Only 7% for Facebook Connect ??? o_O’
There’s no need for deep integration either : you just make bbPress work with the WordPress stylesheet .
@zambrovski : the widgets support can be done using hooks, which are already supported by bbPress . So the UI side ( adding “widgets” from the admin area for example ) is the only thing needed here .
And no @ipstenu, no decision is taken now as I can see in the IRC discussion, the plugin thing was just an idea that we have to discuss, not a final decision . And because I’m worried about the future of bbPress ( which I’m planning to use for a future medium size project ), it is my right to say no !
Some people also invested a lot in bbPress ( energy or money ), and trusted the bbPress team, so why make this big and unexpected change to bbPress ?
The thing is, even if an official said it, and even if the author of the GNU Project said it ( officials aren’t gods ), I still defend my opinion : themes or plugins aren’t changes to the code itself, and so, they don’t have to be GPL’d . Just take the Linux proprietary drivers example .
So, in my opinion, arpowers doesn’t need to GPL the theme, because it’s not a change made to bbPress’ code .
Very well done, I love people who redesign bbPress from scratch ! 
As for paying for the theme, I don’t think it’s a problem . When I think about the hard work you must do to have such results, I think it’s worth the money . And don’t forget that the theme is, as I see in the screenshots and the feature list, customizable via the admin panel, so it’s perfect for newbies !
@chrishajer : I don’t think that the GPL issue matters ( BTW, f**k the GPL ) . Do you know Thesis ? Its PHP code isn’t GPL, but they don’t have any issues . Do you think that the Thesis team will be dumb and will release its PHP code ( which is the core of Thesis ) ?
You should publish in GPL only changes made to bbPress ( or WP ) code, but themes/plugins aren’t changes to bbPress, but rather separate new code which is loaded by bbPress ! In fact, it’s a little bit like the proprietary drivers in Linux . The manufacturer doesn’t make any change to Linux’s kernel, so he doesn’t have to make the drivers also GPL, because drivers aren’t modifications to Linux’s code .
Theme integration can still be performed without having to turn bbPress into a plugin, and in fact, it can be done via a simple CSS trick ( that means that the default CSS of bbPress should be rewritten so that it becomes more flexible, and every element ( forum tables, forms etc… ) should act as “objects” which can be automatically stretched vertically independently of their parents or I don’t know, where the parents will be objects in the WP stylesheet ) . So again, for theme integration, NO NEED TO TURN BBPRESS INTO A PLUGIN, because it’s just a CSS issue ( + little PHP coding, nothing serious ) !
Connecting the Admin sides of WP and bbPress ? This can be easily done via an OPTIONAL plugin ( or via XML-RPC calls, so that you can handle your bbPress forum even if it isn’t in the same host ) .
Turning bbPress into a plugin would be a nightmare, think of all the unnecessary WP calls … Why did I choose bbPress again ? To have a light forum or to have TWO frameworks ( WordPress and bbPress ) + unnecessary calls and files ?
The reason I choose bbPress at the beginning ( 3~4 years ago ) is because it’s from the creators of WordPress, so I hoped that it will be as easy to customize as WordPress, and that’s what I got ( even though, at the beginning it was really hard for me because I had to guess the function names, as there’s no Codex for bbPress ) and I’m very satisfied . I had the choice between bbPress, PunBB and Vanilla ( the lightest forums out there, and at the time, Vanilla had a greater number of plugins than bbPress ), but I stick with bbPress because it’s the easiest one to customize . So for those who think that bbPress can’t compete in the light forums market, you’re wrong !
@gerikg : I think that only works in their site ( Facebook ), but what a great progress ! So soon, we will only need _ck_’s OpenID plugin
The problem is that some people ( me for example ) don’t want to install a blank WordPress blog integrated with the bbPress forum just for the Facebook Connect support .
Oh and, I think it’s a really bad idea to make bbPress a WP plugin, if it’s gonna happen, there will be two choices for me : either leave bbPress and search for another easy to design forum software, or stick with the 1.0.2 or something like that and avoid to update . Because I can’t afford to install a WordPress blog just to use bbPress !
So, I think Matt is wrong when he’s saying that bbPress can’t compete in the forum software market ! IT CANS ! Just do some little improvements like default theme rewriting ( so that newbies will be encouraged to use it ), and write a Codex so that everyone sees how easy it is to customize bbPress, then, when bbPress becomes mature, try to link the two sites wordpress.org and bbpress.org together ( well yeah, when I visit WordPress.org, I don’t see any mention of bbPress ! ) to have a greater user base .
Matt had two choices :
- Listen to the non-coders ( who are requesting to make bbPress a WP plugin, because they find it “too hard” to integrate in the WP theme ) .
- Listen to the coders ( who are saying that bbPress should stay a standalone application ) .
Matt made the wrong choice ( the first one ), so I think that many coders will leave bbPress .
Sorry but… If someones wants a WP plugin, there are tons of them : SimplePress is a great example !
So please, leave bbPress as a standalone application !
I think the only things bbPress really needs are :
- A better default theme . The actual theme is too Web 0.9 . Oh, and try to get rid of the green, or use it in a clever way like Technorati or Techcrunch .
- Facebook, Twitter ( no plugins for the both until now … ) and OpenID ( there’s already a plugin by _ck_ ) integrated by default .
@chrishajer : It’s not a hosting provider like the rest ! It’s like the WordPress.com service, it just gives free PhpBB2 hosting, but no FTP or SQL access, and their support refuses to give the SQL files .
I am afraid the topic_* fonctions only work in The Loop ( ® ) .
Well the problem is that they don’t give SQL backups ( they said it in their FAQ ), because it’s part of their business ( they can’t afford to let someone leave them ) .
But then I found that our forum at xooit.com has a hidden RSS feed ( forumaddress.xooit.com/rss.php ), so I thought I could use it with bbPress but as I see, I can’t …
Thanks anyway Michael !
But you can’t use it with Facebook Connect … Or am I wrong ?
I searched a while ago for the same thing and unfortunately I didn’t find anything … I don’t know why no one started that kind of plugin, it’d be THE plugin to boost a forum’s audience !
No one to check my code please ? ( it’s less than 10 lines if we don’t count the comments )
Thanks !
bbPress because it’s the only forum software I know that can be easily customized . In phpbb, VB, IPB etc… you have to browse lines of code juste to change the HTML structure, you even have to hardcode something in the core files, which is not the case with bbPress because you have powerful things like hooks, templates etc…
But of course, you need some knowledge in HTML and Php ( at least some basics ) in order to make your bbPress really unique .
All in all, I think that bbPress is the best forum software for web developpers looking to customize ENTIRELY a forum and make it really unique . Just take a look at the lame phpBB2 boards out there, they are all identical, except the headers, nothing unique, the same structure etc…
Okay, I’ve done something really simple, and I need some advices ( security, XSS vulnerabilities etc… ) as its the first hook I write for bbPress and I don’t want my future maths board to be hacked at its launch :
EDIT : as bbPress escapes some characters, I posted my code on pastebin : http://pastebin.com/f4e5653cd .
