Frequently Asked Questions


What is BuddyPress?

BuddyPress is a free plugin for WordPress that is used to add social networking features. For newcomers, think of BuddyPress as an out-of-the-box social networking website, complete with an administration area that lets you manage the site. Our themes rely on having a self-hosted version of WordPress with the BuddyPress plugin installed on your own website.

How do I install the BuddyBoss theme?

It’s quite easy. Just follow these instructions.

How do I buy the theme? When will I get it?

Click here to purchase the BuddyBoss theme. You will be taken to a purchase screen, and from there you will be able to complete your payment. After your payment has been submitted, a download link will be sent to your email address.

How do I download updates to the theme?

Read our Guide to Updating. Save your email receipt from your original purchase. It contains a link to download the theme, which should not expire. This link will always take you to the current version of the theme.

Which payment types do you accept? Can I use PayPal?

We accept Paypal and all major credit cards.

Can I test the BuddyBoss theme before purchasing it?

Yes! We’ve made it easy to test the theme with our online demo.

Does the BuddyBoss theme work with the latest versions of WordPress and BuddyPress?

Yes, we keep the BuddyBoss theme up-to-date and working with the latest versions of WordPress and BuddyPress. Our themes are developed and optimized for WordPress 3.2 or higher, and BuddyPress 1.2.8 or higher. Any version prior to that may have problems with some theme functionality.

Can I change the language of the theme?

The theme uses the default language files included with the BuddyPress plugin. You will need to use a BuddyPress language file.

Which browsers and operating systems do you test the themes on?

We test our themes on Internet Explorer 7+ and the latest versions of FirefoxSafari. and Chrome. Our themes will work on any operating system. The BuddyBoss theme does not support Internet Explorer 6, but it does provide a friendly message encouraging users to upgrade to a modern browser.

How frequently are your themes updated?

We update our themes if we discover bugs or if there is a new feature that we would like to add. We also update our themes to work with new versions of WordPress and BuddyPress. Read about theme updates →

Will the BuddyBoss theme work with my plugins?

Yes, the theme should work with most plugins. However we cannot guarantee that it will work with every specific plugin. There are thousands of WordPress plugins and hundreds of BuddyPress plugins, and it would be impossible to test our themes with every possible setup.

Can I use the BuddyBoss theme on multiple sites?

Yes, you can use all of our themes on an unlimited number of domains.

Can I remove the BuddyBoss link in the footer?

Yes, you can remove the credit link in the footer. However we do appreciate the links :)

How does the Wall Component work?

The Wall uses BuddyPress’ built-in Activity posts and cleverly uses them as interactive wall-to-wall posts. The Wall can be toggled on or off by the site administrator – if the Wall is turned off your site will revert to the default setup. If you enable the “Picture Gallery Component” in BuddyBoss 2.0 and above, you can upload images into the Wall as well.

What types of images and videos can users embed in Wall posts?

Standard image types (jpg, png, gif) can be uploaded in BuddyBoss 2.0 and above if you enable the “Picture Gallery Component”.

Images and videos can also be embedded from the following sites by pasting in the link to the image/video URL:

  • YouTube
  • Blip.tv
  • Vimeo
  • DailyMotion
  • Flickr
  • Hulu
  • Viddler
  • Qik
  • Revision3
  • Photobucket
  • Scribd
  • WordPress.tv

131 responses to Frequently Asked Questions

  1. Hi Harvey,

    Glad you like it.

    The text for those sections is hard-coded. You will need to edit the actual files. We plan on adding a .POT file for BuddyBoss specific text in a future update.

    You can find the text you want to edit in these files:
    sidebar-home-left.php
    members/single/member-header.php
    buddy_boss_wall.php
    registration/register.php

  2. I recommend making these kinds of updates in a child theme: http://www.buddyboss.com/child-themes/

  3. Those are generated by WordPress. Probably you will need to use a language file for WordPress itself.

    See this link: http://codex.wordpress.org/WordPress_in_Your_Language

  4. please help,

    bought the theme everything works fine, upon clicking my profile i see only my name and when i click edit it says page dont exist.

  5. hi, is there an option for paid membership?

  6. Hi!

    When someone posts something on a wall dosen’t get any notificaction (no email, no notificaction bar, etc.). How do I fix it?

