VisualModo – Forum WordPress Theme

Whoever answers in your forum tires before whoever asks

A new member asks how to configure something. A veteran answers patiently. Soon after, the same question arrives in other words, and then again. Over time, the person who used to answer only drops in now and then, and questions go unanswered.

A forum produces knowledge but stores it badly: the best answer stays buried in the thread where it was written, and every repeated question wears down your best members. What keeps a forum alive is moving those answers to a place where they can be found before anyone asks.

Forum, by Visualmodo, is a WordPress theme for communities that joins bbPress forums and BuddyPress profiles with a knowledge base of its own, on the same site. It is worth using with that idea from the start, and not as a pretty front page for the forums.

Forums, profiles and guides under one menu

• bbPress and BuddyPress integration, so users can register, create profiles, post messages, connect with each other and take part in groups.
• Knowledgebase content type, with a block for recent guides on the demo's front page.
• Forum index with topic and reply counts and the latest post.
• Overlay search, reachable from the header.

How to turn threads into guides

These three habits, applied from the start, get the most from having a forum and a knowledge base together:

1. Each week, pick the thread with the most useful answer and turn it into a Knowledgebase entry, rewritten and without the conversation.
2. Go back to the original thread and leave a link to that guide, so whoever arrives later will find it.
3. When someone repeats the question, reply with the link and a kind sentence. Your veteran answers with no effort and keeps the motivation.

The theme provides a place for each thing. Moving content between them is not automatic: a person does it, and it is worth deciding who.

What comes along with the community

• Blog in several layouts: with a sidebar on either side, dual sidebar, grid, masonry and full width.
• WooCommerce store, with customer account, cart and checkout.
• Page elements such as timeline, counter, price table, countdown, modal window and carousel.
• Vertical or horizontal header, with a top widget area, alert bar and side navigation.
• More than 800 Google fonts, plus options for colors, footer, 404 page and custom code.

The theme neither moderates nor rewards your members

The theme works without plugins, but forums and profiles rely on bbPress and BuddyPress, so you will need to install them to have a community.

Among the options in its panel there is no forum moderation section. Nor are answer voting, a best-answer mark or member points among its features. If your forum will live on questions and answers, first look at AMA, further down.

The order the Forum import asks for

These are the points that shape the setup:

1. Upload and activate the main theme, and install the plugins you will use, among them bbPress, BuddyPress and the one-click importer.
2. Import the demo with the main theme active. Wait for it to finish: how long it takes depends on your host.
3. Activate the child theme only after the import.
4. Import the sliders separately, if you use them, and create your forums and your first guides before opening registration.

For laying out pages it works with WPBakery Page Builder and Revolution Slider; Contact Form 7 covers the forms.

When your community lives on something else, and three questions on Forum

If questions and answers are central, AMA brings upvotes and downvotes, and lets you mark a topic as solved with its best answer.

If you want to give people one more reason to come in, Ureg adds courses with LearnPress and a job board to BuddyPress and bbPress. For a community with an app-like look, BuddyBoss runs on its own platform, which is installed separately.

Does it include the forums?

Forums and profiles rely on bbPress and BuddyPress, which you must install. The theme provides the presentation and the integration with the rest of the site.

Can I use it just for a knowledge base?

Yes. Knowledgebase is a content type of the theme, so you can publish guides even if you open no forums.

Why are icons or sliders missing after importing the demo?

Because that import does not include them. Revolution Slider sliders are imported separately and icons are added in another step.