Re: WordPress themes vs buddypress themes
I’m not sure what you mean. It’s possible for users to choose traditional WordPress themes for their blogs, while using BuddyPress themes for the BuddyPress-related stuff. I struggled with this too, but if you read the instructions for the individual theme downloads, it makes more sense. The instructions for the package download don’t exactly make it clear.
So, I’ve got a BuddyPress home theme with its own name, a BuddyPress member theme (which is required), and then a traditional WP theme I’ve set to “default” (by changing its directory name to “default”), which is the default things for user blogs. And I will also have a selection of traditional themes that users can switch their blogs to.
Good luck!
Mark