users upload files and make posts

How about the P2 theme? Unfortunately, your users could also write text, but it would let them upload pictures as posts from the front end. There are some nice child themes for it which add a category dropdown, and if you don’t like those child themes, there is also a plugin that adds the category dropdown.

I just quickly looked for the P2 theme.

Writing text is not an issue, as that can be changed manually if reported.
However, I don’t necessarily need them to upload pictures, that was just for the example. I need them to upload actual files (or publish, so to say), that can then be downloaded from the post they make.

As for categories, I need them to be (sort of) a tag that will filter all posts that have a certain category.

Well, then the P2 theme should work for you. I’m pretty sure WordPress allows you to upload most file types out of the box; even though it says “add media” you should be able to upload .doc, .mp3, or basically anything you like.

If they’re uploading PDFs, there might be a plugin which will make it display a preview? I dunno.

If you’re looking at child themes, I highly recommend Mercury because it’s got a responsive layout for mobile phones.

Thanks, I’ll definitely try the Mercury theme and play around with it a bit to get all the functionality that I need.

I will report back in this topic if I need anything else.

So I tested it out, and it seems ok.
However, what I need to be changed is:
– Make preset Tags and only let the user choose one of the preset tags (dropdown menu?)
– Remove all the post options, I only need one (I could probably just delete the code for them in the theme)
– Show Tags in the sidebar instead of categories. The available widgets will only show the most recent or most used tags. I need a list of all preset tags so users can browse through all posts with a specific tag

Suggesting me P2 along with Mercury (I have only tried Mercury, not P2 alone) was a great success. I just need to get these small functionality updates I need (as mentioned above) before I can start working on the design and publish the site.

– Make preset Tags and only let the user choose one of the preset tags (dropdown menu?)
– Show Tags in the sidebar instead of categories. The available widgets will only show the most recent or most used tags. I need a list of all preset tags so users can browse through all posts with a specific tag

What’s wrong with using categories instead of tags? This plugin will add a category dropdown.

– Remove all the post options, I only need one (I could probably just delete the code for them in the theme)

Maybe you could achieve this through good ol’ CSS?

div#postbox #post, div#postbox #quote, div#postbox #link {
    display: none;
}

What’s wrong with using categories instead of tags? This plugin will add a category dropdown.

Because the theme uses tags, not categories. Thanks for the plugin, will install and try it out. Is there a way to make it a requirement? For example, get a error message if you’re trying to upload a file without selecting a category?

Fair enough. Well, you could probably hide the tag box using CSS, too. I’m sure this is the wrong way to go about this, but I bet it would work:

div.postrow #tags {
    display: none;
}

For example, get a error message if you’re trying to upload a file without selecting a category?

You might try this plugin. I have no idea whether or not it would work.

By the way, since you’re going through all this effort to customize the front-end and allow front-end posting, are you going to hide the dashboard or deny access to it? Just saying, you probably should.

Thanks for all the help. The plugin does not work with my wordpress version, just tried it.

Dashboard access is not really required for the type of website I am creating, so it should probably be disabled. The only functionality I need from it is to display all posts by a user in the user profile, but a users posts can also be found through the search bar.

Even if categories cannot be a requirement, all posts can still be found under “Uncategorized” so proper categories can be assigned manually when needed.

I’ll also keep the tagging, since it seems like a nice addition anyway. I just want to be able to filter posts by category.

That’s weird! It works fine for me. I’m running WordPress 4.4.

Here‘s another way to display the posts by author, if you so desire.

In any case, it sounds like you’re on your way. Glad I could help!!

I decided to use a different theme instead and I am almost done with the design. The last, final touch I need is a plugin (widget) that will count posts of a certain category.
I found the plugin by Emre Erkan, but I have no idea how to use it, and it also does not come with a widget.
I am using Zerif Lite and I want to replace the YOUR SKILL #1, #2, #3 and #4 to be Category post counters. I like how it is designed, and if possible I would keep the idea of using circles and numbers to display the amount of posts (and maybe make the circles display the amount of posts per category compared to the total number of posts on the site). For example, if a category has 20% of all posts on the site, the round bar should fill up for 20%.
I have seen a bunch of websites that have counters that count and diplay the amount of posts, users, comments (or anything depending on what is set up) in real time. I would like to have something like that for categories.

[ No bumping please. ]