Intro
BuddyPress is the cornerstone to the creation of a Social Media website in WordPress. This will include BuddyPress and a few (perhaps) BuddyPress-specific plugins. Here, we’ll just deal with installing BuddyPress.
Installation
In the Dashboard, Go to Plugins and select Add Plugins.
Search for BuddyPress, and Install and Activate it.
At this point, assuming you want a gallery, install MediaPress.
Also, if you’ll want a forum, install BBPress.
Setup
From the Dashboard, go to Settings and then BuddyPress.
Components
Under the Components tab, select everything you want enabled for BuddyPress.
Note: I’m not using Groups in this particular site.
Options
Click the Options tab for BuddyPress Options Settings. There are a few sections in here.
In Main Settings:
- Toolbar: Uncheck the Toolbar option.
- Account Deletion: Allow members to delete their own accounts
- Template Pack: Leave it as BuddyPress Nouveau.
In Members Settings:
- Profile Photo Uploads: Allow members to upload photos for avatars.
- Cover Image Uploads: Allow members to upload cover image photos.
- Invitations: Allow members to send invitations. NOTE: This is dependent on Public Registration (in Settings/General).
- Membership Requests: Allow visitors to send a request via User Registration to join. An administrator must approve each new site membership request.
In Profile Settings:
- Profile Syncing: Leave it on to sync.
In Activity Settings:
- Post Comments: Leave on.
- Activity Auto Refresh: Leave on.
Pages
Click the Pages tab to select pages to correspond to BuddyPress pages.
The error on the top of the screen regarding Register and Activate pages. is due to not having User Registration enabled (from Settings/General).
NOTE: The Gallery page setting does not show up until MediaPress is set up. Create a page and call it “Gallery”. Save and post and the Gallery page option shows up here.
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