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Elgg 1.8 Social Networking
Elgg 1.8 Social Networking

Elgg 1.8 Social Networking: Create, customize, and deploy your very own social networking site with Elgg with this book and ebook

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Elgg 1.8 Social Networking

Chapter 2. Installing Elgg

It is time to create your first Elgg site. This will be a test site that you will use throughout the book as we explore what Elgg can do. If you have installed web applications such as Elgg before, the installation should only take a few minutes. If you are new to this, it will take a little longer as you work through each step with the assistance of this chapter.

To install Elgg, you need to:

  1. Check that your server meets Elgg's requirements.

  2. Download Elgg and put its code in the server's web directory.

  3. Create a data directory and set its permissions.

  4. Create a database for Elgg.

  5. Run the web-based installer.

The instructions in this chapter work for a typical server. If there are complications while performing the installation, use the Elgg wiki as a resource (docs.elgg.org) for assistance. It has detailed information about server requirements, installing on particular types of servers, and troubleshooting.

Preparing the server


Elgg is a server application, so you need a server to run it. Your server options fall into three categories:

  • Local server: If you are at school or the office, there may be a server already configured with a web server that you can use for Elgg.

  • Web hosting provider: A popular option is renting space on a server. The hosting company handles the maintenance of the server, provides technical support, and may even provide a one-click installer for Elgg. Chapter 10, Moving to Production includes a section on selecting a web hosting package when preparing to launch a live website.

  • Home computer: You can use your desktop or laptop computer, whether it runs Windows, Mac, or Linux. There are packages available for download, like XAMPP, that include everything you need for running Elgg. This is a great way to test out Elgg before you select a server for your site.

Tip

Platform specific instructions

There are detailed, step-by-step installation instructions specific to your operating...

Run Elgg's installer


Once the server is configured and the database is created, you are ready to run the web-based installer. The installer creates tables in the Elgg database, sets basic parameters of the site like its name, and creates the administrative account. To launch the installer, use your web browser to view your site. The URL depends on the server and where you put Elgg's code. If you put the code in the root of your web directory, this will be your main URL. If you put the code in a subdirectory, you will need to add that to the URL. You should see the following:

There are six installation steps and each page will follow this same design with the steps listed on the left and helpful links at the bottom. After clicking on the Next button, the requirements checker runs and displays its results as shown in the following screenshot:

In the preceding screenshot, the check of the web server's URL rewriting has failed. This is the most common issue experienced by those installing Elgg...

Summary


This chapter guided you through the installation of Elgg. With the site set up, you are ready to start using it. The next three chapters help you explore what Elgg can do and provide commentary that assists you in designing and building your own Elgg site.

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Key benefits

  • An updated version of the very first book on Elgg
  • Detailed and easy-to-understand analysis on building your very own social networking site with Elgg
  • Explore the vast range of Elgg's social networking capabilities including communities, sharing, profiles and relationships
  • Learn to create plugins and themes with extensive tutorials
  • Written by Cash Costello, a core developer of the Elgg team, with a foreword from Dave Tosh, Elgg co-founder.

