Quick reference
Kunena 4.0 is a Joomla 2.5/3.x component that ships with with two different template “styles” technically called MVC and HMVC[1]; these are informally referred to as Blue Eagle and Crypsis respectively. All currently available third-party templates are based on the “MVC style”. The “MVC style” style is deprecated—meaning that the developers would have preferred to have removed entirely but it was mainly allowed to remain for people who use J! 2.5. The developers will remove support for all MVC templates from the next major version of Kunena [K 5.0].
Aside from the obvious differences in appearance, there are structural differences in the use and administraton of the product depending on the choice of template used with Kunena. As far as I know, no-one has attempted to list the important differences between the MVC and HMVC forms of Kunena. This article is a first attempt to list the major structural differences between Blue Eagle and Crypsis. The table below is incomplete and it may contain errors. If you find mistakes or important omissions to the list please let me know by using the comments form at the end of the article.
Quick reference
| Blue Eagle | Crypsis | |
|---|---|---|
 support |
||
| PHP 7 | [2] | |
| LESS CSS | ||
| Bootstrap-ready | ||
| Configuration settings control CAPTCHA | [3] | |
| Joomla - reCATPCHA plugin settings control CAPTCHA | ||
| Configuration settings control category icons | [4] | |
| Template settings control category icons | [5] | |
| Recent Topics view displays category names | ||
| Flat, indented or threaded views of topic | ||
| Configuration settings control “teaser feature” —Hide Replies for Guests |
||
| Template settings control topic icons | [6] | |
| Template settings control avatar “border style” (i.e. square, rounded square or “circular” images) |
[7] | |
| Buttons for topic Reply, Subscribe, Favorite displayed | [8] | |
| Buttons for topic Delete, Moderate, Lock, Sticky displayed | [9] | |
| Buttons for post Reply, Quote, Edit displayed | [10] | |
| Buttons for post Delete, Moderate displayed | [11] | |
| Drag and drop images as attachments | ||
| Configuration settings control avatar resizing | ||
| Category manager controls “category channels” | ||
| Category manager controls hiding/displaying sub-categories | ||
| Configuration settings control subject length | ||
| Template settings control subject length | ||
| Configuration settings control BBcode options | ||
| Configuration settings allow “karma” feature | ||
| Template settings control BBcode options | ||
| Meets minimum accessibility standards (i.e. “tooltips”) |
K 4.0.10 still presents a number of challenges—especially in adapting Crypsis to one’s Joomla template—and would prove challenging to the complete novice.
Notes:
[1] Kunena uses a propriety HMVC design developed by Matias Griese (one of the founding members of the Kunena Project) who has now left the project. K 4.0 was intended as an experiment to demonstrate how HMVC could be used with Joomla but the idea did not gain endorsement from the Joomla CMS team. Kunena is the only Joomla extension to use this particular form of HMVC. Some other Joomla extensions have approached this issue differently—perhaps the best-known example of which is Akeeba Backup.
[2] Blue Eagle will not work with PHP 7.0.6; it may, however, work with versions of PHP 7 before PHP 7.0.6. The Kunena developers have stated that K 4.0 Crypsis will not work with any version of PHP 7.
[3] Google reCAPTCHA v1.0 only is supported.
[4] For more information see Custom category icons for Kunena.
[5] For more information see Category icons in Kunena 4.
[6] For more information see Add New Topic Icons.
[7] The same effect can be generated with CSS to apply a border-radius attribute to avatar images.
[8] These buttons are hidden under topic “actions” and require clicking a “pull-down” to display them.
[9] These buttons are hidden under topic “moderation”.
[10] These buttons are hidden under post “actions”.
[11] These buttons are hidden under post “moderation”.
If you have questions—specific questions—about adapting Kunena to your website and you would like my professional assistance, it would be a pleasure. My forum is always open.