This article attempts to show what type of modification can be made to BuddyPress in order to allow the novice to begin to customise the look and feel of a BuddyPress installation. It is intended that by working this way beginners to BuddyPress can quickly get to grips with the basics of customisation as well as implementing some pretty cool features.
BP Profile Shortcodes Extra maintains the features introduced in the original plugin, it provides shortcodes to display the username, display name, profile url, avatar photo etc. but in addition it provides the ability to display the users cover image and also a collection of cover, avatar and @username that allows a profile header to be created on any page in your site. You can either specify the member to be displayed or the shortcodes will display details of the user that is viewing the page.
BuddyPress First Letter Avatar is a simple plugin that gives a colour coded avatar based on a letter from the username of the user, for users that have not set an avatar image. It’s an alternative to assigning a Gravatar or similar. It also performs the same task for Groups.
WP ULike is a WordPress plugin that also supports BuddyPress, bbPress and a number of other plugins, it aims to be a comprehensive “Like” system for your site and enables site users to like a wide range of content types, including posts, forum topics and replies, comments and activity updates.
BuddyPress Force Profile Photo is a BuddyPress Plugin that forces site members to upload an avatar image before they are able to use any aspect of your site, whichever page they visit they will be redirected to the upload profile image page with a message informing them of this.
Buddy Registration Widget is an unusual plugin in that it is very mission specific, it will add a widget that displays the BuddyPress registration page, it disables the BuddyPress member profile cover image site wide and it won’t allow new members to access the site until they have set uploaded a profile avatar image. There are no settings to change, once uploaded these options are set and that’s it. So if your site has these specific requirements then this plugin is for you, but if you want registration in a sidebar widget but also want profile cover images then this plugin is not an option!
BP Avatar Hover is a simple plugin which adds the feature where if the mouse pointer is floated over a users avatar picture then a “bubble” of information will show up, showing that persons friends count, the avatar (and link to) three of their friends and also a link to send a message to that user.
