[@gian-ava Participant 16 years, 6 months ago]

@nahummadrid

I see you wrote an article on your blog inspired by this topic:

http://nahummadrid.com/blog/buddypress/so-your-bp-site-is-up-now-what

Thanks for providing the link back to here.

[@gian-ava Participant 16 years, 6 months ago]

@Dimensionmedia Nice and valuable list of tips, thanks.

I’m glad that my topic have generated such interesting discussions.

The community website I build up is for Cure fans (you know The Cure, right?), and since they all are already active on Facebook, MySpace and other existing (traditional) forums, it is quiet a bit of a challenge to bring them over to my site and actually use it.

The motivation that made me wanna do Cureuphoria (http://cureuphoria.com) is that I felt that althought many places already exist for Cure fans to interact, there isn’t a real Social Network with features “à la Facebook/MySpace” that is specifically built with that particular community in mind.

I feel that the major value of using BuddyPress, and the main difference with the above mentioned social networks is that you can offer basicly the same feautures, BUT in an environement created and adapted around a specific community, which is the strongest point to my opinion.

From look and feel, to functionalities, you can build something up that is indeed unique to a given community.

Something that a rather impersonal environement such as Facebook, is not able to offer.

For example, I used custom profile fields to build a Cure-oriented member profiles, because it is about The Cure, right?

You can check an example here: http://cureuphoria.com/gian, which is my profile, but you can go and see others too.

Also, because I believe the register page is a key page of the site, I designed a very simple, basic form with a prominent call to action button, and argued some benefits about registering and using the site, that would accompany the registration form.

And, because during the intial lunch phase you don’t see many members profile avatars active, I decides to design a visual graphic with different avatars in order to give the potential subscriber a feeling of community. To do so, I asked permissions to Facebook users (within the Cure fans community) to use their avatars, and they all agreed. That gave me already the possibility to communicate the existence of the new site to some.

By the way, this is the register page: http://cureuphoria.com/register

At the moment I did get quiet a few registrations in a week time period, but unfortunately, users don’t turn out to be as active as I expect them to be. So, beside the first point of bringing people in and register, the following point would be, how to make them use the website and be active? Maybe it takes time to achive that.

Maybe their passivity is due to the fact of being troubled by the slight diffrences with (again) Facebook, or other traditional forums structure.

I mean, the majority of other Cure forums out are built with calssical bulletin board systems, such as phpBB or vBulletin and are (sorry, but I need to say it) quiet ugly. Still they are widely populated with topics.

My users, I feel, are probably troubled by the Groups/Forums relation. Some posted on the Group homepage activity, thinking that it was answearing to a topic in the forum for that Group.

I mean, I do think that the Group/Forum as a value and I totally understand the principle behind it. But do my users?

In order to push them to post Topics that are not necessarily associated with a Group, I did create a Group called Open Topics, that would act as a general topic forum.

And, I wrote a sticky topic on “How to use Cureuphoria”, which you can find here, even if not finished yet at the moment of this writing: http://cureuphoria.com/groups/cureuphoria-feedback/forum/topic/how-to-use-cureuphoria-read-this/

I would like to have them create their own groups, write topics, invite their friends over and all that, instead of coming to the site, putting up a video form YouTube, add a friend and then leave to just check if something more exciting is happening after a day, and since it’s not the case, leave again.

Anyway, I don’t think there is a magic formula to make your BuddyPress site have the success you expect, but it is probably a lot of little things that need to be manged toghether, from design, to functionalities, to constant marketing (social public relationship). Or… something I am just missing.

I want to thank all of you who contributed to the topic. Keep it going: advices, ideas and thoughts about this are never enough.

[@gian-ava Participant 16 years, 6 months ago]

I was about to write a thread for this as well. Luckly enough the search produce some relevant result (not often the case, I must say), and I found it already existed.

Well, so there is nothing else but wait for the option to have sticky topics to actually stick in the Forum Directory to be implemented in a next release?

