How to change the first page (feed) to custom page for onboarding?
Right now, the feed is the first thing anyone sees when they visit the site. However, on a membership site where the focus isn't just on discussion but also on videos, articles, etc., this isn't ideal.
A new user doesn't know where to start, where to find things, etc. How could we replace the very first page with an onboarding page?
My plugin has settings to set different menus for logged in and logged out. So you could use that for your perfection. No need to pay me. for now i believe nobody else has this feature on this planet. and of course i have many other features that nobody else has haha
How about using a landing page as site.com while keeping community under site.com/community?
Marek This would be the easiest method.
Marek yeah this setup is recommended by fluent team itself. But with couple of months work of a single person like me everything can work in fcom spa, even not found. I have it like that on my cointacted.com
There is no reason not to do how i say to do it, because the only concern is seo and i have it solved too.
Cointacter One reason to use the Fluent recommended method is to avoid any potential issues with future FluentCommunity updates that may break add-ons.
Thomas Oates its not even a reason. I dont even think about this. Before updating on production im going to test on test Site. But so far no fcom updates broke anything for me. And my stuff isnt just addons, theyre standalone plugins for regular wp with ability to work on fcom, so custom routes etc.
Cointacter It is a valid reason. As I'm sure you are aware, not everyone even has a test site. Let's say someone is using your plugin on their production site and they update FluentCommunity which causes an issue with one of your plugins. Let's also say you're on a two week vacation so it takes time for a fix. That site would be not working right for an extended period of time. The risk may be minimal but it is not zero.
Thomas Oates what youre saying is how the entire world lives with any commercial plugin whether it has addons or not. Anything can break anything. A simple function name if same in my or any other plugin would break site, therefore there are best practices of code especially for WP.
Cointacter True, which validates my post above.
Thomas Oates in my eyes the only risk or issue is human. If dev (human) dissappears, then it could be an issue. Therefore its crucial to trust the dev and his business. However, i have an idea how to fix even this issue, to eliminate human from the cycle. If fluentcart could make their mcp to work with files uploads/updates and licensing itself, then.... My support plugin could fix himself if anything breaks after core updates just by users opening ticket. I had this idea for some time already, was going to create a post to suggest it.
Cointacter That sounds cool but I think you're missing my point. To create a landing page that has links to /portal for FluentCommunity requires nothing beyond basic WordPress. Now, not only are you suggesting a plugin to inject that functionality into the FC SPA which could be broken by any FC update, but now you're suggesting even more code that would automatically fix the code that got broken by the FC update. Oh, and your customers would have to open a ticket for that automatic fix to happen. Add in that having your support plugin automatically fix the code would then require either the customer deploying your fixed code or trusting your code to update itself automatically. Again, that all sounds cool but it is way too complicated and potentially troublesome compared to a basic landing page. That is why I think a basic landing page with links to FC content is the best, easiest, and safest option. No need to reply. I think we've hashed this out enough at this point.
Thomas Oates ? youre just talking random things. i said any commercial plugin has the same life like fluent. and youre now going deeper into me specifically. im not interested in listening to what some business making money recommends. why they have added ability to have seo on fcom spa? youre not having an idea of your own sentences and thats normal because youre not doing it youre just talking from above.
Cointacter LOL. I commented about your code and plugins because that is what you were recommending for the original poster. And then you talked about your support plugin that would fix your code. Nothing random about what I wrote. If by "not interested in listening to what some business making money recommends" is referring to me, you have made some incorrect assumptions. If you want to continue this discussion, send me a direct message. This discussion is cluttering up this post and the other folks are probably tired of getting notifications for each of these replies.
Thomas Oates fix my code? youre the one who invented this issue. and im repeating for the 3rd time - any commercial plugin has the same life. I know what youre doing here, but you dont know what im doing and who i am and what i can do and youre just assuming. im only talking facts dude, now youre putting words into my mouth. Its obvious that i refer to fluent recommending this kind 1 star setup, you have personal issues if you think im referring to you as a business. Not normal conversation, i believe i will never be able to have a normal conversation with anyone from this community, and i know for 100% why. Look, my final sentence is to wish you good luck using plugins of a business which is the only one i saw in my entire life to dissappear from the business for a month. Nothing else to talk to you, sir, youre not giving neither me nor anyone any value.
That would be a top notch solution for educational communities. I am trying hard to keep a welcome sequence via email and have a dedicated group “guides” in two spots.
We solved this with a combination of a few things:
- A custom landing page built with your theme, containing all the resources new members need. You can even embed a video with Fluent Player. Using FluentCRM’s Gutenberg conditional logic, you can decide what happens after the user watches it (e.g. remove an onboarding tag, add a new one, unlock content, etc.).
- FluentAuth: simply redirect users to that custom landing page after they log in.
- Optional: disable the Feed from the menu settings. There’s also an upcoming update that should allow it to be fully disabled from both the sidebar and the top navigation.
