Starter Guide for a new Beta Testers - Basic Setup.

Intro

All below hints and comments are from me: the end user. It is not official guide but it might help you out with the plugin onboarding until there will be the official repo/website ready. Get a coffee first and read it so you won't be frustrated hahaha.

To start with Fluent Community downolad the plugin and install it.

If you are looking for Live Demo you can preview the community here (where you are now as the end-user). You will be able to see the Demo probably also here: https://fluentdemo.dev/ when the Fluent Community is Live (currently we have Beta testing phase).

You can also expect a Roadmap for the Fluent Community later on.

If the plugin download link is not available there probably it was moved and the Beta testing is over.

If you already installed the Fluent Community plugin and you want to upgrade it to the latest version, please click the Check for Update link in your WP > Plugins > Fluent Community (it will force the update checking).

By default the plugin starter page (home) is: domain.com/portal
If for some reason you would like to change the /portal slug you can do it with a code snippet available on a GitHub Repo: https://github.com/WPManageNinja/fluent-community-docs. Once you change the /slug make sure you re-save the permalink settings in WP-Admin > Permalinks.

For most cases changing slug is not needed.

Note: currently it is recommended to do not use Fluent Community plugin on domain.com/subfolder and/or Multiside - probably it will be fixed in the nearest future.

It is recommended to install the plugin on a new WP Instance (like: Staging site) for testing purposes (dont forget it is still Beta) so you wont face any issues with other plugins (like: security or cache plugins).

Note: In case of using cache for your website you need to remember about manual hard refresh with pressing F5 key in some cases - just to make sure your data in the browser is accurate.

Note: you can install Fluent Community plugin on a separate WP instance and sync your users with your primary WP instance.

If you cannot access url: domain.com/portal (404 error) make sure that your WP permalink settings are specified (cannot be Plain):

Visit your page: domain.com/wp-json > if you get 404 error then follow the below steps:

• go to /wp-admin > settings > Permalinks (https://domain.com/wp-admin/options-permalink.php)

• Make sure Plain is not selected > Choose Post Name (it's a best one)

• Then click on Save Changes. That will rewrite/repair your .htaccess

Note: Fluent Community users roles are not the same as the WP-Admin roles. WP-Admin user permissions take precedence over Fluent Community user role. The WP Admin I call it: Super Admin can access every setting in the Fluent Community.

Please dont use any other than WP-Admin: Subscriber role for other users. "If a user has Edit posts permission in WP-Admin then the user will get access regardless of the access settings in Fluent Community - the user wont inherit permissions from Fluent Community".

Fluent Community plugin has its own layout (styles like: colors are not taken from your Theme - if you want to use your custom CSS you can use code snippet from here - maybe it will be nativly implemented in Fluent Community settings later on - will see.

If you dont have a Code Snippet plugin for changing Slug and/or CSS code snippet then use Fluent Snippets plugin for Free - here is how to use the Fluent Snippets plugin by @dcmcca David McCan).

Users can log to the Fluent Community with a custom login form under this url: domain.com/portal/?fcom_action=auth - if you need to allow users log with Social Profiles: Github or Google you can use FluentAuth plugin for Free - here is how to use the FluentAuth plugin by @dcmcca David McCan).

Note: you will be able to customize to login page once it is implemented.

You can translate fCommunity plugin with Loco Translate (here is how to do it) or any other similar plugin - if you notice some phrases that cannot be translated please share your list of "words" on this forum - see how Aaron did it here

Fluent Community plugin works on the top of WP-Admin (WP-Admin just has a link to Fluent Community). In order to configure Fluent Community settings you need to go to the domain.com/portal/admin/settings

Note: in case of emergency/workaround you can always access the database tables via PHPMyAdmin (PMA) and manually remove them and start again from the ground. All fCommunity db tables are well organized - see example:

`wp_fcom_chat_messages`, 
`wp_fcom_chat_threads`, 
`wp_fcom_chat_thread_users`, 
`wp_fcom_media_archive`,
`wp_fcom_meta`, 
`wp_fcom_notifications`, 
`wp_fcom_notification_users`, 
`wp_fcom_posts`, 
`wp_fcom_post_comments`, 
`wp_fcom_post_reactions`, 
`wp_fcom_spaces`, 
`wp_fcom_space_user`, 
`wp_fcom_terms`, 
`wp_fcom_term_feed`, 
`wp_fcom_user_activities`, 
`wp_fcom_xprofile`;

If you still reading this that is nice (keep reading) - additional bonus for you - you can use Slash commands and advanced formatting in your post/comments.

