Installing Plugins

As you begin to use your Omeka install on Reclaim Hosting you may wish to add additional functionality by way of the various open source plugins available at http://omeka.org/add-ons/plugins/. Although Omeka doesn’t currently include an automated installer for plugins, the process of uploading them to your space is outlined here.

To get started you’ll want to log into your cPanel:

In cPanel you’ll access the File Manager located under the Files section.

In the File Manager you’ll navigate on the lefthand sidebar down to your plugins folder which should be one of several folders within your Omeka install (your root directory for your domain is public_html).

Here you will see all plugins currently in your Omeka install. To add a new one you want to have downloaded the zip file locally to your computer from Omeka’s website first. Then click the Upload button to upload the file.

The interface will allow you to drag and drop or select from your computer one or more zip files for the plugins you wish to upload. Once the upload has completed you can return to the previous screen using the link at the bottom of the page.

You should now see a zip file for your plugin in the plugins folder. The last step is to extract the contents of the zip file to the same folder. To do this select your file and click the Extract button.

Once the plugin is extracted you can delete the zip file and the plugin will now be available for activation within your Omeka administration interface.

Installing Themes

Just as you would install plugins, installing themes to Omeka is very similar. Omeka has a few themes installed automatically that you have access to. But there are more themes available at http://omeka.org/add-ons/themes. There is no automatic installer so you would need to upload the theme to your File Manager in cPanel.

Start by finding the the theme you’d like to install. Download the theme by clicking on the red button.

After, you’ll go to your specific Omeka install. Click on themes.

Click Upload.

You can drag and drop the .zip file into the window or you can click select a file.

Once your file is uploaded to the themes folder you need to go in and extract the files from the .zip folder. Click on the theme file you just uploaded then click on extract.

You’ll need to confirm that you want to extract the files. Click extract files. 

Once the theme is extracted you can delete the .zip file and the theme will now be available for activation within your Omeka administration interface.

Working with Omeka Classic

Here are a few tips and tricks that can help make sure you get the most out of the Omeka software.

ImageMagick

Omeka requires the ImageMagick library in order to resize and generate thumbnails for your images. Delaware Technical Community College provides ImageMagic for all accounts, but occasionally you will need to manually enter the server path to the utility. The setting for this is located under the Settings > General tab and the path to ImageMagick is /usr/bin

image

PHP-CLI

Some plugins including CSV Import and Neatline may need to execute code using the command-line version of PHP. If your plugin requires this it can be enabled by editing the config.ini file in your File Manager under application>config.

Navigate to the line that reads:

background.php.path = “”

Change it to the following:

background.php.path = "/usr/bin/php-cli"

 

Installing Scalar

  1. To get started you’ll need to login to your control panel (https://sites.dtcc.edu/dashboard) using your Delaware Technical Community College username and password.
  2. Navigate to the Application section and select Scalar. You can also use the search function as well.scalar installer icon
  3. When you click on the Scalar icon, you will be taken to the Scalar information page. Click install this application.install Scalar
  4. On the next page, fill in the different fields accordingly:
    -Select the domain or sub-domain where you’d like your Scalar site to live. You can create a sub-domain by following directions in the section Setting up Subdomain. The directory is optional. If you are using a sub-domain, you may not need to use a sub-directory. You can learn more by reading Subdomains vs Subdirectories.

    -Under version, select the version that is most recent.
    -By default the installer will automatically backup your website and update it anytime a new version comes out. While we recommend you keep this option, it is possible to only do minor updates, or turn them off completely.
    -The installer will also create a database for you automatically, but if you’ve already created one for this website you can choose Let me manage the database settings and enter the details.

    -Finally, in Settings, you’ll need to create a username and password for the Scalar install. A password can be generated for you, but you should try to create your own.
  5. Click Install.
  6. Once the installer is finished loading, you will be taken to the My Apps section of the dashboard. Here you’ll find links to login to your scalar installation.
  7. Log into your new Scalar instance with the credentials you set during the install process.

Creating a Book

To get started in Scalar, you will need to create a book.

  1. Go to your Scalar site via the My Apps link or the Scalar URL you established during the setup process.
    Access Scalar site and click the Sign-in link
  2. Log in to Scalar using the username and password you set up during the installation process.
    log into scalar with your email and Scalar password
  3. Go to the top right corner and click, Dashboard.
    Scalar landing page and dashboard link
  4. Select the My Account tab and at the bottom of the page type in a title for your book. This can be changed at a later time if needed. Click Create.
    Scalar create new book
  5. You now see your book in the “My books” list. From there you will be able to build your Scalar book.

Managing Permissions

The default Mediawiki installed has been customized to make it a bit harder for spammers to overwhelm wikis with illegitimate content and comments. This is done by modifying the LocalSettings.php file (a file that is included in every install in which it is possible to provide configurations details).