    Thanks

  7. How can i show all the status update in home page from all users?

  8. I am using HeadwayThemes on a WordPress install. with that I have BuddyPress and S2Member engaged.
    I am not pleased with the BuddyPress signed-in area. The font is microscopic and faint and the CSS too complex to adjust. I looked into making a child theme but this is not for my skill level. I am now considering BuddyBoss and would like to know if this is a theme that will replace the default BuddyPress theme. With everything else that is going on in this site, will it interfere and cause everything to crash and burn?

  9. Will Zell, that is a very complex question. BuddyBoss is a majority of the default BuddyPress theme with the addition of a wall feature. Most files are copied over from its template. Feel free to play with our demo at http://www.buddyboss.com/demo

  10. I have paid for the BuddyBoss upgrade and have my programmer doing some development. I want to import several opt-in member lists to populate the database, but d*mned if I can figure out how to do it! They are in both .csv and .xls formats.

    Can you help out? Thanks, Mike

  11. I want to know if there’s an admin options panel for this theme where I can tweak the style and look more easily? And what’s the estimated load on the server?

  12. hello
    I am interested in starting up a site that allows user to predominantly post pictures ( if you can imagine something like FLIKR+Facebook(with less use of the wall.) Will this buddy press theme enable deactivation/hiding of writing on the wall, and leave the picture posting on wall activated??
    Will users st appear in a widget on the phomepage?

    • Priye,
      Since Adding a photo is a separate link from posting updates I am confident you can use BuddyBoss in this fashion. You can simply hide the post update form and only keep “Add Photo”.
      You can still have users appear in a widget on the home page if you desire. We can’t do development work for you but I can point you in the right direction and tell you some simple CSS to get the job done. Let me know how it works out for you.
      -TJ

  13. I would love to see a color panel in the theme options. Just a simple way to edit the color of the background, widgets, etc, that would be amazing. = )

    • Jason,
      I would love to see that too. Perhaps with the release of the most recent IE browser it is more feasible, but unfortunately you are the only one to have requested this feature so far so it’s not likely to happen any time soon. Sorry. :-(
      -TJ

    • Just googled how to change background color/image in buddyboss and I thought I’d just like to vote with a comment too. A simple tool that helps us non-programmers make minor css changes would be awesome!

  14. @TJ over the color panel thing, I’d also like to see this very much, it really is a must in all premium themes.

  15. Hi, first, great template.

    I see there may be some kind of drag and drop upload support for the image wall posting:

    Drop files here to upload

    Is there something I need to do to turn this on? How does this work?

    • Matt,
      It is not drag and drop. It is an AJAX upload link. There are 2 components of BuddyBoss, the wall feature and the picture feature. There’s not much to it.
      -TJ Chester
      BuddyBoss Support Specialist

  16. Is this adsense compatible?

  17. When messing around on the demo site I notice when I go to my wall I see my updates but I also see the updates of this one guy who I added as a friend. Is that normal? Seems like I would maybe see his updates on the main wall news feed but not on my wall….right?
    Thanks

  18. Can the colors and things be modified through the css code to fit my current wp site theme?

  19. What if on profiles we want only the user’s updates [& friend's targeted posts] to be visible (like in Facebook) instead of universal activity being displayed? I’m asking this because I like the “write in your friend’s wall without using the ‘@’ function in a separate page” function, and I just want to make sure it’s not like an iFrame or anything.

    Is this possible?

  20. hi! i’ve tested your demo and i’m really impressed! i have one question: is it possible to make the user-profile-pages (or an alternative version) visible to non-logged-in users?

    thanks,
    jochen

    • Jochen,
      You can absolutely do this by editing the buddy_boss_wall.php file. There are different mysql statements, 1 for logged in users and 1 for non-logged in users.

  21. Are we able to have users upload images and add descriptions to the photos? Can we export each users data?

    • Farbod,
      Users can upload images with descriptions. You will need a developer to export data cleanly. Photos are uploaded to folders by member id so its easy to see which photo was uploaded by which user

  22. OK, I’m sold, and putting two non-profits online in the next several weeks, so this is great. I’ve some experience myself with WordPress and BuddyPress so I’m likely going to get 90% ‘finished website’ on my own and hire out for the rest – so my question is, do you guys have a list of people you’d recommend who are comfortable and experienced with BuddyPress for custom work?

