What is K2

K2 is a Joomla extension built to replace the default article system in Joomla. In Joomla 1.5, there were options only for adding title and content body. Later, article images were introduced as separate fields, but there was no support for auto-resizing. In Joomla 3.x, tags were introduced as separate components. All these things made a default article system a little confusing to configure. Therefore, K2 was developed to add additional fields for article images, videos, podcasts, audio files, image galleries, attachments, comments, and tagging, etc. and all this bundled under one package.

K2 is an ideal solution for managing the content, regardless of the size of the web sites. You can use it to create a small blog to complex corporate websites. K2 supports more than 200 extensions listed in the Joomla Extensions Directory and more than 250 extensions listed in the K2 Extensions Directory.

Features of K2

K2 was built on four common principles: Feature-rich Content, ease of use, flexible templating, and performance. Apart from it, it is free to use.

Some of the important features of K2 are given below:

Nested -Level Categories
Commenting (integrated with Google's ReCaptcha and Akismet)
Attachments of images, videos, galleries
Native advanced SEF (Search Engine Friendly) options
Built-in Google Structured Data
Built-in Media Manager
Templating System with multiple overrides
AJAX (Asynchronous JavaScript and XML) based frontend editing and comments moderation
Custom user pages (e.g., author blogs/user profiles, etc.)

How to Install K2

To install K2, you need to follow the given steps:

Navigate to the following link: https://getk2.org/
Click on the download button to start downloading a K2 package file.

After downloading the K2 package file, log in to your Joomla account and navigate to the "Extensions - Manage - Install" from the taskbar.

Click on the "Upload Package File" tab, and browse for the K2 package file that you have already downloaded.

As soon as you select the file, it will start installing the extension. After the installation, it will send you a message of a successful installation.

The K2 Dashboard

K2 is developed to support Joomla API, which means all the Joomla plugins will function properly within the K2 component and modules, either in frontend or backend.

To access K2 and available options, you are required to navigate to the "Components - K2" from the Joomla Taskbar. It will look like the following image:

Click on the "Import Joomla Content" from the toolbar and start working on K2.

Just like the Joomla default interface, the K2 toolbar is present on top of the page. You will be mainly working through the sidebar, which has the following options:

Items	It displays the list containing all the articles. You can add new content here.
Categories	It is used to create or modify categories. Joomla places articles into different sections and categories. However, K2 only includes categories, and you can have as many levels as you want.
Tags	Tags are known as the small keywords which can be added at the bottom of each item.
Comments	K2 uses its own commenting system. Here, you will find all the comments written on your site.
Users	It displays the list of all the users who have access to write or modify content on your site.
User Groups	It is used to allow or disallow access to the user groups.
Extra Fields	It is used to specify the extra fields such as Price, weight, color, etc.
Extra Field Groups	It is used to organize lots of fields.
Media Manager	It is used to manage Joomla files.
Information	It is used to specify the Joomla information.