One of the great things about bbPress is that when it works, it blows away other forums. It doesn’t get many things right, but I feel with this plugin you’ll see a huge difference in your site’s SEO. It has almost all of the features of it’s WordPress counterparts and many more. Definately it’s something I’m very proud of, and it’s seeing great results in the beta tests. In the past 6 months, I’ve come to regard this bbPress Plugin as a must have – something that rarely happens as an overly critical developer.

bbPress KJG SEO supports both bbPress0.9 and bbPress1.0 as standard; though there are now 2 versions. One version is free (Ad or link supported) and the other is Premium. Neither are fully GPL compatible at this time, though the free version will probably have it’s licenced changed to GPL at some stage.

This will be my first Premium plugin for bbPress. It’s not something I’m totally comfortable with, but given the sheer amount of support I’ve had to give out recently (even when things have Yes/No options) I really want to focus on the people who need a better service as well as offering them their own support forum. There will always be a free version of my plugins, and I will attempt to keep the two as similar as posible, but the time has come to realise I cannot give give give to those who don’t apprecaite it.

Hopefully you’ll see some great results from the plugin, as the bbPress KJG SEO plugin is excellent and benefitial in both formats.

You can download the plugin from www.bbPress-support.com in the next few days.

EDIT: Apparently that website isn’t going to be released for another week, and I’ve jumped the gun a little. So you can download it from this location until then.

My name is Kevinjohn Gallagher, and I’m one of the people to who contribute to bbPress. I’ve mentioned this before, but after the announcement by Jane Well on the Official WordPress blog, and by Andrew Nacin on the WordPress development blog, I thought I’d take one last shot at a bit of sanity:

Please, stop calling the new WordPress forum plugin the “bbPress plugin”.

• It has nothing to do with bbPress.
• It does not plug-in to bbPress in any way.
• It does not plug bbPress into WordPress.
• It is not, by it’s own very definition, a bbPress plug-in.
• It is a Forum plug-in for WordPress, completely separate from bbPress in every way.

So maybe, just maybe, we should call it… the “WordPress Forum Plug-in”. Or an equivolent name. Anything with separates it from the naming quagmire we currently find ourselves in; because one should really be asking Automattic why they are (intentionally?) confusing their user-base?

We currently have :

• bbPress0.9
• bbPress1.0
• backPress
• buddyPress
• bbPress for buddyPress
• and now you want to add in a bbPress Plug-in that doesn’t have anything to so with any of the above?

We already have bbpress0.9 which is different and unique from bbPress1.0 (which uses BackPress, which itself is shortened to bPress or BP). 2 versions of the same software released/updated at the same time and both in-compatible. We refer to them both as bbPress, but really one of them is “bbPress” and the other “bbpress with bPress”.

We have the bbPress plugin for BuddyPress (which itself is shortened to bPress or BP – cunningly the exact same as BackPress is shortened to) and that is effectively bbPress1.0 (the one build on BackPress) but without BackPress.

So to clarify for those who are confused:

bbPress for BP is bbPress with bPress without bPress.
But that’s not the same as just bbPress, the bbPress plugin, BP, bPress, BuddyPress nor BackPress.

Is it any wonder, honestly, that people get confused?

I’ve been developing for and with bbPress since bbPress 0.8 and I’m confused by the above sentence. On top of this you want to throw in another completely new, unique, different and separate project and call it the exact same name? Have you lost your marbles? Are we honestly, and truly, wanting to have 7 products from the same company all with the same abbreviation, all starting with “b” and ending in “Press” and expect 0 supoprt questions to arise from this?

I have been vocal about how both Matt specifically and Automattic on the whole have dropped the ball with bbPress on numerous occasions. Those mistakes and indeed the catalogue of errors that were made, will simply dwindle in comparison to the amount of confusion caused by this decision.  The initial damage has been done, the amount of support requests and uncertainty has already affected bbPress and it’s community a ridiculous amount, but there is a chance to be brave and sort it out once and for all.

