[patrick10128]

Hello all,

I run a small website called the Youth Bloggers Network (http://youthbloggers.net/) which is currently using WordPress and the Simple:Press forum plugin to run the forum. I’ve received some advice to switch to a “dedicated” forum software such as bbPress or phpBB to increase loading time and optimize the site structure (splitting up the forum and cms backend). If I were to switch, bbPress is the definite option for me seeing as I need my WordPress users to be members of the forum as well. I was able to install the latest bbPress version (1.0 alpha I believe) and integrate it perfectly with my WordPress install (cookies, users and everything). That was wonderful. The only two things holding me back from making the switch are:

1) Simple:Press is so easy to integrate into any page, just plug and play

2) I need a bbPress theme that matches my current WordPress theme

The problem is that I would like my forum to look and feel like just another page on the site. With Simple:Press this is easy (even when switching themes). With bbPress I need a new theme.

So here is what I would like to know:

Is it worth switching to bbPress even if it means a little extra work and designing?

And where can I find someone who could create a bbPress theme for me that fits my current design for a *low* price?

Please visit the site: http://youthbloggers.net/ and give me your advice and suggestions.

Thanks very much,

Patrick

[chrishajer]

Yes

https://bbpress.org/forums/topic/get-latest-topics-performance-problem-and-solution#post-22403

https://bbpress.org/forums/topic/get-latest-topics-performance-problem-and-solution#post-22424

https://wordpress.org/support/

[enfotoad]

Ok… so far I am on the bbPress side.

Will bbPress be able to handle large forums?

[Ben L.]

1. Why in the world would you put bbPress inside of phpBB? Just pick one already!

2. bbPress allows you to move the bb-config.php file outside of your document root for security purposes just in case PHP does something weird.

[Ben L.]

WordPress themes are more closely related to bbPress themes. phpBB themes use a completely different system.

[apocalyptictomorrow]

Yes, a public version would be nice! Good work!

[enfotoad]

Would it be easier to convert a WordPress theme into a bbPress theme?

If you guys where in my shoes… which one would you pick for a windows technical support forum?

[wmnasef]

it depends on your needs, if you need a forum that has too many features, then its phpbb for sure.

but if you are looking for a simple forum that has basic functionality, then it’s bbpress.

personally i like bbpress, i like how simple/basic it is, which allows me to add only the features that i want on my own via plugins, while phpbb has too much features, more than i ever wanted, which of course makes it heavier.

[moealza1]

phpbb is much much much more powerful and has dozens of features.

[Ganzuelo]

Well from my past experience with phpbb and bbpress I have to say bbpress would be quicker for you and there are plugins that will allow you to do so.

[enfotoad]

Hi there!

I am sorry if someone else has already created a post on this.

I have a website (powered by wordpress) that has a bunch of how-to windows tech articles. I need to get a forum for my site users. Which one would be better? My users will need the capability of uploading files, pasting code and images. Which forum program would put less pressure on my servers and hopefully keep the running a little faster?

Thank you ahead of time for any help.

[walkerevans]

Thanks for the links, Chris. As bad as the search is in BBPress, it’s still better than phpBB2 (which I’m migrating from).

And John, I saw the Super Search, but didn’t want to use it since it’s in super-alpha mode and I need something that will also search WP posts, and it doesn’t seem like that plugin does that. At least not yet. So for now I’m using the WP search plugin: https://bbpress.org/plugins/topic/wp-search/

Just wondered if there was any way to get Tags/Titles in the existing forum search. Hrm.

[winmutt]

2.7 and 0.9.0.3

I had a heck of a time getting the logins to work properly, the issue was that I would get a wordpress_logged_in_* cookie for /forums but never a wordpress_* for /forums

In the bb-admin wordpress integration I set the forum URL to the wordpress URL http://superturbodiesel.com/ and the same in the wp-admin for bbPress integration plugin and it worked.

