BuddyPress

Hi all!

Just thought I’d post a teaser (and maybe generate a bit of pre-release feedback) about a theme I’m putting together for Buddypress.
I took a break from developing my site to put this together for y’all – lotsa fun.
Both free and premium versions will be available. Both versions include an extremely versatile, fully-widgetized front page template.

New theme home here: http://buddylite.com/

Looks nice. Can you enlarge the avatar in the upper left, then below the avatar add profile button (linking to profile) next to the logout button?

@LPH2005

The avatar can be enlarged, sure. But, as with the bp-default theme, clicking any avatar already links to the users profile.

Wow, that looks great… organized and clean.

Really nice theme! I like it

The theme looks very nicely organized. I have just two questions: will it support custom menus and when will it be available to purchase?

@ithacaindy

Yes, the theme will support custom menus via the addition of my Add-All-Nav-Links-to-BP-Adminbar plugin.

http://buddypress.org/community/groups/add-all-nav-links-to-bp-adminbar/

http://nowrecovery.com/justfunstuff/add-all-nav-links-to-bp-adminbar/

The original idea for this theme, and the reason I’m developing it, was to help make navigation more streamlined for users by combining the adminbar and main nav into a single unit. I released the plugin first, ‘cuz it works just fine with child themes of bp-default. Now I’m working on the theme to go with it. Of course, the theme will work just fine without the plugin, but…

When will it be available to purchase? Hopefully by the end of this month, I’ll have an initial release of the freebie. If all goes well on road tests of that release, the premium should become available by end of November.

Little progress update for y’all who’re interested in this fun little baby.

A great many changes have been made to the default theme in BP1.2.6:

http://trac.buddypress.org/changeset?old_path=/tags/1.2.5.2/bp-themes/bp-default&new_path=/tags/1.2.6/bp-themes/bp-default/

This brought up a question, and an answer I was hoping to avoid:

http://buddypress.org/community/groups/how-to-and-troubleshooting/forum/topic/what-necessary-changes-should-be-made-to-bp-themes-for-bp-1-2-6/#post-76879

To sum up, as the BP1.2.5-based theme I’ve been working on is pretty much complete, we’ll have 2 versions of the freebie release by the end of this month: the 1.2.6-compatible version will be downloadable from the repo, while the 1.2.5-compatible version will still be available from my site.

I’ll post links to both when the time is right.
I’m also putting together a nicely illustrated manual with all kinds of examples to help get you started on customizing the theme.

I noticed your lightbox works in buddypress. Mine stopped working for me when I installed buddypress. My flickr photo gallery no longer loads photos in the lighbox… it just get stuck. When I de-activate buddypress, it works again. I tried other themes too – even the buddypress default theme, and that isn’t the problem. Any suggestions?

http://colage.dreamhosters.com/photos/

I am looking forward to this! AND, after looking around your site (theme is looking good!) I wish you all the best in your endeavor! Your are bringing some creative and honed skills to the recovery community! I hope your site provides the help many people need! God Bless!

@roydeanjr

Thanks! I’ve almost finished the illustrated theme manual to help newbies (like us!) to get started on customizing the basic theme. Then I still need to update the code for BP1.2.6

The whole impetus behind the development of this theme was to provide as simple a framework as possible while offering several options and as much easy customization as possible for non-techies. All that while keeping the pricetag low (premium = $20), yet still offset the time invested for development and support.

However, along with the unexpected code updates and my father’s declining health (I’m taking a week off to spend some time with him) comes an unfortunate delay: the freebie will be available by the end of the 2nd week of November, while the premium should follow a few weeks after that.

I apologize in advance for the delay everyone, but please take consolation in that the premium will include a few surprises.
Ooh… anticipation is a fun thing!

Sorry to hear about your father. My prayers go out for him and for your peace.

@roydeanjr

Thank you for that!

2nd progress report…

Just got back from a week with my Dad. Good news is: BuddyLite for BP1.2.5 is almost ready for release

The CSS has been cleaned up and simplified to make it as easy as can be to create custom styles for this theme (just make a few mods to each of 6 on-screen elements and, BAM!, you’ve got your own unique style).
The 20-page illustrated users manual is finished; a comprehensive, easy-to-follow, how-to-customize-this guide for newbies.
I decided to include the widgetized footer panel in the freebie also, ‘cuz it just fits so well with the homepage.

I’ll be updating the theme for BP1.2.6 this coming weekend and, if all goes well, the 2 versions can be released together.

Then… work begins on the Premium version.
I’ve posted a few more screenshots to my little blog of what’s to come (to keep everyone’s mouths watering, I hope)

http://nowrecovery.com/justfunstuff/2010/themes/introducing-buddylite/

We need more BuddyPress themes, but can’t really say I like the colors and all that shadow..

Other then that, it’ll probably be a good template to work out off. Keep at it.