BuddyPress 1.7 Comes With Shiny New Features

11 February 2013 by Remkus de Vries 7 Comments

Over WPMU.org Sarah Gooding blogs about a few nice features that the forthcoming 1.7 version of BuddyPress will bring to the table. If you’re a BuddyPress fiend than do check out her article. Only thing I wished she’d worded differently is the mention of the Group Forums disappearing because they’re not.

BuddyPress itself will stop shipping the old stand-alone version of bbPress (which powered the old forums), but instead BuddyPress 1.7 relies on the bbPress plugin entirely for the forums. So they’re not going anywhere, you just need to switch to bbPress for the most awesomest forum experience. That is all. Now go and check out her article. 😉

I’m actually very excited about the Theme Compatibility feature which basically means any ol’ theme will work with BuddyPress straight out of the box. I’m thinking this may finally get more people to take a look at what BuddyPress brings to the table. What is your favorite new feature?

About Remkus de Vries

Avid and heavy WordPress user since 2005, so effectively a WordPress oldtimer. Started as developer and agency owner, now works as Manager Partnerships at Yoast.

Co-founded WordCamp Europe in 2012, and WordCamp Netherlands back in 2009.

Principal owner of WP Realm.

Comments

Boone Gorges says

11 February 2013 at 14:53

Thanks for the write-up! Just FYI: BP 1.7 will include the old bbPress, but it just won’t be available to new installations. So existing installations don’t have to worry – their sites will continue to work as before 🙂

Reply
- Remkus de Vries says
  
  11 February 2013 at 14:54
  
  Thanks for stopping by Boone, and yes, that is what I meant 😉
  
  Reply
  - Sarah Gooding says
    
    12 February 2013 at 00:02
    
    Thanks for sharing! Yes, I suppose that could have been put in a less confusing way. I’ve never been a fan of the group forums myself. 😉
    
    Reply
Michael J. Pratt says

24 February 2013 at 20:37

Excited and considering all my options in a 1.7 upgrade but I have a question: I have been a big user of Group forums but I am more interested in knowing why no one is a fan (presuming I am missing something) Is there a better way to keep conversations related to specific groups IN the group?

Reply
- SmartSite4u says
  
  22 March 2013 at 11:16
  
  Michael, I think the main reasons are because most BuddyPress Groups don’t need forums because of the way the activity streams work & you can already categorise posts into specific categories in the forums.
  
  What do you use Group Forums for?
  
  Reply
  - Michael J. Pratt says
    
    23 March 2013 at 20:40
    
    Hmmm. well. I used it to keep group related conversations IN the Group. Trying to achieve the same functionality as Facebook i.e. if someone in Group X posts something in Group X (eg on the Group X forum) then Group X members get a notification (which they can turn off – like Facebook) Otherwise, Group X members will never really know what’s going on in Group X unless they visit the site and poke around (non-optimal)
    
    Am I looking at it the right way?
    
    Reply