BBPress Wordpress Tutorial - Set up a Forum in Wordpress using bbPress plugin

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BBPress Wordpress Tutorial - Set up a Forum in Wordpress using bbPress plugin youtu.be/BmtFh-pb7F8

Link to bbPress shortcodes in the bbPress codex:
codex.bbpress.org/features/shortcodes/

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bbPress is a powerful WordPress forum plugin. You can make your entire site the forum or just add a forum to your existing site using shortcodes.

The first step getting up and running with bbPress is to install the plugin.

To install this plugin please log into your WordPress dashboard, hover over Plugins and then click on Add New.

On the next page type "bbPress" into the search bar. The plugin we want should be the first one in the top left.

Click on the Install Now button and then click Activate after it's installed.

You will now see new items in your admin side menu: Forum, Topics, and Replies.

Within those menu items is where all the posted content of your forum will be.

First things first, let's create a forum.

Click on the Forums link and then click on Add New. Create as many forums as you want.

You can create parent-child relationships between forums to keep things organized.

Once you've created the forums we have to create a place for them to live, this is where the bbpress short codes come in.

Here is the bbPress Shortcode page link again:
codex.bbpress.org/features/shortcodes/

On that page you'll find this shortcode:

[bbp-forum-index]

Create a new page and paste that short code into it. Publish and view the page.

You will now see a list of all the forums you created a moment ago.

The CSS styling may not be nice, but you can easily fix that with CSS. There are many themes that bbPress styles already in their main stylesheets because bbPress is such a popular plugin.

There are even dedicated bbPress themes.

Now that you have forums ready to rock and roll, you'll want to create the ability for people to register an account and login once they create an account.

The easiest way to do this is to use the login widget created by bbPress.

However, if you are adding a bbPress form to an existing site you'll probably want to make it so the login widget appears ONLY on bbPress pages. For that we need to install another plugin.

To install this plugin please log into your WordPress dashboard, hover over Plugins and then click on Add New.

On the next page type "bbPress WP Tweaks" into the search bar. The plugin we want should be the first one in the top left.

Click on the Install Now button and then click Activate after it's installed.

Now go to Appearance, then Widgets in the WordPress admin. You'll now see a dedicated bbPress widget area (sidebar).

Now drag and drop the bbPress widget into the new bbPress sidebar.

You'll see that there are fields for the Registration page and the Forgot Password page. We'll have to create those, but don't worry, it's easy.

For the Registration create a new page and paste this shortcode into it: [bbp-register]

For the forgot password page, create a new page and paste this shortcode into it: [bbp-lost-pass]

Paste those links into the widget and save it.

Now go to your forum and refresh the page. You'll see the sidebar appear, but it will show you as logged in.

To see how new users would see the sidebar, either log out of your site or open a different browser and go to your forum. Now you'll see a login form with Register and Forgot Password links below it.

If you're happy with that widget, you're all done.

You should create an account on your forum and play around with it a bit to see how it works.

I hope this information helps you! If you have any questions leave a comment below or ping me @WPLearningLab on Twitter.

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