TMS:Chapter Website Setup
This is a guide for setting up a new Chapter website.
A request will come from the Mars Society's Chapters Coordinator to set up a new chapter website. The Chapters Coordinator will provide the contact information for the chapter.
Contents
Initial Setup in Dreamhost Panel
- Login to the Dreamhost Control Panel
- Select Domains > Manage Domains
- Click the blue button "Add Hosting to a Domain / Subdomain"
- Fill out the form as follows:
- Domain to Host: create a new subdomain of the form <chaptername>.marssociety.org (eg. seattle.marssociety.org or india.marssociety.org)
- Select the Remove WWW option.
- Run this domain under the user: Keep Create User selected.
- Type in a new user name of the form <tmschapter> (eg: tmsseattle or tmsindia). Abbreviations are ok.
- The Web & Logs directories will be pre-filled, leave them alone.
- Keep the PHP version selected as 7.2.
- Check the option for HTTPS. Secure sites are typically assumed these days.
- Keep all the other checkboxes the same
- Click & do the Captcha if it is present on the page. If is not present, go onto the next step.
- Click the blue button 'Fully Host This Domain'.
- Review the success message and make a note of the password provided for the user.
Set up Database
- Select Advanced > MySQL Databases
- Fill out the form as follows:
- Database Name: use a name of the form <tmschapter>_wp' (eg: tmsseattle_wp or tmsindia_wp)
- Use Hostname: Select the option to Create a New Hostname (at bottom of the dropdown)
- New Hostname type in mysql and select the chapter's subdomain that you set up before: <chaptername>.marssociety.org
- First User: Select the option to Create a new user (at bottom of the dropdown).
- New Username: use the form tmschapter_db' (eg. tmsseattle_db or tmsindia_db)
- Create a strong password that is 20 letters long. You can do this various ways, eg Strong Password Generator
- Make a note of the password and paste it into the 2 fields.
- Click the blue button Add the Database Now.
Convert user to SSH
- Select Users > Manage Users
- Next to the user you created previously, click Edit.
- On the next screen, change the User Type to Shell User and make sure Disallow FTP is checked.
- Click the blue button Save Changes.
- Note: wait a few minutes before moving on to the next section, to allow the user to be converted.
Login to User & Set up Wordpress
Open a terminal on your computer and connect via SSH to the new user account. Eg:
$ ssh tmsseattle@seattle.marssociety.org
Install WP-CLI (reference: WP-CLI) by running these commands one by one:
curl -O https://raw.githubusercontent.com/wp-cli/builds/gh-pages/phar/wp-cli.phar php wp-cli.phar --info chmod +x wp-cli.phar mkdir bin mv wp-cli.phar bin/ export PATH="$HOME/bin:$PATH" echo 'export PATH="$HOME/bin:$PATH"' >> ~/.bashrc
Test that WP-CLI is installed successfully using:
wp --info
Change directories into the chapter's webroot:
cd chaptername.marssociety.org
Install Wordpress using WP-CLI
wp core download
Open up a browser and go to the chapter website URL.
https://chaptername.marssociety.org
You should now see the Wordpress Setup wizard.
- Select your language and press Continue.
- Press "Let's Go" button on the next screen.
- Enter in all of the database details you set up previously:
- Database Name: tmschapter_wp
- Username: tmschapter_db
- Password: <the password you created>
- Database Host: mysql.chaptername.marssociety.org
- Table Prefix: keep as-is
- Click "Submit", then click "Run the Installation".
- On the next screen. fill out the form as follows:
- Site Title: <name of chapter> (eg: Mars Society Seattle or Mars Society India).
- Username: use "admin" for this.
- Password: keep the autogenerated password but make a note of it.
- Your Email: type in webmaster@marssociety.org
- Keep the last checkbox unchecked.
- Click "Install Wordpress"
Login to Wordpress & Change Theme
- Download the latest Chapters theme zip to your computer from this location:
https://github.com/marssociety/tmschapters/archive/master.zip
(Rename the zip file from master.zip to tmschapters.zip)
- Login to Wordpress using the "admin" user and the password that was provided by Wordpress above.
- Select Appearance > Themes
- Click "Add New" at the top of the main screen.
- Click "Upload Theme"
- Click the small "Activate" link at the bottom of the next screen.
- Confirm that both the Chapters theme and the parent theme "Understrap" have been installed, by checking the Appearance > Themes screen.
Set up Initial Pages & Configure Wordpress
- Create New Page "Contacts" and put in the chapter contacts.
- Create New Page "Events"
- Create New Page "Projects"
- Go to Appearance/Menus and create a new menu called "Main" with Home/Contacts/Events/Projects. (Delete Sample Page). Make sure Display Location = Primary Menu is checked.
- Go to Appearance/Widget and expand "Footer Full". Drag in a Custom HTML widget to that area. Put in a copyright statement or whatever other information you'd like.
- Modify the Right Sidebar to include or remove any widgets you'd like. We recommend removing the "Recent Comments" and "Meta" widgets.
- (Optional) Turn off comments: Go to Settings/Discussions and uncheck "Allow people to post comments on new articles". Also uncheck "Allow Comments" on all Pages and Posts.
- From here, customize the site however you'd like.