Plugin Review – BP Better Registration

https://wordpress.org/plugins/better-bp-registration/

Version Tested: V 1.2

BP Better Registration is a plugin that breaks down the BuddyPress Login process into byte-sized chunks, simplifying and extending registration to include uploading the Users Avatar photo, joining groups and adding friends.

Installation is straightforward, a case of installing and activating the plugin. From that point on registration is broken down into the following steps:

On clicking Register, the user is asked for their email address

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Following completion of email sign up the user is asked to activate their account.

bp_better_registration_activate

Once they have clicked on the activation link, the new member is then asked to complete the first of five steps to complete registration, the first asked for the username and password details, a nice touch is that they get to choose their display name at registration.

bp_better_registration_step_1

On step 2 they get to upload a profile photo.

bp_better_registration_step_2

After upload, the plugin has a neat zoom and pan feature for setting the profile image.

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Step 3 asks the new member to fill in their extended profile information.

bp_better_registration_step_3

Step 4 asks them to join any groups they want to.

bp_better_registration_step_4

Step 5 helps them find friends who might be already on the site.

bp_better_registration_step_5

I was impressed with this plugin and think it has a great deal of potential both in helping new members to get the most out of your site and also it the potential to ward off spam bots since most do not have the intelligence to work with multi-page registrations.

With the version tested however I did note some issues: Clicking skip allows new members to avoid filling out required profile fields, The plugin fails when used with BP Registration Options – I think it is essential that it works with new member moderation, the add friends function does not work currently it sends a friend request to self right now.

However I can see great potential with this and I’m sure as soon as more people start using this plugin then more features will be added. One option I would like would be to be able to disable the “Skip” button prom selected pages such as the Profile Photo Upload

In it’s present form I give this plugin 8 out of 10 but I will be watching this plugin closely and expect to raise this mark in future.