By default, Mediawiki allows anonymous users to create pages and edit pages in the wiki. The modifications change this in the following ways:

  • Anonymous users cannot edit existing pages
  • Anonymous users cannot create pages
  • Registered users must click the confirmation link in the registration email in order to edit or create pages

This approach should drastically reduce unsolicited content and comments on Mediawiki installations. One further step that administrator might take is to turn registration off after a predetermined amount of time. Users must create accounts by this date; after that, the settings are changed so that registrations are no longer open.

To add this setting, you must edit LocalSettings.php in your Mediawiki install:

  1. Login to cPanel and browse to your File Manager.
  2. In the File Manager, browse to the folder within public_html that contains your Mediawiki install. If you installed the wiki at the root of your domain, you won’t need to go any further than public_html. If you installed the wiki in a subdomain or subdirectory, you’ll need to find the directory that is associated with that space.
  3. Locate LocalSettings.php. Once selecting the file, click download in the top menu bar to download the file as a backup before proceeding. Then click Edit in the top menu bar to edit the file.
  4.  Confirm that you want to edit the file.
    Confirm that you want to edit the file
  5. Browse to the bottom of the document, and locate the custom settings that were added during the Mediawiki install and the following line:
$wgGroupPermissions['*']['createaccount'] = false;

Installing Mediawiki

  1. To get started you’ll need to login to your control panel (https://sites.dtcc.edu/dashboard) using your Delaware Technical Community College username and password.
  2. Once logged in you’ll be at the homepage of your control panel. Navigate the Applications section of the cPanel and click All Applications.
  3. Find and select MediaWiki.
  4. The next page gives you more information about the MediaWiki software. To begin the install, click install this application in the upper-righthand corner.
  5. On the next page, the installer will ask for some information about this install. The first thing you’ll want to do is decide where to install it. If you’re wanting to install MediaWiki on your main (the root) domain, you can leave the directory area empty. If you created a subdomain, you can select it from the drop-down menu. You also have the option of installing MediaWiki in a subfolder by typing in the folder name in the Directory field. Click here for more information about subdomains and subfolders.

    (By default the installer will automatically backup your MediaWiki website and update it anytime a new version comes out. While we recommend you keep this option, it is possible to only do minor updates, or turn them off completely. The installer will also create a database for you automatically, but if you’ve already created one for this website you can choose Let me manage the database settings and enter the details.)
  6. Finally, you’ll need to create an initial username and password for the MediaWiki install. Enter those credentials in the Settings section and click Install.
  7. The installer will take just a few moments to install MediaWiki and a progress bar will keep you updated. When it is complete you will see a link to your new MediaWiki site as well as a link to the back-end administrative section for your MediaWiki site.

Congratulations, you have now completed the installation of MediaWiki! You can now start to create collaborative documents on your own domain.

Grav

Grav is a content management system (CMS) or, said another way, it’s an application to make websites. But differs from other CMSs like Drupal or WordPress in its underlying technology. While it’s a PHP app like those two, unlike them it does not have a database. All data is written directly to files rather than stored and retrieved from a database. This is known as a flat-file system and it can help with performance given numerous database calls can slow down sites.

Why and when would you use Grav? Grav should maybe be reserved for the technically-savvy user. It’s not that Grav is particularly difficult (every CMS has a learning curve) but rather it gets really interesting when you can integrate it into Github using the Github Sync plugin, which syncs everything on your Grav site to a Github repository for others to contribute to, clone, or fork. Grav also requires a familiarity with Markdown, a lightweight Markup language, so that’s something to be aware of as well.

You can learn more about Grav here.

Installing Grav

  1. Log into your cPanel:
  2. Navigate to Files > All Applications:
  3. Type Grav in the top right search bar and press Enter. Click Install this Application.
  4. Choose where you would like the domain to live. If you need further assistance on this section, read through our guide on Subdomains Vs. Subdirectories. You’ll also want to choose the latest software version, accept the license agreement, and choose your update preferences.
  5. Scroll down. Choose your Backup preferences. In the Settings section, name your Grav install, type in your contact details and create a username & password. Make sure that you’ve copied and pasted these credentials elsewhere, as you’ll need them later.
  6. Scroll down. Here you’ll have the option to install an empty version of the tool (i.e. a blank slate) or you can install a predefined package with themes/settings already customized for you. You’ll still be able to change settings in a predefined package, but it at least gives you a starting point. When you’re ready, click Install.
  7. You’ll now be redirected to a window where Grav will install.
  8. Once the install has completed, click on the middle admin link to log into your new Grav instance:
  9. Type the credentials that you set during the install process, and click Login.

Working with Grav

You can find tutorials for working with Grav here.