    Thanks!

  23. Hi there, I am currently using the theme on my clients website. I have a question. How do I move the activity menu for it to now be a submenu of the members menu.

    i have read the forums, and please forgive me if this is a silly question.

    Thank You!

    • Ronald,
      This is not a silly question. But if you are referring to the BuddyBar in the top right corner of the site then this is out of our range of knowledge. The BuddyBar is a complex piece of work and you will need to get some support from BuddyPress forums. If you are talking about the default menu bar you can simply create your own menu using the menu built into WordPress.

  24. Is there any conflict between BuddyBoss and ThemeForest’s Alyeska that you know of?

    Is it possible to have user documents that are only viewable by the admin?

    • I do not know of any conflicts with ThemeForest’s Alyeska.

      We do not have any integration of such user documents but there are plenty of plugins like BuddyPress Docs you can try.

  25. Hi i tested the demo and its awesome..but i found a flaw in the theme that the Z-index is a big problem for embedding youtube videos.i found it while testing the dropdown list.do you have any fix for that? is it caused by oembed ?how to fix it?

  26. can i add adsense to this theme?

  27. Can the signup process b modified to require either approval by an admin or an invite by a member?

  28. Hi,

    I’m looking into your theme because after updating buddypress my site became super slow even though I’m on a wordpress optimized host called Zippykid.

    Will you theme make buddypress faster?

    • BuddyBoss will not make your site faster. Try using pingdom tools to check your site speed and then compare to similar sites to determine if your “optimized host” is your issue.

  29. I just installed my buddyboss theme a couple of weeks ago and it was hacked already with malicious software out of Eastern europe How do you protect against this happening?

  30. I’m considering to buy your theme, after trying the demo sometimes.

    Please advise if we can add 1/ additional fields to the profile 2/ make relationship, like family, etc., betw. members.

    Awaiting yours.

    Tri

  31. Core said on May 9, 2012

    I have already created a custom css theme, have bbpress installed with a site forums and have buddy press installed. I like the layout, the walls and the features of buddy boss. Am I able to implement this layout while still maintaining the css theme on my site and how easy it that to do?

    • Core,
      It shouldn’t be that bad. A couple of quirks like requiring the theme folder to be called “buddyboss” and copying the root files…I don’t think we have any hooks that would effect your headers or footers. My only concern would by jQuery. Buy the theme and try it out, if it is too much of an undertaking then request a refund and I’d be happy to get that processed for you.

  32. Al said on May 17, 2012

    Hi!
    Love the potential of this theme. I’m wondering:

    1) How many users/ profiles can this accommodate?
    2) Is it possible for users can create multiple profiles on the same email address (if it not, to alter it so that’s possible)?
    3) Can the details be changed (eg. like the ‘in a relationship’ or ‘single’ status on FB)?

    Thanks heaps!

    • Al,

      1) There is no limit to the number of users.
      2) BuddyPress limits multiple profiles…you will need to check their support forums if you are able to change this.
      3) We do not currently have any features like that. You could create an xProfile field with options but this would NOT link to users profiles.

  33. great theme! I already bought it, now I’m wondering if there is a way to add more one or two more websites for video embedding. Is it difficult? For example, I want to add the biggest video sharing website in China : youku.com

    • I’m not quite sure what you mean. Please post to the official forums for support here: http://www.buddyboss.com/forum

      • Never mind~ problem automatically solved when WordPress update to 3.4~!

        What I meant was adding more compatible video sharing websites to the following list:

        “What types of images and videos can users embed in Wall posts?

        Images and videos can also be embedded from the following sites by pasting in the link to the image/video URL:

        YouTube
        Blip.tv
        Vimeo
        DailyMotion
        Flickr
        Hulu
        Viddler
        Qik
        Revision3
        Photobucket
        Scribd
        WordPress.tv”

        now youku.com and tudou.com ‘s video can be easily embedded too which is exactly what I want~

  34. Just saw a thread in your forums. Can you explain the method used to place ads on a site like this:

    http://sharemickey.com/

  35. This is hands down THE theme to get for Buddypress…love it! You can customize it easily and its saved us so much money in dev time!

