[@fiq Member 13 years, 9 months ago]

@shawn38 Yes I agree to a point. It depends greatly on traffic, plugins, etc. But, it seems from what he wrote he is beyond that point. It is technically possible to run on a shared sever, but if your goal is to create a popular site you will need to switch to dedicated at some point. That point is different for everyone, but everyone that uses BP should be prepared to make that move at some point and it can come faster than you think. It’s my personal opinion that you should start out dedicated if possible so you don’t have to deal with the pain of moving later. You should at the very least find a shared host that allows for easy expansion.

PS
Hostmonster and Bluehost should never be used. I’m sure there are more to add to that list, but those I have confirmed will throttle you regardless of users or plugins.

[@fiq Member 13 years, 9 months ago]

No, I believe they do need dedicated. BP does not run well on a shared server. I have had a Hostmonster rep tell me they throttle all BP users and so do most other shared hosts. You may be able to run for a little while but soon you will get throttled and your site will slow to the point where it is almost unusable. You simply are not going to be able to run any real social network for $20 a month.

[@fiq Member 13 years, 10 months ago]

I’m completely ignorant about ajax and only slightly better with js. Most things I can figure out by trial and error, but not with ajax.

Two of the problems I’m have is with Fitvids.js (responsive video embeds) and prettyPhoto.js (lightbox).

[@fiq Member 13 years, 10 months ago]

Not to beat a dead horse, but this is a great example of why vertical navigation doesn’t work. Look how small the content area is. I know it will change depending on the theme, but you have less than a 3rd of the page. Now how would images or video look in that? Not only very small, but it would also look like Times Square.

[@fiq Member 13 years, 10 months ago]

–‘–,–‘{@

[@fiq Member 13 years, 10 months ago]

But, do you really want AOL users? If so I got about a million hours of CD-ROMs I can sell them.

[@fiq Member 13 years, 10 months ago]

PS
I don’t mean to be negative, but you all know what I’m talking about. Far too much developer time is spent answering questions by people that think installing a plugin will make them the next Facebook. BP should still be focused on developers, not people looking for shortcuts. Perhaps one day it can become a plugin for the masses, but we are far from it now. Sorry for the rant, but I think it’s the truth.

[@fiq Member 13 years, 10 months ago]

It works. I just tested it…

http://www.mycollectr.com/members/mcguffin/

[@fiq Member 13 years, 10 months ago]

This lets you change the default tabs (tab that is open when clicking on a profile link etc.).

https://buddypress.org/community/groups/buddypress-extended-settings/

[@fiq Member 13 years, 10 months ago]

This is what I was looking for. It could lose the css, but other than it seem to work great.

https://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/bp-recent-groups-topics/screenshots/

[@fiq Member 13 years, 10 months ago]

Does not work with Group forums. It’s has not been updated in years and I believe it is just for bbPress forums.

[@fiq Member 13 years, 10 months ago]

Does it work with Group forums?

[@fiq Member 13 years, 10 months ago]

These 3 scripts control the slider or image slideshow. Hard to tell without seeing how you have it setup. If you are just using thumbs and not the slide show you can turn this feature off in the Nextgen settings (I believe it’s under the Galleries tab).

nextgen-gallery/shutter/shutter-reloaded.js?ver=1.3.3
nextgen-gallery/js/jquery.cycle.all.min.js?ver=2.9995
nextgen-gallery/js/ngg.slideshow.min.js?ver=1.06

[@fiq Member 13 years, 10 months ago]

One of my new fav BP plugins…

https://buddypress.org/community/groups/buddypress-extended-settings/

by @modemlooper

[@fiq Member 13 years, 10 months ago]

That’s a ton of scripts. My bet just by looking at it is the Nexgen is slowing things. Check these out….

Only loads Nextgen on pages where it is used:
http://www.markstechnologynews.com/2012/02/nextgen-gallery-optimizer-wordpress-plugin-helps-boost-your-sites-page-load-speed.html

Optimizes images:
http://shanebishop.net/ewww-image-optimizer/

I would limit the number of images in your slider and other basic steps. You should also limit the number of widgets you use. It’s hard to tell just by looking at what you posted. Not sure what type of theme you are using, but unless you built it yourself or are using the default theme I would bet it extremely bloated like almost all premium themes sold today.

[@fiq Member 13 years, 10 months ago]

You can try this:

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/yslow/

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/firebug/?src=dp-dl-dependencies

[@fiq Member 13 years, 10 months ago]

You have a link?

[@fiq Member 13 years, 10 months ago]

For the most part you won’t be able to tell much just by looking at them. If you are on shared hosting that is your problem. Most shared hosts throttle BP installs (Blue Host, Host Monster, etc.). You need to be running a dedicated server(s). I have had good luck with Rackspace, but there are a couple other good ones out there (but not many).

[@fiq Member 13 years, 10 months ago]

–‘–,–‘{@

[@fiq Member 13 years, 10 months ago]

@chouf1 THANK YOU!

That was all I needed. In retrospect I should have looked there.

Here is what you add to the functions.php if anyone else is interested….

`remove_action( ‘wp_footer’, ‘wp_admin_bar_render’, 1000 );
remove_action( ‘admin_footer’, ‘wp_admin_bar_render’, 1000 );
add_action( ‘wp_head’, ‘wp_admin_bar_render’, 1000 );
add_action( ‘admin_head’, ‘wp_admin_bar_render’, 1000 );`

[@fiq Member 13 years, 10 months ago]

Another issue I just discovered is when you use Lazy Load js it doesn’t load the avatars until you reach the footer.

[@fiq Member 13 years, 10 months ago]

@djpaul “It should work out of the box in the activity component, but not in the group forums.”

Is this correct? I can embed video via a link in Group Forums.

[@fiq Member 13 years, 10 months ago]

Bump

PS
I completely understand why this was originally inserted into the footer. Originally this bar was just a feature for admins. Now that BP and others have turned it into a site feature this load last logic no longer applies. Furthermore, it doesn’t matter how “lite” you make your theme. If you have media embeds, images, like buttons, etc. in your page content you will see a noticeable delay, that depending on theme could make it appear broken. If it is going to be used as a site element it should be treated as such.

Moreover, there seems to be a growing attitude at WP that making themes idiot proof is more important than developer control. Don’t get me started on Post Formats. This goes as far as ignoring customization questions that may conflict with any pseudo coding philosophy they cling to. There is nothing wrong with breaking the rules as long as you know what they are.

Sorry wasn’t trying to turn this into a rant, I just have strong feelings about that stuff.

[@fiq Member 13 years, 10 months ago]

Not sure how current it is….

https://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/buddybar-widget/

For removing the bar…

https://buddypress.org/community/groups/buddypress-extended-settings/

[@fiq Member 13 years, 10 months ago]

Buddypress can run an unlimited number of members out of the box. Yes, there are lots of tweaks you can do to the software, but the real issues are going to be with your hardware. You really need to have someone that knows servers.

While technically possible, in my opinion BP should never be run on a shared server. Once you pass a couple thousand members multiple servers will most likely be needed.

The number of members is a poor matrix for judging a sites success (or needs). It completely depends on the type of site. Some use BP social features as the main component to their sites, others may just use it as a add-on, like a support forum. It also depends on how much media you use. Some sites use very little while others use lots of pictures and video.

PS
We run around 1.5 million unique visitors a month using BP.