Fluent Community is divided in a few sections:

• Left sidebar/left pane where you can see Menu Groups (containers/buckets for Spaces and/or Courses), Spaces, Course, custom bottom links and # Manage item with Settings and Manage Courses (*Manage item is available for: Super Admin, Community Admin etc).

• Header section (Top Center area) with Primary Menu Items and can be customized by the Admin (add/remove links). In Spaces and/or Courses below the Header you will be able to add custom links (you will create them once you create your Spaces or Courses).

• Top icons section: Search Box, Notifications (Ring Bell), Chat (Envelop icon), User Profile and Profile Dropdown.

  Note: Some icons like: Chat icon are visible if the Admin configured that module/feature.

  Note: Chat is different than Space conversations. Chat can be 1:1 or 1:Space conversation. Chat is similar to a Private/Direct Messages where Space conversations are like Forum Conversations.

• Profile Dropdown items (Top Right area) can be modified by the admin.

  Note: Since there is no direct link to WP-Admin in the Fluent Community the admin can add a link to WP-Admin: /wp-admin (if applicable). Currently all users will see those links (it would be nice to select which custom items can be seen by Admin Only, Logged Users, All).

• Bottom naviation menu is available for Mobile View and include 4 icons: Home (/portal), Chat, Spaces, User Profile.

  Note: Some icons have Fluent Community branded color and cannot be changed.

Fluent Community is available with Light Mode and Dark Mode - this can be changed by clicking the Switch to.. link at the left bottom area.

Setting up Fluent Community for the first time

To start setting up Fluent Community with the WP-Admin: Admin user go to the # Manage (left sidebar) > Settings where you can find sections (follow these 6 steps below to configure your Fluent Community for your users):

1. General tab where you can change Global Settings for Fluent Community like: Logo, Pinned Notice in the Feed (Top), Access level to the portal (Everyone = Public, Logged Users, Selected User Roles), Message once users are Logged Out and Login URL (by default you can have: /wp-admin

   Note: You will be able to customize the login page at some point and once it is done you will need to change this URL later on here.

   Note: For Beta testing purposes you can start with option: Only Logged in Users so nobody from outside can see your portal details. If you select: Public then everybody can access the portal (make sure that you have this mentioned in you Privacy Policy and your users are aware and they Accepted your Teams and Conditions especially for the Community).

2. Managers tab can manage your Fluent Community roles (as it was mentioned before these are different than WP-Admin roles and they will work if your users have: Subscriber role in WP-Admin).

   If you start with fresh testing WP instance then you can add Managers and Moderators later since you might not have any WP-Admin users visible in the directory. Be patient - you will find out how it works. Here you can add users with elevated access only. Regular users for Spaces are added from the Space Members area.

   Note: At the beginning all WP-Admin users (if you have them in your WP-Admin) are not visible in Fluent Community until they will log-in for the first time to the Fluent Community link: domain.com/portal - Admin can Accept or Reject user access in the Space Member area, but you dont need to worry about it now so you can sleep well tonight.

   Note: You can add other users later. First focus on the Fluent Community configuration so it is not empty. This way you can become familiar with the interface first.

3. Email Notifications tab allows you to configure global email notifications. Currently users cannot configure their own preferences (this feature is under development). For now only (temporarly) Admin posts/comments and @userName mentions will trigger email notification.

4. Features tab is the place where you can enable Features/Modules.
   For Beta testing purposes it is recommended to enable all core modules (except Giphy, Media Storage unless you know how to configure it) so it will be easy to see the Fluent Community possibilites.

5. Space Groups tab where you can customize the left Sidebar items.

   Note: Groups are different than Spaces or Courses. Group it is just a placeholder (container, bucket) where you can add (below the group) your Spaces and/or Courses. Groups can be collapsed/expanded. With Group you can organized your Spaces. Spaces are like teams where all users conversations are located.

   Once you create your Menu Groups - example: Basic (Public), Premium (Private) and VIP (Hidden) then you can add Spaces under those Groups/Containers/Buckets (Spaces and/or Courses can be added if you enabled this feature in the Feature tab).

   • Spaces can be added from the Header Section > Spaces > New Space.

     To add a Space called: PublicTeamA (Public) click: Add Space and in the right pane/popup provide details: Icon + Space Title name, Slug (the URL name for Space - domain.com/portal/space/YourSpaceSlugName - dont use spaces or any special characters here - use only: a-z, 0-9), Privacy (for first testing select: Public), select Menu Group (it is the Group that you already created above - example: Basic, Premium, VIP).

