[kgosser]

Hey all,

So I’ve been checking out various forums to use for my business’ site, and I’ve got it paired down to bbPress and Vanilla. I’m leaning towards bbPress, but I have a few questions that I’m seeking answers to first. If anyone can help me out, it would be greatly appreciated!

(1) Is it available either by default or a plug-in to allow users to post <embed> or <object> snippets to show Flash files?

(2) Is there a plug-in available to allow image uploading to our server, or are all the ways to get an image to display within a thread by bb [img]code or the “Allow Images” plug-in?

(3) Would you consider bbPress’ theme customization to be about as equal (or easier) than WordPress’?

(4) Are there plug-ins to allow for either digg-style voting or normal 5-star voting? Being able to host community-driven contests is important for this project.

Thanks a lot in advance. One of the reasons I always use WordPress for my projects is because the community is one of the best on the Web, so I hope it rubs off a little bit for bbPress! Thanks again!

[kevinjohngallagher]

Hey we can put the bug in trac and link to it now though

[Ipstenu (Mika Epstein)]

Tracklinking has had the bizarre effect of breaking apostrophes when in code blocks.

‘ is just fine.

' is not so much.

[_ck_]

You can do it with a custom query.

Something like

$forum_id=$bbdb->get_var("SELECT forum_id FROM $bbdb->posts WHERE post_id=$post_id LIMIT 1");

where $post_id is your post id.

This will generate an extra query per page but for just editing that would be fine.

[Ipstenu (Mika Epstein)]

I’m partial to without the break, if there’s no color change.

Back to this theme, there’s something wonky with how the code markup shows apostrophes …

' is not the same as ‘

[Ipstenu (Mika Epstein)]

The bb image was really small on mine, I like that third one, but yeah, when you’re shooting for 80×15, it’s hard to get something CLEAR

[ganzua]

Thanks for your answer John Then there is no way to go further

[_ck_]

Apache, both 1 and 2 are based on old slow code. You can spend hours fiddling with performance settings and barely fix the problem. They don’t do well for very active sites and apache can be easily ddos’ed. You can either throw more hardware at the problem or replace apache when the loads get too high.

LiteSpeed is literally twice as fast/half the load as apache (it’s also a bit expensive for the commercial version but there is a 5 account version available for free). Additionally it can plow through many kinds of ddos attacks. It’s a piece of cake to install and configure (GUI based).

The free Nginx is also twice as fast as Apache but LiteSpeed can use Apache’s httpd.conf and .htaccess files so it’s very easy to install (10 minutes tops) and you can even switch back to Apache if so desired. Nginx requires a complete rewrite of any mod_rewrite rules, etc. and requires technical skill to install/operate.

Matt is slowly converting some of Automattic’s server from LiteSpeed to Nginx to keep the ideals of open source but LiteSpeed is still too good and has no serious competition as far as compatibility so I bet he will probably continue to run it on some servers for years.

As far as opcode caches I am surprised you had trouble with eaccelerator which tends to be the most compatible/easiest to install. APC does have some quirks but it’s being adopted by PHP and may become “built in” in some future version.

[ganzua]

Hi!

I tried to integrate wp27final and bbpress 1.02a. I installed bbpress, followed the integration steps during installation, then changed bb-config.php with this code;

define('WP_BB', true);

if ( !defined('DB_NAME') ) {

require_once( dirname(__FILE__) . '/../wp-config.php');

}



$bb->wp_table_prefix = 'wp_'; // your wordpress db prefix is

$bb->wp_home = 'http://myhost.com';

$bb->wp_siteurl = 'http://myhost.com';

…and I’ve found several issues, the first one the no admin panel issue already discussed in this forum, but the fact is that I have no “Add new” link when logged in as user different to admin. Besides, I have no post form when logged in as admin and click “Add new”.

I can’t go further with my integration but I like how bbpress is being developed, it is pretty fast and simple, just what I needed. Is there any way I can solve these issues?

[chaslie]

OK – now I gotcha:

If using the default (kakumei) theme, lo0k for this code which is about line 43:

<?php if ( bb_forums() ) : ?>

REPLACE it with this code:

<?php if ( bb_forums(“depth=1”) ) : ?>

Works beatifuuly as described.

[kevinjohngallagher]

Hi Ipstenu,

I’m going to disagree with you a little mate, and try not to take it off topic too much.

Yes, each adjective is subjective to ones perspective. “easy” and “alot” etc. can mean different things to different people. That said, lets look at them a sec.

“extensive plugins?”

There are just under 120 plugins for BBPress.

Over 1/3rd haven’t been updated in a year. I’d wager a good few of them don’t work anymore.

And the ones with latest comments 6-12 months ago, usually don’t work either.

