WordPress Forum Plugin
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WordPress Forum Plugin
WordPress was firstly known as a blogging tool, but now it has become the most popular CMS which you can use to build many different kinds of websites, such as ecommerce sites, blogs, forums, etc. WordPress’s plugin allows users to extend its features and functionality. In this WordPress plugins review, we will pick up the most frequently used WordPress forum plugins for those who want to make a WordPress forum.
bbPress – Best Easy WordPress Forum Plugin for Beginners
Extra Tips using bbPress WordPress Forum Plugin
bbPress for WordPress forum final thoughts
Simple:Press – Best Full Featured WordPress Forum Plugin for Power Users
Simple:Press forum plugin for WordPress features
Simple:Press WordPress forum plugin final thoughts
bbPress – Best Easy WordPress Forum Plugin for Beginners
bbPress is the easiest solution you can integrate a full fledged forum into your WordPress site or blog. bbPress is focused on ease of integration, ease of use, web standards, and speed. You can install it from WordPress dashboard >> Plugins >> Add New.
Go to activate the bbPress plugin after installing, you will then find several new tabs in the left side menu of your WordPress admin panel.
bbPress forums for WordPress has a very simple interface. You can create multiple forums or directories for forums from the Forums tab. All forum topics can be accessed and managed from the Topics tab. Any replies will be grouped into the Replices section.
Sometimes you may want to customize the forums for WordPress. The WordPress forum template or plugin is very easy to customize. Go to the WordPress Dashboard >> Settigs >> Forums.
To make everything pretty, you can adjust the CSS of your theme as needed from WP dashboard >> Appearance.
When you have created some forums from WordPress dashboard > Forums > Add New, you will be able to visit the forum from its front by visiting:
http://www.betterhostreview.com/forums (If you have pretty permalinks enabled, replace the domain with your own domain name.)
http://www.betterhostreview.com?post_type=forum (If you do not have pretty permalinks enabled, replace the domain with your own domain name.)
Extra Tips using bbPress WordPress Forum Plugin
1. You need to enable WordPress memebership so anyone can register as WordPress member or forum member on your site. If you do not want to build a public forum in WordPress, you can manually create or add new users from WordPress dashboard >> Users. Either it be a private forum in a small group or a public forum, your choice.
2. You can customize forum member settings from WordPress dashboard >> Settings >> Forums. For example, you can change the default role of new forum members. To change roles of forum members, you can go to WordPress dashboard >> Users.
bbPress for WordPress forum final thoughts
bbPress is my personal favourite, if you want to set up a forum using WordPress, it is a good choice. It integrates well into the WordPress system with your existing theme design and page templates too. Also this pluging for WordPress is made by Automatic, the people who built WordPress. So you can expect a quality product with lots of support.
Simple:Press – Best Fully Featured WordPress Forum Plugin for Power Users
bbPress for WordPress forum is more suitable for beginners who want simple WordPress forum solutions. However if you are an advanced users who like to make a more professional forum using WordPress, you may consider Simple:Press WordPress forum plugin.
Simple:Press is a plugin for WordPress that is a more advanced than bbPress. It is incredibly feature rich and fully integrated into WordPress. The forum plugin is a little bit more complex to use than bbPress. Simple:Press it may be called, but it is actually not a simple WordPress forum plugin. There are so many features that could be overwhelming for beginners. But for those who are accustomed to more traditional looking, such as lots of icons, and functioning forums, like user groups, access permissions, then this forum plugin will be a great choice.
You can’t find this forum plugin from the official wordpress.org website. You need to download it from the plugin developer website.
The forum plugin will be downloaded and saved as a zip file, you can upload it to your WordPress hosting service through FTP. Make sure to the wp-content/plugins folder where all WordPress plugins are stored. You can unzip it on your computer first before uploading to web server, or unzip it on your server after uploading.
Then go to activate it from WordPress dashboard >> Plugins >> Installed Plugins. Once you active Simple Press plugin for WordPress, you should see a new menu item on the left side menu of your WordPress control panel. Now you need to install simplepress WordPress forum plugin. Click Forum from the left menu, then Instal Simple:Press, click Perform Installation to install simplepress forum plugin to your WordPress blog or website. The installation is automatic and takes just a few seconds. After it, you should find its admin panel like below.
And this is how the WordPress forum front page looks like in web browser.
Simple:Press forum plugin for WordPress features
This forum appears to have the most overall features than any of the other WordPress forum plugins we have reviewed. Below is just a short list of its features. And we have attached its official website at the end of this feature list, so you can optionally go to find out more from there.
Theme and template driven Plugin system to add features Sub-forum support to any level Optional post moderation User level unread post handling Forum ranks and badges Image thumbnails and enlargements User defined Signatures Avatar uploads, Gravatar or WP A toolset for common admin tasks
Comprehensive search options Forum Stats including online list Custom icons for groups and forums Comprehensive selection of RSS feed Custom smileys including uploads Store components outside of plugin Create hidden ‘spoilers’ in posts Optional support for WP shortcodes Email notification of posts to admins
You can find out more features of this best WordPress forum plugin from Simple:Press plugin website.
Simple:Press WordPress forum plugin final thoughts
Simple press plugin for WordPress is a well developed external forum system. It is powerful with all kinds of tools a normal or professional web forum would have. If you like a fully functional forum with advanced features, you should choose this WordPress forum plugin. However if you need only a simple, clean, quick WordPress forum, then you should use bbPress.
