K2 
Version
2.6.5 (last update on Feb 9, 2013)
Rating
Compatibility
Reviews
228
License
GPLv2 or later
Non-Commercial
Type
Date Added
14 April 2009
Uses Updater?
- Yes
--- WHAT IS K2? ---
K2 provides an out-of-the box integrated solution featuring rich content forms for items (think of Joomla! articles with additional fields for article images, videos, image galleries and attachments), nested-level categories, tags, comments, a system to extend the item base form with additional fields (similar to CCK for those acquainted with Drupal), a powerful plugin API to extend item, category and user forms, ACL, frontend editing, sub-templates and a lot more!
Using K2, you can transform your Joomla! website to a news/magazine site with author blogs, product catalogs, work portfolio, knowledge base, download/document manager, directory listing, event listing and more, all this bundled under one package!
Give K2 a try and you'll instantly love it! It's easy to use and fun to develop websites with! If you need any help or want to contribute to the project, join us at the K2 community.
--- FEATURES ---
Since K2 is extensible with additional fields to its base item form, you can easily create category-specific content types, e.g. article, blog post, product page, directory listing.
K2 offers as standard:
- nested-level categories (no section/category restrictions)
- commenting, integrated with reCaptcha
- tags
- item image (useful for articles/catalogs)
- image galleries
- videos
- attachments
- user pages (author blogs/user profiles)
- ACL for content
- Unique plugin system to extend item, category and user forms
- ajax-based frontend editing
- ajax-based comments moderation
- Google AJAX Search integration
- Native JSON/JSONP content output
- Native advanced SEF options (added in K2 v2.6.4+)
K2 fully supports the Joomla! API, which means all Joomla! plugins will function properly within the K2 component & modules, either in the frontend or backend.
--- AMAZING PERFORMANCE ---
ImpactWrestling.com, OnSports.gr, Gorillaz.com, Groupama-Transport.com, Harvard, Cloud.com (Citrix), the High Court of Australia, MTV Greece, Jaguar Greece are just some of the thousand "big sites" around the world, fully powered by K2.
--- REQUIREMENTS & LICENSE ---
To utilize the built-in video & gallery features you need to install AllVideos (free) & Simple Image Gallery Pro, both provided by JoomlaWorks.
K2 is developed by JoomlaWorks & licensed under the GNU/GPL v2 license.
--- WHAT NEXT? ---
Try K2! Install it, hit the "import" button to bring your Joomla! articles inside K2, start playing with the component to see the flexibility it provides first-hand. Moreover? You no longer need a dozen of components and even more modules to do things like run a news site or a blog. Drupal and Wordpress have certainly met their match now! ;)
--- USEFUL LINKS ---
Visit the K2 website & community: http://getk2.org
Images
As simple Joomla! user I was fully satisfied with standard Joomla CCK (if it can be called that). Few months ago I just found it's not enough and just doensn't fit my needs and requirements. So I've checked some free CCKs here and there and finally found K2. I was just overwhelmed by countless options, configuration stuff, possibilities, etc. However - after few hours with K2 Forums, some help-sites and dozens of teste, tries and mistakes I (at last) found this component really easy to use. It wasn't hard to learn, you just need to spend some time with it and play with anything you can find there (on some backup copy of your site, or fresh Joomla! installation for testing purposes only).
Now I can say that K2 is probably the best free CCK ever created for Joomla! It perfectly fills all my needs (and probably yours) - tags, comments system, social buttons, images, videos, extra fields and 10 billion/trillion/gazillion configuration options... looks scary at the beginning, but after few hours the best becomes the beauty, and the curse of complexity becomes a blessing.
I think everyone should give it a try - remember it's free, so it will only cost you some of your time!
Now I can say that K2 is probably the best free CCK ever created for Joomla! It perfectly fills all my needs (and probably yours) - tags, comments system, social buttons, images, videos, extra fields and 10 billion/trillion/gazillion configuration options... looks scary at the beginning, but after few hours the best becomes the beauty, and the curse of complexity becomes a blessing.
I think everyone should give it a try - remember it's free, so it will only cost you some of your time!