Description

As an updated version of the first ever Elgg book, this is an excellent resource for those interested in Elgg development due to its attention to detail, clearly written style and knowledgeable author. - Dave Tosh, Elgg co-founder. In his book, Cash Costello makes full use of his skills in development and communication to tackle the complex subject of Elgg social networking. This easy-to-read guide gives end users, new developers, and old pros alike a solid base to start their venture into social media with Elgg. I highly recommend it as a useful and enjoyable read. - Brett Profitt, Elgg Lead Developer The web is becoming increasingly social as millions of people use it to blog, share, post, 'friend', 'unfriend' (which was made the Oxford word of the year in 2009), comment, and chat. Elgg ñ your award-winning open source social networking engine ñ is tailor-made to create any social networking or social media website you can imagine. If you want to create a social networking website from scratch using Elgg, then this book is exactly what you need.Elgg 1.8 Social Networking covers everything you need to know about building a social networking site with Elgg. It begins with instructions for installing Elgg, continues with a guided tour of its capabilities, and finishes with practical advice on deploying Elgg on a production server. And in between, it is packed with information on configuring and customizing Elgg through plugins and themes.This book is a learn-by-doing guide to creating your own social networking site. It includes three sample case studies on how Elgg could be used as an e-learning tool, an intranet application for organizations, and a niche social networking site. Step by step it takes you through the installation, configuration, and customization of Elgg. Valuable advice is sprinkled throughout the book to enable you to build your site like an expert. For developers, this book provides a multitude of options. First, there is a tutorial-based section that systematically teaches you how to build plugins. Soon you will have ten plugins for use on your site in addition to all the knowledge you have gained. Second, if you prefer a quick overview, this book has an appendix that describes Elgg using the terminology and design patterns common in web development. Third, if you are interested in creating a theme, it also includes a design tutorial and a catalog of Elgg's view templates. The book then goes on to describe what is involved in running a production website. It has sections on selecting a hosting provider, configuring and tuning the server, backing up the site, and dealing with spammers.

Who is this book for?

If you want to create a social networking site using Elgg and do not have a background in software development, this book provides all the information and advice that you need written just for you. If you are a developer, it also contains valuable tutorials and reference material so that you can begin writing code right away.

What you will learn

  • Install your very own site using Elgg and learn to administer it.
  • Customize your site using the plugins available from the Elgg plugin repository.
  • Build your own plugins from scratch while following the step-by-step tutorials.
  • Create your own theme by selecting recipes from the theming cookbook.
  • Learn how to share content with other users.
  • Deploy Elgg in a production environment with ample advice on server configuration, back-ups, site monitoring, and daily administrative tasks.
  • Examine the design of Elgg from a developer s perspective.
  • Learn how you can contribute to the vibrant and ever growing Elgg community

Product Details

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Publication date, Length, Edition, Language, ISBN-13
Publication date : Feb 01, 2012
Length: 384 pages
Edition : 1st
Language : English
ISBN-13 : 9781849511315
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Product Details

Publication date : Feb 01, 2012
Length: 384 pages
Edition : 1st
Language : English
ISBN-13 : 9781849511315
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Table of Contents

10 Chapters
Social Networking and Elgg Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Installing Elgg Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
A Tour of Your First Elgg Site Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Sharing Content Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Communities, Collaboration, and Conversation Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Finding and Using Plugins Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Creating Your First Plugin Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Customization through Plugins Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Theming Elgg Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Moving to Production Chevron down icon Chevron up icon

Customer reviews

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Rating distribution
Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Half star icon 4.3
(9 Ratings)
5 star 66.7%
4 star 22.2%
3 star 0%
2 star 0%
1 star 11.1%
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William Hebler Jul 19, 2015
Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon 5
Love it!
Amazon Verified review Amazon
Darwin Ramos Cuervo Mar 12, 2012
Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon 5
I have found this book very helpful to start coding plug-ins and configuring all the stuff Elgg offers. Elgg Official documentation is not well organized for beginners so it is quite difficult to be an early plug-in developer. Elgg 1.8 Social Networking covers exactly this failure and let you learn all Elgg basics in a sequential and very clear and well organized order. This book is highly recommended for everyone who pretends to develop Elgg plug-ins or configure customized social networks from scratch.
Amazon Verified review Amazon
Gonzalo Oviedo Lambert Jun 14, 2013
Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon 5
My english is very poor, but i will try to give my opinion about it.The books is great for begginners. Now, i understand the concept behind elgg. On the Internet is very hard to evenly grasp the clarity of this book. Totally recommended for an introductory Elgg begginner and Social Network behind this technology.
Amazon Verified review Amazon
Robert Crowe Sep 13, 2014
Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon 5
Best source I've seen for coming up to speed on Elgg.
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cbosch Jan 01, 2013
Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon 5
Even if you don't have any experience creating social networks, this book guides you from the basics to the advanced ones.
Amazon Verified review Amazon
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