Best way is to try out the bbPress plugin for WordPress.
https://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/bbpress/
It tries really hard to make creating a forum as easy as possible. Depending on your theme, it should integrate into your existing site without any issues. You will need to configure a few things, so read some of the sticky topics here and post up new topics if you have questions.
Ok, one last question, it won’t cause significant negative damage if installation does not go to plan?
All changes are fully reversible?
I have not seen a case when anything irreversible has happened.
However, with that said, it is *always* good practice to backup first, before any major updates or tweaks.
Thank you for the help guys, it’s appreciated a lot
jb
I am so confused here. I have installed the bbPress forum on my website via the link below, but how do people register to post and reply to topics? There’s no visible link.
http://theviruslibrary.com/forums/
I am using the default Twenty Ten theme, WP version 3.2.1.
Do I need to install BuddyPress to allow people to login? Thanks in advance.
bbpress comes with a login/register widget which you can add to your sidebar.
thanks anointed, I can deal with a sidebar widget (though I’d prefer it to be right there on the forum so visitors aren’t forced to search for it). but now adding the widget begs the question, what i the Register and Lost Password URLs?
thanks again for your speedy reply!
alrighty, with your help, anointed, I’m getting the hang of this now. I’ve created new pages with bbpress shortcodes, and linked them accordingly. Now I am testing the registration process and I have one question.
Instead of having new users login via the WordPress Dashboard, can I make it so they stay at the frontend? Does that make sense? I do not want them logging into any kind of WordPress backend.
Thanks again buddy.
Users are not actually logging in through the dashboard, but rather the default wordpress login/logout page.
In order to change that, you would probably need to use a custom plugin.
There are plugins available that will allow you to style that page differently.
