In this section we will describe how to manage the general settings for an Elgg account and perform basic modifications.

Now that you have enabled more modules you will also see much more tools available in the tools menu. Furthermore you will have additional widgets that your community members can add to their pages on the web site further extending the pages variations and functionality.

SETTINGS SECTION

Lets first explore the Settings menu. When you click on Settings in the main tab of Elgg a new page will load where you will have the following options.

Change your settings. By default this will allow the user to change his name, email address, password and the language for the website (in case additional language packs are installed).

Configure your tools. This panel allows the member to personalize the settings for the tools installed by the system administrator.

Account statistics will show various statistics for the account that is currently logged in.

Notifications will allow the member to adjust the way he is notified when actions are performed on his content. Also it gives to possibility to enable notifications to be sent when changes are performed on members from your friends collections. Finally in order to receive notifications from your friends when they create new content, find them in the “Notifications per user” area and select the notification method you would like to use.

The Group notifications work in a similar way. All you need to do is select the group you are member of and than choose the type of notification you would like to receive.

TOOLS SECTION

The Tools section will vary depending on the tools enabled via the administration area. Generally this is where you add/invite friends to the community, upload files and manage groups but the exact functionality available there will vary depending on the installed plugins. By default all tools are really easy to use and quite self explanatory. While they provide you with the needed functionality there is nothing too complicated to deal with.

DASHBOARD SECTION

The dashboard is basically your gateway to the website. Users can add all the widgets that are installed by the site administrator to the various areas of their dashboard as shown on the example below. This will enable any user to have fast access to the desired functionality of the website.

It is not hard to handle the setup via the Dashboard. All you should do is drag and drop the desired widged to the corresponding are on the page. When the page itself is loaded after that the various information will be withdrawn by the published widgets and displayed on the webpage.

PROFILE SECTION

Clicking on the photo like image in the main toolbar will load your personal page in the community website. You can again drag and drop the chosen widget to the desired area of the web site. After the personal page is saved the published widgets will withdraw the available information and display it on your page as you have set them.

It is a bit different from the dashboard. This page will alter the way your profile page looks like. It has a predefined position for your profile box where profile icon, wire posts and about information are displayed. This defines the way your profile page looks when you or anyone else visits it.

Remove powered by Elgg footer text

Elgg by default has this footer text.After installing Elgg one of the most common task is removal of powered by Elgg footer text.You can keep the footer text as it is.There is no harm in it.But removing the footer text is important for personalizing the installation.

Follow below steps to remove powered by Elgg footer text

• Open your Elgg installation directory.
• Open the directory elements situated under views –> default –>page.
• Under elements directory you will see the file footer.php
• Open the file footer.php
• Search for below code in footer.php file

echo elgg_view_menu('footer', array('sort_by' => 'priority', 'class' => 'elgg-menu-hz'));

$powered_url = elgg_get_site_url() . "_graphics/powered_by_elgg_badge_drk_bckgnd.gif";

echo '<div class="mts clearfloat float-alt">';
echo elgg_view('output/url', array(
	'href' => 'http://elgg.org',
	'text' => "<img src="$powered_url" alt="Powered by Elgg" width="106" height="15" />",
	'class' => '',
	'is_trusted' => true,
));
echo '</div>';

• In above code the line starting with $powered_url and the line echo elgg_view are responsible for powered by Elgg footer text.
• We can delete these lines or we can comment out the lines.I prefer to comment out the lines.Since this is PHP code we can use /* and */ to comment out the line
• The modified code is shown below.You can see that lines starting with $powered_url and echo elgg_view are commented out with /* and */.Make same changes as shown below in your file.

echo elgg_view_menu('footer', array('sort_by' => 'priority', 'class' => 'elgg-menu-hz'));

/*$powered_url = elgg_get_site_url() . "_graphics/powered_by_elgg_badge_drk_bckgnd.gif";*/

echo '<div class="mts clearfloat float-alt">';
/*echo elgg_view('output/url', array(
	'href' => 'http://elgg.org',
	'text' => "<img src="$powered_url" alt="Powered by Elgg" width="106" height="15" />",
	'class' => '',
	'is_trusted' => true,
));*/
echo '</div>';

• The above method works for any theme you have installed on your elgg installation..
• After making above changes save your file and browse your site to see the changes.

