First steps

The handful of settings worth doing on day one, in the order that saves the most work later.

The install is done and you are signed in as the administrator. This is the short list worth doing before you invite anyone.

1. Site settings#

System > Settings holds the site name, the description, the default language and the time zone. The name appears in the header, in every e-mail and in the page title, so it is worth getting right before search engines see it.

2. E-mail#

System > Settings > Email decides how messages leave the server. Use SMTP with your own domain rather than the PHP mail function: password resets and notifications that land in spam are the most common support question there is.

Send a test message from the same screen. System > Logs > Email log records every attempt, successful or not.

3. Member groups#

Members > Member groups is where permissions live. Bondry ships with a group for administrators and one for members. Before creating content, decide whether guests can read the forum, whether new members post immediately or wait for approval, and who moderates.

Every module adds its own permissions to this same matrix, so a group you build now keeps working when you install a module later.

4. Registration#

System > Settings > Login and registration covers whether registration is open, whether e-mail has to be verified, and whether new accounts need approval. Turning e-mail verification on is the cheapest spam defence there is.

5. Forums#

Community > Forums creates the categories and forums. Start with three or four: an empty community with twenty empty forums looks abandoned, and forums are easy to add later.

6. Theme#

Appearance > Themes installs and customises themes. The customiser covers colours, fonts, radius, logo and layout width without touching a file. See Modules and themes.

7. Backup#

Before you have anything to lose, prove that you can get it back. Your host's backup is usually enough, as long as you have restored from it once.

8. Turn off what you do not use#

Modules lists everything installed. Disabling a module you do not need hides it from the site and from the panel without deleting anything, and you can turn it back on later with the data intact.