  36. I have WPMU/buddypress site in place. If I install buddyboss will all my stuff like posts and pictures already posted on my website automatically transfer over?

  37. Does this theme have widgetized front-page?

  38. Is blogging only available to the admin or can any member write blogs?

    • Blogging is only available in the admin within the capabilities of the theme. But front-end blogging is possible. Get Gravity Forms and it will let you create forms from the front end that are submitted as blog posts. I use that plugin all the time for this purpose.

  39. Hi, I am quite new to wordpress and buddypress. I am interested in your theme bu I was wondering if it is possible to have a field in the user profile where you could show the pictures of the friends, rather than clicking on friends link you could simply see certain number of the friends shown on the user profile page.

  40. Guys,

    The theme is great, liked it very much. Quite interested in getting it. I have a question. Does this theme has .po files?

    Looking forward for your response. Thanks!

  41. Great! Thank you for your response.

  42. The image crop function is not working in Google Chrome, any solution?

    • Suresh, the crop feature is a root WordPress function. The only thing I can suggest is to make sure you are using the latest version of WordPress and Google Chrome. Sorry.

  43. what is the difference between a group and a topics?

    How is a topic related to a group?

    how can you put silos around different types of content to make it easier for forum members to find what they want

  44. Hi, I’m wondering if with your theme I can set the home page to be a static page, with a slider at the top? Do you have a child theme I can use with this? Or instructions on how to create a child theme for this? And if I know enough CSS, can I customize my site to look the way I want? Thanks, m

    • Mari,
      You can set the home page to be static however we do not have an integrated slider. You would need to figure it out or hire a developer to get that going. We have a couple child themes with this theme. We also have some color options for customization on the backend so you don’t need to know CSS unless you want to change sizing of menus and font size, etc.
      Thanks for the questions.

  45. Hi Michael,

    will BuddyBoss work properly with collabpress?
    Is there a way to upload wordpress media into groups and restrict its access to only that group ?

    By the way, really awesome theme !

    • Sergi,
      We have not tested if BuddyBoss is compatible with collabpress. If you have compatibility issues we will be happy to refund your purchase.
      Unfortunately media upload plugins are no longer compatible with BuddyPress version 1.6 called Group Docs. Sorry.
      Let me know if you have any further questions.

  46. Can you upload photos, videos, links in the groups and forums when posting?

  47. Do u guys install

  48. Is there a way to limit activity to 10 on pages other then the profile?

    • Sitenorth,
      On lines 287-292 of buddy_boss_wall.php you will find an if statement to determine if the current page is YOUR profile. You will need to create a similar statement to determine if it is the profile page and set the $max variable to the number of items you would like on the page.

  49. hi, Im spanish and my english is bad.. but Im have a problem. Link of “Add photo” is ocult I can´t see it.

    Picture gallery is enable.

    My buddyboss is 2.0

    Thanks

  50. Is this theme responsive?

  51. Does BuddyBoss work within another theme (e.g. BuddyPress)? Seems like it creates a Facebook-like feature within an existing theme… I’m trying to set up an online school, looking for a programmer who possesses a good design sense (hard to find!). Thanks for your clarification!

    • Tim,
      BuddyBoss is a theme in itself. You can inject our functions and code into a new theme, but if you do not have much experience with programming you may need to hire a developer to do this for you.

  52. TJ, thanks for clarifying that. I understand you guys have your plates full. Can you recommend a developer with a good design sense that can modify BuddyBoss?

  53. BuddyBoss it supports right to left languages​​?
    Like Persian

    • Sam,
      I am not certain, I have never had this question before. And since I do not know any right to left languages I can’t test this. If you purchase the theme and it does not work we will simply refund your purchase. Let us know.
      Thanks!

  54. Is it possible to get this to work with MyBB? the forum that is part of the theme is really outdated and is the only thing that would be of a concern to me :( If i know that I can get MyBB to work with this then I’ll for sure get my hands on it :)

    Thanx!

  55. What about ability of using SimplePress?

  56. Is there any possibility to have the Add Photos function/component (used in Groups) also in Forums?

  57. I would like to retain the current theme that I have set up, along with all of it’s customizations… Is there a way to enable the facebook wall and photos portion of the plugin only, without installing an entire theme override?

