BuddyPress version 1.6 was officially released on Monday, August 6th. Referred to by codename ‘Lucali’ after a pizza joint, the new BuddyPress contains significant updates and fixes that make it a much better option for your social community. After all, one can’t beat the integration with WordPress.
Upgrading BuddyPress?
Here are some of the noticeable changes if you’re upgrading from a previous version:
WordPress Toolbar
Existing users of BuddyPress wil instantly notice that the new version uses the WordPress Toolbar, and does away with the old BuddyBar. I personally welcome this change because it aligns well with integrating BP with WP.
BuddyPress Menus
Where’d they go? The main BP menu lies under Settings > BuddyPress Settings, whereas the user profile fields are under Users > Profile Fields.
New to BuddyPress?
If you’re completely new to BuddyPress, then now is a great time to get on the bandwagon and take it for a spin. As we see it constantly evolving, the features are get better and better, and the overall product far more viable as a complete social community package.
Here’s a blurb from the BuddyPress’ blog explaining some of the new and improved features.
Feature highlights include: new Activity Management screens and Akismet integration for activity items; fine-grained visibility levels for profile fields; drastically improved performance on activity, group, and member directories; complete integration with the WordPress Toolbar; canonical redirects for improved search engine performance – and the list goes on.
For the full list of updates in version 1.6, see this BuddyPress codex entry. The following areas have been highlighted as receiving special attention in this version:
- Activity Management
- Akismet Integration
- Database Query Reduction – On the directory pages, database queries were reduced by 25% – 50%.
- Improved SEO – Canonical redirects for improved search engine performance.
- Faster and More Efficient – We’ve gone over every centimetre of BuddyPress with a fine-toothed comb, and it’s the fastest, the most efficient, and the most user- and developer-friendly release so far.
- Toolbar — complete integration with the WordPress Toolbar.
- Profile Privacy – fine-grained visibility levels for profile fields.
What do you think? Loving the new BuddyPress? What’s missing?
If you already have a site running BuddyPress, please share a link below so we can see how you’ve used it.
