bbPress Forum Script: Thumbs Up or Thumbs Down

bbPress is what you can call a sister script of Wordpress. It is a lightweight forum script which is just as flexible and adaptable as Wordpress. There are lots of plugins available that add to its functionality with new ones being added every day.

The downside to this script is that there is no official documentation available. And that can have you going around in circles for quite a while especially if you are new to bbPress.

Here are a few resources:

1. Basic Documentation: This is all the official documentation you will find. There is no listing of functions and tags you can use. For all you know they may or may not exist.
2. Forum: There is a wealth of information in the forum but searching for what you need can take time. However, if you don’t find what you are looking for, the response time on the forum is really great. I got my answer within 2 hours which is especially briliant as this is an open source software. Hats off to these guys!
3. Unofficial Documentation: Last but not the least, there is an unnofficial documentation. A lot of it is still incomplete and hence inaccessible at the moment. But it is a start.

Reasons to choose bbPress over other forum scripts

1. Lightweight and Fast
   The script is coded to be very simple and lightweight as opposed to many other forum scripts which are way too heavy. Most forums have all the functionality built in - everything you can think of as part of the package. bbPress on the other hand offers additional functionality as plugins you can add. This lets you choose what functions you want and which ones you don’t.
2. Wordpress Integration:
   It is easily integrated with Wordpress. Just follow the simple steps via installation and you are done. This means that you can register and login at one of the scripts and be automatically registered or logged in at the other. That is a relief! Plus if you really want you can share Wordpress functions with bbPress although I wouldn’t recommend it. There are just too many variable involved … there are two scripts in action with probably a few dozen plugins … it is bound to give you an error at some point. Believe me, I know! Already tried going down that route.
3. Customizable Design
   Just like Wordpress, bbPress forum also has its own theme capability allowing you to completely customize the look of your forum. This is a capability I find seriously lacking in most scripts. So it is a relief to have a forum one can design and customize according to need.
4. It can only get better
   With new versions being released and new plugins being added, this script can only get better. There are no limits to the functionality that can be added. Just look at how far Wordpress has come.If that is an example, then I am going bbPress all the way.

Some Quirks

There are a few differences between Wordpress and bPress. For example while Wordpress has only one plugins and one theme directory, bbPress has separate ones for its core plugins and themes. You put your additional plugins and themes in my-themes and my-plugins. Personally that doesn’t make much sense to me.

Also there are way too many files in the theme directory. But they are planning on merging some of these so that scenario should get better.

Of course these are not deal breakers, just minor annoyances.

Plugins

Most of the plugins are also at an early stage of development and are either not ready for a live website or may require a lot of manual configuration. Some only work with older versions. But not to worry, I am going to compile a list of some of the basic plugins that do work with the latest version 0.9.2 so you don’t have to go thru the trial and error stage of it.

What’s the Verdict?

The script is still at an early stage but it looks promising and if it is going to follow Wordpress’ lead, then it should end up being a great forum script.

Tags: bbPress, Forum, Scripts