Initial Configuration

This page is an overview of the first things to do as a Tiki site administrator. This page assumes you have completed the installation, and are logged in as the admin of your site.

For non-administrators (end users) wishing to learn how to use various features in Tiki, see Features.

Features Administration

Once installed, choose the features you would like to offer in your Tiki. Tiki has a wide variety of features to choose from; wiki, news article, blog, workflow management, forums, and much more. Be warned that the array of choices can be mind-boggling, so you might want to get acquainted with the Tiki community and find a mentor to advise you on your implementation and to lend a hand up the steepest parts of the learning curve.

for more info: Features Admin

Most of the main features have their own administrator panel, to configure that particular feature. Once you choose the features you want, then visit the appropriate admin page for each feature. In doc.tiki.org, most features have an admin page ((featurename admin)) which describes the configuration options available.

You may also be interested in turning on Image Gallery or File Gallery features. (In recent Tiki release, the File Gallery is already activated by default.)

Optional: Save attachments and images in folders instead of in database

By default Tiki saves files from wiki attachments, image galleries, file galleries, trackers, userfiles, etc., in the database, but you might configure it to store them in your file tree in the server, so the database is kept as small as possible for backups, etc.

Create folders and set permissions

Tiki Sections:

• wiki attachments
• forum attachments
• file galleries
• image galleries
• trackers
• user files

Needed perms on server:
The webserver needs to be able to read, write and execute files. Set those folders either as 755, 775, or 777, depending on your server configuration (try in this previously cited order)

We recommend adding the prefix "tiki_" to these folders you are going to create, so that it's easier for you to identify them. Therefore, you could use folder names as:

• tiki_attach --> wiki attachments
• tiki_files --> files from the file galleries,
• tiki_images --> images from image galleries ,
• tiki_trackers --> trackers ,
• tiki_userfiles --> userfiles ,
• tiki_forum1 , tiki_forum2 , ... --> attachments to forums, if needed; they are specified in a per forum basis, where needed.

(remember, create the folder, and change permissions to 775 or whatever you need in your web hosting)

Set in your Tiki the paths to the folders

We will assume that when you log in to your server through ftp, you are in folder: /home/username/

Log in to your tiki, through the web browser, as admin, set the path in the following places:
Wiki attachments:

• Go to "Admin > Wiki > Wiki Administration > Manage attachment preferences".
• Select "Wiki attachments preferences > Use directory to save files:", and "Directory path": /home/username/tiki_attach/

File galleries:

• Go to "Admin > File Galleries > Galleries features "
• Select: "Use a directory to store files:", and for "Directory path": /home/username/tiki_files/

Image galleries:

• Go to "Admin > Image Galleries > Galleries features"
• Select: "Use a directory to store images:", and for "Directory path": /home/username/tiki_images/

Trackers:

• Go to "Admin > Trackers > Trackers attachments preferences"
• Select: "Use a directory to store files:", and for "Directory path": /home/username/tiki_trackers/

User files:

• Go to "Admin > User files"
• Select: "Use a directory to store files:", and for "Directory path": /home/username/tiki_userfiles/

NOTE: Forums can be configured one by one, and not necessarily in one folder for all of them
Forums, one by one:

• Go to "Forums > Admin forums > (chose one forum - -, for instance "forum01") > Attachments"
• Select: " Save attachments to:", and set "Path:": /home/username/tiki_forum01/
• repeat as many times as needed for all your forums with attachments

Change the other parameters specifics for your web site

• "Admin > General",
  • "Server name (for absolute URIs):" -> http://yourserver.com/yoursite/
    [Is this obsolete for 2.1? I cannot find any slot on the Admin > General page with a label similar to this, although I see the following two. If someone in the know could update this it would help relative newcomers like me.]
  • "Title (browser title):" -> Set the name of your group, association, business, ...
  • "Send Email:" -> your email box name in the same server, if any
• "Admin > (Login)"
  • "HTTP server name:" -> yourserver.com
  • "HTTP Prefix for URL:" -> yoursite/
    [Similarly, I cannot find these two on Admin > (login). Have they moved? The next three are on that page.]
  • "Remember me name:" -> yourserver.com
  • "Remember me domain:" -> domain_name_set_when_using_setup.sh
  • "Remember me path:" -> yoursite/

Create Groups and Users

Once you have dictated what your Tiki is to be used for, establish by whom it shall be used.

Registration Privileges

Is your Tiki open to the public, or is it closed (even for viewing) to a select circle? A full array of options is available. Most Tiki installations start with three basic user types:

• admin - Each site begins with one "god-level" administrator, who can create/shape/delete pretty much anything. (There should only be one top level admin by default, don't create others unless you really really trust them to know what they are doing.)
• registered - Registered users are one of the two user groups created by default. Administer the permissions of this group for each feature of your Tiki to reflect the permissions settings that you intend to be universal.
• anonymous - Anonymous users can be viewed as either:
  • users who haven't logged in yet - in which case they get minimal permissions (view and login/register)
  • users who prefer to remain anonymous - in which case you award the group your minimal permissions across all features you want to allow anonymous participation in.
  • lazy/stupid users - Admins who are looking to maximize the contributions (grow content) are likely to facilitate users who are either too lazy or clumsy to manage logging in (probably not a small percentage of the traffic). In this case, be aware you are creating a "wild west" and should maintain surveillance over the changes to your site

see: LDAP authentication.

Creating additional groups

In addition to the three basic groups above. You can create other groups, generally for one of the following reasons:

• junior administrators / site editors - knowledgeable users can have their permissions bumped up so they can assist in the maintenance and design of the site.
• private user groups - Tiki can be configured using the categories system to create private pages and areas on the site that are accessible only to users belonging to a certain group.

For a quick setup of permissions and features, take a look at profiles or learn to use your custom profile starting from Permissions
see also: Groups Management and Users

Change the appearance

Choose a theme

Themes are the "skins" of Tiki. Themes use a CSS framework to change the look and feel of all the elements of the site. Tiki comes with a number of themes installed. Tiki's themes affect appearance only, and not functionality. In other words, features work the same in all themes. (If there is a functionality difference between themes, this is a bug and should be reported and fixed.)

Themes can be applied globally, and also to specific categories of pages (which can correspond to user groups), to features, and associated with perspectives. And users can pick their own theme if they're in a group that has that permission.

For more information about Tiki's themes, please visit themes.tiki.org.

Choose the layout

Since Tiki 13, several overall page layouts are available and can be selected on the Look and Feel admin page. The site administrator can choose to have a "classic" website layout with a page header containing a horizontal menu, all scrolling together, or a layout with a brand and navigation bar fixed to the top of the browser window, and so on. There are some variations of each of these. For more information, see https://themes.tiki.org/Layout+Templates.

Add and organize the site modules

In Tiki terminology, modules are containers that hold various kinds of information and functionality. Many are included initially, and custom modules can easily be made by site admins and editors. Modules contain things like menus, search forms, images, a Tiki plugin, etc. The classic arrangement is to have a center main content area with either a left or right column (or both) containing modules for added content and functionality, but modules can be loaded within a wiki page's content or in a blog post or wherever it is needed. Modules have many display parameters, can be sorted in any order and made visible/invisible for different user groups.

For example, to create your own menu to display in a module and assign it to a location in the page, please read the Menu HOWTO.

Create content

Once you have established all of the above you (and your users) are ready to start adding the content to your site.

See: features page for information on how to add/edit content in each of the features you are using.

To learn how to format the content of your wiki pages, read Using Wiki Pages

Design your Navigation

Use Menu, Structures, Categories and Tags to organize your content.