BuddyPress For Dummies [Paperback]

Lisa Sabin-Wilson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 15, 2010 | ISBN-10: 0470568011 | ISBN-13: 978-0470568019 | Edition: 1

Use BuddyPress to create the ultimate site experience

BuddyPress is a suite of free WordPress plugins and themes, each adding a distinct new feature. It contains all the features you would expect from WordPress, but it aims to let members socially interact. With this fun and friendly guide, you'll learn how to customize BuddyPress so that it matches the style of your Web site.

You'll walk through the necessary steps for modifying and customizing BuddyPress themes and you'll discover how to extend BuddyPress through the use of addons and plugins. With BuddyPress, you'll be well on your way to creating the ultimate user experience on your site.

• Shows you how to set up the WordPress foundation required to run BuddyPress
• Walks you through installing BuddyPress on a WordPress-powered site
• Explains the different BuddyPress components, including extended profiles, private messaging, friends, groups, the wire, activity streams, blog tracking, status updates, and more
• Details ways to troubleshoot BuddyPress once it is up and running
• Demonstrates how to extend BuddyPress through the use of addons and plugins

Bring all your social community subscriptions together in BuddyPress!

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

Get your buddies together with BuddyPress and create your own social community

Got a cause, a hobby, or some other obsession you can't wait to share with a like-minded community? BuddyPress is the buddy you need to get that community started. Here's how to get BuddyPress up and running on your WordPress Web site and use its free tools and themes to host a social network devoted to your pet projects, right on your site.

• Full court press — start by obtaining a Web hosting provider and installing WordPress, then install and configure BuddyPress

• It's your domain — register your domain name and use FTP to transfer necessary files

• Member options — explore BuddyPress features for creating profiles, avatars, and community friendships

• Growing with the group — integrate members' blogs, set up member groups, and add discussion forums with BuddyPress

• Custom Buddy — expand BuddyPress themes, personalize them with CSS, and learn how to create your own

• It's on the wire — promote community interaction through wire postings for individuals or groups

• Gather the gang — integrate Twitter®, Facebook®, Flickr®, YouTube®, and other social media into your community

• Go farther — discover third-party plugins that add more options

Open the book and find:

• Cool things you can do with a BuddyPress site

• Requirements for a hosting environment

• Where to find and download free themes

• What you can do with widgets

• Ways for members to create and manage their own forums

• How member avatars are used

• Tips on using member group features

• Ten BuddyPress sites to check out

About the Author

Lisa Sabin-Wilson has been developing and designing with WordPress since 2002. She eagerly embraced BuddyPress as an additional tool for the clients of her blog design company, E.Webscapes Design Studio. Lisa is a regular speaker and panelist at blogging conferences, including SXSW and WordCamps.

Product Details

• Paperback: 336 pages
• Publisher: For Dummies; 1 edition (February 15, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0470568011
• ISBN-13: 978-0470568019
• Product Dimensions: 7.4 x 0.8 x 9.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #741,668 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

E.Webscapes Design Studio
http://ewebscapes.com

Twitter:
http://twitter.com/LisaSabinWilson

Facebook:
http://facebook.com/LisaSabinWilson

I design because it makes me happy to create. I write because it makes me happy to share. Other than that? I breathe. I drink espresso. I love my family.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Too much filler July 5, 2010

By David C. Smith

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

This book has a lot of filler in it. It is also out of date now with the integration of WordPress MU into WordPress 3.0 There is some helpful information in the book even with the advent of WordPress 3.0, but you have to dig to find it.

I hope the author comes out with an update for the book. She is a good writer, provides accurate information and some good tips and suggestions.

2 stars says I don't like it, I do like it, so 3 stars gets the "It's OK". But unless you get a great deal on this book I would wait, or find one that is current. BuddyPress is changing all the time and any book about it will probably be somewhat out of date by the time it is published.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent "operating manual" for BuddyPress March 6, 2010

By Jerry Saperstein HALL OF FAMETOP 500 REVIEWERVINE™ VOICE

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

Lisa Sabin-Wilson literally wrote the book on WordPress. I've read and used both editions of her "WordPress For Dummies" and pre-ordered the third edition today.

WordPress, if not the leading blogging application, is certainly a contender for the title. To use WordPress is to love it and Sabin-Wilson's book makes WordPress accessible to all.

BuddyPress is a new product, free like WordPress, but intended to allow users to create their own "social community" on their website. This book is already behind the curve in some ways because BuddyPress is very much a work in progress. Sabin-Wilson's book came out just a couple of weeks ago. During the time she wrote it and before it hit the streets, you needed to have WordPress MU (Multi-User) installed as the base for BuddyPress. As of a week or so ago, this is no longer the case: BuddyPress will now run on the single user version of WordPress. This change, in a way, means adjusting many of the instructions contained in the book, but it Is nothing a reasonably experienced person won't be able to deal with.

What does BuddyPress do for you? Well, the author explains that quickly and clearly: with BuddyPress, you can build a community with members having their own blogs, tracking of activities, discussion forums and more. Feature like this have been available in part through services like Yahoo! Groups and Ning. But now you can run them on your own server and customize them to your tastes.

That's the real power of BuddyPress - you can tweak it meet your needs and expectations.

And Lisa Sabin-Wilson shows you how.

Much of the book will seem familiar to "WordPress For Dummies" readers because, clearly, much of it was adapted from it. By the way, if you are new to WordPress, get and read "WordPress For Dummies" first. The education will serve you well as you approach BuddyPress.

Sabin-Wilson writes clearly. The only problem I foresee is that all the instructions are based on using WordPress MU (Multi-User) which may lead to confusion on some points, but I feel certain that the author will post errata to cover these differences.

BuddyPress may be overkill for most individuals - you can get many of the same features by using Ning or other web services. On the other hand, organizations and groups may readily appreciate the power of BuddyPress. Lisa Sabin-Wilson makes it easy to find out because she has essentially provided the "how to" manual on getting BuddyPress up and running with a minimum of hassle.

Jerry

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful

1.0 out of 5 stars Out of date and no help at all June 11, 2011

By David Wilkin VINE™ VOICE

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

I first started with the authors book on Wordpress and was led astray by the glowing reviews of those who had said they had read her book. After reading this, I am left to think that no one really reads Sabin-Wilson unless they have no clue about using a computer and web software. Further in this book, it is very clear that it should never have been published.

The author even knows she should have delayed her efforts. A dozen times throughout she cites how the software, Buddypress is due for an update that will integrate with Wordpress much more seamlessly and change everything that she is showing how to do. It would have cut or changed 1/3rd of the book. And she knew it was just a few months away from when she was writing. It is in effect now, and probably was before the book was published.

An editor or the author could have done a lot to make this a useful tool. Instead all the use of the book can be found on the official Buddypress site. I tried to use examples of plugins that the author shows, and found that she leaves off before showing how they in fact work. Thus when they did not work for me, and forced me to search elsewhere for solutions, again i saw that the author is actually making us more dumb by using her book, instead of making us better users, which is what the Dummy series has always been about.

Stay away from this book. It is an outdated resource. It has broken links for her examples are not followed through. You can do better for free at the Buddypress site. Lisa Sabin Wilson, I shall not read your books again.