Kunena Popular ComponentLanguage

The Kunena Team announces the immediate availability of Kunena 1.5.7. This is an important security release and users are urged to update immediately. Five security issues and an Internet Explorer 8 table bug have been resolved in this release. This release also contains many other important bug fixes.

For more information, see the release notes at: http://docs.kunena.com/index.php/Kunena_1.5.7_Read_Me

In parallel the team is working hard on an MVC-based native J1.5/1.6 version. More details on the progress and release notes will be posted soon.

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If only phpbb is very well integrated on joomla i wouldnt bother using kunena which is halfway from phpbb, anyway since its the most stable forum component for joomla i'll use it, but with my 7 months experience with them i have never got a support reply later than 1 week its always 1 week above even for a simple question "how to remove the forum title" they couldnt answer geez whatta support but i admire them for creating such extension, kudos since its free i wont complaint much just the support cause whether its free or not support support should be available to help.

thanks
Owner's reply

As we've said many times in the past, support from the Kunena Team is based on availability because we're all volunteers. If someone paid the team to sit around and answer questions all day long, we'd be happy as can be. Not only is our time devoted to fixing bugs and answering questions, it's also invested in Kunena 1.6. It's a complete rewrite of Kunena to be a Joomla 1.6-native version.

We hope you'll have patience and, even better, contribute to helping the project in whatever way you can.

bycjs-sbits on October 22, 2009
Installed well, works well and looks good.
I found the back-end side intuitive and well designed. Integrates well with Joomla and has all the features that I require.
A quality product.
byprogramad on October 21, 2009
This is the best forum system. No doubt.

I only hope that the customization to be more simple, like color pickers, positions settings and icon choosers right on the backend.
bymarkxcool on October 8, 2009
i installed this with my site and got it to blend with my joomla 1.5 template very well.

i also found portuguese and spanish translations for it (as well as english) so when a visitor changes the language of the site, the forum changes automatically as well.

i also use Community Builder with my site and it blends seamlessly with kunena too.

the only thing it is missing are "polls", hence 4 out of 5 starts.

it looks professional. i recommend it..
byCyberHippie on September 28, 2009
Kunena is a basic forum in all respect.
Integration with CB is somewhat a hit and miss approach. I did get it integrated, but only to a point and I had to forego some of the plugins that seem to work on the Kunena forum, but not on mine. (no point asking them for help)

Kunena also lets you use templates to change the look of your forum but as stated in their forums, to avoid issues, they recommend only to use the one template being "ex-default".

Next comes the biggest issue that surrounds Kunena and some other extension makers.

They set a forum as their support mechanism, which I have found over years and on various subjects,to be a good method of "giving the illusion of support", which lets other users do the task of handling troubleshooting.

As a forum, its ok.
Support is well below par, handled by people like you and me and not the people who put the system together.

If you want a forum up and running, that lets you get on with business, look elsewhare, as any hiccup will leave you faced with days and days of waiting.
Owner's reply

Thank you for your feedback. As with most open source projects, the Kunena Team consists solely of volunteers. So direct support from the team is based on individual availability. Since Kunena is written in PHP like Joomla, we encourage you to seek out paid support if your needs require such and the response rate of our community forums don't meet your requirements.

The development team's time is also being invested into a Joomla 1.6-native version of Kunena so we request our users to please understand while we invest in the future of Joomla.

The main reason is that all its default templates are already very nice and professional. The next thing is that it is a out-of-box working system, with little adjustment or configuration to do.

Tried many before either is too complicated to setup or the templates need tweaking to look pro or nicer than the default templates.

I would rather spend time building my client site then to meddle with all the configurations or templates to look good.

Btw I don't use another forum to judge Kunema, or try to format kunema to function or look like any other forum. I told my client, do you want everybody to say that your forum look like another site. Does this forum operate like a forum, and use like a forum? So?

The last thing is that it just blend with almost any joomla design I picked.
byXBumble on September 18, 2009
This forum is based on the old Fireboard engine and despite a new look, the old ugly buttons still remain.

