Adding a forum to your website isn’t difficult to do if you know the right steps to take. Whether you want to add a forum to your WordPress website or through a website builder like Wix, we’ll take you through our simple step-by-step guide.
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Adding A Forum To WordPress
Adding a forum to WordPress is much easier than you might think. The beauty of WordPress is the availability of themes and plugins to hand, many of which are free.
We’re going to explore how to add a forum to WordPress using a free forum plugin called bbPress.
What Is bbPress?
bbPress is a free WordPress plugin that allows you to add a forum to your WordPress website. Much like WordPress, bbPress is extensible so you can add more plugins to extend the functionality of bbPress.
bbPress is a lightweight plugin which is much faster than other open-source software that’s available.
What You Need To Get Started
If you already have a WordPress website setup, you can skip ahead to the next step. If you’re just getting started with your first WordPress website or haven’t yet begun, here are some simple steps to follow to get you on the right track.
- Sign up for a web hosting account
- Purchase a domain name (some hosts include this for free)
- Install WordPress to your website through your hosting account
Our recommended host for WordPress hosting in this instance is BlueHost. BlueHost is recommended by WordPress and offers WordPress optimized hosting from just $3.95 per month. With this, you’ll get the following included for free:
- Domain name
- SSL certificate
- 1-click WordPress install
- 24/7 support
1. Install bbPress
To install bbPress onto your WordPress website, you’ll need to first login to your WordPress admin area. Once you’ve done that, follow these quick and easy steps:
- Navigate to Plugins
- Select Add New
- Search for bbPress
- Click Install
- Click Activate
2. Create A bbPress Forum
Once you’ve installed and activated bbPress in WordPress, you’ll see new options appear in your admin panel. These include forums, topics, and replies.
To start creating your first bbPress forum, here’s what you do:
- Click on Forums
- Select Add New
- Provide a Title for your forum
- Enter a Description
- Press Publish
You can create as many forums as you want for different topics, discussions, etc. Next we’ll look at how you can display these forums on your WordPress website.
Displaying bbPress On WordPress
Once you’ve created some forums, you’ll want to get these visible on the front-end of your WordPress website. Here’s how to do it:
- Create a new Page
- Paste the shortcode [bbp-forum-index] on the Page
- Click Publish to save your changes
- Go to Appearance
- Navigate to Menus
- Add Forum to your navigation page
Integrating With Your WordPress Theme
If you want to allow people to register on your forum, you’ll need to open your forum for registrations. To do that, simply following these steps:
- Go to Settings
- Click on General
- Select Anyone Can Register
- Click Save
- Create a new Page
- Paste the shortcode [bbp-register] on the Page
- Click Publish to save your changes (this creates a Registration page)
- Create another Page
- Paste the shortcode [bbp-lost-pass] on the Page
- Click Publish to save your changes (this creates a Lost Password page)
- Navigate to Appearance
- Select Widgets
- Drag and drop the Login Widget to your sidebar
- Enter the URLs for registration and lost password pages
- Click Save
Adding A Forum To Wix
To get started, you’ll need to have created a Wix website. Once you’ve signed up for Wix, you’ll need to follow the next steps to get the Wix Forum App on your website.
1. Add The Forum App To Your Site
- Open the App Market
- Type in “Wix Forum” and press Enter
- Click Add to Site
2. Create a Category
- Click the Wix Forum app in your Editor
- Click Settings then Categories
- Edit the sample category or click Add New Category
- Enter a Category Name
- Enter a Category Header Title
- Enter a Category Header Description
- Select the post type
- Select a background
- Select a privacy setting
- Select writing permissions
3. Create Main Forum Page
- Click the Wix Forum app in your Editor
- Click Settings then Categories
- Click the Show More icon
- Click Edit
- Enter a name in the Forum Name field
- Enter a Forum Title
- Enter a description
- Select a background
For more information about creating a Wix forum and customizing it beyond the default settings, Wix’s support center can guide you through the customization settings in detail.
