How to set up the BuddyBoss 2.0 theme

If you are upgrading from a previous version of BuddyBoss, please refer to the Upgrading to BuddyBoss 2.0 instructions first.

1. BuddyPress Setup

Install WordPress and BuddyPress

  1. Install WordPress.
  2. Install the BuddyPress plugin. Requires BuddyPress 1.5 or above.
  3. Activate the BuddyPress plugin and follow the onscreen instructions.

Follow Onscreen Instructions

  1. You will be asked to create a WordPress page to correspond with each BuddyPress component (Members, Groups, Activity, Forums, Activate, Register, Blogs – multisite only). Create these pages and link them to each component.
  2. Set up Forums per the onscreen instructions. You have the option to use a forum with each group, or to use a standalone forum that is not related to groups.
    • If you choose to tie forums to groups, make sure “Enable discussion forum” is checked in the Settings section for each group you would like a forum on. The forum for each group will be accessible on that group’s menu and in the top level Forums page.
    • If you choose the standalone option, you will be asked to download the bbPress plugin. You will be able to manage forums via the various Forums settings in the WordPress dashboard.
  3. Create your user profile fields by going to BuddyPress > Profile Fields. These are the fields your users will fill out to create their profiles.

Allow users to create accounts on your site

  1. Go to Settings > General. Select “Anyone can register” under Membership.
  2. Go to BuddyPress > Settings. Make sure “Hide admin bar for logged out users?” is set to “No”.

2. Installing BuddyBoss

Note: If you are upgrading from a previous version of BuddyBoss, please refer to the Upgrading to BuddyBoss 2.0 instructions first.

  1. Purchase the BuddyBoss theme.
  2. Upload the BuddyBoss folder via the WordPress admin or via FTP to your wp-content/themes/ directory.
  3. Remove the plugin “BP Template Pack” if you have it installed. This plugin produces error messages when used with a BuddyPress theme.
  4. Log in to your WordPress dashboard and select Appearance > Themes.
  5. Activate the BuddyBoss theme.

3. Customizing BuddyBoss

Default user avatars

  1. Go to Settings > Discussion.
  2. Set Default User Avatar to “BuddyBoss Man”. The BuddyBoss custom avatar will replace the default mystery man.

Adding your Logo

  1. Go to the BuddyBoss menu in your Dashboard.
  2. Upload your own logo. Make sure to click “Upload”.
  • If Multisite is enabled: Go to Network Admin (top right) > Settings >Upload Settings and make sure “Images” is checked under Media upload buttons.

Activating the profile “Wall”

  1. Go to BuddyPress > Components.
  2. Make sure both “Friend Connections” and “Activity Streams” are enabled.
  3. Go to the BuddyBoss menu in your Dashboard.
  4. Make sure “Profile Wall Component” is enabled.

Activating photo uploads in the Wall, and user photo galleries

  1. Go to the BuddyBoss menu in your Dashboard.
  2. Make sure “Picture Gallery Component” is enabled.
  3. Users can now upload photos to their Wall, and any photo they upload is viewable at the new Photos tab on their profile.

Advanced member search

  1. Install the “BP Profile Search” plugin.
  2. Go to BuddyPress > Profile Search.
  3. “Search Form Header” can be blank. Whatever you put in there will not be used.
  4. Check all of the profile fields you would like to be searchable.

4. Blog and Homepage Setup

Using your homepage as the blog

  1. Go to Settings > Reading. and select
  2. Set “Front page displays” as “Your Latest Posts”.
  3. Your blog posts (created at Posts > Add New) should now feed into the homepage.

Using a regular homepage, with blog posts on a separate page

  1. Go to Pages > Add New.
    • Create a page and name it “Home” or whatever you want your homepage to be titled.
    • Create another page and name it “Blog” or whatever you want your blog page to be titled.
  2. Go to Settings > Reading.
    • Set “Front page displays” as “A static page”.
    • Set the home page you just created as the “Front page”.
    • Set your newly created page as the “Posts page.”
  3. Your blog posts (created at Posts > Add New) should now feed into the blog page.