It works well in terms of posting and offers what you would expect from a basic forum.

However, I have some pretty annoying error which I assume to be bugs that keep popping up in my log files.

On top of that, some of my users are unable to view their profile page (the forum is integrated with CB).

This in itself is frustrating as I have live users, most of which can view their profile, but some that cannot (this is using the Kunena Profile tab on the top of the forum).

Despite numerous requests on the forum over at least 1 week, I have only received one vague and fairly unhelpful response from a developer.

I offered my services up to help develop the site and heard nothing back. Not good for building relationships and the 'community' they claim they want.

My advice would be to look elsewhere for a solution based on the poor response and feedback you get from the Kunena team.

If you don't, frustration awaits - as well as angry users.
Owner's reply

Thanks for your feedback. The process of Community Builder integration has been markedly improving with each new release of both CB and Kunena. The two teams are working closely to increase integration for the future.

If you are really sincerely interested in contributing to Kunena, please feel free to post your interest in the development section of our forum.

http://www.kunena.com/forum/110-user-contributions

Like most open source projects, the Kunena Team consists solely of volunteers and personalized support is limited, which is why we provide a support forum. Naturally, any PHP developer with a certain amount of experience should be able to assist you with any customization or specific support requests you might need on short notice.

byintrepid on September 16, 2009
I've used Kunena over an extended period, from the days when it was still known as Fireboard. It is an excellent extension and an integral part of my website. Before that I was running phpBB with frustration. For a Joomla based site this is the way to go! The development team have consistently shown a commitment to continued development of a high quality, secure and comprehensive component. I definitely recommend it to anyone looking for a forum component for their site.

Well done Kunena Team and keep it up! The hard work is appreciated.
bywendypaine on September 4, 2009
This is the first review I've felt prompted to write. I had to say how easy it was to instal and integrate Kunena Forum into my website. I'm using Community Builder (though not v1.2.1 which contains the Kunena/CB user profile settings compatibility). But regardless, it still synchronises and works perfectly with CB 1.2
It took me a couple of hours all up to set up & tweak to satisfaction and away you go. The control & configuration panel is straightforward and to the point. I've set up and managed/moderated a stand-alone phpbb forum before and in comparison, this is sooooo much easier. I have had no conflicts or errors with the installation or setup. I'm new to Joomla only having created 2 Joomla sites, so if I can do it, so can you. Thank you Kunena Forum developers - you have an excellent component, well done!
byThulemanden on August 27, 2009
Very nice it installed off the bat with no errors.

The interface is nice and simple.

One thing I wonder about though, is why it is not possible to delete the default post: Welcome to Kunena!

Well, eventually I deleted it and raised another Welcome & Presentation Thread.
byclivecchi on August 27, 2009
I used Fireboard on an old site and was reasonably pleased although there we some little things I did not like.... Kunena is simply great... The forum is active and any issues are answered quickly. It seems like Kunena has a great future...

Simple integration with Jomsocial..
bybiscovaldo on August 6, 2009
I was looking for a forum extension compatible with CB. I tryed Kunena and I got very satisfied.

For sure they deserve any donations to help them keep doing this very good work.

Brazilian Hello for everybody.
I recently rebuilt and re-launched a membership site that has been running succesfully for a few years with Fireboard and CB. With the new version of the site, I wanted only 1.5 native, CB aware and integration without all the hacking I've had to do in the past.

I originally chose Agora, it looked ok, and seemed to offer what I wanted, but I tried to update two days ago, and no matter what I did, it just refused to install. Finally I was left frustrated with a broken site.

After spending two days dismantling the site, reconfiguring, clutching at straws and otherwise wasting time trying to make it install, I bit the bullet, deleted everything and installed fresh Kunena 1.5.4.

Wow! Impressed? Oh yes! It installed perfectly first time, configuration is easy. Refreshingly polite forum support is excellent, oh yes, and so is the on-line documentation/Wiki!

Considering the relative short time in development, this is an amazing implementation. There is no other choice, Kunena is the flagship for sites that need a Joomla 1.5 native forum/board.