I just can't build my sites without it! Yes, it has been a long journey learning how to use and customize it, and yes, sometimes I've felt like taming some wild beast, but if you want one of the best tools in your toolbox, you gotta invest time and energy to get to know it.
JoomlaWorks and Fotis - Thank You Very Much for sharing this gem with all of us! It has opened a lot of new doors for thousands of "joomlators". Keep up the good work!
JoomlaWorks and Fotis - Thank You Very Much for sharing this gem with all of us! It has opened a lot of new doors for thousands of "joomlators". Keep up the good work!
Extends core Joomla functionality so well that I wouldn't ever use Joomla without it anymore.
Don't let some of the poor reviews on here put you off - it is not difficult to use, the css is a dream to edit, with very little effort it turns a bog standard Joomla site into a fully featured magazine style website.
An extremely powerful extension. Great job JW.
Don't let some of the poor reviews on here put you off - it is not difficult to use, the css is a dream to edit, with very little effort it turns a bog standard Joomla site into a fully featured magazine style website.
An extremely powerful extension. Great job JW.
What can I say about K2, it is like reinventing the wheel. It offers everything the core Joomla! doesn't - comments, tags, predefined functionality for videos, galleries, main picture. It's plugin and templating system is incredible and allows very flexible solutions.
You can build amazing things with K2 with lesser time than with the core content extension.
Is there more to want? Well, sure, but still K2 is far ahead in the combination of power and simplicity of use.
What I would love to see? - IP of commenters, blocking/banning commenters by IP, E-mail. Maybe a non-intrusive anti-spam solution like Akismet or Mollom would be great. Of course there are other things to like (a bit improved picture management - auto-crop or so), but still believe me K2 is far far ahead.
You can build amazing things with K2 with lesser time than with the core content extension.
Is there more to want? Well, sure, but still K2 is far ahead in the combination of power and simplicity of use.
What I would love to see? - IP of commenters, blocking/banning commenters by IP, E-mail. Maybe a non-intrusive anti-spam solution like Akismet or Mollom would be great. Of course there are other things to like (a bit improved picture management - auto-crop or so), but still believe me K2 is far far ahead.
I love K2. My problem is the intricated schema used to put the pictures. There are no "picture" column in the "k2_items" table and the NAME of the picture is md5 crypted. It sucks! I lost an entire day to understand how it works.
The "heritage" scheme of categories is also confuse. after a couple of changes I lost the control and cannot retore the "default" status.
After all, the intricated CSS file make changes hard to do without a "error and atempt" hours expend.
The "heritage" scheme of categories is also confuse. after a couple of changes I lost the control and cannot retore the "default" status.
After all, the intricated CSS file make changes hard to do without a "error and atempt" hours expend.
According to me, being a Non Commercial Component, K2 is Simply Great and easy to use once get in to touch.. Only problem what I feel is I dont see any ways to publish a K2 Item in the Front page of my Joomla Site .. Any Ways, Nice Component
I've been using K2 since 2011 and still using it until the day i wrote this review. It is a nice and powerfull extension. But it still have some weakness, especially when you running your web project on localhost. version 2.5.0 above is not so good on producing localhost. But above all I still recomended it to all new and veteran Joomla users. Thanks
I have used k2 for several years now and i have come to the conclusion that they are not worth the time you put into it.
Do not expect to get any support with this product at all.
Personally i would rather PAY for something and get answers to my questions then be completely ignored on their forums.
Do not expect to get any support with this product at all.
Personally i would rather PAY for something and get answers to my questions then be completely ignored on their forums.
Owner's reply
K2 is a FREE extension. It's community supported. Saying K2 is "bad" because you don't get any support is like saying e.g. Joomla! is "bad" because no-one replied to some question of yours in the forums.
If you ever wanted premium support, you could have used the forum board dedicated to that. You simply post what you want done by some professional and people get in touch with you.
I would honestly consider what you wrote if you didn't have the option above, but you do. If you're getting paid for the site you deliver, you should also consider paying people to help you out.
I've been working with Joomla for a short time. I had a few problems getting extensions to work exactly how I would like, so I did some research and found K2.
