Forum Replies Created
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In reply to: Friends and Groups for BuddyPress 1.3
I can see how it might be good tokeep friending, but give the option not to use it. I hate it when Ning takes away features …
Just in general I don’t like the idea of any features being taken away …
If friending gets taken out in 1.3, then I’ll stay with Buddypress 1.2 …
We should be thinking about extending the BuddyPress framework and not deprecating major components at this time …
Not sure why JJJ wants to remove the “friending feature” in favour of the “following-feature”? Can we not have both ? …
I am worried Buddypress will fall into the trap of trying to be everything to all people and will become a bloated mess. For my projects I need a coherent, reliable core before I need any more features – forums, events, galleries, enterprise features, ecommerce, …
It’s great the developers are rethinking friending, how it can make more sense in the Buddypress context. If Buddypress can come up with a different approach, logically tied into groups and (micro)blogging, that could really set BP apart from Facebook, Ning, etc. Less is more!
JJJ’s proposal already is the best of both world imho (yes, we can have both!):
1. Deprecate “Friends” component code into a separate downloadable plugin that can still be used exactly like it is now, just not part of the core anymore.
2. Merge friends functionality into private “user” groups so that developers can choose to ditch the “friends” model if they want …
3. “Friends” would replaced with the core ability to “follow” peoples activity, and for your activity to be followed by others …
This is also a next step in the evolution in web friending, from classic Friendster/Facebook -> Twitter following -> following/friending with more context in groups and blogging (not just based on 140 chars brain farts).
Absolutely agree with Windhamdavid btw!
In reply to: GalleryIn reply to: Blank page on member blogs in 1.1.3 and 2.8.6Thanks Brajesh Singh! Happy 2010!
In reply to: Blank page on member blogs in 1.1.3 and 2.8.6I reinstalled 1.1.3+2.8.6. Member blogs apparently use/require the default WordPress theme.
Is that how it should work? Or did I miss a setting somewhere, do something wrong?
How can I make sure a theme is activated upon activation of a member blog?
In reply to: Buddypress Theme with WPTHEMEBuddyPress adds new template tags that have changed from version to version.
Is there a list of these changes somewhere?
I’m currently upgrading my custom theme from version 1.0 to 1.1.3, still based on the classic theme, which avoids the worst problems for now…
In reply to: GalleryAs i am not a programmer nor IT professional, i am just a simple press photographer. I will keep listening for info on the gallery situation and hopefully one day this will be resolved.
Zenphoto is the only gallery script I’ve found that can handle uploads of 5+ Mb hi-res image files. NextGen is an excellent WP plugin, but not designed for professional photographers. Not sure if you’d need that for your BP gallery. That could be the trade-off going with a native beta BP plugin.
In reply to: Is the goal to strip html elements from core code?A table is probably unavoidable in this case, but would it be possible to structure whatever’s in the core code in a way that doesn’t need any CSS? Or have the table in a template file?
In reply to: Gallery@Mike Pratt, the original subject of this thread was whether Buddypress should get a Gallery feature:
Can someone please tell me if there will one day be an Gallery / Albums feature for this software. I am holding back my site due to its main use is to let users create albums. I know there are some third party plugins but not of them i have found are truly any good. Please Please Please someone make this happen
Then David Lewis added requests for an event feature:
… bp-events. It’s not keeping pace with BP 1.2 development. Which is fine. What do you want for free… right?! But with BP being such a niche right now… we don’t have any other options. We have to live with the broken solution or roll our own.
My point is that Buddypress can never be all things to all people. Events may be “a mission critical component” to David Lewis’ site – also for me BTW! – but to someone else ecommerce may be mission critical. Or paid membership. Or collaboration tools. Or whatever.
The problems Vincole, David Lewis and even you mentioned are typical for plugins; many of them are simply not very good, are not keeping up with WP/WPMU/BP and sometimes development stops entirely.
So I argued that it’s probably more efficient to use plugins to connect to existing scripts and that the attention of Buddypress developers should be on APIs that make that easier and strenghtening the core, not chasing features.
I’m just giving my feedback as a non-PHP-programmer trying to use the script, but apparently questioning the primacy and infallibility of Buddypress is a grave offense to some on this board. That’s disappointing.
In reply to: GalleryI don’t see Zenphoto rewriting their excellent, mature script to become a plugin for Buddypress
The ZenphotoPress plugin is actually very effective
Make up your mind.
I’ll explain it one more time so even you can understand; a stand-alone application that has a plugin to interface with WordPress is NOT the same thing as WordPress plugin.
… plugins are not hacks. Plugins are modular.
