Forum Replies Created
-
It doesn’t look like Buddypress would be the most suitable script to develop a site like that. Zillow is an interface on a bunch of databases for homes, agents, lenders, etc. You’d have to adapt the users and post tables in WordPress, which aren’t very flexible…, or develop something around it.
Are there any open source PHP scripts more suitable for this kind of site? Can’t think of any.
In reply to: Enterprise Buddypress@Bowe, I’d posted my solutions here and in a whole series of threads. I can’t solve the issue though. It depends on core architectural decisions.
In reply to: Which template file is Settings?Thanks Brajesh Singh.
That line was missing. It produces ‘General Settings’. No obvious way to edit that…
In reply to: Enterprise BuddypressThe name field was previously split into “First Name / Last Name” fields, but this is an issue for internationalization. In future versions it may be possible to apply rules to profile fields that will determine the content allowed.
That is such a silly argument. 90 percent of the civilized world uses firstname + lastname. Why make life difficult for the rest of us just because theoretically a few places in the world use only one name or three names or whatever? Why not let them hack a workaround it?
My issue with this is also not just about that field, but more about what it says about Buddypress’ priorities. If you want to register members in your company or sports club with name, address, phone number, etc. there is no easy way to do it, you’ll have to hack core files and later you’ll have to use custom functions to retrieve the data from several different tables in the database.
Also, BuddyPress will automatically synchronize profile fields with the WP profile fields. Check the function xprofile_sync_wp_profile()
No it doesn’t. Version 1.0 only added first name and last name to wp_usermeta if a user updated his account data after signup. You couldn’t count on the data to be there for every member. I had to write a custom function, based on xprofile_sync_wp_profile, to force that synchronization to happen upon registration.
In reply to: Friends and Groups for BuddyPress 1.3I’d like this shift. I’ve always found web friending a bit silly. I’m trying to use Buddypress for semi-professional communities. Groups is where the action should be and where Buddypress could really set itself apart from the Facebook wannabees.
In reply to: Enterprise BuddypressTo me the biggest barrier to more professional use of Buddypress is the lousy member/user management. Everything is based on username/password. There isn’t even a built-in way to get people to sign up with their real name, first name + last name. There is a required custom field for “Name”, but with the way the sign-up form is structured new users are almost encouraged to enter a garbage name – lowercase, one word anonymous nickname bs.
After lots of painful hacking in core files I now have a form with one Real name field on top. My custom code in the back splits the real name and stores it in various places in the database, so at least I have synchronized data in wp_usermeta etc. Buddypress does none of this out of the box and in general BP developers don’t seem to see this as a problem. But the one field for real name still doesn’t really force new users to enter a full two-part name.
In a previous version of my site I did have separate first name and last name fields. I NEVER had people sign up with cutesy one name names. Sure, you can create custom fields in xprofile, but synchronizing the input with all the other username, nickname, name etc. fields in the datebase and integrating them with other member management scripts businesses will have on their server requires serious database and php programming skills.
In reply to: Is BuddyPress confusing to users?I have a network of web entrepreneurs. It’s hard enough to get them to create blogs and actually use them. OK, that’s not only BP’s fault of course, but “full invested writer/bloggers” will set up their own blogs – I’m also a journalist, I would never write/blog in someone else’s network.
I think more advances are necessary to take it beyond this where users can contribute more content without having to be a full invested writer/blogger.
That’s why I need to come up with an external blog feed-in solution. Currently stuck in upgrading my theme… I also like the microblogging suggestions.
And Groups has limitless and unique opportunities; dynamic groups with lots of content within a private social network/community.
My worry:
Will Buddypress eventually target schools, companies, trade associations, sports clubs, etc.? Or even become enterprise ready? Or will it stay a more limited play thing for insider groups of dedicated blogging geeks with a lot of free time on their hands?
I HOPE that BuddyPress does not become a member aggregation site where, the more people, the more successful a site is “perceived” to be. That to me is the game that Ning is playing. Why in the world woulu Buddypress want to be another Ning?
I agree. That model is dead. I believe the concept of “private social networks” is different. Jeff’s privacy component is essential – haven’t had the chance to test it yet.