At first I was really excited. I installed the extension and went off to find tutorials on how to use it. This is where my problems with K2 begin and end. I found videos and text on WHAT K2 is designed to do, but not on HOW to actually do it.
I've searched and searched for the documentation and steps on how to perform steps, but I can't find them. If they are out there, I sure couldn't find them on the K2 site. I did find a good start on webcafeclub.com but unfortunately the author is still quite a ways from finishing her tutorials, though she has outlined the steps involved beautifully.
In my opinion, K2 is not for beginners. If you are a seasoned developer maybe the lack of good training documentation won't be a problem for you, however if you are a beginner I suggest staying away from K2 until a complete training series is available.
If I do find usable documentation on how to use K2, I will come back and share my findings if they make the extension usable.
At first I was really excited. I installed the extension and went off to find tutorials on how to use it. This is where my problems with K2 begin and end. I found videos and text on WHAT K2 is designed to do, but not on HOW to actually do it.
I've searched and searched for the documentation and steps on how to perform steps, but I can't find them. If they are out there, I sure couldn't find them on the K2 site. I did find a good start on webcafeclub.com but unfortunately the author is still quite a ways from finishing her tutorials, though she has outlined the steps involved beautifully.
In my opinion, K2 is not for beginners. If you are a seasoned developer maybe the lack of good training documentation won't be a problem for you, however if you are a beginner I suggest staying away from K2 until a complete training series is available.
If I do find usable documentation on how to use K2, I will come back and share my findings if they make the extension usable.
Owner's reply
Indeed, written documentation is lacking. But there is a wealth of videos in the K2 Community at getk2.org/community that cover almost any aspect of K2 administration.
Furthermore, I challenge you to devote some extra time to get to know K2. It's been built using very few "conventions" (aka stuff you need to figure out). It's mostly built out of plain logic. E.g. why should core Joomla article category options exist in the menus (???) and not the category itself? In K2, category options exist in the category edit page itself. Not somewhere else.
Like I said, devote some extra time and you'll see why so many people have given 5 stars to K2 and most importantly, you'll see why K2 powers today's biggest Joomla! deployments worldwide.
As Joomla! community legend, Amy Stephen, recently said on Twitter: "Thanks for K2. You picked up the ball for Joomla for a long time." https://twitter.com/#!/AmyStephen/statuses/156475956096286720
I chose Joomla as CMS for my very first website due to its good reputation and user-friendly admin control panel. However I quickly learned that the default joomla article structure is not usable for serious websites. So I searched in the extensions directory for content components and after testing several of them it was clear that K2 wins the competition of the most user-friendly content extension.
In short: K2 just works. It should be integrated in the Joomla core as far as I'm concerned. But don't make a mistake about it, K2 is NOT a content construction kit (cck), it's just an extension that extends (or actually replaces) Joomlas content structure.
Of course K2 is not perfect and has his limitations and negative things, for instance it's not possible without core modifications to remove user pages and its html structure could be improved for SEO and other things. It doesn't use h1 tags for article topics and uses h3 tags for article topics in category blog view instead of better suited h2 tags (which are used in article view).
K2 is easy to learn and probably suited for most Joomla beginners, but sometimes you want to go beyond K2's default capabilities, for which you HAVE TO make code modifications. If you aren't a coder, your first place to ask is of course the k2 support forum, but here's the thing, there is a high chance that you won't get support at all there. Most topics are left unanswered, there are only 2 moderators for the beginners section and currently the forum is spamed a lot by I believe bots (could as well be some morons, though).
To make it short:
* If you want a content extension that just works how it should for most cases and can live WITHOUT support (you have to trial and error a lot), then K2 is the right extension for you.
* If you want a content extension but can't afford no support, then something else is better suited for you.
* If you are a pro and want a flexible content extension, don't mind K2 then, use SEBLOD instead. SEBLOD is a real content contruction kit and is by far superior than K2 and any of its competitors, but it's very hard to learn and the documentation is somewhat lacking.
In short: K2 just works. It should be integrated in the Joomla core as far as I'm concerned. But don't make a mistake about it, K2 is NOT a content construction kit (cck), it's just an extension that extends (or actually replaces) Joomlas content structure.