I wish I had installed kunena first time round!

Well done and thanks for a great product!
byAzounstone on July 5, 2009
I spent several hours trying to get Agora to work due to install issues and several errors later I decided to do the sensible thing....

I tried Kunena and oh how I wish I done this first of all!

Great extension and keep up the great work.
I've been using Fireboard and now I'll use Kunena. The component is simple enough to come with Joomla because I personally think CMS is the main part in a Joomla site not the forum. If you want the forum as the main part you should choose a standalone pack and a portal. So to the authors of Kunena, please keep it light and simple :).

Cons: Kunena needs more SEF! Joomla core SEF uses the alias of items to make SEF, which is a good way to manage SEF with unicode characters. Kunena of course shouldn't use alias because it would take more and more space. But I believe the authors might consider this point and come up with a solution.

Thank you and Good luck :).
Tried Agora forum extension and got a ton of installation errors and it simply did not work (couldn't even create a forum), and it was supposed to be a stable release.
Then I found Kunena.
- Smooth installation
- Tons of built in features - no need for a bunch of additional plugins, which is more to manage
- Attractive and easy to navigate control panel
- Control over many options
- Up and going in 5 minutes
- Attractive frontend and easy to customize.

Great out of the box. Haven't used long enough to find any drawbacks or bugs, but no extension is perfect or will satisfy 100% of your needs. But, this one comes close. And, it appears that the Kunena team is very determined and aggressive. I feel that at their pace, they will easily surpass Agora and the rest in popularity.
I am using JomSocial and I like the fact that they are targeting JS for integration.

Thanks Kunena!
bymefistofelos on June 19, 2009
Good looking, tons of options, excellent integration with the rest of shape5 template and modules.
Rating: Pure 10!
byGanzuelo on June 16, 2009
I just installed 1.5.3 and it worked right out of the box. The support you receive from their website is top notch. Replies within minutes from experienced users or Staff themselves. Would recommend!
I have seen a few forums for joomla but i prefer kunena the most.
Why becuase of many good features it have. Using kunena you dont have to hack or modify any core files. Just install and its ready to use. No integration bridges as it is made for joomla only. Very good support at the developer website in the forums, sometimes i get response in minutes. Its GPL and can be used accordingly. Its non commercial and a helping hand towards poor joomla users. Its under development and developing extensions are good to use. I dont see any shortcomings except one i.e. no html in posts.
Overall good extension.
byMarcusJ on May 26, 2009
If you only need a very basic forum with basic permissions then this will do.

If you require complex user groups and permissions for a large forum with private areas and multiple administrators and moderators then you'd do well to test other components.

I've spent the two months testing different forum softwares and bridges for Joomla 1.5. For years I've been running a site based only on an SMF forum. When I launched my site I used JFusion to bring my forum and site together. JFusion is a nice alternative with frameless integration. It is only in RC status, but I have it working on a live site with thousands of users right now.

If you want to remain native to Joomla then I suggest testing out AGORA. I read that the next release is not far off. With that release it should be powerful enough to stand with software like SMF and phpbb3, in my opinion. If this is indeed the case, I will be switching to this component after the next RC... I also read that there are new design templates in development for it so the outdated look will be remedied.

Again Kunena fits the bill if you have a small forum, and your administration needs are minimal. Beyond that I would recommend testing other alternatives. JFusion and AGORA seem to be on a role. I know some will argue that Kunena has only been going for a couple months. But in that time I've watched two other options grow by leaps and bounds, all while providing top notch support in their forums.
Owner's reply

Thank you for your feedback. The Kunena Team is working hard to bring Kunena up to the standards of other standalone forum software like the ones you mentioned. We already have a pretty solid beta version that works natively under 1.5 and very high-traffic sites. Considering the rate of progress before the fork, we've made leaps and bounds in just a few months.

Please make sure you submit your feature requests and feedback via our forums so we can improve Kunena. We hope that you'll re-adjust your rating in the future if you find that it meets your forum needs.

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