Welcome to HOASpace.com!
This page will provide the basic steps for getting your new HOASpace website up and running quickly.
If you are a new webmaster taking over administration of an existing website, you may wish to go directly to
our administrator tips page by
clicking here.
When will my site be ready?
In most cases, it will take just a few minutes for your site to be created after you submit your free trial request.
Once it is ready, we will send you a "welcome" email telling you your
site is now ready for you to use. This email will contain your administrator user name and password.
Can I use a domain name?
If you have registered domain name that you want to use with your web site, you must first modify your domain
to use our domain name servers (DNS). If you have not done this, please visit the registrar where you
registered your domain and use their domain configuration screen to change the nameservers for your domain
to our nameservers:
NS1.HOASPACE.COM
NS2.HOASPACE.COM
After at least four hours have passed from the changing of your nameservers, you may log into your website
as the administrator and go to the Admin page and click the Domain Manager icon. Enter the domain name to be parked
on your site and click the Park button.
Please note: Registered domain names are
not required for HOASpace websites. You can continue to use your
HOASpace website under the free subdomain ([somename].hoaspace.com) as long as we are hosting your website.
What do I need to do first?
Your new website comes completely set up and ready for usage by your residents, but there are a few items you may want
to customize or configure further:
- Change your "admin" profile password. Your administrator account has already been created using the name
and password sent to you in your welcome email. However, we highly recommend
that you change the password for the "admin" account as soon as possible for security reasons.
To change your admin account password, log in using the administrator user name ("admin") and the password specified
in the welcome email and click the Profile link in the Members menu. Here you can enter a new password in the
Password and Confirm fields of the profile edit page.
- Verify your profile email address. Ensure that the primary email address in your profile is your currently
active email address. This has been filled in for you from the email address specified on the free trial form
that was initially submitted to create your website.
- Verify the Mail Manager settings. Go to the Admin page and click the Mail Manager icon to verify that your
email address is configured as the "webmaster" email forwarding address. Your email address should appear near the top
of the list in the "webmaster" entry. If it is not the correct email address, replace it with the correct one. Click
the Save button near the bottom of the screen if you made any changes.
- Assign another profile to be part of the Administrator group. It is important that more than one member be
a website administrator, in case the owner of the "admin" profile is unable or unwilling to respond to requests for
changes to the website. Having a backup adminisitrator or providing board members with administrator access makes
administrator transitions easier and prevents any one person from having unilateral control over the website in case
of a dispute in the future.
On the Admin page, the following pages may need some configuration in order to customize the appearance and operation of
your site:
Setup Info
Setup Info is the main website configuration application. It allows you to configure many options and settings that will
control how your website will work. Most fields will be filled in for you but there are some settings you may want to
change.
New Members Tab
By default, your website requires new members to register and be approved by the administrator before they can access most
of the pages on the website. When you check the box "Require administrator approval for new account registrations",
you will be notified whenver a new visitor applies for an account. To approve a new member's profile, log in as the administrator
and go to the Admin page and click the Directory icon (its name may be different if you've changed the text for this application
in the Menu Editor since the Admin page icon captions reflect the captions used in the Menu Editor for each application).
When you open the member directory application, locate and click on the new member's name in the list. You may also click the
small "edit" icon at the right side of the member's row in the list. This will open the member's profile edit page.
To approve their account, scroll to the bottom of the form and click the "Approve" button.
In Setup Info->New Members, if you do not check the box to require administrator approval for new account registrations, you'll
still be notified of new account registrations, however, the new user will be sent a confirmation email that allows them to
activate and approve their own account by clicking a confirmation link in the email. This action verifies that the user entered
a valid email address, otherwise they would not have received the email with the confirmation link in it. This self-approval
method is less work for the administrator as long as you don't need tight control over your visitor registrations.
However,
it is important to note that by not requiring administrator approval for new member registrations, anyone can register and access
the information on your web site. We strongly recommend leaving this option enabled in Setup Info so that all new registration
will require manual review by an administrator to ensure they are valid members of the community.
Visual Theme Tab
This tab contains options to allow you to select which visual theme will be used on your site. Your website theme controls
which header image is shown at the top of each page, the colors and fonts that appear on each page, and other visual
enhancements. There are
several pre-defined themes available to choose from.
You can select a different one than the one that was selected when your free trial website was initially created.
We recommend that you leave the checkbox options on this tab (below the theme selector) checked to ensure that all members
of the website see the same theme and provide a more consistent experience by everyone.
Custom Fields Tab
This tab allows you to define up to custom text fields to be used for storing additional information about members in
their profiles. To activate a custom field, enter a prompt for that field. You can also select the visibility of the field:
Everyone, Admin Only, Admin/Member, or Member Read-Only. Member Read-Only fields are visible only to the administrator(s)
and the owner of the profile, however, only the administrator(s) can change the contents of the field. If you would like
to make the field required for input during registration or profile updates, check the "Req'd" box after the field.
To learn more about using the website's administration tools, please
click here.