We hope to have a template system (like WordPress) in future versions, but until then we have to make changes using the system described in previous posts. This is something that may help out:
https://bbpress.org/documentation/customization/
As well, here is my little workaround for themes.
1) If you change templates files out of bb-templates/ folder, make sure you save the changes into the my-templates folder. That way, you can delete the file in the my-templates folder and bbPress will go back to working with the original file out of the bb-templates folder.
2) If you are not sure what style tags are being used on a page, I like to look at the ‘source’ of the page in my browser. Gives great clues on what you should be looking for when later editing the global stylesheet.
3) header.php includes all the information for calling meta information, CSS sheets, javascript scripts, etc.
4) footer.php has the information for credits, ending style tags from above, etc.
5) front-page.php is where the bulk of information that is produced on the main page is. This is where you can arrange what information is shown and where
6) style.css is the main stylesheet for how bbPress looks on every single page. It is actually layed out pretty well in terms of how each page is in bbPress
7) post.php is for individual posts and reply forms for those posts.
When we have a better and easier template system, it will be much simple for the end users, but please be patient as we try and get it working for you!
Trent
