What are YOUR first steps in setting up a Jamroom site?

There is no set order in which you HAVE to setup jamroom, so i'm curious. If you were to setup a new jamroom site, what order would you do things in?

Feedback please.
updated by @michael: 11/03/16 09:45:35PM

THANK YOU.

I guess I'd start with securing a domain name. And deciding where to host my new site, server-wise.


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...just another satisfied Jamroom customer.
Migrated from Ning to Jamroom June 2015

I will first look into what design / skin concept I would like to use for my site on Jamroom that relates to my project. Then get the skin under a temporary domain name.
I feel choosing a domain name is quite easy to do ..so that wouldn't be my first thing to do on my list..since nowadays..anyone can have many domains and it's easy to change the domain name on your server once it's up and running.
I will then choose a simple hosting package to start the first phase of building the site
.then I will plan any changes to the skin that I will need on my site..and so on

1- choose skin concept
2- server (and use any domain name I already have)
3- new domain name
4- then have fun
updated by @boplive: 07/27/16 09:57:19AM

Thanks very much, very helpful

I'm writing the "Getting Started" docs

Docs: Getting Started
https://www.jamroom.net/the-jamroom-network/documentation/getting-started

and realize the way I do it, I jump around a lot, so its probably not the recommended method. I'll get your ways added in too.

People who are experienced at 'setting up a new site' can probably do it without a detailed guide. It's the folks like me (with a little bit of html and admin of a ning site for years, but no experience in CSS or server/domain stuff at all) who will benefit the most from a step-by-step guide. I assume that's who you are targeting. A guide laid out in easy-to-understand layman's terms may seem like a lot to have to bother explaining, but overall it will help the Jamroom Team by answering some of those repetitive newbie questions, and of course it will help new users grasp the concepts and what they need to do, in logical order.

It's the exciting success or frustrating failure of those very first steps taken by a non-coder that will often determine whether they stick with Jamroom and with owning/running their own site....or whether they give up and walk away because they find it's beyond their abilities. The thing about it is that once a non-coder (like me) successfully gets past the first few hurdles, their level of confidence and rate of learning improve more quickly. A good clear guide for beginners on 'getting started' is really worth its weight in gold.


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...just another satisfied Jamroom customer.
Migrated from Ning to Jamroom June 2015
updated by @strumelia: 07/28/16 07:53:15AM

Now in hindsight
I would have set up a simple jamroom test site using Elastic skin or some other stock skin and spent a month or so working with adding code and content BEFORE I started the import of a 16,000 member Ning site
With that said-after getting the server straightened out and running SYSTEM CHECK -I would go through the entire list of modules my site might need and install ALL of them- then enable them because so many are interdependent on each other- then I would open the Global Config tabs of each to see how they work and what they need
With modules installed and a skin selected then i would start playing around and asking for all kinds of help in the forum

I would make sure I understood how to save an edited template to the skin directory so that its not overridden with updates...

NOTE- another of the first things I would do is create a custom.css file and upload it to the skin then add it at the bottom of the include.php file- then open INSPECT ELEMENT in Google Chrome and play with the css of anything on a page until I liked it- then i would copy that css from inspect element and add it to the custom.css file

Later I would learn all i could about IF statements and where to copy them from for use around the site.. then after a few months learn how to use the debugger...problem with that is as just an owner of my own sites that gets kinda deep- you might wrap your brain around it but then not need it again for a year- at which time cannot recall it

Thats when its time to take it to the forum again

Hope this helps
updated by @derrickhand300: 07/28/16 09:33:17AM

It does take a certain stubbornness and perseverance ( the great support keeps you going because they seldom give up on you) in the beginning- I still consider myself a novice and always will be- but I am always amazed at what i can do with jamroom even as a novice
updated by @derrickhand300: 07/28/16 09:30:48AM

I think one point that could use some repeating to new users is for them the make a CLONE of the original JR skin they start with, make the clone active and then make their custom tweaks to their new cloned skin only and leave the original parent skin alone. The concept of updating the parent skin and looking at which of those updates you want in your custom skin is important, and is something most new users seem to miss.


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...just another satisfied Jamroom customer.
Migrated from Ning to Jamroom June 2015

I agree 100%
Sorry to keep adding to this but I would configure all the custom meta tags for my site right off
Then I would install all the sharethis and oneall stuff and get that working on the sharethis and oneall websites- then i would add it to the test site
My plan anymore is to build the shell of the website and have as much of it working properly as possible THEN start filling in with content

This is frekkin' awesome! Thank you curtis and strumelia.

Skin alteration is something I wasn't sure about how to get to explaining because "is it a developer thing?" but I can see how it needs to be explained now.

Guys I just joined Jamroom. I have a major problem where I want to make my whole site visible to only registered users.
I have had a problem with most other softwares where to lock the site is a major issue and I am not able to find the documentation to support it
Can I do this in jamroom

Please ask questions in their own thread so users searching in the forums can find it. Perhaps a good title would be "How do I make my site visible to just registered users?"

The answer would be, use the "beta launch page module" https://www.jamroom.net/the-jamroom-network/documentation/modules/2953/beta-launch-page but nobody is going to look for that answer in a thread called "What are YOUR first steps in setting up a Jamroom site?".

Welcome to Jamroom, help is appreciated in making it easy to find stuff

Hey Michael
I am in the process of creating a "Jobs" board for one of my sites-I am using free open source 3rd party software ONLY because my main site is not a "Members" site, more of a traditional regular website- but with the JOBS board i need to create "members" so they can post resumes for employers etc...I think it could have been done using some very advanced JR methods but it was easier for me to just make a page on my site with the phpbb free software installed...
With that said and concerning writing DOCS for Jamroom-I wanted to share a link with you for "THEIR" "quickstart" guide because I really like they way they have laid out their navigation and Doc's- thought it might give you some fresh ideas
https://www.phpbb.com/support/docs/en/3.0/ug/quickstart/

1-Quick start guide on the left covering installation and settings ( this could be for setting JR up on the server then installing modules and setting quotas
2-Tabs at the top of the page covering the more advanced stuff

I think it would be a great way to organize the Docs- anyways hope it gives you an idea or two you can use
Thanks for everything!

As Michael said above, please start a new thread with a new question, but in answer to it, go to your ACP=>Users=>Users=>Site Settings and checkout the Site Privacy options. The 'Site Index and Login/Signup' option is probably what you are looking for.


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Paul Asher - JR Developer and System Import Specialist

Nice one Curtis, I see what you're saying, you like to have the table of contents visible while reading the documentation, got it. It is very nice.

The big question when dealing with docs....... did you read them? does having them laid out like that make you more inclined to read them than the way we have ours?

I totally agree 100% with what Strumelia mention... which should be as one of the major top 1-5 steps a new user should do in there set up - CLONE the original skin and do there custom work from that clone skin..good one @Strumelia