First steps

Accessing control panel

To access your control panel, go to your site and login using your email address and password. In the user navigation bar locate a link called "control panel" and click on it.

You may also login to your control panel directly by going to http://www.example.com/index.php/cp If during installation you've edited your configuration file not to use index.php, you may instead go to http://www.example.com/cp

Navigating control panel

Software plugins, features and settings are combined into several tabs in the top navigation bar of the control panel. You may hover over them to view available options.

Once you click on the desired option you will see a second row of links related to the option you chose. For example if we select "configuration" in the "system" tab, we will see "configuration", "email templates", "meta tags", etc.

From now on if you see references such as "system - email templates", "plugins - blogs", etc, it means you need to first select the tab and then look for the link in the second row of the navigation bar.

Installing plugins

Once you're in the control panel navigate to "system - plugins" (hint: hover over the "system" tab and click on "plugins") to view available plugins. To install plugins, simply click on "install" link next to the plugin of your choice.

Setting your site title

Navigate to "system - configuration" page and change the "site title" text box. This title will appear in the header of your public pages. It will also be displayed in the browser's title bar on all pages (except homepage) next to the page name. For example, if you're browsing blogs, you will see something like this in your browser's title bar: "Blogs - My site title".

To change the title of your site on the homepage, navigate to "system - configuration - meta tags" and click on the "system" plugin. This page allows you to fill in meta tags for your site's homepage.

Email settings

Navigate to "system - configuration" and click on the "emails" tab. Fill in your name and email address in the "from name" and "from email address" text boxes. Whenever users receive emails from your site, they will see that name as the sender and will be able to reply to the email address you specified.

Changing site logo

Navigate to "system - presentation - templates" and click on "settings" link next to the template you use on your site. You will be able to add your own logo image and change other various template related settings. Note that different templates may have different settings available.

Automation

Software may be configured to automatically send email notifications (such as membership expiration, account activation reminders, etc) and perform various automated tasks to ensure optimal performance of your site. While this is not required, it's strongly recommended that you follow this step as it may required depending on the software features you're going to use.

Navigate to "system - configuration" and select "automation" tab. Fill in random alpha-numeric characters into the "security string" text box (30 characters or less is fine). Make sure to use only letters and/or numbers and no other characters. This ensures that no one else can run automation tasks for you. Once done click on "submit" to save it.

Navigate back to the same page and copy the contents of "cron job command" text box. You will now need to create a cron job to run this command on your server at least "once per day". Cron is a software utility that allows tasks to keep running automatically in the background at predefined time intervals. This can normally be done in your hosting control panel. If you're not sure how to do this, contact your hosting provider for assistance.

Copyright notice

If you purchased the "copyright removal" addon, navigate to "system - configuration" and click on "look and feel" tab. You will be able to remove or change default copyright notice displayed at the bottom of public pages.

Update privacy policy and terms of service

Every website must have a privacy policy available for its users as it's required by law in most countries. It's also a good idea to have terms of service to avoid any legal complications. You can update both in the control panel by going to "content => pages". Once there click on "sub-pages" next to "legal pages" and you'll see your privacy policy and terms of service pages. If you're not sure how to create these policies, you may use custom tailored legal policies generation service. It will create them specifically for you and how you operate your website.

Quick help

If you run into questions about certain settings or functionality on any of the pages in the control panel, simply click on the "Help" icon in the top right corner of the page. It will take you directly to our online documentation that explains the page in question.

Final words

Steps listed above are sufficient to start running your site without any additional configuration. However, we strongly suggest you go through all available pages in the control panel guide to familiarize yourself with the rest of the system as it will answer most, if not all, of your questions you may run into.