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Integrating edu-clean with the older bpmember theme

Hiya,

We are using the awesome ‘edu-clean’ for our social networking portal. Earlier we were using BP1.0.3 and the default ‘bpmember’ theme (with some customizations) for the BP part.

Recently we upgraded to BP 1.1.2 and it seems advisable to switch to the new single-theme architecture introduced along with it. We tried to follow the instructions here to integrate our ‘edu-clean’ home theme with our custom member theme, but without much success.

I have attached a screenshot of how our BP ‘/members’ page would look like using the bpmember theme (there were some minor customizations made to the default bpmember theme). I would not even dare to attach a grab of how its looking now while we attempt to merger.

We would really like to adapt to this new single theme architecture while we also want to continue using ‘edu-clean’. What steps do we follow to achieve this? Please advice.

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Thu, 29 Oct 2009 21:43:01
  • James Farmer
    • Founder & Chair (honest)

    Wow, that’s not easy :slight_smile:

    What’s your timeline like… we could see about trying to produce a BuddyPress version of edu-clean ourselves for you?

    We have a few more wicked BP themes in the pipeline first… which you might even prefer… but if you can wait until mid/late November we might be able to save you a heap of work.

  • robert vayner
    • WPMU DEV Initiate

    Thank you James!

    We tried integrating ourselves, but everything just kept on breaking. So if you guys were planning to come out with a BP version of edu-clean, that would be awesome!

    We would like the edu-clean home page to be like it is now (with a provision to fit in the BP components ofcourse). We love the tabber and it would be nice to see it across the Buddypress pages too.

    To be honest, we are behind deadline right now, we were kinda hoping to go live before the holiday season to catch the buzz.

    If there were any way the modified version of the premium WPMU themes (edu-clean to be precise) were available before, then it would be huge bonus. We really don’t want to start looking for alternatives, we absolutely love edu-clean, it suits our site perfectly, but very soon we will be running out of options.

    Hope that you guys will try your best to help us!

    Thanks,

    Robert

  • James Farmer
    • Founder & Chair (honest)

    We”ll do our best :slight_smile:

    Although Part of me wonders if what we’re really looking for is a ‘front page’ BuddyPress theme that incorporates some of the elements of the Edublogs front page.

    Do you think that sounds about right?

    The main reason I ask is that I think a more ‘generic’ (i.e. less ‘edublogs’:wink: frontpage that can be customized to more suite individual brands might be more attractive to members than an edublogs-specific one.

    Maybe one that is ‘inspired by’?

    If I’m on the right track, can you tell me the elements that you’d like to see in that kind of theme?

    Cheers, James

  • robert vayner
    • WPMU DEV Initiate

    Wow James, we really liked your idea of making a generic frontpage that could be customized based on one’s needs!

    I think the layout of the homepage should almost be fully widgetized so that users can drag and drop anything they want – anywhere! Perhaps you could give this page’s sections distinguished names, so that when we try to place widgets specifically on the homepage, we can put them exactly where we want.

    I would surely like to see the tabber, not just on the front page, but the entire site, so that it projects that unified look unlike earlier where we had to physically modify BP pages and place that tabber there to make BP look like an integral part of the site.

    A slider for most popular members, blogs would be nice!(When you ask about elements, does this count? Well, not sure, but we love these JQuery sliders, wish they were readily integrated in some theme)

    Also, some placeholder to place site videos maybe? Placeholder for RSS feeds, for supporters, latest online avatar grid.. and the features grid (we love that!)

    Well, the beauty of the edublogs theme is that it leaves a lasting impression on user’s mind. It makes your site appear bigger and grander than it probably is! And we expect that the modified theme will do the same and more!

    I am sure a lot others using this theme (or intending to after it is re-released) have suggestions as well, perhaps they would like to share them here..

    Thanks,

    Robert