Hi Matt,
I launched the SitePoint community theme project for bbPress (work is still underway):
http://www.sitepoint.com/blogs/2009/08/05/we-want-you-join-the-sitepoint-communitys-bbpress-theme-project/
My own background is in HTML/CSS coding mixed with a little WordPress.
Assuming the SitePoint project goes to plan I’ll likely be implementing it into a new version of my bbPress template generator which is currently in the works (albeit development is taking longer than I’d like) … http://pixopoint.com/products/bbpress-forum-theme-generator/
I see the key to bring bbPress to the masses is to add a lot of the standard functionality which most forums have by default directly into the theme. This keeps the core nice and light whilst offering maximum functionality to those who require it. I’d also like to make it easy as possible to have your WordPress and bbPress themes seamless integrate their designs by offering identically behaving WordPress and bbPress template generators.
Can I restrict access to WP backend?
Yes you can – I implemented this on my web – but you need to hack some wp files and it is not an esy job.
I posted about this issue in the thread that Matt opened but my post was deleted. Sometimes I think it is a taboo in the world of wp.
Can I make use of all of WP plugins and will it run harmoniously with bbPress?
Yes because after integration, wp and bbpress keep their own tables and plugin folders, the only thing that share is the users table. You can go further but it’s up to you.
I guess it’s better to explain what I’m trying to accomplish.
I chose bbPress because theming it is just like WordPress. I rolled my own theme from the ground up. During the building process I realized how I wish I could add this and that, but due to the lack of documentation it’s rather hard for someone like me who has limited php know how. So it got me looking into integration.
My original intention of using bbPress was to make it easier for members to submit content. I would have built this project on WordPress, but the WordPress backend is a bit too distracting for members. I know there are other solutions out there such as the TDO-mini-forms, but it lacks polish.
So basically what I would like to do is use bbPress’ ease of content submission and profile pages running in conjunction with WordPress’ familiarity. Also what happens with topics and single pages, categories and forums do they combine into one? Can I restrict access to WP backend? Can I make use of all of WP plugins and will it run harmoniously with bbPress?
So many questions not sure how to form them. But the basic gist is I want members to use the bbPress part of the integration for content submission and use WP to handle displaying of the data.
Hey Matt!
Without too much detail, I’ve been neck deep in theme development, bug patching, code re-factoring and clean-up since the Windows 3.11 and Visual Basic 3.0 days. I’ve been interested in making bbPress be better integrated with WordPress for probably a year or so now? I was a long time phpBB2.0 junkie, and moved to WordPress because I was frustrated at how forcibly linear typical forum software is. When I fell in love with the WordPress way, I quickly found bbPress, and expected it to include all of the features that BuddyPress now does, hence my shift in that direction.
I’d like to help restyle bbpress.org, maybe bring it a little more in line with the other Automattic websites. There’s no doubt that bbPress needs some TLC in the codex and source-code documentation areas too, and I have recent experience absorbing the WP Code Standards from working under Andy with BuddyPress.
Right now my focus is 100% BuddyPress, but since you asked… I’d love to be more involved in all of the WP projects and communities if there’s opportunity. 
Integration allows bbpress to use wppress user database so whenever an user logs in any, wp or bb, he stay logged in and he can post in both, wp and bb.
I think so, but only if there are long posts. Maybe a length of XXXX number of characters of posts per page. The topics per page plugin would always display the same number of posts per page, regardless of length of those posts.
https://bbpress.org/plugins/topic/front-page-topics/
Interesting question.
If you’d like to influence the future of bbPress, please drop in on this thread:
https://bbpress.org/forums/topic/help-out-with-bbpress
If you’d like to help out with bbPress, please leave a post here with brief info about yourself, what you’re most talented at, and what part of bbPress you’d like to be a part of.
Strategically the most important thing we need to figure out is how to integrate bbPress better with WP more for people who want that — right now it’s easier to use one of the WP plugins for forums than bbPress.
You have told it yourself, just turn bbpress into a wppress plugin. Actually, you can turn wppress into a forum with plugins like tdo-mini-forms. So, you could be including a forum with the next version of wp in a matter of minutes with a couple of silly tweaks. I’ve been on the point of doing this myself several times, I don’t know why I keep on struggling with bbpress integration.
The cookies that are sent to your browser by bbPress and WordPress.
I’ve lost track of the number of topics that describe how to do this. Can someone please post the best one for synchronizing the cookie settings? Thanks.
Thanks hatter for posting that. I hadn’t heard about that plugin before.
Is it possible to break pages up if topics get too long in bbPress?
Thanks.
Hello Everybody
I’ve just updated my regular wp blog to mu and now I cannot access the bbpress backend. I also noticed that when in mu my users don’t have roles and I cannot assign roles to them. I’m wondering if this is related. Any asistance on this would be appreciated
~O~
One could run a filter function on bb_template to check for templates in both the parent and child themes.
Or, the user could set it in bb-config.php:
define( BB_DEFAULT_THEME_DIR, 'path/to/default/theme/directory' );
I don’t really like either of those two options. Your average user gets confused enough as it is. Trying to tell them to input PHP code can cause headaches sometimes.
As far as I know, there’s no way to filter the default theme directory either. I’m open to ideas though. If anyone could offer a solution with a few lines of code, I’ll be happy to give it a whirl.
Ideally, the constant BB_DEFAULT_THEME_DIR would be based off the theme’s Template line in style.css. Or, bb_get_default_template() would recognize the Template line.
Justin, couldn’t you just add something into every child theme which made it automatically load the parent theme’s “theme”? Would only take a single require to load the parent theme into I’d have thought … says the person who knows infinitely less about PHP than you do :p
You can use the bbPress-Wordpress Syncronization plugin for this, found at http://bobrik.name/code/wordpress/wordpress-bbpress-syncronization/. We are currently running bbPress 1.0.2 and WordPress 2.8.5 and have no issues.
I should change that to say, 10 seconds for a connection, not a query. Occasionally when the server is under heavy load due to a lot of users, the total time used on a connection may exceed 10 seconds, causing this issue.
Make sure your cookies are set properly and match between bbPress and WordPress. Usually, if you have to login when going between the two, the cookies don’t match. Also, when testing this, make sure you delete old cookies from your system as they may be causing a conflict.
This plugin powers a support forum/ticketing system:
https://bbpress.org/plugins/topic/support-forum/
Hi all,
does anyone know if there is a Ticket system plugin for bbpress?
Tnx
Just a reminding note that I will be on this soon.
Sounds a bit like part of BuddyPress really…
Read this:
https://bbpress.org/forums/topic/heres-how-to-show-bbpress-info-inside-wordpress-without-full-integration
The plugins that used to allow this, bbPress Live (for newer bbPress) and bbSync (for older bbPress) are both broken, I believe.
You can also parse the RSS feed, going either way, but that’s a lot of work to do what you want.
