighty Resources, Cobalt give me a chance to develop a customized website in Joomla. Whatever imagination do you have, you could make it real with Cobalt. The sky is the limit.
As Flexible Content Construction Kit (CCK), Cobalt open many possibilities. We could have a business listings, product catalog, knowledge base, real estate, cooking recipes website, etc.
Here are some highlights about Cobalt:
1. THE SKY IS THE LIMIT: You could create any website. I suggest you use it for complex website to maximize its power.
2. TEMPLATE MANAGER: You could display content/article in many ways or add standalone php code in Cobalt template.
3. ADVANCED CONTENT FILTERS: You could filter contents with many criteria through many fields (text, select simple, select relate, etc)
4. MULTI FEATURES: Votes, ratings, tags, notification system, content relationships, comment system, etc
5. FOR EVERYONE: Everyone can use Cobalt from novice to expert. If you already have some knowledge about HTML, CSS, Joomla, and PHP, then nothing to worry about. If you know a litle just like me, be prepare to spare some time to learn it but don't worry, your effort will not go in vain.
6. ALWAYS THERE WHEN NEEDED: Outstanding support from ME Team. Sometimes there are some misunderstanding because of language barrier but overall the people behind Mighty Extensions is helpful and know what they're doing.
Thanks for everything, Sergey and the team! Keep up the great work!
This is not a common component, this is a suite of components, plugins, modules which all together combine in an excellent solution. I've been using MightyExtensions (and now Cobalt) for almost 4 years, and have been doing lot of stuff with it!
I started using it for an old personal startup and then began using it as a base solution for almost all of my projects (I provide web solutions to agencies, so I did lot of different solutions, from multivendor websites to institutionals', all using Mighty/Cobalt).
I have experienced its quality, surf the code, change it, customized it, talked to support frequently. All is an awesome experience.
Frankly, I think this solution is great and I haven't had second thoughts on supporting the team behind. I certainly became a great fan! It's amazing what you can do with this extension and a bit of imagination!
I started using it for an old personal startup and then began using it as a base solution for almost all of my projects (I provide web solutions to agencies, so I did lot of different solutions, from multivendor websites to institutionals', all using Mighty/Cobalt).
I have experienced its quality, surf the code, change it, customized it, talked to support frequently. All is an awesome experience.
Frankly, I think this solution is great and I haven't had second thoughts on supporting the team behind. I certainly became a great fan! It's amazing what you can do with this extension and a bit of imagination!
I was hoping this extension deserved some attention, but,...I was very unsuccessful.
- when installing I got errors, then second installation went through
- after installing everywhere I moved I was getting Error 500, table does no exist. When I tried to looked at the site's forum to search for some hints, I got bunch of errors on a search page
- looked up in a DOCs but the documentation is completely disorganized, and there is no even a page explaining the whole concept of this component, and how it works, so most of it is a guessing...
English language used has lots of styling errors and sometimes it is hard to understand what the author is talking about
- I watched a video tutorial which uses a yellow cursor covering underlying screen which makes it harder to see where the mouse is pointing. This tutorial although pretty informative is very chaotic and doesn't start from the ground up how to use the component. Instead it shows unnecessary topics on how to download the extension from the developer site (waste of time).
Terminology used in this component is also somewhat strange as most people, while working with databases use the concept of: DATABASE, COLUMN (or field), COLUMN TYPE, KEY/INDEX etc. some of the terms in Cobalt have to be guessed a lot.
- developer website is causing problems as well. Forum is hard to operate and I was not even able to post a message. Their system supposed to send a confirmation email, which I have never received...
The bottom line is: I wasted several hours trying this extension, but it was not worth it. Perhaps developer will take all this into consideration and do some improvements
I decided to remove it as it was useless and full of bugs
- when installing I got errors, then second installation went through
- after installing everywhere I moved I was getting Error 500, table does no exist. When I tried to looked at the site's forum to search for some hints, I got bunch of errors on a search page
- looked up in a DOCs but the documentation is completely disorganized, and there is no even a page explaining the whole concept of this component, and how it works, so most of it is a guessing...
English language used has lots of styling errors and sometimes it is hard to understand what the author is talking about
- I watched a video tutorial which uses a yellow cursor covering underlying screen which makes it harder to see where the mouse is pointing. This tutorial although pretty informative is very chaotic and doesn't start from the ground up how to use the component. Instead it shows unnecessary topics on how to download the extension from the developer site (waste of time).
Terminology used in this component is also somewhat strange as most people, while working with databases use the concept of: DATABASE, COLUMN (or field), COLUMN TYPE, KEY/INDEX etc. some of the terms in Cobalt have to be guessed a lot.