I strongly suggest and hope that sensible heads prevail.

http://bbpdevel.wordpress.com and http://bbdevel.wordpress.com

Nope, can’t see anyone getting cofused about that. Here’s hoping no-one makes a typo and helps the wrong project!

Heriot-Watt are migrating their online information repository as part of the larger SAS Project, and today signed off on our pitch to create the web app on the WordPress platform. This will be the first time that Heriot-Watt have used WordPress for an externally facing website, and we’re very pleased that they have continued the trend of Scotland’s Top Universities (Edinburgh and Napier universities are previous clients) in choosing Kevinjohn Gallagher and PureWebBrilliant.com.

Our initial project together will be released in August 2010, and will utilise our custom K.I.T.T framework for faster prototyping and deployment as well as enoying the use of our Media Library plugin for WordPress.

From a purely personal viewpoint, this is a great little project which will keep us very busy until and during the  Edinburgh Fringe festival (something else I’ve build a website for this year). After that I’ll take in a few shows, and maybe enjoy a small week break.

If I’m honest with myself, I’ve been lucky with some of the sites that this hasn’t happened before. Ofcourse, I’ve taken every precaution availible and even being critical of myself I can hand on heart say that security on my WordPress installs has improved dramatically in the last 18 months; but a mixture of older WordPress versions, bbpress legacy code, custom code and the great unknown, the website user, have finally conspired against me.

The realism is, I include basic WordPress upgrades in my support package after I build or host a website, save for a few caveats. Errors in my custom code/themes/plugins that I take ownership of are fixed free of charge, while non-forseeable errors are offered at a cost rate to clients. Even with the 3 “vulnerable” WordPress versions installed (due to supporting older versions of bbPress), I’d be surprised if they were to blame (given that only 1 of them has appeared vulnerable).

No, the real culprit here appears to be the website owner/administrator/user. Using the admin account, a weak password, not signing out, not moderating spam, disabling some of my plugins to allow easier access etc. And that’s why I am quietly confident of the exact weekend when these attacks finally breached the website security – I was away for 5 days and my cron job to compare code against my  beta site was alerted to accepting errors as I upgraded to WordPress3.0 nightly build.

Until I can guarentee that these websites are completely free of issues, I shall be extending their maintenance mode until the end of the month (don’t worry, there is a clause in the contract for this). Every site will be upgraded to WP3.0, and bbPress will be upgraded to 1.0.2, all on my brand new server (it’s well lush).

Lessons have been learned, hopefully on all sides, and I’ll take this as an oppertunity to level the playing field for both my clients and I again. Plus it’ll keep me busy this weekend, avoiding hearing the English talking about how they’re going to win the World Cup if they beat Algeria!!

I build, from end to end, websites in WordPress.

I take requirements, I plan the sitemap, I define the flow of information, I design to standards, I create the additional server-side functionality, I tweak the CSS and finally add some fun interactive JavaScript (if needed).

With the new menu functionality and custom post types, WordPress has moved a step closer to being a fully featured CMS. Regardless to what the “blogosphere” says, it’s not there yet. It’s functions are still too narrow, aimed at easily getting you the output it thinks you want as easily as possible. It still feels like some of the more “CMS” features, and the new menu especially, aren’t quite rounded yet – but that is to be expected.

As someone who takes great pride in hand-coding my routines entirely, I am finally enjoying a framework that works with me, from end to end. Now if we could just get bbPress to fix it’s bugs before focussing on new features we’d be laughing!!!

So the question I want to ask is, where now for bbPress? Here are my thoughts…

bbPress is dead.

The next release of bbPress (1.0.3 / 1.1) will include some long request features for wordpress.org/.com’s support forums; and then it’s off to the elephant graveyard.

Matt has left the project, and decreed bbPress at this year’s WordCamp even going so far as to suggest to people to use different software. Matt also informed us (though no blog post or official announcement, he just threw it into an IRC chat at 11pm one night) that bbPress will not continue to be a standalone and will be a wordpress plugin. Open-Source software cannot die, but the bbPress project we’ve supported for years is ending.

I believe that after the next release, that bbPress should be forked with a dedicated team in place, in a structured tiered format.

