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  • Boone B. Gorges 12:04 am on November 17, 2013 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , 1.9-beta1,   

    BP 1.9-beta1 is now available. Check it out! http://buddypress.org/2013/11/buddypress-1-9-beta-1-is-now-available/

     

    • Paul Gibbs 10:36 pm on November 18, 2013 Permalink | Reply

      Thanks for packaging this and for so many of your commits recently. You are THE man!

  • Boone B. Gorges 2:38 pm on November 13, 2013 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , , bp-themes,   

    Since BP 1.7 and the introduction of theme compatibility, BuddyPress has worked seamlessly with pretty much any WP theme. Yet we’ve been continuing to maintain the old bp-default theme, which dates back to when themes needed to be built specifically for use with BP. For the last two release cycles, we’ve maintained more-or-less 100% feature parity between our packaged theme compat templates (bp-legacy) and bp-default. After the release of BP 1.9, this will no longer be the case. In BuddyPress 1.9, we begin the process of phasing out the BuddyPress Default theme. bp-default will continue to be packaged with BuddyPress, and will still receive critical fixes and security updates. However, it will no longer get routine bug fixes or new features.

    We’ve made this decision for a number of reasons. First, it simplifies the workflow for BP contributors – patches only need to be written for bp-legacy templates. More importantly, this move encourages BuddyPress users – from developers to site administrators – to stop using the old, buggy method of loading templates (see #5241 for just one recent example of how the old method causes problems). The techniques used by our theme compatibility layer, in contrast, are more robustly integrated with WordPress’s request parsing and template loading systems, and will become even more integrated when we move to using proper WP rewrite rules. In short, theme compat is the future, and the BuddyPress ecosystem will become more stable as people gradually move away from the old themes.

    Toward this end, we have, as of [7569], stopped offering bp-default on installations that are not already using it. That means that if your site is not already running bp-default (or a child theme of bp-default), BuddyPress 1.9 will not register its bp-themes directory, and bp-default will not show up on Dashboard > Appearance. This’ll ensure that new installations don’t get locked into using the now-sunsetted bp-default theme.

    If you are already using bp-default, either directly or as a parent theme, don’t worry. BuddyPress 1.9 will detect that you need bp-default, and will continue to register it with WordPress. Note that if you switch away from a bp-default theme (say, for testing), the theme will disappear from Dashboard > Appearance. If you need it back, add the following line to your bp-custom.php file:

    add_filter( 'bp_do_register_theme_directory', '__return_true' );

    In some future release, we’ll aim to remove bp-default altogether from the BuddyPress package. It’ll likely find a new home in the wordpress.org theme repository. We’re working on a method of doing this that’ll be as transparent as possible for existing users of the theme. If you’d like to participate in the conversation about how and when this will happen, follow #5212.

    I think I speak for everyone who has worked extensively with bp-default and its derivatives when I say that this is something of a bittersweet moment. bp-default was often a bear to work with, but it also proved to be a remarkably flexible and powerful foundation for building BuddyPress sites. And oh, that beautiful blue header gradient! :)

     

    • David Bisset 2:42 pm on November 13, 2013 Permalink | Reply

      End of an era, but a solid move forward. This fits perfectly into my session this Saturday on “Thinking Outside The Box w/ BuddyPress” at #wcorl

    • imath 2:56 pm on November 13, 2013 Permalink | Reply

      Great post! & “Au revoir” BP Default ;)

  • David Cavins 3:26 pm on November 13, 2013 Permalink | Reply

    Nice job handling the cases where users still need the old theme. It would be really frustrating to have a giant, site-melting change brought about by updating.

    Is it too late to rename bp-legacy to something a little more obvious? BP-legacy sounds like it’s intended for users of BP 1.2. Is it accurate to say that the files are a compatibility layer? Would bp-compat make sense, or is that too close to theme-compat?

    • Boone Gorges 4:13 pm on November 13, 2013 Permalink | Reply

      David – Thanks for the feedback!

      We can’t change the name of bp-legacy – it’s pretty hardcoded at this point. For some background information, the reason why it was named that way is because the basic template structure (the markup itself) was pulled pretty much verbatim out of the old bp-default templates. We knew at the time that this was a sort of interim fix, and that we’d be moving in the future to a new set of templates. See https://github.com/karmatosed/buddypress-templatepack. That’ll have a different name.

      • David Cavins 4:57 pm on November 13, 2013 Permalink

        Ha ha, so it really is a legacy system. In that case, the name is perfect!

    • hnla 6:03 pm on November 13, 2013 Permalink | Reply

      >Is it accurate to say that the files are a compatibility layer
      >Ha ha, so it really is a legacy system
      Yes & no

      The files in that dir are the ones looked to when BP runs in theme compat mode, however one can overload those to a theme/child theme and re-write that makup as much as one desires.