I never said plugins are hacks. Learn to read. I’m a big fan of plugins, but I prefer plugins that interface with existing, mature applications over plugins with entire applications written from scratch.
Case in point – I want to commit to a Gallery plugin. So let’s say I do and get users to upload thousands of pics. All is well. Dev stops. BP progresses and gallery breaks. I am faced with either correcting myself, finding another and hopefully resurrecting all the images, comments, galleries, etc (prob impossible) or <shudder> asking people to re-upload (not happening) I am ok taking risks but wondered how others deal with this issue (same applies for the seemingly stalled events plugin)
Solution: Use solid, mature stand-alone applications like Zenphoto. If they don’t have an interface plugin with WordPress, write one.
The key word here is ‘was’. If you know anything about WP, then you should know that by now it’s one of the most versatile CMS around.
Sure, functionality is ever-expanding, but the foundation is still blog centered.
BuddyPress does have a way to store 1st name and last name….custom fields …
My point is that they are not built-in, which is weird for a social network. And if you add them as custom fields you have to write your own custom function to get them into wp_usermeta.
But OK people, good luck writing that kick-ass gallery plugin for Buddypress! I won’t be wasting my time on it. I’ll be busy restructuring Buddypress’ crappy registration form.
In reply to: Buddypress hacked by fake users/blogs/postsdfa327 (?) posted this on a splog fighting group wire:
I’ve upgraded my entire site. So far no bad guys:)
I’m up to buddypress 1.1.3 and wpmu 2.8.6.
I got the following plugins to stop spam:
http://wordpress-plugins.feifei.us/hashcash/
http://www.poradnik-webmastera.com/projekty/invisible_defender/
http://www.svenkubiak.de/nospamnx-en
And a few other things to stop it, but I think those are working well above.
Prior to the above I was getting hit by the minute!!!! Now none:)
Haven’t tested them yet. Can’t vouch for them.
In reply to: Gallery@Mike Pratt and Bowe, my general point is the same problem Microsoft Windows used to be criticized for; putting too many applications into an operating system while they should have strengthened/secured the core and focused on usability first.
Let 3rd party developers spend time on creating awesome functionalities for our BuddyPress sites which are fully integrated with BPs functions, so we should not have to revert to external scripts and “hacks”.
So Buddypress is The Standard and everybody else has to adapt? I don’t see Zenphoto rewriting their excellent, mature script to become a plugin for Buddypress. So then I would have to hope enthusiastic volunteers will reinvent the wheel within BP.
If Buddypress has a solid core and APIs that make it easy to integrate external scripts, you don’t have to resort to hacks. Modular vs monolithic!
You always claim NOT to be a programmer but have no problem taking shots at the evolution of the core.
I have been an IT journalist for over ten years. I’m not a php programmer, but can sort of follow what the code does and see how the database is structured. Buddypress is built on WPMU which is built on WP and it shows. WordPress was for managing posts on a blog. A social network is for managing people/profiles, but Buddypress doesn’t even a have built-in way to store first name and last name, which immediately becomes a problem when you try to do event registration.
If there’s something available that’s built on BP or WP, then I’d rather use that, even if there are less features. If there’s something that I really need, then I’d just add it myself. I’d actually been thinking of turning NextGEN into a BP plugin.
The ZenphotoPress plugin is actually very effective. After testing both I absolutely prefer the combination of Zenphoto->ZenphotoPress->Wordpress over NextGen->Wordpress. The Zenphoto solution, not cramming everything into one plugin, is more solid and versatile.
In reply to: HELP invite friends and events plugin for bp 1.2I use this Event Registration plugin in the first version of my site. The layout is awful, but it does do a lot of straightforward database communication I would never be able to php-program myself. I’ve started cleaning up the html/css and adding jquery here and there for form validation and date picker etc.
Just FYI. Not sure if it would be suitable for your needs and if any of you would be able to add more Buddypress integrations to this plugin.
As I said in another thread I’m weary of integrating events functionality into Buddypress, because I don’t want to get stuck with one event script that misses certain features. I’d rather have a solid core and API to integrate outside event management scripts.
In reply to: 404 Page Not Found Issues – Mod RewriteIs this the same problem I’m having here?
Not trying to hijack this thread, but I think it is…
In reply to: Gallery@David Lewis, events is a mission critical component to my site as well. That’s why I’m trying to integrate an outside script and need a solid Buddypress core that makes that easier. A built-in event script (“… even if there are less features …”) would only limit my options.
In reply to: Is the goal to strip html elements from core code?I know, but titles and text are mixed in with the tabular data in a very weird way and without a lot of CSS the result is a mess. If you have to use tables, make sure it looks halfway presentable without any additional CSS. This doesn’t.
