Since redesigning ThemeHybrid's forums, I've found a passion for developing with bbPress again. Sure, it was a pain doing some of it, but it was also pretty fun.
My next bbPress theme will be called BB Experiment. It will be based off the ideas behind the Hybrid WordPress theme. The reason behind the name is that this is literally an experiment so that I can learn more about bbPress. Eventually, I'd like to release a full-fledged bbPress theme framework to match Hybrid, but I need to understand the system a lot better first.
Differences between WP themes and bbPress themes
Most of you know that WordPress themes can be used to accomplish pretty much anything through its templating system. Well, if you're familiar with bbPress at all, you've probably noticed it has a much more advanced templating system. I'd argue better in many respects. But, this leaves things more open ended as far as how things should be structured. Figuring it all out can be confusing, even for me.
I've been working with blogs for a few years now, and knowing how to set them up, structurally, is second nature to me now. But, a forum is an entirely different beast.
On to the questions
- Should a sidebar (yes, we can use sidebar in this discussion) be shown on every page?
- What things in the Hybrid WP theme do you think would carry over well into a forum?
- What do you think should be a part of the theme?
Those are just some general questions. I want this to be pretty open to any type of discussion. You can even use the forums here as an example for discussion if you'd like.
