After reading the forum for a while and watching the development of Dolphin for a few years, I decided to go ahead and download it.
I wanted to post about my experience so far.
I have several website servers, but after reading of some of the difficulties experienced by others I decided to go ahead and get a new server through the recommended Hostforweb.com.
Hosting was setup within 30 minutes which is reasonable in my experience, I did state specifically in the order notes that this was for Dolphin 7.0 and to setup the server accordingly. And I added the promotion code to get an extra 20% off. (which is nice, btw in this economy).
I uploaded the files via FTP and after a few minutes everything was uploaded so first step accomplished.
I started the install script and other then the annoying file permissions and the php bin location everything went smoothly. I joke when I say annoying file permissions, anyone with any CMS experience should know that this is standard.
Yes, I realize not everyone will have CMS experience, but ack, I am starting a new topic, LOL.
Installation complete, so I go to the modules page and was pleasantly shocked to see so many modules to install. Not being sure what each one actually was, I just installed everything. That is, after re-doing some permissions and installing in the correct order.
So, I have a functioning Dolphin website, well functioning as far as I know I haven't tested anything or changed any settings yet.
It was then that I remembered talk about a license key. Probably because the administration home page is filled with boxes promoting the purchase of a key for various portions of time, but no mention of a free key although I know it exists and I have to have one.
So, I hop over to Boonex to see what I need to do. I create an account and see the levels of membership here. I decide well, I'm going to want to post on blogs and posts to help people out or get help, so $5 no problem. Pay and go..
I then go to Account and see the My Licenses page and click on it and generate a key. WOOHOO!!
But wait, what do I do with this? I see nowhere where I put in my site domain or anything. This is different because VBulletin and a few others request to know what domain you are installing on.
So, I hop back over to my website and go to Administration and look around again....still nothing.
So, I search the forum here on Boonex.....some topics, but nothing specific to what I'm looking for. Surprised about that one.
I google for an answer and come across a blog entry I had read a few days ago, but I guess I hadn't read very closely because there was my answer.
So, I go to my website, administration, settings, advanced settings, variables, and WOOHOO I get to enter my newly created license key. I log in and out of my site just in case, but see no differences in the site. Log in and out of the Boonex site and still don't see my domain listed. But, I'm not worried I have a license and it's imputed properly.
Suggestion #1
Add a free license spot on the Administration Home Page so users can find it and input the code more easily.
So, now I go through the modules to start customizing. I give a thumbs up to Boonex for ease of use for the default modules, with one exception......Facebook Connect. This one looks a little more complicated, but not because of Boonex, but because of Facebook. Will have to come back to this one later on.
After a few hours of customizing.....THERE IS SO MUCH!! LOL, I have come to the conclusion that I believe everything has been setup properly.
I have uploaded a video I downloaded from YouTube, uploaded a picture via my iphone through the iphone app and downloaded the desktop app which I can't test because I'm my only member, LOL.
While I'm sure I'll have plenty of questions later on, my site needs further fine-tuning before launching as a released product. As it is a political site, I need to remove all the dating references and matching, which I'm sure will require a lot of time, but I'm sure I will get there.
Thanks for reading my first post. I was planning on putting more into my post, but really didn't see the need to as I didn't experience any real issues.
........
Well, I say that, but I just noticed that I have a footer is repeated three times on the bottom. I'm using the default template so I assume I should be able to go in and remove the additional two references.
On a side note, I did see on another website, Whiteyonder a FundRaising page and thought it might have been a default application, but I don't see it anywhere, would anyone have any idea where I could get it? Also, I haven't looked but are most add on modules paid for?
Thanks again,
Damion