5. Widgetized Sidebars

Every page on your site can have a sidebar that you can place “widgets” into. By default, the blog index, blog posts and regular WordPress pages have a right sidebar, and most other types of pages do not have a right sidebar. As you add widgets to the other page template’s sidebars, the corresponding pages will automatically gain a sidebar containing those widgets.

Add widgets by going to Appearance > Widgets and dragging the widgets you wish to use into the appropriate sidebars. When you open any sidebar box it will explain where and how that particular sidebar is used.

32 responses to How to set up the BuddyBoss 2.0 theme

  1. Avatar Image
    Michael Eisenwasser (Admin) said on September 27, 2011 Reply

    This guide is for BuddyBoss 2.0 only. If you are using an old version of BuddyBoss and you are not ready to upgrade to BuddyPress 1.5, please refer to the old Setup Instructions.

  2. Avatar Image
    Peter Armenti said on September 29, 2011 Reply

    How do I get the BuddyBoss Forum Template to work? My forum section is still using the default bbpress styling

    • Avatar Image
      Michael Eisenwasser (Admin) said on September 29, 2011 Reply

      If you are using the bbPress plugin it should then use the styles included in BuddyBoss. If you are using standalone bbPress (the old bbPress) then you need a separate template just for that as it’s its own system. The new bbPress is a standard WordPress plugin and thus it should adopt styles from your theme.

  3. Peter Armenti said on September 30, 2011 Reply

    I am using the plugin.. not stand alone.. It appears that it’s only grabbing the buddyboss styling if you use the Group Forums.. it’s NOT working with the site-wide forums option. Are you aware of this?

    • Avatar Image
      Michael Eisenwasser (Admin) said on October 4, 2011 Reply

      I’ll have to look into this more. On our test environment we’ve used it with site-wide forums and it does use the BuddyBoss styling.

  4. Aaron Sylvan said on October 3, 2011 Reply

    Umm… quick observation: the page above says “Requires BuddyPress 2.0 or above”…

    is that meant to read “BuddyPress 1.5 or above”?

    BTW, I love the theme, which I bought about 3 months ago; am I due a “free upgrade for life”? :) BP1.3 was missing a few key capabilities for my clients and my own site, so I’m really eager to see whether the new release + your product = I don’t need to contract fancy custom programming…

    Thanks!

    -Aaron Sylvan

  5. Adil Javed said on October 14, 2011 Reply

    hi i have just bought this theme and loved it.. i just want to ask that i am unable to run BP profile search plugin even i have installed it. Can u please suggest me how to get it worked???

    • Avatar Image
      Michael Eisenwasser (Admin) said on October 25, 2011 Reply

      BP Profile Search should work with the theme. Make sure to go into BuddyPress > Profile Search to set it up. Check all of the profile fields you would like to be searchable.

      If you still cannot get it working, please post a thread for this in the support forum.

  6. Dean Jones said on October 30, 2011 Reply

    how do i set up the theme so that when someone registers a blog they automatically get the buddyboss theme and nothing else?

  7. Dean Jones said on October 30, 2011 Reply

    I have done everything people have said on this forum and the profile search does not work?? i.e. you only get a normal single search bar appearing??? any tips?

  8. Donald McIntyre said on November 3, 2011 Reply

    I don´t know how to create independent forums for the site that are not related to groups. I installed bbPress and I created 7 forums, but they don´t appear on the FORUMS paga I created, it only says “New Topic” and it warns that you need to create a group to created a forum.

    I´m lost!

    Can someone help me install independent forums on my site?

    Thx, Donald.

  9. Melissa said on November 8, 2011 Reply

    I have a static homepage set, and have it set to display comments but the comment box does not appear. Is something in Buddy Boss over-riding my selected option?