Also from what i’ve seen about 1/4 of them are redundant or useless in 0.9 / 1.0alpha.

So we’re looking at maybe 40-50 plugins.

Does anyone think that’s “extensive”?

I know it’s subjective, but, um, well you can make up your own mind.

“You CAN redesign the hell out of a bbPress site”

To a certain extent i’ll agree and disagree with it. To redesign a bbpress forum so that it doesn’t look like this theme actually takes a bucket load of work. I’ve done it for 3 websites, and every time it’s involved me writing full on plugins just to output the right code, or W3C acceptable code, or overwrite the damned code thats stored outwith the templates (why is that btw?).

Can i stop and ask that? WHY does a theme designer NEED to write alot of non basic php code as a separate to their theme plugin, just to over write HARDCODED design output? Since when was hardcoding design output into the core of a theme-able piece of software a good idea?

What you can’t do with bbpress, is hand a Designer/ HTML coder your template files and expect to get anything back that’s not a flat output of a table. It’s a point I raised a while ago (and i’ll not bang on about it) but BBpress works at doing one thing. Outputting a flat list from a database.

In terms of your all forums kinda look the same , i have to agree in this instance. Most forums, ipb/vBulletin/phpBB etc do all look the same. but guess what. bbpress doesn’t look much like them. I’ve stated before BBpress’s horrific handling of parent/children with categories etc. is bloody woeful; but if you’re talking about usability, then bbpress starts to fall down a little.

What it outputs is simple, yes, to the user, but it’s not very perceptive. Finding a specific post or vital information (say that 0.9 = WP2.5 – you know , something you’d expect to be on the documentation or download page but is actually on page 3 of a topic started 1 year ago) , is a disaster. It’s reliant on the user

who posted the content using TAGS appropriotely and ofc it requires a better search function.

Lets not forget that ‘tags’ are fairly new, and really only web savvy people use/know about them. A huge chunk of this software’s cross-pollination and iteration is taken out of the developers hands and placed smack bang in teh hand of the end user (whom we know nothing about nor can reply on).

Just because something is simple/plain, does not make it inherently usable.

Think Boo.com.

================================================

Anyway, there are a number of things we’d all like to see fixed in bbpress. Some more vital than others. we’ll all agree and disagree on many, but my over riding feeling is this:

Our Clients, customers, friends, colleagues, schools, own sites, will at some stage like to, nah need to, be updated to the latest version of WordPress. it will vary from person to person, but at some stage you know that a wordpress upgrade is probably in the pipes.

But if you’re using BBpress, then you’ve been forced to hold off upgrading for over half a year. We will be/are a whole version behind, and surely someone can see that it’s got to be an issue.

I suppose what i dont understand is, and maybe i’m the only one, so please 100% feel free to explain it to me like an idiot.

if The most requested topic on this website is “wordpress integration”, and the singular fail point of the software is “wordpress integration”, and teh company that owns this software also own wordpress, and it happens to be your singular initial selling point of the software, um, well, WHY THE HELL HAS IT NOT BEEN THE ONLY PRIORITY AND FIXED IN THE 3 MONTHS SINCE 1.0ALPHA CAME OUT?

We’ve had other fixes, new code, new features, a facebook page (see i hadn’t forgotten), but yet without even a hint of when this base level feature might appear, we’re told it’s a moving target.

Please, explain it to me like a 5 year old, that hasn’t read the blog posts linking to the $29 million dollars investment, that also lead to Sam being taken on as a full time developer on bbpress (i.e. dont say no time/resources).

[levifig]

@josswinn:

Sure, but when is a 1.0 product coming out?? And remember, WP is not bound to bbPress and bbPress is just darn slow! I’m ok with that, but I can’t afford using it if that’s the case! Every new WP version breaks integration and then there’s months before a new version of bbPress comes out… Sorry, not for me!

Don’t get me wrong, I love what they got here, but it just doesn’t fit me! I’ll recommend it to ppl wanting a very lightweight forum with little to no integration with any CMS! Well.. in that case why use bbPress, that’s my question!

See?

[Ipstenu (Mika Epstein)]

I think it’s best we say its… Not fit for purpose.

Well that entirely depends on your purpose.

I agree with many of your points but you can make them of many other (if not all) bb sites. The majority of sites look similar because of usability. People are used to things working a certain way, and they expect familiarity (which is how many many people out there define ‘usability’). That’s why car design doesn’t change much. It’s not perfect, but people like it. That’s why people cried bloody murder over OS changes from Windows 3.1 to XP, but they got over it. Change is hard for users to accept. They don’t want to learn how to drive, again, they want to get on the road and talk about STEAM, damn it!

Yes ‘easy’ integration with your WordPress site is a misrepresentation at this time. But the rest? That’s all perception and usage. You CAN redesign the hell out of a bbPress site. If you want to. The base code IS customizable, there ARE a lot of plugins. These are facts. What you do with the options is up to you, though.