But there should be opportunities for low threshold content creation and communication and I would develop them around (micro)blogging. Again, I have mixed feelings about the addition of old-fashioned forums.
In reply to: Which template file is Settings?Thanks DJ Paul.
So I guess I should fix the form via CSS somehow for now? Is the ‘change password’ form the only bp_template_content? I don’t even get a title or something like that with it, so I’d have to add that to plugin-template.php I guess.
In reply to: Which template file is Settings?Thanks Brajesh Singh!
This is a puzzling part of the theme structure. I’ve added some of my generic page elements to the file, but now I need to figure out how to style the form – change password.
How is the settings data generated? There’s only this in plugin-template.php:
<?php do_action('bp_template_content') ?>I can trace back includes and most functions, but this could be anything. Where does the form come from? How does the system know which template content? Is it only the ‘change password’ form or can other settings use this same plugin-template.php? Is plugin-template.php meant to bring settings from plugins into the front end? Why was this file introduced?
In reply to: How to improve performance of your website.?I had bookmarked this to look into later this week. You probably have already done most of it…
In reply to: Is BuddyPress confusing to users?What are we talking about here guys? Only the blog creators will ever see the dashboard on a regular basis. All the users that are subscribers will rarely if ever see it.
True. But there are a few cases where regular users are sent into the backend. In the first version of my site I had to hack core files to bring them into the regular layout and use plugins to close parts of the backend for users with blogs. I’m now in the middle of upgrading to 1.1.3, a painful process…
The question is how Buddypress will develop into the future, as more features are added. I’m also running into the issue how to structure user interface for new functionality here – haven’t had time to work on that yet. Boone Gorges gives a good suggestion how to bring adding an RSS feed into the front end.
I’m sticking with Buddypress because I believe it has the most potential for the reasons I pointed out earlier and because I assume(d) that it will become more mature over time. But if the developer community sees Buddypress as just “an add-on to a blogging/CMS platform” aimed at communities of experienced bloggers, that would be a problem for me.
In reply to: Is BuddyPress confusing to users?I do see the potential. As I said earlier in this thread:
That’s why I believe Buddypress has a lot of potential. It’s a social network, but with a strong content publishing angle.
I’m absolutely not advocating copying Facebook etc. I’m a big believer in the idea of “private social networks”. And I actually think that adding old-fashioned forums dilutes the blog logic that should be Buddypress’ main strength.
Groups has enormous potential and seems to be pretty unique.
But imagine Buddypress being used by schools, companies, trade associations, sports clubs, etc. That is a very different audience from the experienced WordPress bloggers in the Buddypress development community.
In reply to: Is BuddyPress confusing to users?Remember, wordpress.tv has a TON of tutorial videos for beginners as well.
Those are useless to regular people signing up to a social network. Most bloggers know how WordPress works. That is not the problem. The problem for Buddypress is that the interface is not end-user focused, like Facebook, Ning, LinkedIn, etc.
I think some people want BuddyPress to be more than it is.
If Buddypress is strictly for communities of bloggers, a limited audience of experienced WordPress users, don’t promote it as a social network. Is Buddypress’ ambition really that limited? If it is, I need to look for another solution.
In reply to: Is wire broken in 1.2 bleeding edge?OK, my bad. I’ll start over with 1.1.3. Thanks!
In reply to: Is BuddyPress confusing to users?BuddyPress is still very much a WP(MU) plugin. What it does best is create an instant social network around a community of bloggers … I don’t think this is a negative, but a positive.
I agree. That’s why I believe Buddypress has a lot of potential. It’s a social network, but with a strong content publishing angle.
I just wish that shift in focus from blog posts to “member management” would get more attention. Personally I don’t need any more new features. Adding forums for example only adds to the structural confusion. I’m still struggling with the basics, creating a user-friendly registration and profile settings interface.
The Dashboard of WordPress has gotten two complete overhauls within about the last year. The current version is awesome.
The WordPress admin interface is pretty good for what it has to do, but it is not what people expect when they sign up with a social network and it clashes with the front end interface.