  10. Avatar Image
    TJ Chester (Admin) said on November 8, 2011 Reply

    you will need to add the following code to your front-page.php file where you want the comments to show up:

    <?php comments_template(); ?>
  11. Elliot said on November 25, 2011 Reply

    How do I add the BP Profile Search widget on the members page like you have. Its not listed:

    Here: http://artfulworks.co.uk/members/

    Thanks

  12. job78 said on December 2, 2011 Reply

    Hello !

    I’d like to have the picture gallery component without activating activity streams and friend, is it possible ? Thanks.

    • Avatar Image
      TJ Chester (Admin) said on December 3, 2011 Reply

      job78,
      It is completely possible to activate the picture gallery component without activating activity streams. You can select each separately under the BuddyBoss Admin menu option in BuddyPress.

      • job78 said on December 3, 2011 Reply

        Thanks, but it’s strange, because :
        - The picture gallery component is enabled, whereas there is no consequences on profile (no tab for pictures, or anything else).
        - When I try to disable it, I have this message: “The Picture Gallery is already inactive!”.

  13. Walter said on January 3, 2012 Reply

    Hi i am contemplating purchasing your theme but i don’t nessesarily want to use it as my home
    I do have other theme in mind for the home page, will i be able to use different theme for the home page?

    • Avatar Image
      TJ Chester (Admin) said on January 4, 2012 Reply

      Walter,
      You can install WordPress in a folder and have a static HTML page as your home page. Or you can install 2 instances of WordPress.
      -TJ Chester
      BuddyBoss Support Specialist

  14. rax said on January 19, 2012 Reply

    Hi !
    I am trying to show city/state (which are custom profile fields) everywhere the name of members is shown.
    For example, member’s name is abc and his city-state are : “xyz-pqr”..

    so, I want to show.. abc(xyz-pqr) everywhere the name is shown..

    is it possible in buddyboss ?

    regards,
    rax

    • Avatar Image
      TJ Chester (Admin) said on February 1, 2012 Reply

      Rax this is possible but you would need to do custom work, find a plugin to do this, or hire a developer.

  15. Jeff said on January 27, 2012 Reply

    I am planning on using modemloopers mobile plugin for Buddypress. Do you know off hand if Buddyboss works well with it or not?

    • Avatar Image
      TJ Chester (Admin) said on February 1, 2012 Reply

      Jeff, unfortunately no one on our forums has any experience with modemloopers. If it is an absolute necessity and it does not work after your purchase we will issue a refund.

  16. Melo said on February 2, 2012 Reply

    Hi!

    I’ve got 3 issues…

    How can I set the theme to 3 column?
    I enabled the photo upload, but the icon to photo upload on activity stream did not show up, what do I have to do?
    How can I disable that top menu and enable the admin bar?

    Thanks

    • Avatar Image
      TJ Chester (Admin) said on February 4, 2012 Reply

      Melo,

      Unfortunately the BuddyBoss theme does not come with a 3 column format. If you want to utilize widgets then there are areas for each section of your site.
      If the upload photo button is not displaying then you most likely have a plugin conflict.
      The top menu is a BuddyPress menu, you should note that BuddyPress does not function like WordPress and has a completely different menu structure that you will miss out on with the WP admin menu. This is no simple task and out of scope since you would have the same issue with the BuddyPress default theme. I suggest you check out the BuddyPress forums for a solution.

      For further support please utilize the support forums located at http://buddyboss.com/forum
      Thanks!

      • Melo said on February 17, 2012 Reply

        Thank you very much!

        I’ve got just one more issue:

        How can I activate the default dmin Bar on BuddyBoss?

  17. Michael said on February 6, 2012 Reply

    Hi, I recently purchased your theme and must say I love it! I just have a issue of the “like facebook wall”. I don’t understand why when I go to my wall I see everyone’s activity who I am friends with. When I go to my wall or the wall of a friend shouldn’t I just see that persons individual activity with related comments and not like the site wide activity stream?

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