[Chantal Coolsma]

I knew bbPress for a while, but didn’t do anything with it until a few weeks ago. I needed bbPress for some projects to embed it in already running WordPress installations. At first I installed bbPress from the WordPress plugin repository and activated it. So far easy as every other plugin.

But how do I show this thing a WordPress site? I created a page called ‘Forum’ and inserted the shortcode [bbp-forum-index] into it. Published the page and everything was visible. But now? Why do I need more shortcodes if this is working?

You can copy bbPress template files into your own custom theme folder. This is a way to change some look and feel together with CSS changes. My first question was ‘why are there so many template files?’ As an experienced WordPress theme developer I would say you only need a few. Like forums.php, topics.php and replies.php. I lost my way. Which template is used for which page?

As long as everything works, it’s okay. But then I ran into problems. I am totally lost. I don’t know what is the right way to embed bbPress into WordPress. Just by creating a page? Or add the template files to my custom theme? Both ways got me into the same problems.

I love WordPress, I love to be active in translating and contributing to various projects, I love to help organizing my local WordCamp, but I don’t love to be lost. In my opinion bbPress should work as easy as any other theme file in WordPress. Where you can construct your own page using functions, which are available in a Codex.