[amwilson]

I am looking at different forums to use and I like the idea of bbpress because all of my web development is within wordpress. I like the idea of being able to integrate the forum with wordpress. I installed simple:press just to take a look at it and I like how the forum is on the wordpress platform because it uses use my existing wordpress theme with all of my widgets and site navigation already there. Now that I hear bbpress is going to do the same, I am leaning toward going with bbpress instead of simple:press since I am guessing long term that is where the most development and compatibility will be. For example, bbpress appears to integrate with buddyppress and mingle but simple:press does not.

What I would like to know is, if I do decide to go with bbpress, how should I set bbpress up now before it becomes a plugin to make the transition better when it does become a plugin?

Should I set it up to use my wordpress database or give bbpress its own database? I am not sure if the separate database will be an option after it is a plugin.

Or is there a way to set it up bbpress now as a plugin?

Is it simple to import simple:press data to bbpress? If so I may just use simple:press for now until bbpress becomes a plugin and gets any bugs straightened out and then import the forum to bbpress.

I would also like to hear any comments about my reasoning here.

[kevinjohngallagher]

Hi Amwilson,

Always glad to hear someone thinking through using bbPress to see if it fits their needs.

bbpress appears to integrate with buddyppress

It doesn’t. Well, kinda.

Basically, it doesn’t. BuddyPress uses a large hack of bbPress (it removes almost all the work in the bbPress1.0.2 backend). They do look similar, and work simialr, and share some code… but the bbPress/forum you see in BuddyPress is fundamentally different.

Basically, any changes to bbPress (haha) will not appear in BuddyPress unless one of the BuddyPress team takes the time to manuall convert/hack them. That said, the BuddyPress team seem on the ball with this sort of thing.

how should I set bbpress up now before it becomes a plugin to make the transition better when it does become a plugin?

We have no idea. bbPress becoming a plugin of WordPress was ‘announced’ in the middle of an IRC chat by Matt with no warning or explanation. Its never been written in a forum post or a blog post, and we have no other information other than Matt posting that “I just want to quit the whole project” 2 months ago.

At this point in time, none of us have any information and the ‘weekly’ IRC chats and Blog posts haven’t happened in 14 weeks; so spending anytime thinking about making life easier down the line is going ot be fruitless. We’re all clueless.

Should I set it up to use my wordpress database or give bbpress its own database? I am not sure if the separate database will be an option after it is a plugin

Having the same database makes integration a bucket load easier.

I’d presume that would be the same when bbPress becomes a plugin.

Is it simple to import simple:press data to bbpress?

There are a few hacks for converting forums to bbPress on these boards. Paul Hawke has written a few and they seem to get good reviews. You’ll have to do a search though to see if Simple Press is included, but Paul’s threads and code is definately the place to start.

If so I may just use simple:press for now until bbpress becomes a plugin

Just a heads up, bbPress 0.9 to 1.0 had a full time paid developer from Automattic, and it took 14 months to be released with virtually no feature improvements. bbPress 1.1 has taken 10 months to develop, and we’re no where near realease ready.

bbPress as a WP plugin, even if we all stopped work on bbPress1.1 and focussed on that, wouldn’t be ready this year.

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My big advice is to make a list of the feautres you want your forum to have, and post them here and see if bbPress can meet those needs. If it can, awesome. If it can’t – better to find out now