BuddyPress

We just released version 1.4 of the BuddyPress Group Blog plugin. Lots changed in BuddyPress going from 1.1.3 to 1.2. Apart from code, the way it communicates and looks at the frontend has changed drastically.

We are releasing this new version as a starting point. As we hear how you use the new theme and what the needs are we will adjust it’s theme functionality. You can always re-theme the templates yourself.

We added some extra stuff as well. The most obvious is that we allow validation settings to be overridden. Dashes can now be allowed so that your blog url matches the group url closer. We also modified when in the group creation step the blog gets created. This should help in weird behavior and blogs being created by accident.

Looking forward we are looking to build a P2 child theme that matches the BuddyPress Default theme, but with Group elements.

We already included a Group based child theme for the bp-default theme. However we have not done extensive testing.

Feel free to test the plugin here: http://sandbox.ywamcloud.com

THIS VERSION IS NOT COMPATIBLE WITH PREVIOUS VERSIONS OF BUDDYPRESS

Alright, just wanted to make sure it was said!

Greetz,

Marius Ooms

Hi Mari

Thanks for updating this so fast. I thought it might be a while and so I was really glad to see this post.

That bieng said I have run into the following problem.

When creating a new GB my only option for location is ww.mysiite.com/GB. I’m set up for ww.GB.mystie. After creating a GB the Blog page just seem to pull my main sites blog.

I’m using the latest BP and WPMU versions btw.

Any help would appriciated. Thanks.

mad props, Marius. I will put it through it’s paces, gladly

Marius – small mistake: on the create a blog screen, you give the example blog URL (if create your own is chosen) as domain.com/groupblogname whereas it really is domain.com/groups/groupname/blog. For a second there, I thought that would be the address of the blog. Good thing it’s just text.

@Avi M I have not tested it with sub-domains sadly. I will see if I can get a test environment for that as well. If anyone else can chime in on subdomains issues, feel free.

@Mike Thanks…let me know what could be useful to add. Group activity streams will come, but I’m not sure how exactly yet. Therefore I included a custom groupblog activity loop on the group blog page.

@Mike It is actually correct. The blog path is shown. The url you are referring to is merely a template we show in the group structure and is completely separate from the blog. In that particular template we show some blog activity and posts. It basically is container for what goes on in the blog. Does that make sense?

I can echo Avi’s report as well. I created 3 blogs with 2 diff users (on my dev site, fear not) and the blog pulls in my main site’s posts…oddly at the address i mentioned above eg domain.com/groups/group-name/blog. I suppose the first question would be, what happened to the blog naming rules if /blog is used for the blog name (I’d prefer /blog btw, my main blog lives at domain.com/blog)

This most likely has to do with the option Andy gave to have the main blog or activity stream on the Home page. We then had to create a page (I named ‘blog’) and then set the Readings Settings Post page to ‘Blog’

Hope that helps

@marius I understand, just know that users/admins will think that’s where there blog url is going to be and might panic

additionally, the About and Blog buttons that show up on the Group Blog page point to

domain.com/about and domain.com/blog
is that on purpose? What i the intention of having a button that reads ‘Blog’ on the Group Blog page?

Hi Mari thanks for the prompt reply.

I thought I’d share a work around I came up with. Create a blog the old fashion way for use with the desired group and then simply select it from the existing blogs drop down on the GB set up page.

Excellent! Congrats! This is one of the most essential plugins.

I need to upgrade to from 1.1.3 to 1.2…

Does the group home now have front end posting? Still struggling with that… I don’t see it on sandbox.ywamcloud.com, but perhaps you have to be logged-in?

@Avi M, @Mike The latest bug fix should possible fix a lot of issues. Basically the code was missing a vital function which prevented blogs to be created for EXISTING groups. That inadvertently also fixed ‘main blog posts’ on the group page.

@Peterverkooijen I will be making a child theme for P2. From there you can set that theme as the default group blog theme, wish will enable frontend posting.

@Mike I’m including a setting in the wp-admin settings to change the behavior of the blog link within the group. By default it loads a template. If deeper blog integration is desired you can set to redirect the blog link to the group blog home page. This is only useful when your theme matches your current buddypress theme. Two child themes will ship with the group blog plugin that will do that. One based on bp-default and one based on the P2 theme.

KudOs Mariusooms !

Looking forward to the latest group blog.

We still have to upgrade to 1.2
and this is a major thing we were holding out for.

As the kids say ‘Mad Props’

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I will be making a child theme for P2. From there you can set that theme as the default group blog theme, wish will enable frontend posting.

That is not the same as frontend posting on the group home page. You can already use P2 as the group blog theme now.

Also note that in 1.1.3 group blog defaults are overridden by the blog defaults plugin. Haven’t yet tested if that is different in bp-groupblog for 1.2, but for my site I don’t want another category of blogs that looks and behaves different from the other blogs.

For me the groups and blogs serve different purposes; the blogs are for “individual expression”, the groups are for interaction, collaboration, community, etc. I don’t want to mix and confuse those functions.

The group home in my site should become a collaborative space. Front-end posting is a first requirement, so I’ll continue to bang my head against the wall trying to figure that out.

@peterverkooijen I think I understand your structure a bit, however frontend posting will always be tied to a theme that is activated on the blog itself. I don’t think it will be possible to post from the group url. Not until frontend posting develops into a plugin rather than tied deeply into a theme. If all the features P2 offers would be part of a plugin, than it could be activated on any theme and we would be one step closer to post from within the group.

You could potentially still do what you wish, nut it would require each blog to set up two front pages as described here:

http://codex.wordpress.org/Creating_a_Static_Front_Page

You could then use one front page to be loaded inside the group structure and style it as the group by attaching a unique stylesheet. Your other front page would be the main blog front page and could look entirely different.

That is probably as close as you will get, until someone comes up with a clever frontend posting plugin.