I don’t think bbPress is perfect, but after spending years trying to mesh my site with other forums out there, I’d rather have this than them.

(Steam is a joke from http://www.albinoblacksheep.com/flash/posting which is my favorite thing ever)

[Ipstenu (Mika Epstein)]

Avatars – They are in there by default, as Gravatars, they’re just turned off.

As for BBcode … Eh. Given that this is a spin off of WordPress and WP uses HTML and not BB code, I see why they chose not to.

[John James Jacoby]

Could not have said it any better… If Matt was paying my bills, I would be the first to step up and commit myself to making bbPress exactly what the audience of WordPress wants it to be and still make Matt happy…

Matt, are you listening?

[elegos]

Hello there!

I was wondering… which addons will be put as “predefinite” in bbPress? I know that “less is more”, but atm, using the 1.0 alpha, I can’t say it’s a newbie-friendly type of forum:

– there is no bbCode (who knows it will use it, not HTML ) => you have to add a plugin (bbCode) and another one to enable the images tag.

– no smiles (ok, the abuse of them is something like HELL, but the absence is too), you have to add a plugin, and another one to enable images (if you haven’t done before).

– the editor too is too poor: can’t you make an addon to easily insert all the tags you can insert in? (like the bbCode one, not compatible with Opera)

– avatars: c’mon, you’ve got them also in the official bbPress forum – another addon

So… there will be some addons like these in the release version? If not, how do you expect people will take bbPress if they allways have to stay under all the most important plugins? What if a developer stops working on one of them?

Thanks

[Joss Winn]

Well, I wouldn’t be so harsh… It’s not even 1.0 software yet and I’m looking to integrate two applications from SVN trunk, ideally using a third-party LDAP plugin I didn’t really expect it to work but hopefully reporting my findings might help us along the way…

I’ve spent enough time on it for now, but will watch for progress and help test with interest.

[income-tax]

It did not worked for me

[Joss Winn]

Glad someone else is having the same problem I’ve managed to make things even more complicated now as I’ve integrated LDAP authentication with WPMU 2.7 but bbpress doesn’t seem to be able authenticate users that are created in WPMU from LDAP.

Ah, well. Enough for one day.

[_ck_]

There are no added new features only bugfixes, one important. No security issues.

These are the only files that need to be replaced on a 0.9.0.2sp1 install:

http://tinyurl.com/5eoukz

Props should be given to ipstenu who was the first to report the serious profile email editing bug which was actually in the code for eight months and no-one noticed. Essentially no regular member could change their email address after registering. Admin could change anyone’s email address without a problem which is why it probably went un-noticed for so long.

[Nipon]

@levifig: Well I forgot to add… yes me too lost the wp_user_level on my user id. But in the end, I can’t access BB admin though it shows me logged in.

[_ck_]

Just download and start playing with it. Best way to learn about anything.

Structure is extremely similar to WordPress with improvements because bbPress doesn’t have to support the old legacy problems that WordPress has.

My first tip to anyone installing bbpress is

1. don’t call the folder bbPress, maybe call it forums (plural)

2. don’t install it directly under wordpress unless you really think that is more natural

suggested:

webroot

blog

forums

3. remember during integration you have to change your cookie path in wordpress and bbpress to the webroot, otherwise you’ll never get the cookies to integrate

Then follow the Integration 101 topic.

[John James Jacoby]

I am curious if wordpress.org uses a “deep” integration? I’ve compared the sources and it really appears that they have similar <head>’s.

Even if theme integration isn’t possible, I like where you’re going with getting the cookies and admin panels working cohesively. I would actually really like to make a plug-in for WordPress to integrate the bbPress admin panel into it. I feel like it wouldn’t be too difficult since most of the code already exists.

I suppose “unusable” is a harsh description, but considering the audience and what they’re chanting for, if it won’t handle sessions and can’t integrate the theme and functions, then what looks like your girlfriend actually ends up being your sister. If it wasn’t for the integration, we could use fluxbb or any other minimalistic semantically focused forum software.

Me wonders if it wouldn’t hurt to have two versions of bbPress. One stand-alone, and one WordPress plug-in. Hmms…

[John James Jacoby]

Sweet deal… Looks like things are well on their way now with the integration of the nonce in there now.

Does that mean both applications share the same nonce now? Before each would create their own even when integrated.

---

After further review, it looks like WP and BBP create different nonces, even if the keys are the same in the config. I suppose this makes sense considering what a nonce is, but darn would I like to be able to logout of WordPress when viewing the forum.

[levifig]

I’m getting annoyed by bbPress already…

Wouldn’t post my reply and then posted 3 times and then no way to delete them…