[Plugin: BuddyPress Template Pack] The instructions are not 'step by step' – MESSAGE TO TH

You are probably correct that the instructions are not as clear as they could be. However, it’s not necessary to be a jerk about it.

In any case:
> Wait? Copy what? I haven’t copied anything – what goes where? What is step 2?

When you walk through the Template Pack upgrader, step 2 will automatically copy the templates into your active theme. You don’t actually have to do anything – it’s done for you. The files are there.

> Where are they???

In your theme directory, which is most likely at wp-content/themes/[name-of-your-theme]. When you FTP into that directory, you should see folders called ‘activity’, ‘groups’, and so forth. This is where the BuddyPress templates live.

I wasn’t being a jerk, I was contributing to the improvement of your plugin. I did clearly say at the end of that post that I wished you luck and that your plugin is a great idea – as a positive and constructive comment. I guess someone got out of bed the wrong side today, huh?

So, as clearly and as non-ego bruising as I can be:

How does one know what the steps are as they are not in any way numbered?

I have installed your plugin on several BP test sites, local and remote. No files have been automatically moved to my theme folder on any of these sites (although that is a great idea to do it automatically).

Perhaps make it clear that this is supposed to happen (in a numbered step), and if it hasn’t, then instruction as to how to do it manually.

Please do not call me a jerk again. This is a forum for discussion and improvement of all things WordPress. I made valid and helpful comment (that you have agreed with) on your plugin and you have chosen to insult me for providing valuable user feedback. I’ll let this one go, but if you do it again, I’ll make a complaint to the forum administrators.

> I guess someone got out of bed the wrong side today, huh?
From your original message, which I read as being aggressive, sarcastic, and caustic, I could well have said the same about you. If my reading of your tone was mistaken, then I apologize. Helpful feedback is always welcome.

The way that the plugin is intended to work, and the way that it’s worked in my development environment, is as follows: You go to the BP Compatibility section (under Dashboard > Appearance), and are led through a three-step process. The page you describe (with the alignment, etc instructions) is itself step 3 of that process. If you skipped directly to the end of that process, then something must have gone wrong. What is your active theme? What version of BuddyPress are you using? What version of WP? Of BP Template Pack?

As for the “steps” on that final screen, the reason why they’re not numbered is that they’re not really steps, per se (though perhaps they could be rewritten as such). It’s hard to give true step-by-step instructions to modifying your theme, because themes differ so much. In any case, I can understand how you might find the instructions (“templates that you copied into your theme…”) confusing if the templates hadn’t indeed been copied automatically. That is to say that the instructions which, in your view, “actually don’t make any sense”, may have made more sense if something hadn’t kept the previous steps from taking place properly.

Anyway, if you can give more info on your setup (WP, BP, BPTP versions; name of your active theme), I can try giving it a run in my test environment.

Here’s some suggestions on rewriting the instructions as step by step (in my understanding of how this is supposed to work). You are right that some of the ‘steps’ would have made more sense if the files had copied automatically, but it would be useful to make it clear as to the fact this is supposed to happen.

(The first step says Step Three at present, btw)

1) When you activate the BP Template pack, the template files do/should copy automatically to (location).

2) The standard page structure of BP pages is (as per your diagram). These may need to be adjusted to suit your theme. You can do this manually. The files that need editing are (your included list: /activity/index.php etc.)

3) Check your pages, they should be aligned OK now.

4) Finish for permanent options page.

These could also feature in the read me doc as sometimes the steps get lost whilst setting up the template files.

I’m going to run through the procedure again on a fresh install and report back. I’ve been using WP 3.1 and above, the last time I tried it was with 3.2.1 and the latest BP (1.2.9).

BP Codex is your friend
https://codex.buddypress.org/theme-development/wordpress-to-buddypress-theme/

May I offer one piece of advice to devs, put the full directory for the template files that are copied. I literally spent an hour if not more piddling about because I went right into buddypress’ theme and altered the stuff there (admittedly it’s because I’m tired and a bit out of it but I’m sure others have done the same!) That said, I am an experienced programmer/web developer/yadda-yadda and don’t usually have trouble with much.

It’s not really a criticism, it would just stop people complaining at you if they accidentally end up messing with the wrong part then racking their brains trying to work out why the ‘changes’ aren’t showing up! ??

Thanks a lot for this though, worked awesomely when I read this.