[CEThom]

I’m in the early stages of setting up a forum for students in my local area. Here is my progress thus far:

http://www.cabbagemedia.com/students/forums

I have a few basic questions.

1) POSTING PICTURES

I downloaded this plugin:

http://bbpress.org/plugins/topic/allow-images/?replies=29

But have absolutely no idea what to do with it. The instructions tell me this: “Add the allow-images.php file to bbPress’ my-plugins/ directory.”

But where is the directory? I can’t find it anywhere in my admin centre on the forum.

2) CHANGING THE LAYOUT

My admin centre only gives me two choices – green and blue. How do I change the layout entirely, ie. adding my own banner at the top?

[gerikg]

1) Create a “my-template” folder (make sure it’s 755 permission) in the root folder.

[zaerl]

2) CHANGING THE LAYOUT

Install a new theme or change the default one that is located in bb-templates/kakumei

[gerikg]

crap where is my head

1) Create a “my-plugins” folder (make sure it’s 755 permission) in the root folder.

[CEThom]

Even that answer is quite technical for me – I’m very new to this.

Where is my route folder and what does ‘755 permission’ mean?

[zaerl]

The root folder is the folder where you have installed bbPress. You need to open the FTP program you use and create a my-plugins folder inside the bbPress folder (if there isn’t already a folder with that name.) Once done this you must change that folder permission (write/read/exec) to 755 and upload the allow-images.php file inside it. Then open the plugin panel in the admin area of bbPress and activate the plugin.

[CEThom]

Are the ‘my-plugins folder’ and the ‘root folder’ online somewhere, or are they computer files?

[CEThom]

I didn’t set up the initial accounts, which is why I’m confused about the folders – whether they are online folders or computer folders. Somebody else did that and then asked me to build on what they’d already put in place.

[zaerl]

We are talking about folders actually stored on your site server (http://www.cabbagemedia.com/students/forums) where bbPress has been installed. You need to access to your server through an FTP client.

[CEThom]

Ah, so it would be in my http://www.cabbagemedia.com folders? Not in the forum’s admin centre?

[zaerl]

I don’t know what a “forum’s admin centre” is.

Connect to your server and upload the file. If you don’t know how to do this maybe you should hire someone for doing it for you. If you want to be a bbPress admin you must know how to manage a site using an FTP client.

[CEThom]

FTP software is what you use to upload files from your computer to a website, so are you saying that these folders – root folder etc – are on my computer?

And if not, where are they?

All I have been given are the admin login details for the forum. When I refer to the admin centre, I mean the set of tools available to the admin on the website itself.

[zaerl]

Your server is just a computer in which is installed bbPress. You need to connect to that server from your computer with an FTP client. Once you have established the connection you must upload the plugin file to the remote server and activate the plugin from the bbPress admin area.

It seems to me that you haven’t the necessary knowledge to perform such task. Maybe it’s better for you to hire someone for doing your work.

[kevinjohngallagher]

Hi CEThom,

The “admin section” will not in any way help you. Sorry.

I’m afraid that bbPress requires a certain level of technical understanding to work in any small way that deviates from the standard. The ability to use and understand an FTP program and edit files is sadly the bare minimum. I would strongly suggest, for your own sake, finding someone that does know and understand these things and hiring them for the job.

Kev