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How to setup Muut with Wordpress

r:foundersgrid
Sat Apr 12 2014 01:06:03 GMT+0000 (UTC)

I have purchased the Developer package, installed the WP plugin and activated the API and Secret keys. What do I need to do next to make the forum private? Any help would be much appreciated. Thanks.

@r:foundersgrid
2014-04-12T01:06:03.000Z

I have purchased the Developer package, installed the WP plugin and activated the API and Secret keys. What do I need to do next to make the forum private? Any help would be much appreciated. Thanks.

@foundersgrid:admin
2014-04-12T01:15:23.000Z

I have also selected the "Make this forum private" option in the settings (although I'm forced to do it on another account I did not know I had)... yet I can still see the content when logged out or on a different web browser.

@shilde
2014-04-12T03:29:19.000Z

You have to pay for the [Muut Developer](https://muut.com/pricing/) package.

@r:foundersgrid
2014-04-12T03:41:41.000Z

Hi Hilde, as mentioned in my first post, I have purchased the Muut Developer package. I am now able to set the forum private, but some strange things are happening: 1. I'm now signed in on a different account and cannot log out/sign back in again using the account I used to purchase the Developer package. Any ideas? 2. I cannot add new categories (when I add a new category and save, it doesn't show). 3. I can still view the content when accessing on a different machine/browser.

@shilde
2014-04-12T03:50:13.000Z

LOL, well I'm blind as a bat, so you did, and now I'm the fool.

@shilde
2014-04-12T04:04:55.000Z

Our organization uses Squarespace, so our setup is quite different with Muut, so I can't help you here.

@paulhughes01
2014-04-12T04:46:59.000Z

Hi, everyone! I'd be happy to help you out with your issues. I think there might be a little bit of confusion about what Muut means by "private forums" and what your intention is. Making a developer-licensed forum private using the checkbox outlined in this section (https://muut.com/docs/developer.html#private) actually only makes it so that no one other than you can *embed* the forum (so, Jerry Seinfeld can't embed your forum on his website just because he knows that it is located at "muut.com/yourforum"). If you want to hide it from public view so that only logged in users can view it, which it sounds like is what you're after, all you have to do is use WordPress's built in privacy functionality as viewable in this screenshot: http://f.paulhugh.es/UyuK. I'm looking into the other two issues—not being able to log out and log in using the developer account, and adding categories. I was fortunate enough to join the Muut team recently, and I'm very excited to be working hard on the WordPress implementation and helping you guys use it to its max. I'll keep you posted o n those other two issues, meanwhile let me know if that first solution makes sense from above. Cheers! - Paul

@paulhughes01
2014-04-12T06:43:29.000Z

Hello, again; Interestingly, I'm not able to reproduce the category-creation problem (I'm able to add them fine from the forum interface embedded in my site)... Can you give me any more details? What theme are you using? Regarding the logging in—you should be able to log in to you to developer account *at* muut.com. On your embedded website, if you are using the SSO (single sign-on) service, basically the super-admin on the WordPress site is added as a moderator to that forum (rather than the main Muut account being used). Is there some functionality you are needing access to specifically that you're unable to get to? Once it's embedded and made private, the forum's login is tied to the WordPress accounts, so you login and logout there—your main Muut account isn't actually used on that end for posting. I hope that helps to clear things up—let me know if you need any more help or clarification! Hope you're having a good one, Paul

@r:foundersgrid
2014-04-12T06:55:35.000Z

Wow... thanks so much for the help and clarification, Paul. It's much appreciated :) Hoping you can help with the other 2 issues soon. Thanks.