In reply to: Unwanted profile/register page redirectsHow is this resolved?
I’m using 1.1.3 and 2.8.6 with a custom theme derived from the first version of Buddypress. I can’t upgrade to the 1.2 theme, because it’s not finished yet and has too many changes vs my custom theme to deal with in one upgrade.
Why is buddywebsite.com/register redirecting to the homepage? Even when I allow all registrations? How can I fix it in my custom theme?
EDIT: It must have something to do with address rewrite. The register page returns when I set the permalinks to default. Is there a hard hack I can add to .htaccess or elsewhere forces buddywebsite.com/register to the right template page, overriding other permalink settings?
In reply to: GalleryI’ve tested several WP gallery plugins. NextGen is pretty good, but I now use Zenphoto which is much more powerful and versatile.
Zenphoto is a complete stand-alone script, not a WP plugin, althought there is a ZenPhotoPress plugin that makes it easy to integrate in WordPress. I haven’t tried it in Buddypress yet, but it should do 80 percent of what you’d need. If it doesn’t, you could probably write plugins to connect Buddypress to functionality in Zenphoto.
General point: Why would you want to try to cram this kind of functionality into Buddypress plugin? Or even integrate it into the core (shudder…)?
Same thing goes for event registration. If Buddypress had a more straightforward, standard member management structure, integrating any outside event management script would be a lot easier. Please concentrate on the core before adding more bells and whistles!
In reply to: How to add custom $usermeta to registrationExcellent John James Jacoby!
I was looking for a solution for this last Fall. You can see what I came up with here (How to synchronize firstname+lastname between xprofile field_1 and wp_usermeta upon registration). It’s part of a bunch of other stuff.
But your code looks a lot more sophisticated. I’ll try to incorporate it into my upgrade to 1.1.3.
Can something like this please become part of the core?
In reply to: What you don't like about BuddyPressAbout how member/profile data is stored in the database, Andy Peatling wrote:
I’ll be reworking the schema in 1.2, interested to hear your ideas.
I sent you a lengthy mail through the system, again describing the problem as I see it, but probably not enough solutions. I came across this in another thread:
I’m now using another 3rd party plugin for membership to the site (WP eMember). While it has its own table, it also creates a matching WP user for each of the members it creates.
I haven’t tested the various commercial membership plugins yet (Memberwing, Wishlist, …), but they must all have their own solutions for the problem. I’m curious what their database tables look like…
In reply to: Help with Child ThemeI see that STYLESHEETPATH is the equivalent for TEMPLATEPATH to the child theme.
In reply to: How to get a section identifier in the body tag?I’m upgrading to 1.1.3, so I have to redo this mess again. I had it sorta working on 1.0, but it doesn’t work anymore.
r-a-y’s earlier solutions are over my head. I have no idea what conditionals are. I’m also trying to avoid having to add yet more lines to the header. I’d like to keep the template files script-free as much as possible. It should be possible to do with just a function called in the body tag.
Has anyone else figured this out?
In reply to: Friends and Groups for BuddyPress 1.3…also trying to avoid duplicating similar features that could just be one flexible component.
That’s why I would also consider deprecating/downplaying forum integration in favor of group blogs, microblogging, threaded comments. Consolidate social organization in Buddypress around blogs and groups. That would really set Buddypress apart.
In reply to: Friends and Groups for BuddyPress 1.3Original question:
… deprecating the friends component entirely, and using the groups API to mimic the behavior of “friending” people, which is basically just grouping people together anyhow
Removing the friends component would be great from a KISS perspective. Could you do Twitter-style following with the groups API?
In reply to: Friends and Groups for BuddyPress 1.3@Peter Why would you ask that question in this thread? I’m sure Bowe can tell you how many are in the Dutch BP community in a less non-sequitor thread, no?
His screenshot was full of Dutch and said Brajesh is in the Netherlands as well. Just thought it was surprising/funny. Apologies for any offense.
Yes, Facebook burned “friending” into the lexicon and made a mess of things as far as that definition goes. But it’s here and it’s what we have to work with. … We should start with what a “friend” means/should mean in the BP environment.
Just because Facebook has it doesn’t mean Buddypress has to have it. Imho Buddypress should concentrate on profiles, (micro)blogging and groups. I’m certainly not in favor of turning levels of friending into Buddypress’ center piece as Bowe’s screenshot basically proposes.
In reply to: Friends and Groups for BuddyPress 1.3Hoeveel Nederlanders zijn er in de Buddypress community…?
