Programming the Forumla.us Activity stream
ForumLA.us – BuddyPress Activity Stream Troubleshooting Report
Date: 2025-05-12
What You Actually Learned
✅ BuddyPress is extremely sensitive to template overrides
- Breaking anything in activity-loop.php silently kills the stream.
- AJAX expects specific DOM structure: IDs, wrappers, classes, order.
✅ Plugins like Miresa inject features via hooks and JavaScript
- If expected wrappers (e.g., #activity-stream) or hooks are missing, the editor disappears.
✅ Safest method: CSS-only styling
- Don’t override templates—target existing DOM classes instead.
✅ Gamma-style layout can be achieved without overrides
- Accomplished entirely through CSS.
Development Log Entry (Copy This Into Your Dev Notes)
forumla.us – Activity Stream Customization Notes (May 2025)
- DO NOT override activity-loop.php in /buddypress/activity/
→ Breaks Miresa + AJAX rendering - USE CSS-only styling for activity layout
Inserted in: Customizer > Additional CSS
Example working style:
activity-stream .activity-item {
background: #fff;
border-radius: 12px;
padding: 20px;
box-shadow: 0 0 10px rgba(0,0,0,0.08);
margin-bottom: 20px;
}
Current setup:
- Uses BuddyPress core templates (unmodified)
- Uses Miresa plugin for editor enhancements
- Activity stream fully functional
Future notes:
- Consider BuddyBuilder + Elementor for future visual layout
- Or use a staging site to test any template overrides
Working state was restored by:
- Removing activity-loop.php override
- Styling .activity-item via CSS
Starter Child Theme – What It Is:
A safe, minimal child theme that:
- Does not override templates
- Loads Kadence parent styles
- Includes your activity card layout CSS
Included:
- style.css
- functions.php
- DEVLOG_activitystream_2025-05-12.md