@paulhughes01
2014-04-12T07:57:18.000Z

Hey, no problem; it's my pleasure to help get you up and running. Did you see my notes/questions (like what theme) regarding those last two points in my second response? It looks like you and I might have posted right at the same moment—but if you could clarify what you're needing/having trouble with in terms of the log in and perhaps what theme you are using so I can try to replicate the category-creation failure, that'd be great. Thanks! Paul

@r:skemaz
2014-04-13T07:55:21.000Z

Hi Paul, I am still having trouble getting Muut setup how I would like on my wordpress site. I need to change the font sizes & Tero said to do it though the html/css, however I cannot find this and the guy that normally would do this is away. Also I need to make sure that it is being served from my website rather than Muut. Can you recommend somebody to do it for me please. Sarah

@paulhughes01
2014-04-13T17:29:15.000Z

Hi, Sarah! I'm glad you're excited about trying to get Muut set up just the way you like it. In WordPress, if you don't mind getting your hands a little dirty, it is possible to customize the style set in your theme right from the WordPress admin. If you go to the Appearance -> Editor Menu, you can select your theme from the dropdown, make sure the style.css file is selected (you can select the file at right), and then add custom CSS styles to the bottom of the file. You can see this in this screenshot: http://f.paulhugh.es/UyEh where I have added a font-size specification, setting the base font-size for Muut content to 20px. There are a LOT of customization options using CSS (pretty much every website's look and feel is done with CSS). There is a guide that I really like provided by Webmonkey: http://www.webmonkey.com/2010/02/css-guide/. It is a little out of date, but for the most part things still apply. If you want to check that out and have fun with customizations, I'd definitely encourage it! Just make sure the Muut styles you want to adjust are all under the . moot selector. If you don't have the time/interest and would rather hire someone to customize the looks of your website, there are a lot of places that can help you find the right person, like http://jobs.wordpress.net, http://freelancer.com, or even http://fiverr.com (although the quality is definitely not as predictable there). On the other hand, I would DEFINITELY recommend checking out the Muut Designer License at https://muut.com/docs/designer.html. It is almost definitely cheaper than hiring someone to do it for you (I even hesitate to include the "almost"), and it allows you to do rich customizations without having to touch a single line of code. You can see a demo of it on the pricing page as well, https://muut.com/pricing/. Good luck! Let me know if you have any other questions, and I hope you continue to enjoy using Muut! Paul

@paulhughes01
2014-04-13T17:32:32.000Z

On another note, @foundersgrid, did you work out those issues? Let me know if I can be of any more assistance. If you're enjoying using the Muut plugin, we would love it if you could swing by the plugin page http://wordpress.org/plugins/muut/ and leave a quick positive review of the plugin and your experience! We're trying to reach the largest audience possible, and every little bit helps. Thanks! Again, let me know if you have any other questions. Paul

@paulhughes01
2014-04-13T17:54:35.000Z

Oh, Sarah, I realized I didn't answer your question about serving Muut from your website. Muut actually is only hosted on our end and is then embedded on websites. Now, that is not the same as the common use of the word embedding as we don't do it with the "duct tape" iframe solution. Because ours are embedded using JS, there really is almost no difference on your end other than that the server response time is blindingly fast—plus, you can still style and customize in the same way as if the data were hosted on your end. I can't stress enough the difference in speed by providing it the way we do. It sounds like an extra step, but in fact it maintains the instant and fast connection with us by using websockets. I would encourage you to check out a breakdown of our technology here https://muut.com/docs/technology.html. I think you'll see that while this is a non-traditional model, it actually is much more effective, fast, and reliable than any other options. Let me know if I can help with anything else! Paul

@r:skemaz
2014-04-14T06:10:33.000Z

Thanks for your detailed responses, much appreciated and the diagram was exactly what I needed to fix the font. However, another issue has arisen. I set up a forum, viewed it and about 20 minutes the page is displaying "skemazer forum does not exist. Setup now »" ? Why would that be? Regards Sarah

@paulhughes01
2014-04-14T06:44:25.000Z

Glad to help; what is the shortcode you are using? Paul

@r:johnsimpson
2014-04-14T07:23:55.000Z

Hi Paul, sorry I have fixed it up now - no idea what went wrong!

@r:johnsimpson
2014-04-14T08:56:17.000Z

Hi Paul, another query. I need to upload the Apache file to Godaddy. What file do I upload it to & how exactly do I do it? Apologies for all the questions, but you guys are the experts in this.

