Input from ADMINs using Front-end site before LP

  • gs
    • 857 posts
    August 13, 2017 5:11 PM EDT

    Overview: Typically (from my experience, which means I could very well be missing something), an SE site is accessed for signin and/or signup via one of the following:

    1. yourdomain (typically loads LP)
    2. yourdomain/login
    3. yourdomain/signup
    4. yourdomain/admin (which drops you into ADMINcp; I believe also same page is used for signin-required purposes)

    Since I'm still in development (not for much longer thank goodness), my current development setup is as follows:

    • mydomain (loads Front-end 'traditional' website, not SE; there's a Link in the Header for logging into the SE Site but I typically just type whichever URL above I wish to use and bypass the Front-end site)
    • mydomain/devfoldername/ (this is where SE is actually located, and is accessed from this folder/URL using the same 1/2/3/4 methods as above)

     

    Goal: As I move toward Production, I want to combine my 'traditional' site and SE site into the same folder located at mydomain (beneath this there will still be backup/subfolders for development, staging, testing, different versions, etc.). Primary reasons for this:

    • Primary domain provides access to both sites, and URLs and various links will not have an additional sub-domain or sub-folder included.  Even the ToS, Privacy, and other pages are using those from the Front-end site, not standard SE stuff.  Good for SEO too.
    • I prefer to use a Front-end rather than the LP at the primary domain.  There's obviously so much more flexibilty in what can be done this way, and if Users prefer, they can create their own device shortcuts to the login page and bypass this Front-end. 

    Since obviously only 1 'site' can be loaded at any given URL, my understanding is that the SE LP won't be accessible since I'm using my Front-End instead (which is fine with me as there's nothing needed from the LP anyway, and anything I can do there I can do on a login page due to the phenomenal SpectroMedia Theme I'm using).  Although my host informs me this is possible, I want to see what others are doing. I will use the same server(s) for the Front-end site as the SE Site, but will eventually split development into a separate sub-domain (so that I may switch it to another server(s) if/when needed) such as dev.mydomain.

     

    Question#01: How do you as an ADMIN handle your Production/Live site:

    1. yourdomain = SE Site using LP (i.e. no 'traditional' website Front-End)
    2. yourdomain + yourdomain/folder = (like I do now: Front-end in primary domain, SE Site uses LP but from folder off of primary domain)
    3. yourdomain = (this is my goal) 'traditional' website loads which then provides a link/button/etc. for access to SE in same folder (for example using a URL = yourdomain/login/)
    4. other

    (sure wish we had surveys

     

    Looking forward to your input and suggestions. 


    This post was edited by gs at August 14, 2017 12:24 PM EDT
    • Moderator
    • 6923 posts
    August 14, 2017 9:16 AM EDT

    I use my main domain for my site as it's better for SEO (I've been told).

    My demo is on a subdomain for my developer (expert) account (completely different site as it's a different SE License).

    My development sites are all on local installs.

    Be careful what you install as we allow one live main site and one development site (same domain but a subdomain is allowed to be used for that one development site) per license. Any more would require purchasing more licenses.


    This post was edited by socialenginestaff at August 14, 2017 9:17 AM EDT
  • gs
    • 857 posts
    August 14, 2017 12:25 PM EDT

    ==>"I use my main domain for my site as it's better for SEO (I've been told)."

    So you use an SE LP as your 'front-end' to your site?

    • Moderator
    • 6923 posts
    August 14, 2017 12:50 PM EDT

    What do you mean LP if you mean something other than Landing Page? 

    Yes, I use SE for my author site. It is in the main public_html folder and I use a standard site setup. Nothing changed for the landing page other than some widgets and added a banner.


    This post was edited by socialenginestaff at August 14, 2017 12:50 PM EDT
  • gs
    • 857 posts
    August 14, 2017 1:18 PM EDT

    ==>"What do you mean LP if you mean something other than Landing Page? "

    I believe you addressed this in the rest of your reply.

    This might be semantics - I was trying to differentiate between a traditional site 'home' page and SE naming it 'LP' (I supposed for many the terms Home and Landing Page may be interchangeable, but to me they often refer to different things - my bad I guess).  My goal is to have my 'home' page (traditional website) load instead of SE's LP, and simply access various signin/signup fuctions via Links or URLs. 

     

     

    • Moderator
    • 6923 posts
    August 14, 2017 2:36 PM EDT

    Oh ok similar to my ScriptTechs (which will change to an SE site as soon as I can figure out my articles section as I couldn't find an articles plugin without a "core"). That site has a main site as the main landing and then a separate forum, kb, etc. I think you mean similar to that. The issue is, the SEO is not as good with that set up.

  • gs
    • 857 posts
    August 14, 2017 6:13 PM EDT
    Donna said:

    Oh ok similar to my ScriptTechs (which will change to an SE site as soon as I can figure out my articles section as I couldn't find an articles plugin without a "core"). That site has a main site as the main landing and then a separate forum, kb, etc. I think you mean similar to that. The issue is, the SEO is not as good with that set up.

    So right now your domain/URL loads a 'traditional' website Front-End, not the SE LP, but you are changing that soon so that your domain/URL will load the SE LP?

  • gs
    • 857 posts
    August 14, 2017 8:09 PM EDT

    Is anyone doing something like the following in their main domain:

    • index.html (loads traditional/regular website when domain/URL is accessed)
    • index.php (doesn't automatically load SE site because current Apache config order is set to index.html before index.php)
    • all SE site access will be via website links and manual entry to URLs such as domain/login, domain/signup, and domain/admin

    I'm told this should work, but I don't know this from someone actually doing it.  I especially don't know when logging out if it functions normally (since usually the SE LP loads at this point, but I've edited Core to load my regular site).

    I hope I'm making sense.

    • 629 posts
    September 9, 2017 3:43 AM EDT

    You totally are making sense. If you do this method, be careful of .htaccess giving you a 500 internal server error. Social Engine is selfish and will not allow any other script to run on the same domain level so it requires total isolation on a per directory basis. I've found it's impossible to achieve alternative landing pages, even custom built ones. I've tried.