Some other changes, I fixed the bb_mail function to use a from envelope for sendmail as the fifth parameter to mail. It should certainly be an install option

bbPress is light and simple but IMO still has a long way to go. Can’t wait to get my hands dirty with some patches. I will probably do a wp integration template and usernames in quoted text (from the QUOTE extension).

I migrated from phpBB out of pure spite. Every upgrade on my stock install would break and the fact that it had to be manually patched was ludicrous. As a professional PHP programmer bbPress is much easier to work with and the coding practices are straightforward.

[TechGnome]

Well, I didn’t exactly dump phpBB per se…. but after looking at the two and what it would take to integrate into my site and get it to do what I wanted…. bbPress turned out the best way to go. What I did dump was Joomla! and WP (GASP! Did I just say that? Yes I did. I needed a forum more than I needed a blog. Last thing this world needed was yet another blog anyways.)

http://tannagh.com

-tg

[Ganzuelo]

Post here if you are ditching phpbb for this.

I have only used soop and phpbb and now bbpress and I am loving this more and more every day.

[salemw]

Hello,

I recently transfered my forum from phpbb3 to bbpress and i really enjoy it

there is only one thing I cannot reproduce with bbpress. I used to have a different style for each category or forums and an image include on top of each. I can do it with forum_id but the variable do not follow in topics

ex:

if ($forum_id == 1) echo 'blabla';

How could I keep it in topics ?

Thank you

[wmnasef]

i wrote it assuming the conversion is done on a new empty bbpress installation. then integrating it later with WP. they call it reverse integration on this post https://bbpress.org/forums/topic/wordpress-and-bbpress-integration-101#post-17411

[John James Jacoby]

How nicely does this play with WP integration in regards to the users and existing WP accounts? I’m assuming that it would take another dump and update to merge the bb_ table this makes with the wp_ table necessary for user integration.

[bryan868]

Worked perfectly. Thank you!

[wmnasef]

yes, after conversion. and you don’t have to install it, just copy the file as is and it will be loaded automatically.

[brh]

I tried installing 0.9.0.3, but I got the message telling me I had an old config.php. I didn’t – my config was named bb-config.php. It turned out the problem was that I was installing bbpress into a subdirectory of my phpBB forums, and it was looking at the config.php for phpBB. I don’t think that’s right. Here was my directory structure:

• /config.php (for phpBB)

  • /bbpress/

    • bb-config.php
    • bb-admin/, etc

When I renamed my phpBB config.php to config2.php, I was allowed to proceed with installation.

[bryan868]

I’m about to run this script. THANK YOU! So for the md5 hashing plugin, do we need to install that after we convert? Or?

[adamhdv04]

I ran this script perfectly. I was running phpbb3 3.0.3 I think, with phpbb-se0 advanced installed. Worked perfect, thanks!

[adam613]

A little about me: I’m working on a hobby web site. It was going to have a forum, a few database-based applications I’ve written the back-end for, and in the process of deciding what should go on the front page, I figured I should start a blog too. I have a version of the site sort of written using phpBB as the the forum and the templating engine for the web apps, but it’s very frustrating getting phpBB to do what I want it to do…you really can’t do much without editing the core code. On the recommendation of a co-worker, I decided to check out WordPress/bbPress. I’m not sure WP/bbPress is the right solution, but I haven’t found anything I like better….it seems like it’s pretty easy to rearrange things on the page and add new elements as needed.

What I want: My forum should appear on the site similar to a Page. I don’t think I need “deep integration”…I’m not terribly concerned about data integration, other than the fact that signing into WP should sign you into the forums and vice versa. I don’t need the forum to be able to interact with other pages on the site…if I need data from my other apps in the forum, I’ll just grab it from the database using a forum plugin. But I am concerned about appearance integration…I want the WP header and footer, including my logo and nav bar, to show up at the top of the forum page, and I want the forum theme to be similar to (if not identical to) the WP theme.

What’s the safest way to make this happen? I’m very new to WP/bbPress, but I’m not afraid to write code…a certain major website pays me a good bit of money do so during the week

[marjolein]

I run phpbb in combination with WordPress. It’s not the best package, but it’s free and looks good .