I just realized that when a user on my site post something under “What’s new?” Box (post in “My Profile”) then post an activity on their profile.. when a person views the permalink to that: http://{domain}.com/members/{user}/activity/47188 and that person is not logged in that “activity” looks very sparse.. it doesnt give a person viewing that post/activty any incentive to “comment, or like or favorite, or reply” to it. its basically just a bare message without any context.

So I would like to know:
1) Is there a setting in BP that can show the options to (reply, favorite or like) to an arbitrary user when they are not logged in and then ask them to log in or signup if they click on any of those options?

2) How can I make the page to a specific activity http://{domain}.com/members/{user}/activity/47188 look like the “profiles page”

Cheers!

[@nuprn1 Participant 14 years, 3 months ago]

1)
uses the same theme activity templates in activity/entry.php – you could add some conditional logged_in checks and display a message

2)
you can modify members/single/activity/permalink.php theme file (but requires some tandem css changes)

[@porscheheritage Participant 14 years, 3 months ago]

But.. Shouldnt this basic user experience be built into buddypress? (btw Thanks @nuprn1 )

I’ve been taught not to mess with those files because when update day comes im screwed.

[@thelandman Participant 14 years, 3 months ago]

“I’ve been taught not to mess with those files because when update day comes im screwed.”

@porscheheritage, you can mess with those files as much as you please as long as you are not editing the files within pluginsbuddypressbp-themesbp-default

You should in fact have a child theme an entirely new theme to edit so you don’t run into problems if you update buddypress.

[@porscheheritage Participant 14 years, 3 months ago]

You know..I just realized that the writing a plugin or making changes to any files is a terrible way of addressing this. It should be a default User Experience behaviour of Buddypress… thats its purpose. I dont under stand why a “reply” button cant be default and if they arent a member or not logged in it should ask them to log in or start an account. its just really basic.

CC:

@johnjamesjacoby
@DJPaul
@apeatling
@jeffsayre
@crashutah
@boonebgorges
@nuprn1
@pollyplummer

[@rogercoathup Participant 14 years, 3 months ago]

@porscheheritage –

Yes, BuddyPress would definitely benefit from a serious UX review. Theming is much harder work than it should be. It’s far too tightly coupled to the core, with too much presentation code / decision making embedded and difficult to change. The permalink activity pages are definitely the worst presented and often most useless aspect of the default setup.

That said – the default setup can never be made to please every user. It’s perfectly reasonable / normal to have to create and modify your own bespoke template files to get the site you want. It’s the same for WordPress, Drupal, Expression Engine – any content management system you care to name.

Copying everyone under the sun on your post, is unlikely to win you many fans! However, there really should be somewhere more obvious and accessible to raise thoughts about the interface and BP experience.

My tuppence worth: make the API much finer grained (e.g. accessing the activity stream elements by part, rather than monolithic string), loosen the presentation coupling as much as possible, and put out a default theme that’s based on a finer grained access, and therefore much easier to understand how to re-work and restyle. This would encourage more theming, more unique uses of BuddyPress and push the boundaries.

[@porscheheritage Participant 14 years, 3 months ago]

*Hat Tip*! @rogercoathup thanks for the input!

I dont think the folks I CC’d have such tender sensibilities that they would be offended to CC’ them. besides.. its a community thing.

just frustrated with it all.. heh…