1.6-beta1 - page=bb-forums-setup

[shanebp]

The bb-forums-setup page is rather confusing.
As powerful as the new bbPress setup options are, it would be great if they were clearer for users.

For example:

If you have Site-Wide Forums installed, then you shouldn't see the
'Install Site Wide Forums' button.
Rather, show an 'UnInstall' button or some other indication that's it's already installed.

The bb-forums-setup page should also show some helpful info.
For example, for those admins who are not going to use Group Forums - something like:

"If you’re not going to use Group Forums, go to BuddyPress -> Settings -> Forums and install Site-Wide Forums. Then disable the component in BP 1.6 in Settings > BuddyPress > Components – uncheck Discussion Forums and Save. You don’t need to assign Sitewide Forums Page in BuddyPress > Pages. Leave it set to "-None-".

In Settings > Forums, if you’re using “Forums” as slug, then create a page named “Forums” then add the forums shortcode/s you prefer ​http://codex.bbpress.org/shortcodes/"

But if you 'BuddyPress > Components – uncheck Discussion Forums and Save', then you cannot get to the bb-forums-setup page.

If you leave it checked, it will still work, but then you'll always see this message:
"The following active BuddyPress Components do not have associated WordPress Pages: Discussion Forums. Repair"

So I think, the message needs to customized or the page=bp-components needs to show the 'Forums' link even if 'Discussion Forums' is unchecked.

And bb-forums-setup page needs some info for Groups Forums without Site-Wide and for using both. Or maybe it's more flexible to just provide a link to a codex page ?

[shanebp]

just provide a link to a codex page

I mean a bbPress codex page specifically for setting up Forums in BP.

[boonebgorges]

I agree that bb-forums-setup is kinda crummy. But it's the same as it has been for the entire BP 1.5 series, and I'm wary of making functional changes when we are within days of a major feature release. I wish we'd had this discussion a month (or two or six) ago.

Let me try to break down your (mostly good) suggestions into a list, with some comments:

1) Don't show "Install sitewide forums" if bbPress is already running

All this button does is install/activate bbPress 2.x, right? If so, I suppose it makes sense to (if nothing else) grey it out when bbPress is activated. If there's something more to 'sitewide forums' than having bbPress active, then it's probably too much to do right now to implement.

2) Tell people who are not going to use the group forums to disable the Forums component/disassociate the Forums WP page

This is a reasonable idea, though it'll be hard to come up with the right wording. Do you have any suggestions for what this exact wording would be, so as not to completely bewilder? Alternatively, what if we helped with some automagic disabling? If group forums have not been enabled correctly, don't even attempt to load the 'forums' WP page into bp-pages? (It's probably too late to do this for 1.6, but I thought I'd throw it out there.)

3) Provide a link to external documentation

Does this documentation already exist?

4) Don't show "Components do not have associated WP pages..." message for forum component if not using Group Forums

Can we exclude by checking bp_forums_is_installed_correctly()? Is that enough?

5) Allow access to the Forum Setup page even when the Forums component is disabled

This is a chicken-and-egg problem. If we do this, and someone navigates to Forum Setup and enables Group Forums, they won't work until the Forums component is turned on - so we'd need either another notification ("Hey! Enable 'Forums'!") or to just do it automatically. Automatic is better, but then we have to think about things like automatic *de*activation, etc, which gets pretty hefty at this point in the dev cycle.

Can I get feedback from another dev on these suggestions? The clock is a-tickin' :)

[DJPaul]

Replying to boonebgorges:

1) Don't show "Install sitewide forums" if bbPress is already running

Yes.

2) Tell people who are not going to use the group forums to disable the Forums component/disassociate the Forums WP page

Not for 1.6.

4) Don't show "Components do not have associated WP pages..." message for forum component if not using Group Forums

Can we exclude by checking bp_forums_is_installed_correctly()? Is that enough?

Yes, as long as they are still prompted to map the page after installing group forums.

5) Allow access to the Forum Setup page even when the Forums component is disabled

No. For same reason as Boone.

[mercime]

@shanebp thanks for creating the ticket per discussion in forums

Replying to shanebp:

just provide a link to a codex page

I mean a bbPress codex page specifically for setting up Forums in BP.

BuddyPress already has Codex page specifically for setting up Group and Sitewide Forums ​http://codex.buddypress.org/getting-started/installing-group-and-sitewide-forums/ (needs to be updated and improved for BP 1.6)

[shanebp]

Then for 1.6, maybe do just these:

-boone's items 1 & 4
-on bb-forums-setup, provide a link to mercime's existing BP codex pages - even out-dated they are useful and should be easier to find.

[boonebgorges]

OK, I will have a look in the next day or two, before we release another beta.

[boonebgorges]

(In [6134]) Modify the text and URL of the Site Wide Forums setup button on Dashboard > Forums Setup

If bbPress is already running, it doesn't make sense to show an Install Site
Wide Forums button. Instead, the button should point to the bbPress config
page.

See #4292

[boonebgorges]

(In [6136]) Show the correct Site Wide Forums button text and URL during forum wizard.

Extends the changes in r6134.

See #4292

[boonebgorges]

(In [6137]) Don't show the component page nag when group forums aren't set up correctly

See #4292

[boonebgorges]

(In [6138]) Adds link to Forum Setup codex page on bb-forums-admin Dashboard panel

See #4292

[boonebgorges]

I've made the promised changes.

As an aside, the forum setup situation, and the panels in support of it, are really in very rough shape. It's well beyond the scope of fixing it now, and it'll probably become obsolete for 1.7 with a total move to bbPress 2.x. But if, by some fluke, we have to do another major release with this infrastructure, this panel should be retooled.

Moving to Future Release for the moment, though the ticket might get closed as fixed if we move away from this screen altogether down the road.

[mercime]

The issue has been fixed and our Codex article for setting up Group and Sitewide Forums ​http://codex.buddypress.org/getting-started/installing-group-and-sitewide-forums/ is current (last modified Jan 2016).