• The new project should clearly define the Roles and Responsibilities of it’s members and contributors.
• The new project’s members should also be listed on the project website.
• The new project’s members should not participate in the original bbPress project.
• The new project should be defined before any coding.
• The new project should have a visible feature list.
• The new project should have a fully working website.
• The new project should do what it says on the tin.
• The new project should prioritise communication.
• The new project should separate moderators and developers.
• The new project should accept criticism.
• The new project should strive to understand it’s user base.
• The new project should be strict on support queries.
• The new project should maintain a clear grasp on reality.
• The new project should focus on the website owner/administrator; rather than end user.

EDIT: Re-reading this list has made me chuckle a little, because I think that most of the items I’ve included are what makes WordPress stand out from the crowd. If only they were both written by the same people…

In other words, I’m actively looking for work.

I’ve greatly enjoyed my 18 months of not answering to “the man” which has allowed me to focus my time and energy into smaller websites,  my favourite Open Source projects, move country, entirely renovate a house and meet some friends in far flung places in the globe.

So what has changed?

Basically, I’m a geek that really misses building solutions to problems. The last two websites I’ve helped out with have both had real fundamental issues, and required outside of the box thinking and coding to make them work effectively. I can’t explain how much I have enjoyed having my brain firing on all cylinders again.

The ‘global recession’ seems to be over, and I’ve found that the mood and choice of work I’ve seen being offered to me has been of a better standard. True, I’m very fussy about the work I take on but I’m once again enthused about the potential projects out there.

One of the key changes in the last 18 months though has been that of the WordPress platform. The change from the mentality of WP2.6 to WP3.0 has been colossal, and the knock on effect of what can be done with the platform is now staggering. I have truly enjoyed ever minute spent with WordPress in the last 6 months, and if we can just transfer that energy to bbPress then I could properly define myself as a WordPress Platform solution architect.

Finally, I have re-fallen in love with JavaScript. For me, web development really started when I learnt JavaScript. The ability to interact, key for websites, was ground-breaking and powerful; a power that many have abused for way too long. Now though, the ability to use JavaScript’s power for good and work with browsers and not against them has me daydreaming of code in the shower again (sorry for the mental image).

All in all, life is sweet, and I’m hungry for work!

http://bbpress.org/forums/topic/whats-happening-with-bbpress/page/5#post-64410

I don’t think I’ve ever been so shocked at an adult I respected’s childishness.

Basic.

• Features needed to make the software function at a base level.

Standard

• Features automatically considered to be included by users, usually based on market perception.

These are very key differences, and need to be explained and used to manage expectations of your user-base. The more features that people expect as standard, the more you have to detail where the line in the sand exists. Good project management, planning, scoping, documentation and communication make this job a lot easier. Without it, users can start to judge your product based on their own perception of expectations rather than the groundwork you have laid out.

Take WordPress as an example:

• WordPress’ basic functionality is to add/edit/delete/show blog posts, allow comments from users.
• WordPress’ standard functionality these days would be smilies, a WYSIWYG editor and Avatars.

Note the difference. Your blog would work as described without the standard functionality, but would not without the basic functionality. It’s a key key difference that people miss out on, and it very quickly leads to scope creep.

AutoMattic set an amazing precedent with WordPress, if not all of their home grown products. They decided that anything that wasn’t purely basic functionality would be developed as a plugin, and adapted into the core of their product if and only if the basic/standard divide had moved considerably. Almost 30 releases of WordPress and 6 years later we’re dealing with a much larger beast than before, and I’m afraid many people that are new to WordPress or Automattic products in the last 2 years will have missed out on this key component in its development.

Its another great example where being able to don the Project Management and Business Analyst roles would make a big difference to an open source project; but this sort of mental scope creep is something we should all be aware of and shoot it down whenever possible.

I’m moving to an upgraded server that will give me a bit more control over the installed server modules which is a feature i’ve been look forward to for a few months; and hopefully should see a rack of new services offered to clients in the new year.

Between you me and the post, i’m hoping a new server build will decrese the load times on some of the WordPress based sites; because I’m still utterly bamboozled as to the cause of the intermitant issue.