Of course K2 is not perfect and has his limitations and negative things, for instance it's not possible without core modifications to remove user pages and its html structure could be improved for SEO and other things. It doesn't use h1 tags for article topics and uses h3 tags for article topics in category blog view instead of better suited h2 tags (which are used in article view).
K2 is easy to learn and probably suited for most Joomla beginners, but sometimes you want to go beyond K2's default capabilities, for which you HAVE TO make code modifications. If you aren't a coder, your first place to ask is of course the k2 support forum, but here's the thing, there is a high chance that you won't get support at all there. Most topics are left unanswered, there are only 2 moderators for the beginners section and currently the forum is spamed a lot by I believe bots (could as well be some morons, though).
To make it short:
* If you want a content extension that just works how it should for most cases and can live WITHOUT support (you have to trial and error a lot), then K2 is the right extension for you.
* If you want a content extension but can't afford no support, then something else is better suited for you.
* If you are a pro and want a flexible content extension, don't mind K2 then, use SEBLOD instead. SEBLOD is a real content contruction kit and is by far superior than K2 and any of its competitors, but it's very hard to learn and the documentation is somewhat lacking.
Owner's reply
SEBLOD also depends on com_content, the Joomla! core article system. And this creates performance issues the least. K2 on the other hand is completely standalone as a component within Joomla! and has no other dependencies. This allow for more flexibility and better performance compared to any other "content" extension.
On a sidenote, we never say K2 is a "CCK" component. We always say it's a powerful "content" extension with CCK capabilities. Basically what 99,9% of users will ever need ;)
This extension harnesses the power of Joomla! and provides easy access to some missing core features.
I have used this on many of my clients websites.
The only negative I could put forward is that large amounts of customization will require a Joomla Developer (No problem for me, as I am one!).
Keep up the good work K2 team!
I have used this on many of my clients websites.
The only negative I could put forward is that large amounts of customization will require a Joomla Developer (No problem for me, as I am one!).
Keep up the good work K2 team!
K2 is really a fantastic component. It can do things that are impossible to do with Joomla! The learning curve is hard but when you understand the philosophy you will understand how powerful this component can be.
The only problem is the support. You must be prepared to find and solve anything by yourself. The forum is problematic (spam bots are doing a great job over there) and you must be very lucky to get any answer from the community. A payed version with support would be great...until then if you want to use it professionally make sure that you have a decent knowledge of PHP/CSS e.t.c and many weeks of testing the component before going live with things.
The only problem is the support. You must be prepared to find and solve anything by yourself. The forum is problematic (spam bots are doing a great job over there) and you must be very lucky to get any answer from the community. A payed version with support would be great...until then if you want to use it professionally make sure that you have a decent knowledge of PHP/CSS e.t.c and many weeks of testing the component before going live with things.
After installing K2 on multiple sites, the comment feature of K2 was quickly hit by spammers. We shortly had over 12000 PAGES of comments from spammers. Turning on CAPTCHA would help against the spam, but not against the server load. Somehow K2 triggers an entire botnet to attack and try to spam it. I've never seen it this bad on any component I've ever used for Mambo or Joomla. And these aren't even high traffic sites.
Owner's reply
What you say is utter nonsense. K2 simply uses Google's reCaptcha service. It's a third-party service, you know, one that is not installed on your server. How has this affected your site's "performance" is another story. Probably a Christmas one...
I would agree with negative reviews here. Very promising component, but so far in it's embryo stage. Many nice "all-in-one" features that would attract beginners who are already happily fapping on K2 (building simple homepages on it probably), but also many bugs, absolutely useless official website, unhelpful forum, no support. I've tried K2 and it worked more or less fine for me, but overall performance and impression left me unsatisfied (I work with Joomla since 2005), so I had to switch back to standard Joomla content building. "Joomla! component of 2010"? What a joke..
Nevertheless, I wish K2 team best of luck, inspiration and a lot of improvement over the years to come!
Nevertheless, I wish K2 team best of luck, inspiration and a lot of improvement over the years to come!
Owner's reply
You're "working" with Joomla! since 2005 and you don't see the benefits of K2 compared to the default Joomla! article system? Now that's the joke...
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