As well as fixing all known bugs, this release focuses on improving compatibility with themes and plugins — particularly when phpBB is inside WordPress. Several new features are also now available:

• Cache system for  phpbb inside the WordPress header/footer. Increases performance.
• You can set the integrated blogs as ‘private’ — users that are not logged in will be redirected to the login page.
• Redirection on login — if a user clicks on a login/out link in the blog, they are returned to the blog homepage, not the forum index.
• New template tags for phpBB username, phpBB rank title and images, forum stats, forum posts since your last visit, login box, recent forum topics, ‘most recently updated blogs’ and ‘most recent posts in blogs’.
• Widgets! Widgets for most of the above, including a user info block with login form! (widgets are automatically available after install).
• A more robust mapping tool that can also create phpBB users.
• A new options.php file that is/will be used for more obscure/advanced options to simplify the install process.

This brings us very close to a final release - barring improved permissioning and the completion of separation in user blogs. To get your copy, visit the Download Page!

I’m finally getting a little bit of time to sit down and sync some of the phpBB2 & phpBB3 code together. Template integration is pretty much done…which brings us a fair bit closer to a release. In the meantime, here are some screenshots of Olympus paired with WordPress!

  

Now, just to get my hands on that prosilver theme….

After nearly a month in the making, I’m pleased to finally be getting v0.9.0 out!

This will make WP-United much more interesting to WordPress users: You can now easily integrate phpBB into a WordPress page ! (Of course, as existing users know, you can also do the reverse).

User integration is also completely revamped and much more robust, and a user mapping tool is provided so you can see what is going on — and check for any errors.

Uploads/attachments are now also completely separated… when users have their own blogs, they can only see and act upon their own uploads.
There are many other new features. In addition, this release should also address all of the bugs that have been posted on the forums over the last month… so what are you waiting for? Hit the Download Page!

A decent demo will be provided soon.. but in the meantime, here’s a ‘money shot’ for you — phpBB inside K2:

Most phpBB-based sites fall into two categories: Those where phpBB is used as an add-on feature of the main site: for example, as a support forum; and those where a phpBB community is the site.

Sites in the latter category live and breathe ‘community’ — and are often places for pre-existing off-line communities to discuss topics and meet online. Often, such sites using a stock phpBB install spring up and attract large numbers of users — without even a custom design or other site features. It usually doesn’t take long, however, for users to request new features, and a nice portal page summarizing news or announcements is usually the first request. (More…)

Thanks to George, who spotted this update on the WordPress site… if you downloaded and installed WordPress 2.1.1 recently, it contained compromised code, which could lead to your server being exploited. While this has nothing to do with WP-United, I recommend that all users upgrade their WordPress as soon as possible.

I hope they catch whoever was responsible for the breach…

Just upgraded the site to the latest WordPress. No news is good news, and there’s really nothing to report — an uneventful upgrade!

It apparently fixes several bugs, so I recommend that WP-United users give it a try.

Update on 4/3/2007: It turns out that v2.1.1 contained compromised code. If you did install this version, you should upgrade immediately. (of course, this has nothing to do with WP-United).

WP-United is now well-tested with PermaLinks — the nice-style URLs that Search engine spiders find easier to crawl and index. Since v0.8.9.x, you don’t have to mod any files to set them up - however you want them.

If you are not currently using Permalinks with WP-United, you should seriously consider doing so. You’ll be surprised at the difference they make. At the very least, your site will have pretty and easily navigable addresses. If you’ve enabled per-user blogs, your users will surely appreciate yoursite.com/blogs/author/myname far more than an ugly query string.

Here’s how to do it: (More…)

This is a small but important update to fix the following issues:

• Users with usernames containing non-alphanumeric characters do not integrate correctly
• When there are no bloggers, the blog home page does not display correctly.

IMPORTANT NOTE: If you have been running the mod with user integration turned on, you MUST perform the following steps. (More…)

A popular request has been a “reverse” template integration - having phpBB appearing inside the WordPress header and footer. (Much like this site looks to the untrained eye - although WP-United.com actually uses a phpBB header and footer on every page).

Well - it’s in alpha and on its way to being released. the package will allow you to choose whether you just want the forum inside the WordPress header and footer, or inside a WordPress template page. (You could even put an entire WordPress install inside a single blog post if you so desire).

And, of course, it’s a full template integration - no iframes or any of that jazz!

Here are some obligatory screenshots:

A minor release with fixes for a few bugs that have already been squashed in v0.8.9.0 .. It’s an easy upgrade - mod files are included in the download for both a full install and upgrades from v0.8.9.0 and v0.8.8.x.

The fixes are: (More…)