Integrating WordPress/bbPress theme

[Ryan]

bbPress will not have access to WordPress’ functions unless you manually tell bbPress to load WordPress first. This integration step is also known as “deep” integration, it is a totally optional part of integration and is not required to get shared cookies and logins working. In order to do it, you need to put require_once('path/to/wp-blog-header.php'); in bbPress’ bb-config.php (wp-blog-header is in the same directory as WordPress’ wp-config.php file). Doing this will add quite a lot of weight to your bbPress installation as it will cause WordPress to load in it’s entirety. Your best option is to try to emulate the functionality you require inside a bbPress plugin.

The section about adding a lot of weight is not entirely true IMO. bbPress is already a lot faster than the larger forum softwares, so slowing it down a little isn't necessarily going to make it any slower than other forum softwares. I did some testing on it recently, the difference in load time wasn't even measurable by me, the fluctuations in load time (local server) were greater than the difference when I added wp-blog-header.php.

[greenshady]

I prefer to completely separate the two in terms of design (integrated users, of course).

I find it much easier to just port the CSS over to a bbPress theme rather than loading WP into bbPress. Of course, I always start with the same, solid XHTML structure to make this possible.

I've also been running 1.0 Alpha with few problems.

[the dk]

bump for an old thread, from a new member. I'm trying to wrap my wordpress header/sidebar/footer around bbpress and it's not going so well. I've seen successful implementations on a few sites (http://themehybrid.com/support/, http://www.adityanaik.com, http://themeplayground.com/) that were all done manually, so I am attempting my own.

I found a bbpress template called ThemePress which will automatically add the header and footer from wordpress, so I've moved my wordpress sidebar call into the footer. Now I can get header, siderbar, and footer to display, but the forum does not maintain its position or format.

I feel like I'm close to a final solution, but just need to be pushed over the hump. Can anyone offer any suggestions as to where to begin troubleshooting?

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