bbPress by default tries to use your themes default templates as it’s base. So it is already using your theme’s page template, maybe not the particular one you’re after, but it will be for your theme, or one you have created.
It will look for the following files in your theme in this order, and use that for it’s forums
plugin-bbpress.php
bbpress.php
forums.php
forum.php
generic.php
page.php
single.php
index.php
See https://codex.bbpress.org/step-by-step-guide-to-setting-up-a-bbpress-forum/ for more detail and how to get it to use a particular template.
Since some theme writers create a bbpress template, and some have variously named page templates, it would be kinder hard to get bbpress to work out which of your themes files are page templates, and which you want to use.
Yes, getting the right template to display forums can involve you in renaming and moving some files, but that’s because you have decided to use a non-default theme (no criticism), and so your theme writer and the writers of bbpress would need to be telepathic to know how the other one is going to code. As I said some themes actively allow for bbpress, for others it is just one of thousand of plugins.
The plugin bbPress Tweaks
https://wordpress.org/plugins/bbpress-wp-tweaks/
In dashboard>settings>bbpress tweaks allows you to select from available templates as a dropdown, so partly achieves what you are after.
I fully appreciate that WordPress and plugins can cause a lot of frustration, and no you’re definitely not a troll (yet!), but less heaven and hell in your posts would be better!
Heh, stop being so awesome in your replies. 🙂
Anyway, me, the non-coder, still doesn’t understand why it(bbpress plugin) can’t simply have an option to use styles from other themes. If nothing else, the CSS etc would be a nice “base” for things like link colors, font sizes, whatever.
*sigh*
I tried bbPress Tweaks. Meh.
I’ll read the link you posted. Hopefully it doesn’t suck.
bbPress has such a non-WP feel about it though in everything I’ve come to expect from WordPress. Part of it is my frustration with PHPBB, and part of it is my frustration with not being able to get a non-sucky looking forum with bbPress.
And, I have yet to see a non-sucky bbPress based forum. Most are fairly crappy in how they present and deal with the content.
Easy of me to throw stones in a glass house when I don’t code I guess. I just wish there were more sane defaults in bbPress that looked better out of the box.
“I’ll read the link you posted. Hopefully it doesn’t suck.”
I wrote it, and hopefully you give me some positive feedback if you feel it can be improved. By the way I don’t consider “it sucks” to be positive feedback 🙂
In fact if you worked you way through the documentation, you’d probably gain a lot of knowledge.
“Easy of me to throw stones in a glass house when I don’t code I guess. ” Yes, basically you are taking something that people have written in their spare time, don’t get a penny for, and that you are using it for free, and you want the people who developed it to abandon taking their kids out for the afternoon (or in fact many afternoons) and write code so that you don’t have to. And then you come on this site where people like me who again do this in my spare time for free, and have lots of other things I could be doing, and slagging it off. 🙂
There is a lot of development of this plugin going on all the time and it will keep improving.
“And, I have yet to see a non-sucky bbPress based forum. Most are fairly crappy in how they present and deal with the content. ” – now you just resorting to insult.
A community (like the open source community) requires contributors as well as takers
If you want to contribute to the development of the plugin, please let us know exactly what you would like to see, and how you think it would benefit other users.
Oh and yes, I think you are now starting to sound like a troll !
Best Wishes
Robin
Heh, I feel bad, and I know better. I’ve been in the Open Source community since 96′ and I do know better. I just always assume all the things have been sussed out.
I’m tired, exhausted from 24hrs work in two days. I do appreciate what you’ve said and actually was able to figure out how to get a different theme to show up.
I just wish there was a less “command-line”y way of doing things for those that might not know how to deal with a shell or to get their hands dirty.
I may not be able to code, but I do know my way around a unix command line.
As far as sucky themes go, it’s really just my observation. I’m not trying to be cruel. I haven’t seen a truly amazing bbPress theme implementation that makes me go.. “HOLY COW, THIS IS AWESOME.”
Anyhoo, again, thank you so much for taking time to respond.
Cheers,
Trae
Trae, thanks for coming back – we all have bad days 🙂
‘As far as sucky themes go, it’s really just my observation. I’m not trying to be cruel. I haven’t seen a truly amazing bbPress theme implementation that makes me go.. “HOLY COW, THIS IS AWESOME.” ‘
Just out of interest, can you let me have a url of a forum (any make!) that does make you go ‘holy cow’ or even “that looks nice” – I’m interested in what bbpress is missing.
