Both softwares have their pros and cons. I originally stuck with bbPress because it is so customizable. Since I was used to customizing WordPress, bbPress follows a lot of the same techniques: making theme files with template tags, adding plugins for extra functionalities, using an admin backend for, well, admin things. While the integration process with WordPress was a bit complicated at first, it got better. Then WordPress 2.6 came out and bbPress would no longer integrate. User registrations and logins for WordPress 2.6 and higher would not synchronize with bbPress. I waited quite some time for a fix to come out, but it never did. The bbPress user forums suggest downgrading to WordPress 2.5.1. However, this limits you from using new and updated WordPress plugins that don’t work in older versions. Apparently Automattic is working on a new version of bbPress which will be compatible and better.

You can see a WordPress 2.5.1 integration with bbPress at HECMWorld.com. On this site we’ve created a “member-only” forum accessible to paying members only using existing and customized plugins for bbPress and WordPress. So the bbPress pros: very customizable in theme and function. Cons: ironically doesn’t integrate with it’s sister software, WordPress (unless you use an older version).

The Simple:Press forum had one big thing against it from the beginning. The default install is ugly. And for customizing appearance, you’re stuck with the options available through the admin backend. This was a big drawback for me as I was used to having full control over the design. Recently, though, the folks at Simple:Press have done an overhaul which now gives you much more control over appearance. I am quite impressed with the level of customization I now have over the forum functionality too. One big plus is allowing unregistered guests post as you build up your user base. Another big pro for this plugin is the ease of installation and integration. As a plugin of WordPress, it uses the WordPress user registration and login by default. It also fits nicely into your existing design. Just create a page for your forum, and there it is. See my new and customized Simple:Press forum at Girlebooks.com.

For now I’ll probably stick with Simple:Press. It seems a lively community and the developers are dedicated to their product. I hope they stick around.

Our latest work involves development of a subscription system using WordPress on the popular financial blog, Footnoted.org. The requirements of the system were as follows:

1. A subscriber registration and payment processing interface
2. System tracking of subscription expiration dates
3. Download management allowing the administrator to easily upload files as well as restricting file downloads to paying subscribers only
4. An email notification sent to paying subscribers when a new publication is available

It turns out that we spent a large part of this project researching our options in using existing WordPress plugins. There are a few ecommerce plugins already available, but most cater to shopping carts. The wp-ecommerce plugin proved to be popular only because, unlike some of the ecommerce plugins, some people actually get it to work without messing with the code. But it is a monster in size and complexity, poorly written and documented, so we are glad we ditched this option early on.

Our solution was as follows. Site registrations are handled by WordPress’s own registration system, slightly modified to simplify the process and to show the Footnoted logo instead of the WordPress logo when registering or logging in.  For payment processing we ended up modifying Shannon Whitley’s Easy PayPal plugin. We could never get this plugin to work out-of-the-box–there are some nasty bugs that had to be fixed before it would even interface with PayPal properly. But it is simple and nicely documented so therefore easy to modify. Once the subscriber pays, PayPal immediately notifies the system that this is a paying subscriber, and the the subscription expiration date is stored.

Downloads are handled by a modified wp-downloadmanager plugin. This handy plugin inherently provides a interface for the administrator to upload files. The plugin also provides embedding of file links into posts and file redirect links to hide the real download path of the file. We modified this plugin to allow downloads from current, paying subscribers only.

Finally, we wrote our own email notification plugin, notifying paying subscribers that a new download is available. See the results in the FootnotedPro area of Footnoted.org.