@r:skemaz
2014-04-14T09:10:32.000Z

Hi Paul, sorry the post above was from me not John. Thanks in advance. Sarah

@paulhughes01
2014-04-14T14:59:33.000Z

Hi, Sarah; I'm assuming you're talking about setting up the Proxy Passes as outlined here https://muut.com/docs/seo.html ? Unfortunately, if you don't have access to your server's apache configuration files, you will be unable to implement that. You could contact GoDaddy and explain what you're trying to do—they may be able to help. Unfortunately there isn't much we can do right now on our end. That said, we ARE planning to solve that exact issue in the future, so definitely stay tuned for that as time goes by. Thanks again for using Muut—I hope it makes your community thrive! If you are enjoying the plugin, it would be great if you could leave a quick review http://wordpress.org/support/view/plugin-reviews/muut. It would be very appreciated on our end! Cheers, Paul

@r:skemaz
2014-04-14T23:52:00.000Z

Hi Paul, what specific file location on Godaddy should the files be uploaded to? I am talking to Godaddy and they are unsure also as to what file exactly? Sarah

@r:skemaz
2014-04-15T00:06:07.000Z

HI Paul. Just found out from Godaddy that if you are on a Shared Server, which the majority of people are, you cannot change the Apache configuration files as it would change everyones site. Imagine that! Sarah

@paulhughes01
2014-04-15T01:37:16.000Z

Yeah—I wasn't sure if they were able to customize a given package if needed or not. Like I said, solving that problem for WordPress sites on shared server environments is on the roadmap (and as a priority), but unfortunately the plugin isn't quite there yet. Luckily, it doesn't affect the usability of the forum in any way—it merely means that the forum content itself won't be indexed on your server until we get that feature ready to go. Thanks for supporting us through the development process! We're excited as we charge ahead with new features and support, and the WordPress plugin is my personal first priority. Cheers! Paul

@r:skemaz
2014-04-15T01:54:04.000Z

Not a problem. Another question though. Is it possible to personalize the Welcome email sent from Moot? This reason I ask is that the person has registered for the "Skemazer" forum that uses Moot. They didn't register for Moot forums, so this may be a little confusing. Also, when people register for your Skemaz forum why do they show up as active on Moot forum?

@tipiirai
2014-04-15T05:18:41.000Z

You can add your own logo and brand color color by upgrading to Muut Designer. Here is a preview of a [branded email](/pricing/img/mail-client.png). Right now other customization is not possible, but we keep improving the Designer product and will constantly add new features.

@r:profilingpro
2014-04-15T06:11:26.000Z

Hi Tero, thanks for your response. It's not that level of customization I am after at the moment. It's just that your email autoresponder sends a message to the new person that says "Welcome to Moot forums. To finish the registration, click this link or copy and paste it into the url field of your browser:" It would be a little clearer to the new registrant the email said "Welcome to Skemaz Forum(name of the forum they have subscribed to), proudly hosted by Moot forums. To finish the registration, click this link or copy and paste it into the url field of your browser: Sarah

@tipiirai
2014-04-16T05:40:58.000Z

Looks like this is actually an issue on our end. The welcome text should actually be “Welcome to Skemaz forums”! We'll fix this. Thanks!

@r:skemaz
2014-04-16T05:59:34.000Z

Great Thanks for that! Sarah

@r:skemaz
2014-04-16T13:24:04.000Z

Hi Tero, it still says welcome to Moot Forums.

@r:skemaz
2014-04-16T13:52:24.000Z

Hi Tero, if you can let me know asap this is fixed as our app is going live today. Also, do you have an affiliate program? Regards Sarah

@courtneycouch
2014-04-16T16:42:00.000Z

The fix is not yet out. I suspect it'll be later tonight.

@r:skemaz
2014-04-17T01:16:47.000Z

Great.

@r:skemaz
2014-04-17T09:27:32.000Z

How do I put an advert into the sidebar? I know I have seen it somewhere before but cannot find the instructions now.

