new user- pages still not loading

MSampson · 2018-05-04 07:23:20

Having some trouble figuring this out... have designed some pages; home, about, contact, as in the directions, but they won't load (except a 'galleries' page). Went through the instructions- thought I'd done things right. Found .htaccess in the hidden files- got filezilla to work, just had an outside tech take a look. After much searching his comment was that "something is wrong in the instruction set so the pages won't publish". I'm at a loss.
www.marksampsonphotos.com/galleries if anyone wants to take a look. Just going to the nominal homepage brings up a HostGator 404 page.

rod barbee · 2018-05-04 08:11:17

Did you purchase Backlight + Pages?

if so, have you uploaded the index.php and .htaccess files (found in your unzipped downloaded folder) to the root of your site?

MSampson · 2018-05-05 05:19:43

I went through the instructions to "show hidden files" on my Mac. Even so, an '.htaccess' file does not appear among the vast number of files in my 'TTGBacklight' folder, sitting on my desktop. Nor does it appear anywhere else.
In the root of my site, in /public_html, under 'backlight', I can see the 'index.php' file.
To complicate matters, at least in my mind, in /public_html there is an entry labelled "Compressed file 2...", a ZIP archive. No idea what it's doing there.

rod barbee · 2018-05-05 05:26:49

To my first question: did you purchase Backlight + Pages. If so, what you'd see inside the unzipped folder that you downloaded would be the screen shot I posted above.
If you purchased Pages separate from Backlight, then the the index.php and .htaccess files would be inside the unzipped folder from that download.

I went through the instructions to "show hidden files" on my Mac. Even so, an '.htaccess' file does not appear among the vast number of files in my 'TTGBacklight' folder,

It shouldn't be among a "vast number of files". If you have Backlight + Pages it will be directly in the unzipped Backlight-Pages-123-Release4 folder

In the root of my site, in /public_html, under 'backlight', I can see the 'index.php' file.

That is not the index.php file I was referring to above. That file is for the Backlight app itself, and not for the pages that appear on your site.

To complicate matters, at least in my mind, in /public_html there is an entry labelled "Compressed file 2...", a ZIP archive. No idea what it's doing there.

That doesn't seem like it has anything to do with Backlight

MSampson · 2018-05-05 06:25:27

Yep, I purchased Backlight and Pages on 2/07/18.
Maybe I should re-download the software and start over.

rod barbee · 2018-05-05 06:29:17

did the contents of the unzipped download folder look anything like the screen shot I posted above?

of that content, you should be uploading the following to the root of your site:

backlight/
galleries/
index.php
.htaccess

MSampson · 2018-05-06 04:21:35

In fact it didn't. Not at that machine now so can't yet show you what's there.
I'll go back to square one, and give it another try. Wish me luck-

MSampson · 2018-05-08 07:54:14

A big thanks to Rod Barbee for helping to finally solving this one!
Now I can begin to properly build the site...

aaplin · 2018-07-03 07:36:18

I sent a note about the issue of using wordpress as your home page and the backlight wordpress module for the blog. I have moved the wordpress files from the original location /blog and put them in the root directory of my site. I can make the wordpress homepage come up to see the menu structure from backlight, but I can only open the backlight information as a gallery. I can not open any pages from my menus in backlight. I am using the htaccess file from wordpress (the basic information) and the index.php is from wordpress. I know this is self-inflicted but I am not sure how to recreate the backlight content to display a page instead of the gallery view?

rod barbee · 2018-07-03 08:02:52

I can not open any pages from my menus in backlight.I can not open any pages from my menus in backlight.

If these are pages you created in Backlight then this is normal with WordPress installed in the root of the site.

You can either have a site controlled by Backlight and use the WordPress module to create a theme for a blog (where WordPress is installed in a sub-folder). In this scenario you would use the Pages add-on module to create your stand-alone pages like Contact or About.
The downside of this setup is that you won't be able to use any WordPress plug-ins or widget areas in your stand-alone pages. Usually not a big deal.

-OR-

or you can have a site controlled by WordPress and use Backlight ONLY for your albums and album sets.

In this scenario you'd use the Backlight WordPress add-on to create a WordPress theme that matches the design used for your albums and album sets. WordPress would then be used to create any other pages you need (Contact, About, etc.).
One downside of this setup is that you won't be able to embed any of your published albums or album sets within a page.

On most of my sites I use WordPress installed in a sub-folder for the blog. I then sometimes create stand-alone pages from WordPress for some special purpose pages that I can't easily create in Backlight.

If I remember, your issue was that you wanted a WordPress based password protected homepage to your website. If this is the setup you want, then as far as I know, the only way to do it is by creating a WordPress-based site and using Backlight ONLY for albums and album sets (don't use the Pages Module).

Daniel Leu · 2018-07-03 08:04:42

aaplin wrote:

I sent a note about the issue of using wordpress as your home page and the backlight wordpress module for the blog. I have moved the wordpress files from the original location /blog and put them in the root directory of my site. I can make the wordpress homepage come up to see the menu structure from backlight, but I can only open the backlight information as a gallery. I can not open any pages from my menus in backlight. I am using the htaccess file from wordpress (the basic information) and the index.php is from wordpress. I know this is self-inflicted but I am not sure how to recreate the backlight content to display a page instead of the gallery view?

What kind of pages do you try to open? Are there backlight pages (eg, contact, about)? If yes, this would not work since your home directory is served by Wordpress. A link to your site showing the issue might be helpful.

aaplin · 2018-07-03 08:27:08

Very much appreciate your fast input. After your clarification, I would prefer to not use wordpress for anything other than the blog with the limitations you point out. Do you know of any kind of work around to password protect a page? I can see that you can password protect albums, but that did not seem to work as a gatekeeper.

rod barbee · 2018-07-03 09:14:56

There is no way to password protect a page through Backlight.

Someone out there may know a way to do it by adding php to a page with phplugins or by doing it with your .htaccess file.

Since this is quite a way off the original topic, I suggest reposting your question under its own topic so it will be easier for others to notice.

Daniel Leu · 2018-07-03 10:14:54

rod barbee wrote:

There is no way to password protect a page through Backlight,

but there is nothing that prevents you to use a gallery page without any images. This gallery page can be password protected.

aaplin · 2018-07-03 10:55:12

I will try this strategy tomorrow. Thank you both for the help.

Community @ The Turning Gate

#1 2018-05-04 07:23:20

new user- pages still not loading

#2 2018-05-04 08:11:17

Re: new user- pages still not loading

#3 2018-05-05 05:19:43

Re: new user- pages still not loading

#4 2018-05-05 05:26:49

Re: new user- pages still not loading

#5 2018-05-05 06:25:27

Re: new user- pages still not loading

#6 2018-05-05 06:29:17

Re: new user- pages still not loading

#7 2018-05-06 04:21:35

Re: new user- pages still not loading

#8 2018-05-08 07:54:14

Re: new user- pages still not loading

#9 2018-07-03 07:36:18

Re: new user- pages still not loading

#10 2018-07-03 08:02:52

Re: new user- pages still not loading

#11 2018-07-03 08:04:42

Re: new user- pages still not loading

#12 2018-07-03 08:27:08

Re: new user- pages still not loading

#13 2018-07-03 09:14:56

Re: new user- pages still not loading

#14 2018-07-03 10:14:54

Re: new user- pages still not loading

#15 2018-07-03 10:55:12

Re: new user- pages still not loading

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