Extra idea: if you want a more visual onboarding experience, you can use GamiPress together with the Progress Map add-on. We followed the same approach: a custom landing page displaying the user’s progress map.
We actually used this setup for quite some time in a couple of projects, and it worked really well. It integrates nicely with FluentCRM and makes it easy to create learning paths, user journeys, and personalized experiences.
That said, we eventually simplified everything. We ended up with a clean, general dashboard -and honestly, it has worked better for us. I think the right choice depends on the type of community you’re building and the experience you want your members to have.
For context, in one of our projects we even recreated a Duolingo-style experience, with progress maps, chests, rewards, and gamified navigation. It worked surprisingly well. Whether it’s worth the extra complexity really depends on your audience and the type of content you’re delivering.
that being said, I think the combination of fluent auth with redirections on login + custom landing page may be sufficient for many cases.
Hope it helps 😄
Jorge de los Reyes Almighty Jorge, you amazed us as you said - "For context, in one of our projects we even recreated a Duolingo-style experience, with progress maps, chests, rewards, and gamified navigation.". It would be really exciting and inspiring to view that duolingo-style creation of yours....would appreciate much if we can have a glimpse of that site for inspiration. Thank you as always.
arjun arjun Hello Arjun!
Sadly, once those projects were delivered (a gamified online master's program and, later, a gamified online congress for a product launch) the landing pages were archived in the client's template library, so I can't show them anymore.
That said, they're actually very easy to recreate.
Here are the main resources:
- Full list of GamiPress add-ons (and everything you can integrate with FluentCRM):
https://gamipress.com/add-ons/ - Time-Based Rewards (perfect for daily chests, login rewards, countdowns, etc.):
https://gamipress.com/add-ons/gamipress-time-based-rewards/ - Progress Map (one of my favourites):
https://gamipress.com/add-ons/gamipress-progress-map/
The Progress Map is incredibly flexible (you can build vertical or horizontal paths, add or remove comments, customize milestones, and adapt it completely to your branding). I attached a screenshot from the GamiPress website, although it doesn't really do justice to how customizable it is. Just imagine a vertical progress map embedded into a custom Fluent Community landing page.
I've spent many years working on profile segmentation and assessment projects (personality profiling, lead qualification, recruitment processes... companies hired me to build behavioral profiles for employees and candidates). And I have to say, this combination is fantastic for communities because it makes creating personality-based journeys surprisingly easy. And it's also something fun even for teams at a corporate level (like coaching services and so).
One of the most fun projects we built was a matchmaking website where users were grouped by personality profiles. Designing that system was a real adventure. Today, with Fluent Community and a bit of imagination, organizing users into different paths, experiences, and progressions could become incredibly enjoyable. Specially, since custom profile fields are available (still missing to have this available at a search filter level though).
Consulting is a funny profession... sometimes you're a lawyer, sometimes you're designing gamified personality systems. 😄
Take a look to all the add-ons, and I am sure you will quickly get the idea!
Technically is super easy. But the fun part, is the strategy :)
Jorge de los Reyes Hello Jorge (aka Dear Almighty), thank you for this generous gesture with the most helpful resources and your additional, clear, kind and compassionate explanation.
P.S. Your way of presenting things and offering response is very impressive.
Jorge de los Reyes Thank you very much! Can you please elaborate a bit what does it mean? "A custom landing page built with your theme, containing all the resources new members need. You can even embed a video with Fluent Player. Using FluentCRM’s Gutenberg conditional logic, you can decide what happens after the user watches it (e.g. remove an onboarding tag, add a new one, unlock content, etc.)."
So, do you mean I should use theme compatibility to create a custom landing page that serves as an onboarding page? Thanks!
Itachi Sensei Yes, exactly, with one small nuance: Theme Compatibility is only needed if you want the onboarding page to appear inside the FluentCommunity layout, with its sidebar and navigation.
You would create a regular WordPress page with Gutenberg and your theme, enable Theme Compatibility for that page, and use it as a welcome or onboarding dashboard. It could contain a welcome video, links to the most important spaces, courses, resources, and a clear “start here” sequence.
Then, FluentAuth can redirect users to that page after login. Theme Compatibility controls how the page is displayed, while FluentAuth handles the redirection. It does not replace the Feed automatically.
For progressive onboarding, Fluent Player can trigger a FluentCRM tag when the user watches or completes the video. You can then use FluentCRM’s Gutenberg conditional blocks to hide the initial onboarding content and display the next step only to users who have that tag.
So the flow would be:
- User logs in.
- FluentAuth redirects them to the onboarding page.
- They watch the welcome video.
- Fluent Player updates their FluentCRM tag.
- The page then shows the next resources or steps based on that tag.
You can keep the Feed available elsewhere or remove it from the menu if it is not useful for your community. No custom development should be necessary for the basic version.
Jorge de los Reyes Wow, thanks!
Thank you so much!