Mmm…the waiting without knowing WHEN and IF, is kind of killing for somebody like me… Mmmm…

[@gian-ava Participant 16 years, 6 months ago]

Ok, here’s my TEMPORARY fix for highlighting (printing the class=”active”) the Home menu, waiting that the bp_is_front_page() fuction get fixed (if it ever will).

The trick is simply to detect the homepage by its URL, with PHP.

So, first create a function to know that get the main url (http://site.com).

<?php

// Define base URL (homepage)

$homepage = "/";

$currentpage = $_SERVER['REQUEST_URI'];

?>

Than call the function as condition:

<li <?php if($homepage==$currentpage) { echo 'class="active"'; } ?> id="home-nav"><a href="<?php echo get_settings('home'); ?>" alt="Home">Home</a></li>

Just in case anybody else run into the same problem.

[@gian-ava Participant 16 years, 6 months ago]

@foxly I am going to test the new beta, which looks promising.

I did installed it in the plugins directory along with the old one, and in order to test it (live site), I switch the folder name of the plugin to make it active (the old with the new). When I switch for the new (beta) I think that all the previously uploaded images are not there in profiles/photos. Does that mean that members need to re-upload again?

Othewise, there were a few fixes I needed to solve with the old plugin, mainly caused by the fact that my WP installation is in a SUBFOLDER (and surely enough, I am not the only one with such a setup). So please consider coding paths to file so that it works fine for both cases (WP in root and WP in subfolder).

You can find more about it here, with code fixes kindly provided by the other plugin author, Francesco.

The original thread was closed, don’t know why and don’t know by who, without a word to me:

https://buddypress.org/forums/topic/need-to-solve-2-problems-with-bp-album

This configuration and fixes surely apply to many other. (I am not the only one having WP in a sub folder, am I?).

Well, thanks for taking this into consideration for the next release.

[@gian-ava Participant 16 years, 6 months ago]

Well, it did work!

Put the function in “bp-custom.php”, and called teh function from the template file.

Thanks cnorris23!

And thanks to you r-a-y, for the right input.

Now it’s a matter of styling the menu.

I should be able to get the dropdown effect only with CSS, witthout any jQuery, right?

When I got the result I want, I’ll mark this as resolved.

Thanks guys, that was an important feature to have for the site.

[@gian-ava Participant 16 years, 6 months ago]

Thanks cnorris23!

I am logged in, of course, otherwise I couldn’t see.

I’ll try to put the function in “bp-custom.php” (yeah, guess is the same than if I put it in functions.php), since I got such file.

But it it didn’t work in the template file, it normally won’t work in there.

Will report.

[@gian-ava Participant 16 years, 6 months ago]

I tried this, doesn’t print anything neaither:

<ul id="user-menu">

<li><a href="<?php echo bp_loggedin_user_domain() ?>/profile/edit/">My profile</a></li>

<li>| <a href="<?php echo bp_loggedin_user_domain() ?>/messages/">My messages</a></li>

<li>| <a href="<?php echo bp_loggedin_user_domain() ?>/groups/">My groups</a></li>

<li>| <a href="<?php echo bp_loggedin_user_domain() ?>/friends/">My friends</a></li>

<li>| <a href="<?php echo bp_loggedin_user_domain() ?>/photos/">My photos</a></li>

<li>| <a href="<?php echo bp_loggedin_user_domain() ?>/settings/">Settings</a></li>



<?php function my_bp_adminbar_notifications_menu() {

global $bp;



if ( !is_user_logged_in() )

return false;



echo '<li id="bp-adminbar-notifications-menu"><a href="' . $bp->loggedin_user->domain . '">';

_e( 'Notifications', 'buddypress' );



if ( $notifications = bp_core_get_notifications_for_user( $bp->loggedin_user->id ) ) { ?>

<span><?php echo count($notifications) ?></span>

<?php

}



echo '</a>';

echo '<ul>';



if ( $notifications ) { ?>

<?php $counter = 0; ?>

<?php for ( $i = 0; $i < count($notifications); $i++ ) { ?>

<?php $alt = ( 0 == $counter % 2 ) ? ' class="alt"' : ''; ?>

<li<?php echo $alt ?>><?php echo $notifications[$i] ?></li>

<?php $counter++; ?>

<?php } ?>

<?php } else { ?>

<li><a href="<?php echo $bp->loggedin_user->domain ?>"><?php _e( 'No new notifications.', 'buddypress' ); ?></a></li>

<?php

}



echo '</ul>';

echo '</li>';

}

?>



<?php if( function_exists('my_bp_adminbar_notifications_menu') ) my_bp_adminbar_notifications_menu(); ?>



</ul>

Is anything in there correct?

