You can use any WordPress theme for the home theme.
But, to have success integrating it with BP, you’ll need to copy the functions.php in /bphome/ to your new home theme’s functions.php file. Also, there are certain code elements in the header.php file of the /bphome/ theme that you’ll need to add to your own home theme.
You may then also want to design a custom member theme that takes the look and feel of your home theme.
Jeff, yea I figured we would have to customize almost all of it, but we have been doing that with wordpress for about 6 months now on the many sites we have done. I talked to some folks about it at WordCamp San Fran this weekend. I figured I would as the pro’s in here just to be sure.
Jeff, are there some basic instructions that might outline what we need to use from the buddypress files in the wp files for the theme?
@Dabomb
Good luck with the customizations!
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It’s actually quite easy to do this. I recommend getting comfortable with the functions that BP introduces to the templates, which can usually be found in buddypress/bp-core/bp-core-templatetags.php. There are some others, but those will be your friends.
Some of them are wrappers for WPMU functions, and others are BP specific. Each plugin also has a *templatetags.php file that includes more functions to component specific output.
Spend some time looking through the bphome and bpmember themes to get an idea of how those functions are used, and you’ll be on your way to making a custom theme in no time.
Adding to what John is saying, you should visit the Custom BuddyPress Loops codex page as well.