      I wouldn’t refer to the word ‘legacy’ where I can help it yes those files were copied verbatim-ish from bp-default but the crucial aspect of theme compat is the dir structure/file names and the theme class that sets the ball rolling. So no it’s not a legacy system, but BP has to find template files from somewhere with time that somewhere may change when template pack comes to fruition, but as for now simply ignore the word ‘Legacy’

  • hnla 6:06 pm on November 13, 2013 Permalink | Reply

    bp-default served with honour and deserves a well earned rest :) This is the right way to go to keep core code and attention focussed on theme compat and not offer too many alternatives to have to consider and support. Moving to WP theme repo would be optimum scenario and short of a few hurdles shouldn’t be too hard to achieve.

  • Paul Gibbs 2:27 pm on November 5, 2013 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: bpdevel   

    @karmatosed and I spent a little time this morning updating the appearance of this P2 to more closely resemble buddypress.org; the blue was super old. :)

     

  • hnla 3:16 pm on November 2, 2013 Permalink | Reply  

    A first flurry of new articles have began to arrive at the Codex’s door and the codex team wish to thank those people for their submissions.

    Articles have been submitted by:

    shanebp buddypress-member-toolbar-menu

    PollyPlummer & Luca customizing-buddypress-avatars

    dcavins displaying-extended-profile-fields-on-member-profiles | modifying-the-registration-form | preventing-spammer-registration

    Also the team thank Sarah for her continued support and encouragement over at WordPress Tavern

    We wait with bated breath for the next batch of articles to arrive in and if you are interested in writing for the codex you can still see if any of the suggested articles take your fancy on the codex article list, if one does get in touch and we’ll put your name to it or if you have suggestions please let us know.

    The Codex recently submitted articles and suggestions list

    Codex TOC

     

    • Rob 5:18 am on November 4, 2013 Permalink | Reply

      Fantastic work! kudos to the team. If I may offer a small suggestion:
      please move the codex links from the sidebar and into the main page container. And then please use appropriate h tags to categories them in tree format (h4/h3/h2, etc.)
      here’s a screenshot to show you what I mean: http://i.imgur.com/mFY6p4Y.png

      • Mercime 2:54 pm on November 5, 2013 Permalink | Reply

        >> move the codex links from the sidebar and into the main page container

        I agree :)

  • Paul Gibbs 2:05 pm on October 25, 2013 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: daylight savings time,   

    Can we look at adjusting the dev chat time in a week’s time? Clocks go back this Sunday in the UK, and I believe in places in N America a week after that.

    Ideally, I’d like it shifted from 19:00 UTC to 20:00 UTC, but more than happy to hear counter-proposals from others here.

     

  • hnla 8:04 pm on October 11, 2013 Permalink | Reply  

    Codex Progress Update & TOC Re-visited

    It’s time for a brief progress report from the codex team on current status of the codex.

    Both Mercime and I have been working away on the first phase of the codex: restructuring of existing pages under new sections while also performing the ongoing audit of those existing pages to establish what needed updating or removing, a task in it’s self which is a lot more work than one expects.

    In beginning the re-shuffling pf pages under new sections it quickly became apparent that my original fear – and one of the reasons people found pages hard to find – of ending up with pages too deeply nested under sections & sub-sections was coming true; even with our revised TOC we were finding that we were arriving at pages buried four or five clicks in, something that we didn’t really want, we had always wanted pages to be reached as quickly as possible. After agreement that we needed to rectify this Mercime undertook to review this and implement one last revision where the sections were revised to be six top level ones with child pages living directly under, increasing those top sections meant far less nesting and altogether a far better visual layout to menus.

    We are happy now that this revision will serve the codex and users well, based as it is on the user feedback we gathered from the codex survey.

    The initial phase to clean up and refresh the codex has been completed by the restructuring of the documentation as mentioned above.

    The revised TOC has now been created as a google spreadsheet by mercime which is far more helpful in managing things it can be viewed and commented on at this link:

    https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=tOT3Q1oFPiTC-c1MDp1ZtRw#gid=0

    We are now working to add the new pages required into this sheet, a fair bit of which is done now and also adding in those members that have kindly offered to write articles. while that happens we also start to look at where we can improve the visual style and menus where applicable and write up a Codex ‘Standards & Guidelines’ to help people who wish to contribute to the Codex in future.

    For those who want to contribute, following are lists of outstanding and suggested articles based on user feedback from members. If you want to participate, post a comment below and we’ll note ownership of the article in this post.