- developer website is causing problems as well. Forum is hard to operate and I was not even able to post a message. Their system supposed to send a confirmation email, which I have never received...
The bottom line is: I wasted several hours trying this extension, but it was not worth it. Perhaps developer will take all this into consideration and do some improvements
I decided to remove it as it was useless and full of bugs
Owner's reply
Sorry to hear about your experience with Cobalt.
The indication of missing tables points to a broken installation, which can be caused by a lot of reasons (broken installation file, permission problems on the server etc.)
We provide direct assistance through our support desk http://support.mintjoomla.com and even do the installation of our free component if someone experiences problems with it.
I am sure all this problems could have been easily resolved by reporting it to the support desk.
Your comment about the documentation is very valid and as indicated in our document section, after focusing on making the componet stable, documentation is now our priority.
In fact, over the last days we published several quite comprehensive articles for users who want to unleash the full power of Cobalt.
A demo site, which deeper explanation of fields and templates as well as examples are on the way as well.
Since I am the one who produced the criticized video, i have to apologize for my English. Unfortunately my native language is not English, but based on earlier feedback, it was quite well received by other watchers. Since the core Cobalt component is offered for free, we don't have the resources to hire professional speakers.
Your issue with the "yellow cursor" is based on the used screen recording software and is used in millions of tutorials worldwide.
We might consider your recommendation about our tutorial and split it into several steps, starting from downloading up to the actual usage (which is covered now in 1 video).
Since we are using some advanced technologies and a very complex database scheme, we try to simplify things for our users and don't want to confuse them with too technical terms. We follow the Joomla example here and using Section, Categories , Types and Fields. The average user will not need to know anything about SQL or database design. For the advanced user, we provide API access which will simplify the whole process of accessing data.
Something must have been wrong when you tried to post a message on our support desk, because since the start of it, we dont even require a registration to post there.
Sorry again for your experience, but if you experience some bugs, we would appreciate a detailed feedback (error message) to fix the problem and provide a better FREE solution to the Joomla community, as we hope the community will also to appreciate our time and efforts which went into this FREE component.
Thanks for your review.
I would never register to this site just to write a review for a component or something, but this component has truly earned it.
Although the learning curve is hard - as said before - it has nearly unlimited features AND(!) the support of the developers is just great. Bug fixes are made within hours after the report of a bug and feature requests normally don't take longer than a week (fastest for me was one day).
One component that was really worth buying (although the free version is already very powerful).
Although the learning curve is hard - as said before - it has nearly unlimited features AND(!) the support of the developers is just great. Bug fixes are made within hours after the report of a bug and feature requests normally don't take longer than a week (fastest for me was one day).
One component that was really worth buying (although the free version is already very powerful).
I used each and every content construction extension out there. No doubt, they all have their strengths, benefits and weaknesses. Somehow, its possible to build an extended content type in any of them. It really depends on the project and your needs. Custom type building and submission is common to all of them...
But did you think about how visiters browse and search your extended content types?
In my humble opinion, these are the major reasons to use COBALT as your Joomla CCK:
- Advanced Search and Filters
(total results are shown before any search is made)
- Multiple Types per section
- Moderator Manager & Notifications
- Template-based in all parts
Definitely try it out – it's FREE!
Even more advanced modules and fields can be purchased seperately for lifetime! or accessed via club membership. Check them out as well!
- Parent & Child relations!
- SSI (Simple Sale Interface)
(build
- Geo Field & Distance Search
- ...
Conclusion:
If K2 is an extended com_content, and ZOO is the pretty iPhone of a content component... than MintJoomla COBALT is more like Drupal7 Fields and the exposed filters of Views ;-)
I have to repeat myself and I will use the same statement I used for its pre-decessor "ME Resources": This Extension makes Joomla! a full-fledged CMS and ContentBuilder.
Period.
But did you think about how visiters browse and search your extended content types?
In my humble opinion, these are the major reasons to use COBALT as your Joomla CCK:
- Advanced Search and Filters
(total results are shown before any search is made)
- Multiple Types per section
- Moderator Manager & Notifications
- Template-based in all parts
Definitely try it out – it's FREE!
Even more advanced modules and fields can be purchased seperately for lifetime! or accessed via club membership. Check them out as well!
- Parent & Child relations!
- SSI (Simple Sale Interface)
(build
- Geo Field & Distance Search
- ...
Conclusion:
If K2 is an extended com_content, and ZOO is the pretty iPhone of a content component... than MintJoomla COBALT is more like Drupal7 Fields and the exposed filters of Views ;-)
I have to repeat myself and I will use the same statement I used for its pre-decessor "ME Resources": This Extension makes Joomla! a full-fledged CMS and ContentBuilder.
Period.
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