First excuse me if this all sounds silly to some but I am a complete novice and will prob need step by step help here. I have my website, built on dreamweaver, and hosted by Go Daddy. Recently I have installed aMemeber Pro (latest version). What I want to do is ensure is that when paid members login they are directed to the members page of my website. I have read somewhere that if I just do a link to the members page and if anyone keeps the url they can then just type this into their web browser and have access to the page, even if cancelling their subscription. Do I have to place the members page somewhere inside the aMemeber files on Go Daddy to protect it and if so where? At present they are just as hmtl files (index.html and members.html) in the main directory. I will need the exact steps to take please (and be gentle with me as I mentioned earlier am a complete novice). Thanks in advance
It's pretty easy to protect your content. Here is the aMember documentation: If they are in a folder you can protect all files in that folder. This is the way I prefer to protect content. http://www.amember.com/docs/Content/Folders If you only have two files you want to protect it is a little different. http://www.amember.com/docs/Content/Files
Thanks for your assistance but there are no upload or browse tabs showing anywhere on the File page. Only from Title down
What you want to do is put the dreamweaver files in a directory in your hosting account- like /private/ then use amember protection, protect content, folder, and protect /private/ with amember new rewrite protection. This will force members to be logged in to access the files in the directory. David
Thanks for your help but in the end what I did was copy the members page directly into the protected area of aMember. Protect Content Pages New Record Gave it a title (Members Area) Copied members page from my website into the editable area. Access Permissions (gave permission for subscribers) Saved Now the link when members have subscribed is in their Active Resource area. This probably sounds long winded but at least I know it is protected now (hopefully) If someone has time I wouldn't mind a bit of advice on how everything works and what all the files and folders do that are uploaded with aMember, php etc. Please note I am a complete novice so may take a little explaining, although I did build 2 membership websites, eventually, on dreamweaver using the basic html. So if anyone has 30 mins to spare please let me know and perhaps we could talk over Skype. Thanks again Sid
Sid why you not listen?? You asked and David gave you good advise. aMember directory should contain ONLY amember. Put your content into your own folders and use protect folder option in aMember configuration. No all you will achieve is to almost certainly cause problems with aMember. It would take a lot longer to even try explaining the intricacies of how aMember works to many who understand html & php programming and neigh on impossible if as you say you are a complete novice. No disrespect intended there. If you don't understand how aMember works then leave it well alone, as far as changes are concerned, and just accept for the moment that it works if used as you have been advised. Simply remember amember folder for aMember ONLY your content in your own folders. Then protect those folders. Once you have done that try accessing you folder content and you should be taken to the aMember login screen automatically.
Thanks for your input thepmc but can you explain why you made this comment "No all you will achieve is to almost certainly cause problems with aMember." when in afffect I placed a file (page) on aMember, protected it and members were only able to access it after logging in? ps I carried out my actions before David replied. I'm very, very sure that when you started out your road to being a professional coder etc that you made quite a few errors. Regards
Firstly no I am not a professional coder. I wanted to construct a membership based website and went about learning html php etc in order to achieve this aim so whilst I have a good working knowledge of the languages I use I am no way an expert. When I was using aMember 3 which was written using Smarty I took the trouble to learn enough of that so I could achieve what I wanted in a way that worked. aMember 4 came along and I try to learn what makes it tick and how to achieve the results I am aiming for. Yes along the way I have made mistakes but by using this forum, and others, I have learned much. My comment regarding possibly breaking aMember functionality is based simply on your comment that you were a complete novice which I took to mean you probably were unaware that aMember uses a number of redirects using htaccess files etc. Change, or overwrite one of those files and everything stops working. Also consider a simple scenario. You add a file within aMember folders and protect it. That folder may now become unavailable to aMember without someone logging in. That sequence is not covered in the core code so program hangs! Also read through some of the problems, posted on this forum, others have encountered by uploading various non aMember files to the aMember directories. It is always better to keep aMember to its folders and your own to their folders. End of the day what the hell. You asked a question on how to do something and I gave the best advise, based on my own knowledge, I thought possible. Same advise was given by David. You choose to accept or ignore it not my concern. Too busy doing my own thing than spend loads of time trying to explain let alone engage in skype calls!
Hello Sid, I have absolute sympathy with you. The fact is, you do need some experience to be able to find your way around aMember. It's not possible to give you a comprehensive lesson on this forum. Firstly you need to study the documentation: http://www.amember.com/docs/Main_Page Unfortunately it's not complete but the team are gradually filling in the gaps. As has already been said, don't add anything to your amember folder. The only thing you can change (unless you know what you are doing) is your custom theme so you can change the look of the signup pages etc. If you change anything else you will run into trouble with aMember updates, as it basically overwrites everything except your theme every time they update the version. My best advice is to experiment. Create some folders for some protected data - say some pdf files then protect them. Create some other folders with some html pages that you only want your members to visit. Create a product which is a membership of some kind. Join yourself up and see how you are able to download your pdfs and access your web pages when you are signed in. Gradually it will fall into place. As I have already said on this forum I am a bit of a veteran having been a software programmer/analyst for quite a few years pre 1980! A lot has changed. Even so, I found aMember a challenge to start with. You will get to understand it as you use it. If you are as green as you say it will take a little time. Amember is a fantastic product and even using it in its basic form has massive potential. Take a look at my site. I'm not doing anything clever and it works really well. Good luck.