@r:skemaz
2014-04-17T09:45:11.000Z

Also, your Welcome to Moot forums is still not fixed ;-)

@foundersgrid:admin
2014-04-18T08:45:36.000Z

Hi, Sorry, took a few unexpected days of. Categories are working fine now, which is good to see. Also understand the new admin role, so thanks for clearing that up. A couple of additional questions: 1. How does a new user sign-up? Is this via WP? If so, is there a way to make the signup process a little less dole? 2. Is it possible to invite users in myself? How would that work? 3. I have set the password for the page. Is this password the same for every user? Or will users be allowed to create their own passwords?

@foundersgrid:admin
2014-04-18T08:57:26.000Z

I might have jumped the gun, but just tested out registering a new user. It's a painful, unprofessional (and very ugly) process: 1. They see the WP logo when clicked on "Register" 2. New user receives password from "Wordpress", not my/my sites name. 3. New user is taken to the backend of WP 4. Once completed profile need to click on "View site" 5. Their current password does not work (guessing due to me password protecting the page). Is there a more elegant way for new users to sign-up?

@paulhughes01
2014-04-18T15:23:08.000Z

Hi again, glad to know Categories are working well! Since you're using SSO, the entire Muut sign-up process is entirely transparent. In order to sign up for Muut, it simply uses WordPress accounts for your website, so when your users sign up for and log in to your WordPress site, they are treated as WordPress accounts (because they are) and are automatically signed in to Muut using that account. In fact, all of your questions are actually things that are specific to the WordPress sign-in process, rather than the Muut process. Luckily, that puts everything in your control to customize that experience. There are a bunch of WordPress plugins available to do just that, such as http://wordpress.org/plugins/pie-register/, so I'd recommend checking that out or finding another one and that way you can customize that however you'd like. Good luck! Paul

@r:foundersgrid
2014-04-19T05:04:34.000Z

It's a cool plugin, but it does not solve the problem of keeping the forum private (without a second password) if I'm using register/login pages via this plugin or WP. My end goal is this: 1. Users sign up (plugin handles this). 2. I approve new users 3. Users receive their login credentials so they can access the private forum (If I put a password on this page where the forum is located, I would need to send all members a second password). I appreciate your help. Any ideas how I can resolve this? Perhaps use something different other than WP?

@paulhughes01
2014-04-19T07:10:29.000Z

If you make the page private (rather than public or password-protected) then it will be viewable by administrators and editors. Now, I'm sure that is NOT at all the ideal solution for you, as I expect you want "subscribers" to have access to the forum. That being the case, luckily there are plugins out there that can help with that. A quick search found me this one: https://wordpress.org/plugins/user-access-manager/; I have not used it, but it might be able to accomplish what you want. We're really getting into WordPress customization (rather than Muut, specifically), so I'm a little bit limited in the support I can provide, but I expect that might get you going in the right direction. Hope it helps! Never fear to hit up http://wordpress.org/plugins/ to look for helpful plugins. Let me know what you get figured out for your situation, I expect other users might be looking for similar solutions! Thanks, and happy Muuting! Paul

@r:foundersgrid
2014-04-19T07:41:06.000Z

Thanks Paul, After searching around, I've found http://www.php-login.net - Do you think this might be a better option for me? Has anyone else here had experience using php-login.net with Muut?

@courtneycouch
Thu Nov 27 2014 14:18:14 GMT+0000 (UTC)

test [Muut-logo-100](//devsite.muut.com/u/playground/s1/:playground:vk3C:muutlogo100.png.jpg)

@courtneycouch
Thu Nov 27 2014 14:22:03 GMT+0000 (UTC)

test [Muut-logo-60](//devsite.muut.com/u/playground/s1/:playground:qTNJ:muutlogo60.png.jpg)

@courtneycouch
Thu Nov 27 2014 14:25:19 GMT+0000 (UTC)

[Muut-logo-60](//muut.com/u/playground/s1/:playground:w08V:muutlogo60.png.jpg)