Edit in response to Andrea_r:
P2 looks interesting. It’s an example of responding to user expectations and evolving interface “standards” on the web.
In reply to: Is BuddyPress confusing to users?I agree. Buddypress is of course built on blog software WordPress, which has a totally different focus; managing blog posts instead of people/members. So BP is still a bit schizophrenic at the moment.
People do sign up on my network (aimed at web entrepreneurs…), because I’ve integrated event registration. They also sign up for groups and sometime leave messages. Nobody creates blogs or groups unless I ask them with detailed instructions.
Imho the WordPress backend should be entirely closed to regular end users. Any admin settings that they need should be integrated in the front end user interface, under Settings on the profile page etc.
My pet peeve is related to this; Buddypress has no build-in way to store full, real name, location and other regular personal profile data you’d expect from a social network. It’s still too close to the blog software base, with the focus on username/password and managing blog posts.
In reply to: Why is userbar.php loaded from the header in 1.2?Mike Pratt, I know what a search engine is. I’m not a programmer though, so the information for locate_template in the codex doesn’t mean much to me.
I know html/css and basic php things like includes. I’m working on upgrading my theme and this is one example where more complicated php mixed in with the html is causing me headaches.
In reply to: Help with Child ThemeI can live with get_bloginfo(‘stylesheet_directory’) if that’s the way to do it. It’s just not as straightforward as TEMPLATEPATH, could cause confusion later on.
I know about bloginfo parameters. What kind of thingy is TEMPLATEPATH? Where is it defined? Could I create a CHILDTEMPLATE somewhere?
I’m still trying to wrap my head around the new parent/child structure…
In reply to: Help with Child Theme….tell it to look in the template_directory . that pulls the *activated* theme. Which should be the child theme.
It doesn’t. template_directory pulls the parent.
This is in the included file:
<?php if ( bp_has_members( 'type=active&per_page=10' ) ) : ?>Inclusion works fine from both bp-sn-parent and the child theme folder, but when pulled in from the child theme I get the error.
So this works fine – but it takes members-loop.php from bp-sn-parent, which I don’t want:
<div id="member-dir-list">
<?php load_template( TEMPLATEPATH . '/directories/members/members-loop.php' ) ?>
</div>But with this I get the ‘Call to undefined function bp_has_members()’ error, even though both versions of members-loop have the same function call:
<div id="member-dir-list">
<?php include get_bloginfo('stylesheet_directory').'/directories/members/members-loop.php'; ?>
</div>EDIT: This works. No idea why…:
<div id="member-dir-list">
<?php include 'members-loop.php'; ?>
</div>In reply to: Help with Child ThemeDoes anyone else know/care? I get the same problem with TEMPLATEPATH.
I can’t make any sense of the information on Function Reference/locate template.
I need something that works in includes. Like this, but for the child template folder:
<? include TEMPLATEPATH.'/directories/members/featured.php'; ?>bloginfo() doesn’t work there.
EDIT:
Again, this sort of works:
<? include get_bloginfo('stylesheet_directory').'/directories/members/featured.php'; ?>But that’s just awkward. Is there really no template tag for the child theme folder?
In reply to: Help with Child ThemeXevo, that now points to bp-sn-parent, not the child theme.
In reply to: Help with Child ThemeI had to use this:
<?php bloginfo(‘stylesheet_directory’); ?>
to reach my child theme /js/ folder. It works, but it feels wrong. Is there nothing like bloginfo(‘child_theme’) that makes more sense, won’t get me confused the next time?
In reply to: twitter with buddypress” Twitme for BP doesnt have a such big interface as Twitme for wordpress it self. It will ask for your settings + sent Wires yes / no ?. “
Que??!!
Also see this: Twitme Author collects your personal data
In reply to: How to place buddybar into navigation widgetI think most or all of the functionality of the buddybar is already elsewhere in the site. You don’t really need it for anything.
Buddybar is a pest imho. I use a custom function to kill_buddybar(), that I have to put into the admin_header.php as well.
Buddybar goes against all logic. Why force people to have that navigation bar at the top? Why not treat it like any other navigation element in BP?
