Sandbox Development and Consulting Inc.

url: http://walkiberia.com/

SDAC Inc. provided:

• Custom Web Design
• Custom Graphic Design
• XHTML/CSS programming
• WordPress theme creation
• Custom PHP programming
• Custom jQuery programming
• Custom bbPress Theme

technologies used:

XHTML, CSS, WordPress, bbPress, PHP, jQuery

front end:

The client wanted something with a lot of different content areas on all views. This site has a lot of moving parts: slideshows, carousels, tabs, custom views for home, category views, bbPress theme, etc.

back end:

For ease of use, the forum and site login is single sign-on. There are a few custom admin panels for ad management as well as to specify what goes into the featured slideshows. There are also a number of custom functions that make all the moving parts dynamic so the client can easily feature, change, move around the content in all views.

lessons learned/random thoughts:

After this site was completed – I duplicated it to another domain (Portuguese): http://passear.com which was the first time I used the Portuguese build of WordPress. WordPress is still easy to use – even it not in your native language!

url: http://www.scottberkun.com/forums

SDAC Inc. provided:

• XHTML/CSS programming
• phpBB to bbPress migration
• bbPress theme
• bbPress/WordPress integration

technologies used:

XHTML, CSS, bbPress, phpBB, PHP, WordPress

front end:

I had created the WordPress theme and phpBB skin a few years ago. I created the bbPress theme based on the already in place WordPress theme and a custom bbPress theme that I use for all clients.

back end:

After some issues with phpBB, the client decided it was time to migrate to bbPress. I created an import script and then imported the data and users. I also suggested the client consider some spam plugins to block spam bots (which has yet to be installed).

lessons learned/random thoughts:

With thousands of spam user registrations and posts – migrating the data post cleanup would be highly recommended and much faster. This is something I am definitely going to recommend next time around.

Over the past few years – we have been creating custom bbPress solutions for our clients and have been loving every minute of it. Since we wanted to showcase what is possible with bbPress (custom themes, bbPress/WordPress integration), as well as offer a support forum for our plugins and soon to be themes – we decided to put up a bbPress forum.

If you are a registered user for this site – you can use your login/password for the forums as well.

url: http://www.calitreview.com/forum

SDAC Inc. provided:

• XHTML/CSS programming
• bbPress theme customization

technologies used:

XHTML, CSS, bbPress , PHP, CSS

front end:

I had worked with this client before with their WordPress theme so when building the bbPress theme, I was able to resuse most of the WordPress layout and CSS and then add in and customize the existing bbPress XHTML/CSS. I used the basic layout and then added colors and styles that were clean and minimal.

back end:

The client wanted a simple, easy to use and manage forum and he was very familiar with WordPress so I recommended bbPress.

lessons learned/random thoughts:

bbPress gets better and better with each release.

url: http://www.disgruntles.com/

SDAC Inc. provided:

• XHTML/CSS programming
• bbPress theme customization
• WordPress blog theme customization
• bbPress plugins and customization

technologies used:

XHTML, CSS, WordPress, PHP, CSS, bbPress

front end:

The client approached me with mockups for the site that I then turned into the XHTML and CSS in the bbPress and WordPress themes. The layout is simple and to the point.

back end:

The main site uses a heavily customized version of bbPress for the main site that I put together using custom functions and existing plugins. This functionality and layout that is not typically seen in “forums”, but the site is a great blend (functionally/visually) of a blog and a forum. The other pages and blog part of the site was created using a basic install of WordPress.

lessons learned/random thoughts:

This was a great project to work on and it really made me spend a lot of time looking through all the bbPress functions to turn bbPress into a flexible framework to get this job done. I look forward to more bbPress sites in the future because even though the codebase is still rather immature – there is a great base it’s lightweight footprint makes it really easy to work with.

url: http://www.chicagosportstalk.com/

SDAC Inc. provided:

• XHTML/CSS programming
• Custom web design
• bbPress theme customization
• WordPress MU theme customization
• WordPress MU and bbPress plugins customization

technologies used:

XHTML, CSS, WordPress Mu, PHP, CSS, bbPress

front end:

The client approached me wanting a grey and red three column design and I put the rest together. This site is going to be loaded with image posts so the themes for bbPress and WordPress needed to be minimal and non-distracting to the content. The client also wanted something that would be easily customized per blog in the future so I put together a theme that would be easy to modify in the future to only require a few changes for a new color scheme. The theme for the WordPress Mu site and the bbPress site use the same basic CSS so global updates are also easy and quick.

back end:

This project uses bbPress for the forums and then is integrated with WordPress Mu for a single sign on solution. There are plugins used in both bbPress and WordPress Mu to tie the two sites together as well as to aggregate content between sites.

lessons learned/random thoughts:

We are based in Chicago and love Chicago sports and we look forward to following the news and stories that come out of this site!

Here is a quick guide if you are looking to integrate WordPress and bbPress so that your WordPress users can log into bbPress and your bbPress users can log into WordPress.

1. Download/install/configure WordPress. You will need to upload the WordPress files to your web site directory and create a WordPress database. The installation process for WordPress is painless.
2. Download/install/configure bbPress. For the easiest and painless experience, upload the bbPress files into the same directory your WordPress files are in (most likely your web root folder).
3. Do not create a bbPress database, rather define use your WordPress database settings in the bbPress config.php file. At the bottom of the config.php file for bbPress there are preferences that you will need to set so that bbPress knows to share cookies and authentication. This is documented in the config.php file so just follow directions.

That is it. Once you have both bbPress and WordPress set up and configured, your users can then enjoy having accounts to log into both systems using the same user name and password.

A new version of bbPress has recently been released. New features include:

• Forum deletion
• Multibyte tags
• Custom locations for themes, plugins and config.php
• Multiple theme support

If you use bbPress, make sure to download the latest update.

Since we like to develop custom WordPress solutions, we are proud to now offer custom bbPress solutions and templates. bbPress is a light weight and fast forum solution from the makers of WordPress.

bbPressfeatures:

• Fast and light
• Simple interface
• Customizable templates
• Highly extensible
• Spam protection
• RSS Feeds
• Easy integration with your WordPress web site

If you need a custom install of bbPress, contact us for a free quote.