Changing default Elgg favicon icon:

Elgg comes with default Elgg favicon icon.So after installing it you need to change default favicon icon with that of yours.This is indeed important task as favicon is identity of your website.There are plugins to achieve this task but I would not suggest using them.
As number of plugins increase performance of CMS goes down.This is applicable for Elgg as well.You should avoid using plugins for simple task.
You can follow below steps to replace default Elgg favicon icon with favicon icon of your own

• Open _graphics directory under Elgg installation directory.
• You will find favicon.ico file in that directory.
• Delete the file and then upload your favicon file..
• The name of your file is important.It should be exactly the same (favicon.ico).You can use any other name as well but for that you will have to make some code changes.
• I will not advice code changes so it will be good to go with same name as above.
• Browse your website to see the change.
• In case you do not see your favicon then you may need to clear browser cache.

Deleting Elgg Top bar:

Elgg topbar is displayed to logged in users.There are some quick access buttons on topbar.It does contain useful quick access to messages,profiles,friends and other links like log out.This links are quite handy and does provide beautiful navigation facilities to the user.I prefer displaying topbar to admin but removing it for rest.

Having said that you might want to remove topbar for customizing your site according to your need.Some Elgg themes also remove topbar.But in case you are using default theme or any theme which displays topbar and you want to remove it then follow below steps

• Open the folder views –>default –>page in your Elgg installation directory.
• In the page folder you will see file default.php.This file controls display of default theme shipping with Elgg.In case you are using other theme making change here will work unless other theme has overridden this.
• Open the file default.php.
• Search for below code in the file

<?php if (elgg_is_logged_in()): ?>
<div class="elgg-page-topbar">
   <div class="elgg-inner">
   <?php echo $topbar; ?>
   </div>
</div>
<?php endif; ?>

• This code is responsible for topbar display on your theme.
• Delete the code from the file.
• You should backup the file before making these changes so that you can revert back in case of any mistakes while removing the lines.
• Again if you want to display topbar to only admin users then instead of elgg_is_logged_in() in the code above use elgg_is_admin_logged_in ().Rest of the code remains the same.
• I have found enabling bar for admin very useful so will recommend to keep it activated.For other users you can disable it.
• Save the file and enjoy.

Adding Google Analytics to Elgg:

Follow below steps to add Google Analytics code to your Elgg website.You can use this method to add other JavaScript based codes to your website.

• Open the folder views –> default –> page under your Elgg installation directory
• In the page directory you will see file default.php.
• Open the file default.php.This file displays the HTML structure of default theme.
• Locate the </head> tag in the file.
• Copy your Analytics code and paste the same just above </head> tag in the file.Remember to backup the file before making these changes so that you can revert back in case anything goes wrong while pasting.
• Save the file and enjoy.
• If you do not want to use Analytics code in header ie </head> area then you should paste it above </body> tag.
• In the same file near the end you can see </body> tag.
• Paste the analytics code just above the </body> tag.
• Save the file and enjoy.

How to install language packs in Elgg:

By default you will download the English version of Elgg. You can however translate the website to your own language by installing a language pack. Language packs are available for download at the Elgg community website at:

https://community.elgg.org/plugins/search?f%5Bc%5D%5B%5D=languages&sb=Search

Once you have downloaded the language pack archive, extract its contents in the root directory of your website. The archive will place the required files in the “mod” and “languages” folder of your installation. Once you have uploaded the files, go to your website’s administration, area and using the right side menu, click on “Basic Settings”:

Using the dropdown menu, select the default language for your Elgg website:

Click the “Save” button to save the changes.

How to install themes in Elgg:

In this tutorial we are going to show you how to install new Elgg themes. You may choose one from:

https://community.elgg.org/plugins/category/themes

Once you have chosen the theme which you wish to use, download its archive. Extract the archive and upload its contents in the following directory of your account:

/public_html/path-to-elgg/mod/

Where “path-to-elgg” is the actual path to your Elgg. For the purpose of this tutorial we have installed the “cool theme”. Here is how it looks when uploaded in the account:

Now you will need to login to your website’s administration area and from the right side menu navigate to “Plugins”

Find the theme that you have just uploaded and click the “Activate” button to enable the theme:

How to install plugins in Elgg:

The Elgg script comes with plenty of functionalities, but you can extend them even more by installing new plugins in your Elgg website. In this tutorial we are going to show you how to install new Elgg plugins. You can find a great variety of Elgg plugins at:https://community.elgg.org/plugins

Once you have found the plugin that you would like to use, download its archive. Extract the archive and upload its contents in the following directory of your account:

/public_html/path-to-elgg/mod/

Where “path-to-elgg” is the actual path to your Elgg. For the purpose of this tutorial we have installed the “featured members” plugin. Here is how it looks when uploaded in the account:

Now you will need to login to your website’s administration area and from the right side menu navigate to “Plugins”

Find the plugin that you have just uploaded and click the “Activate” button to enable the plugin: