Best way to create a small private forum

[Askitbasket]

Hi all

I have started to use BBpress (with the Genesis Extend plugin) to build a small private forum. I have not used BBpress before but I'm starting to think it might be more powerful and complicated than is necessary for my needs.

The forum I want to create will be the only forum on the site, it will be for members by invite only, so I don't want to encourage sign-ups. I'd like there to be a 'member login' menu item in my drop-down menu, which takes you to a login panel, and then, once you're logged in, you get redirected to the forum page, for which a 'members' forum' link has appeared in the menu underneath member login (to disappear again on logout).

If anybody knows how best to achieve this or has alternative suggestions for a similar result. I'd be extremely grateful.

http://www.vetschoolscouncil.ac.uk/

[Askitbasket]

Okay, I managed to do this myself with bbPress and a few plugins. Here's how I did it, I hope this will be a help to anybody else wanting to acheive a similar thing.

1) After installing bbPress and the bbPress Gensis extend plugin, I installed the bbP Members Only plugin https://wordpress.org/plugins/bbpress-members-only/, I then created a test forum and topic

2) I created a page called 'member login' and put the [bbp-login] shortcode in this page (no menu link for this page)

3) I configured bbP Members Only to redirect non-logged-in users to the above page when they try to access forums

4) I created a menu item which is a custom link, directing to '…/forums'

...

[Askitbasket]

5) I installed Peter's login redirect https://wordpress.org/plugins/peters-login-redirect/ and configured it to take users directly to '…/forums' when they log in and the home page when they log out

6) I added the Profile Builder plugin https://wordpress.org/plugins/profile-builder/ which creates a front-end version of edit profile that can be added to a page via a shortcode. It also comes with a login widget and settings for hiding the admin bar or toolbar depending on the user-role

7) I created a page with the edit profile short code and added this to the menu. I used another plugin https://wordpress.org/plugins/menu-items-visibility-control/ which allows you to hide the 'edit profile' menu item from users who aren't logged in

8) I had to make a lot of changes to the bbPress default CSS, font sizes in particular. This can be done by putting a file called bbpress.css in 'themename/bbpress/css' (you will have to create the bbpress and css folders). By doing it this way, your changes won't be overwritten by bbPress updates

[Askitbasket]

...Okay, I managed to do this myself with bbPress and a few plugins. Here's how I did it, I hope this will be a help to anybody else wanting to acheive a similar thing.

1) After installing bbPress and the bbPress Gensis extend plugin, I installed the bbP Members Only plugin https://wordpress.org/plugins/bbpress-members-only/, I then created a test forum and topic

2) I created a page called 'member login' and put the [bbp-login] shortcode in this page (no menu link for this page)

3) I configured bbP Members Only to redirect non-logged-in users to the above page when they try to access forums

4) I created a menu item which is a custom link, directing to '…/forums'

5) I installed Peter's login redirect https://wordpress.org/plugins/peters-login-redirect/ and configured it to take users directly to '…/forums' when they log in and the home page when the log out

6) I added the Profile Builder plugin https://wordpress.org/plugins/profile-builder/ which creates a front-end version of edit profile that can be added to a page via a shortcode. It also comes with a login widget and settings for hiding the admin bar or toolbar depending on the user-role

7) I created a page with the edit profile short code and added this to the menu. I used another plugin https://wordpress.org/plugins/menu-items-visibility-control/ which allows you to hide the 'edit profile' menu item from users who aren't logged in

8) I had to make a lot of changes to the bbPress default CSS, font sizes in particular. This can be done by putting a file called bbpress.css in 'themename/bbpress/css' (you will have to create the bbpress and css folders). By doing it this way, your changes won't be overwritten by bbPress updates

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