[@gian-ava Participant 16 years, 6 months ago]

@r-a-y I tried this:

<?php function my_bp_adminbar_notifications_menu() {

global $bp;



if ( !is_user_logged_in() )

return false;



echo '<li id="bp-adminbar-notifications-menu"><a href="' . $bp->loggedin_user->domain . '">';

_e( 'Notifications', 'buddypress' );



if ( $notifications = bp_core_get_notifications_for_user( $bp->loggedin_user->id ) ) { ?>

<span><?php echo count($notifications) ?></span>

<?php

}



echo '</a>';

echo '<ul>';



if ( $notifications ) { ?>

<?php $counter = 0; ?>

<?php for ( $i = 0; $i < count($notifications); $i++ ) { ?>

<?php $alt = ( 0 == $counter % 2 ) ? ' class="alt"' : ''; ?>

<li<?php echo $alt ?>><?php echo $notifications[$i] ?></li>

<?php $counter++; ?>

<?php } ?>

<?php } else { ?>

<li><a href="<?php echo $bp->loggedin_user->domain ?>"><?php _e( 'No new notifications.', 'buddypress' ); ?></a></li>

<?php

}



echo '</ul>';

echo '</li>';

}

?>

Which is the same funtion except for the name “my_bp_adminbar_notifications_menu”.

It doesn’t print anything.

Probably something with the “bp_core_get_notifications_for_user” that is desabled because of my desabling the default Admin bar?

I admit that I php is not my strong point at all.

[@gian-ava Participant 16 years, 6 months ago]

I’ve put the function right in the ul, like so:

<ul id="user-menu">



<li><a href="<?php echo bp_loggedin_user_domain() ?>/profile/edit/">My profile</a></li>

<li>| <a href="<?php echo bp_loggedin_user_domain() ?>/messages/">My messages</a></li>

<li>| <a href="<?php echo bp_loggedin_user_domain() ?>/groups/">My groups</a></li>

<li>| <a href="<?php echo bp_loggedin_user_domain() ?>/friends/">My friends</a></li>

<li>| <a href="<?php echo bp_loggedin_user_domain() ?>/photos/">My photos</a></li>

<li>| <a href="<?php echo bp_loggedin_user_domain() ?>/settings/">Settings</a></li>

<li>| <a id="logout" href="<?php echo wp_logout_url( get_option('home') ) ?>"><?php _e( 'Log Out', 'buddypress' ) ?></a></li>



<?php bp_adminbar_notifications_menu(); ?>



</ul>

…to see waht it produces. It just breaks my layout. The whole ul disapeears and the layout after that is broken.

In Firebug I can see this error: Call to undefined function bp_adminbar_notifications_menu()

Mmm… I got BP Template Pack installed, if that makes it a hint of any kind.

[@gian-ava Participant 16 years, 6 months ago]

Tmort, you need to put this in your” functions.php” file (in the theme or child theme directory) or in “bp-custom.php” (in the plugins directory):

// Getting rid of the subfolder in URLs/permalinks

function my_bp_override_core_domain() {

$domain = get_bloginfo('url');

return $domain;

}

add_filter('bp_core_get_root_domain','my_bp_override_core_domain');

Let me know if that did the trick.

Credits for the code goes to r-a-y, who wrote it for me.

[@gian-ava Participant 16 years, 6 months ago]

Nope, that doesn’t work for me. Are we sure it’s not a deprecated function?

[@gian-ava Participant 16 years, 6 months ago]

Thanks nahummadrid, I am going to try it out. Didn’t know about that function.

[@gian-ava Participant 16 years, 6 months ago]

MrMaz, the play_photo icon is terrible!