    So to sum up, things are moving in the right direction, the work is slow but we expected that, it needs to be as thorough as possible to serve the community well.

    The codex Team,
    hnla, mercime.

     

    • Paul Gibbs 8:10 pm on October 11, 2013 Permalink | Reply

      This is really impressive. Big congratulations and thanks to everyone mentioned in this post! :)

  • hnla 8:39 pm on September 11, 2013 Permalink | Reply  

    Revised Codex TOC Outline

    This outline represents a revised version based in part from the feedback received from the recent codex survey. This revised version is subject to the comments and views of everyone and can be updated if sufficient comments concur on an aspect.

    Introduction – Primary landing page

    The actual codex landing page has been re-factored to follow this outline but can be changed.

    Section 1: Intro

    Introductory text- possibly stating the obvious? and could be removed?

    Section 2: Main codex Areas – linking to parent page for sections.

    • For Regular Users
    • For Theme Builders
    • For Developers

    Section 2: Contribute

    Guidance on how people can get involved with the BP project – links to two pages ‘Codex formatting guide’ & general Participate & Contribute’ page with full BP project links

    Section 3: Version list & changelogs

    Links to full list of all BP version releases – updated to include links to zip downloads.

    Section 4: Legacy docs – all docs prior to 1.7 are removed to this section

    For All Users
    Getting Started
    • Before Installing
      • System & Server Requiremets
      • Plugins > Add New
      • FTP/cpanel
      • Securing install – backups etc ( guide exists)
    • The installation process overview
    • BuddyPress Components and Features Overview
    • Using BuddyPress with WP MultiSite (guide to using BP with MS – how bp functions with subsites) new page

    User Guide

    • Introduction (page parent, right hand sub page menu) -
      • Configuring BuddyPress
        • Settings > BuddyPress > Components
        • Settings > BuddyPress > Pages
        • Settings > BuddyPress > Settings
    • Managing Components
    • The registration process ( overview of reg process, email, activation, extending reg fields using xprofile fields) NP
      • Activity Stream Admin Panels
      • Group Management Admin Panel
  • Languages & translations, labels
  • Frequently Asked Questions
  • Tutorials(1)

    • For Theme Builders

    • Introduction (page parent, right hand sub page menu) – covers the essential principles for building sites / themes e.g. Standalone, working as child theme, clarifies bp-default/bp legacy.
    • BP Theme Compatibility 1.7 ( overview section )
      • intro to theme compat 1.7
      • The template hierarchy in detail
      • Upgrading template packed themes to theme compat
    • Building themes ( general pages covering actual approaches to theme building )
      • An overview on the various approaches one can take in managing BP templates/themes (N)
      • BP Default Child Theming
      • Working with BP Legacy -Theme Compatibility (N)
      • Building from theme compatibility templates in custom theme (N)
      • Building themes using Template Pack
      • BP Theme Unit Test – ala WP Theme Review Test – BP Default Theme and Twenty Twelve theme – @mercime already started this then stopped to create those BP Component Pages in Codex
      • Tutorials(1) ?

    For Developers

    • Introduction (page parent, right hand sub page menu)
      • Template Tags
      • Main BP loops, e.g. members loop, activity loop etc.
      • Functions list ?
      • Conditional Tags
      • Building and extending components, working with Queries.
        • Extending BP user account screens
        • Extending Group component
        • Working with the template stack / extending BP_Theme_Compat (N)
        • BP_User_Query (N)
      • Developing plugins for BuddyPress
      • Developing for BuddyPress & WP MultiSite
        • Guide to how BP functions with MS – intro page, new.
        • User Submitted Tutorials/code snippets –
      • Unit Tests
      • How To(1) – General ( collects series of shorter examples of how to do something e.g. ‘force ssl admin’)
      • develop.buddypress.org (PHPDocs)

    Feedback on this proposed structure, suggestions for improvement is welcome and hoped for.

    Snipped from the codex survey is this comment Please make something scalable that won’t be obsolete by the time 1.9 comes out! and is something we try and bear in mind moving forward. This codex structural revision needs to be something we can build on and that serves to clearly manage pages under a clear hierarchy that allows people to quickly find the information they are looking for, to that end w welcome comments and feedback on the nature of nesting pages under sections, are there too many? Are pages buried too deeply? based on the old paradigm that any web page should not be more than three or four clicks away how do we stack up on that score?

    With the developers section certain information such as references to ‘Actions’ will be provided by PHPDocs to be implemented for the Codex.

     

  • Mercime 5:52 am on September 6, 2013 Permalink | Reply  

    The 2013 BP Codex Survey report is now available. Read about it at http://buddypress.org/2013/09/2013-buddypress-codex-survey-results/

     

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