XF 1.3 How to redirect users to a new homepage

[xIsabel38]

So I have an index homepage and the forum installed in a forum directory. However due to budgeting issues I'm unable to complete the index homepage the way I had hoped. So instead, I was thinking of using a Portal system and having that as my homepage.

Problem is, how would I set it up so that when a user types the main site address, they would be shown the portal page instead of the index homepage I already have?

Would I need to reinstall the forum in the main directory?

 

[Paul B]

Portal add-ons will typically be able to replace the default index page which is the forum list, with the portal page.

You don't particularly need to install in the root but unless you have content in the root, it makes sense to install the forum there.

For example, this XenForo installation is in the root and uses a portal.
The landing (home) page is: http://support.cliptheapex.com/
The forum list then appears at: http://support.cliptheapex.com/forums/

 

[xIsabel38]

I have content in the root which is now something I am no longer able to fund development on. So because the forum is located at /forum the portal acts as the index for /forum.

Is there a way to make the portal act as a homepage for the root?

 

[Paul B]

Add-ons typically can't run outside the directory where the forum is installed.

You can either delete the content in the root and move the forum there, or set up a redirect so anyone who visits the root is automatically redirected to the forum installation.

 

[xIsabel38]

That's what I was fearful of.

 

[Paul B]

Why does it concern you?

Doing either one of those isn't going to necessarily cause any issues.

 

[xIsabel38]

I have a lot of data written in my forum already. Not forum content as the site isn't public yet, but things associated with an FAQ and Wiki. To reinstall means I'd have to redo these.

I'm currently re-reading your guide to creating a duplicate database in order to help but if anything goes wrong, I'm not going to have the previous developers around to fix it.

 

[Paul B]

You wouldn't need to reinstall to move the forum or redirect from the root to the forum directory.

 

[xIsabel38]

Wait what? So how would I move the forum files and all of it's current content to a new directory?

 

[Paul B]

How can I move my installation to a different directory?
Update the Board URL in the ACP -> Options -> Basic Board Information and move the files to the new directory (or rename the directory). You may need to restart the server for the change to take effect.
Note that redirection will be required to ensure any existing links continue to work.
For example, if the installation is moved from the /community directory to the root, the following line needs to be added to the .htaccess file, after the default XenForo rewrite rules:

RewriteRule ^community/(.*)?$ /$1 [R=301,L]

http://xenforo.com/community/threads/frequently-asked-questions.5183/#post-180455

Basically you just drag and drop or rename the directory, within your FTP application.

 

[xIsabel38]

Alright I'll give this a try. Thanks!

 

[xIsabel38]

Hey so this saved so much time and headaches. It worked very well. I never knew you could simply drag the files into a different folder and run it from there so thanks for saving me a potential headache.

I'm having a problem though and I was hoping you might have some ideas. Now that the forum was moved to the root it loads extremely slowly. Do you know what may be causing this? I deleted everything else out of the root but this didn't solve it.

EDIT: Nevermind, today it seems to be working fine.