     For first testing dont select Only Admins/Moderators can create a post so you aviod some permissions challanges during the configuration learning phase).

     If you enabled the Chat Feature/Module (Private/Direct Messages 1:1, 1:SpaceGroupChat) then you can also enable Group Chat. Group Chat is handy where a user won`t be part of your Space and want give the user option to contact the Group. You can upload your photo (currently you cannot change the size). Once you provide all required details click: Create button.

     Note: you can create additional two Spaces called: PrivateTeamA and SecretTeamA with the Privacy: Private and Hidden - this way you will discover some permission differences while testing.

     Note: once you have your Space/s created you can edit Space details but also you can invite any addtional user to the Space.

     Invitations works best especially for Spaces with Privacy set to Private that is why you should create the second Space now (gentle reminder if you didnt do it) and you can call it: PrivateTeamA but this time select Privacy: Private.

     Note: if you are wondering if you can create a Space with Paid Membership the answer is Yes but you will need to do some integration for example: with WooCommerce and FluentCRM. You will be also able to integrate it with other plugins but this is under development. Basically you will create Private Space and access to this Space will be granted by the integration etc. You will probably figure it out how to do it if you are familliar with FluentCRM.

     If you still feel lost you should take a break and watch some videos here by Maestro Stevens (Maestro Stevens) and/or here by Spencer Forman (Spencer Forman) and/or here by Mak (SiteKrafter) related to Fluent Community plugin.

     Congratulation! You have your Spaces created. Check the left sidebar to see the effect.

     Note: you can invite a user for each Space separately if you have access to that feature (user role: Admin/Moderator) > click the Space Name of the left sidebar > select Members from the top right area (under Profile Dropdown icon) - dont select Members item from the Top Header section (this will display all Fluent Community Members, not a Space Members) > Add Member > you can either add your other WP-Admin user here (if already existing in your WP-Admin instance) or you can Invite a new user > View invitations > provide the user email and name and select his role: Member, Contributor, Community Admin > click Send Invitation button.

     Once the user will receive the email with a link then the user will be able to get in to Fluent Community (note: you will be able to customize the login/registration form in the nearest future).

     Congratulation! You have your new user added to the Fluent Community.

6. To add a Course go to the left sidebar (if you dont see this section just read the Setting up intro) > Manage Courses > Add Course.
   To add a new course called: "How to be Fluent with Fluent" in the right pane/popup provide details: Icon + Course Title name, Slug (the URL name for Course - domain.com/portal/courses endpoint - dont use spaces or any special characters here only: a-z, 0-9), Privacy (for first testing select: Public), select Menu Group (it is the Group that you already created above - exmaple: Basic, Premium or VIP (you can have a Space and/or a Course under the same Group in the left sidebar).

   For first testing select Self-paced so users can enroll to that course by themself. Specify the course status - for testing select: Published > click Create button.

   Then you will be moved to the course content creation section. If you want you can add Course Sections like: "Course Module 1..5".

   Once your Section is created you can add Lessons inside but this is easy process so you can play around with that.

   Note: you can modify your courses and their content at any time by going to the left sidebar > Manage Courses > click Manage button next to your course.

   Note: courses module is really simple and have basic Guttenberg editor for Lessons content. You can embed YouTube and Vimeo videos by just adding link (oembed feature will automatically embed the video into your course) or you can use Custom Embed where you can provide you HTML Embed code. If it doesnt work please report it on the FluentCommunity Space here.

   Congratulation! You have your Course created. Check the left sidebar to see the effect.

Setting the rest is easy process so feel free to play around with all features and Enjoy your Beta testing. Hope you will have a great journey of discovering Fluent Community features.

Dont forget that you can and "should" report Your/User Feedback and Feature Request. Try to break this plugin and share your findings so it can be improved. Remember all small things matter so do not hesitate to shout it loud.

ps. please dont compare Fluent Community to a Facebook since Facebook is not 6 months old and probably have a little bit bigger budget & team but Facebook dont have such a crazy agile awesome Dev team. More feedback you share = more awesome but simple this plugin can be.

ps2. this post has expiration date and later it will be protected with paywall so you better read it 5x and share it with your friends, family and a neighbour before will be too late. Was I joking? I dont know but you can post some Giphy below this post if you are not sleeping already. Cheers!