  58. Ron said on March 9, 2013

    Will it allow to post comment to blogs from the wall / activity stream?
    Will it show “like” count and persons who have liked?
    What is the photo/album/picture plug in used in the demo site?

    • You can’t post to blogs from the activity stream, however, when you comment on the blog it should show in the activity stream.
      It will show like count but not who liked it.
      We integrated this feature into our theme, it is not a plugin.
      Thanks for your questions, feel free to ask more in our support forums at http://www.buddyboss.com/forum

  59. Guys how are you,
    I purshared the buddyboss theme a while ago…mainly to create a website for Tennis Team Management. One of the things that I’m trying to accomplish is changing the name “Groups” for the name “Teams”. I have been able to do that in many places, but there are a few places that I just can’t find it. Such as the quicklinks at my profile page. The ones to the left where Wall, Profile, Messages, Friends, Groups, Forums, Photos and Settings are located. I would love to change the word “Groups” for “Teams” and perhaps add a few others quick links.

  60. TJ how are you,

    Hey! One quick question…any plans to make a phone app for buddyboss? If not, do you know what kind of tool I can use to make a phone app.

    Carlos

  61. Hi Buddybosses,

    Any plans on making a plugin that will take the core design features of the buddyboss theme and allow them to be plugged into a third party theme?

    The market is really missing a solution to easily make buddypress look and function better.

    Our site’s in the final stages of design but I’m wishing I had the looks of the buddypress features of your theme. Nothing against the buddyboss theme per se but we needed a solid magazine layout.

    Is this also something you’d consider as a freelance job?

    Many thanks,

    Jon.

    • Actually yes, I am planning on converting the BuddyBoss core functions into a plugin this year. When that happens I’ll release an updated version of the theme that comes with the plugin packaged together, and new users will be able to purchase the plugin separately if that’s all they want.

  62. I’ve been looking for something like this, and I stumbled pon it only after joining a WP LinkedIn group. So I’ve got questions… Is BuddyBoss responsive?

    Is it possible to have a home page that is more news/mag theme style with the BuddyBoss working underneath it all? I want people to blog and post, etc about a very specific topic, but I’d like to use the home page for my own content with a news/mag look & feel to it, as well as to feature content people have posted, such as editor’s pick’s, top voted, and trending (most improved views).

    • BuddyBoss is not yet responsive. The next release – BuddyBoss 3.0 – will be responsive.

      For the home page, you would have to create your own home page template for that. Not out of the box.

  63. Inline questions and thoughts

    Can you please work in the use of http://imgur.com/ and especially work in the use of emedded or linked galleries too? It would be really nice to be able to see galleries inline. It would also be nice to see youtube playlists inline as well.

  64. Another question…

    I notice that there is only one wall here. Is there a way to see a wall of just your own posts and then tab to the mainstream wall that shows your posts and other peoples posts mixed together? Facebook has those two distinct walls and that would be nice to see. An alternative to that would be have the stream of your own posts be in one column and then everyone elses posts mixed together in a second column. It would also be nice to make a third column that is a stream of all your favorite “pages” streams mixed together. Facebook doesn’t make a third stream of other peoples posts and instead mixes them with the friend posts which makes it ugly and distracting. It would be nice to have these three distinct settings.

    • In a future version we are planning on making it two “walls” like Facebook. The first tab will be the “Wall” which will just be posts you make, posts people put on your wall, and @mentions (a Twitter-like function built into BuddyPress). The next tab will be “News Feed” which will show all of the content posted by your friends and from the groups you have joined. There won’t be a pages stream since BuddyPress has no concept of pages.

  65. My final question:

    I notice I can make variables to search by for the friends. Can you do that with groups as well? I want to be able to search groups by different set tags. For instance I want to be able to have groups for video games but then I would like to also refine that search more by saying first person shooters, mmos, etc. Maybe search by platform. I basically want to know if I can do the same search options with groups as I can with friends.

  66. By “pages” I mean groups and other page like things. On facebook pages and groups and clubs and other items like that are so similar that they are all pretty much the same. I should have been more specific and just said “groups”




Leave a reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

You may use these HTML tags and attributes: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <strike> <strong>