We need to find something better for the plugin.

If you want I’ll see what I wan come up with.

[@gian-ava Participant 16 years, 6 months ago]

No, I am the admin of all groups, for the moment.

Thanks for checking this out.

[@gian-ava Participant 16 years, 6 months ago]

MrMraz, when I create a group link, the link is indeed created, but not associated to the group. Just a regular link.

http://cureuphoria.com

Yes, it’s beta 0 .4.

[@gian-ava Participant 16 years, 6 months ago]

I am really interested in this.

I did re-create the admin bar to fit my design and got rid of the default one.

Now, I want to re-produce the notifications system.

Is that what you’re trying to achive?

[@gian-ava Participant 16 years, 6 months ago]

Actully, I didn’t pay attention on the fact that you are on WPMU, for which I got no experience so far.

Anyway, if I am not wrong, you can put the code in “functions.php” in your theme or child theme, or have a file (create one) called “bp-custom.php” and put that in the plugins directory, not “buddypress” directory, just in the “plugins” directory.

That will act like a plugin.

Try and let me know.

[@gian-ava Participant 16 years, 6 months ago]

You don’t need to put everything to the root, if you wish to have teh installation in a subfolder.

What you need is this code in “bp-custom.php”, which goes in the plugins directory:

// Getting rid of the subfolder in URLs/permalinks

function my_bp_override_core_domain() {

$domain = get_bloginfo('url');

return $domain;

}

add_filter('bp_core_get_root_domain','my_bp_override_core_domain');

Credits for this go to r-a-y, who sort it out for me.

With this, your permalinks structure should be without the subfolder.

Still, I think I’m going to write something about this whole topic.

[@gian-ava Participant 16 years, 6 months ago]

@Chouf1Very constructive arguments!

[@gian-ava Participant 16 years, 6 months ago]

Unfortunately I tried to install the plugin (https://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/bp-edit-group-slug/) but I got an errot when I tried to activate it, for line 15, which is: class Group_Change_Slug extends BP_Group_Extension {

I had to FTP-delete it, otherwise no access to the admin.

;-(

[@gian-ava Participant 16 years, 6 months ago]

Thanks, Paul!

Otherwise, isn’t there a way to get into a bbPress admin for BP forums, like when you run a regular bbPress installation?

[@gian-ava Participant 16 years, 6 months ago]

Thanks, jivany.

I did not open a new ticket because one already existed: https://trac.buddypress.org/ticket/2260, so I contributed to that.

It is so frustrating not to get something so basic to work. I try to figure out a workarond. Maybe If I say something like:

If this page is not a wp page, blog, post, forums, groups, ect, by exclusion there will be only the homepage left, and I get to print the code for the highlight menu.

And, the thing is that even thought I contributed to the ticket, I got no idea if it will be take into consideration for a next minor release. So I just have to sit there and passively hope.

And I am not of that kind.

[@gian-ava Participant 16 years, 6 months ago]

I am interested in this as well.

For my site I had I bbPress forum before (now have BP forums!) and I was so frustrated with the poor options out there for a WYSYWIG solutions.

Many other bullettin boards provide editor that just works fine and are easy for everybody to use.

Thing is, I have the feeling that bbPess is more used by designers and developpers and within those communities, very few need a WYSYWIG.

But with BuddyPress we need to give users the possibility to easily post images and format text. And the least to ask is that it should work. I mean, not doing weird stuff when you push the post button, or when you want to edit what you already posted (i run into all kind of stuff, and I tried them all, on bbPress).

I didn’t try TinyMCE for BP yet. May give it a shot. But if anyone has figured out a proper solution for the “human user”, not the “developper user”, just report it here, please.

[@gian-ava Participant 16 years, 6 months ago]

@r-a-y TODAY YOU’RE MY HERO!!!

I’ M SORRY… SUPER-HERO!!!

I thanks you sooo much for this.

As basic as it was, I didn’t even think about enableing the component and the group froum (I did both).

IT WORKS NOW!

Ouuf…! That really was killing me.

Now it’s just a matter of styling the whole thing, but that is never a problem!

Just tell me what you need… Anything…