OpenScholar
- What is OpenScholar?
- What are the server requirements?
- How do I install OpenScholar?
- How do I fix errors during installation?
- How many web sites can OpenScholar host?
- Who uses OpenScholar?
- Does OpenScholar utilize Drupal's multi-site configuration?
- Can each site have a custom domain?
- Does each site have its own administrator?
- Does OpenScholar offer social networking features?
- What are pluggable content features?
- Do users need to know HTML or other web technologies to build a site?
- Where can I get additional help?
Q: What is OpenScholar?
A: OpenScholar is an open source web site building and content management tool intended for academic scholars. It enables the creation and management of multiple web sites upon a single Drupal installation.
Q: What are the server requirements?
A: OpenScholar is best suited for a LAMP web server environment. Apache web server is strongly recommended. Also, you must have PHP 7.2 and MySQL 5 installed. You can view a full list of requirements here.
Q: How do I install OpenScholar?
A: Installing OpenScholar is as easy as installing Drupal. Please note that the OpenScholar installation procedure is geared towards web development professionals. You can view the installation procedure here.
Q:How do I fix errors during installation?
A:If you encounter a specific error during the installation process, you can find instructions to fix it in OpenScholar's installation troubleshooting page. If you experience a blank white page with no error message, that please visit Drupal's White Screen of Death page.
Q: How many web sites can OpenScholar host?
A: Unlimited. There is no restriction as to how many web sites you can have on your OpenScholar installation.
Q: Who uses OpenScholar?
A: Over 75 universities and institutions globablly use OpenScholar for personal academic sites and academic project sites. OpenScholar is freely available for download. If you are part of an academic institution and currently use an OpenScholar installation, please contact us so we can list your institution.
Q: Does OpenScholar utilize Drupal's multi-site configuration?
A: No. OpenScholar leverages Organic Groups and Spaces modules to allow a single Drupal installation to host complete and individually customized web sites.
Q: Can each site have a custom domain?
A: Yes. OpenScholar supports custom domains. If a user has an existing web site would like to move it to OpenScholar, the URL can be ported over. Custom URL's can be easily managed in the site Settings area of the Control Panel.
Q: Does each site have its own administrator?
A: Yes. By default, site owners have administrative rights for their own site(s). Site owners can add other users as members of their site(s) and provide any member with administrative rights. The official Drupal administrator account is created during the OpenScholar installation and has full rights to the underlying Drupal settings as well as every site's settings.
Q: Does OpenScholar offer social networking features?
A: Yes. OpenScholar was built with a strong emphasis on collaboration tools and social networking. It allows site owners to build their own communities and manage site access for members. It comes with built-in tools to "follow" the activity of other OpenScholar users and provides a real-time activity stream.
Q: What are pluggable content features?
A: Pluggable content features are plugins that provide specific sections of a site, along with customized widgets, or blocks. Users can enable, make "private", or disable features quickly and easily within the Features section of the Control Panel. OpenScholar comes standard with some great "out of the box" ready features. You can read about them here.
Q: Do users need to know HTML or other web technologies to build a site?
A: No. The great thing about OpenScholar is that users can create, design and add content to their sites without having to know HTML or other web technologies. The WYSIWYG editor makes it easy to add HTML styling and elements to content through an intuitive user interface.
Q: Where can I get additional help?
A: Additional help with OpenScholar is available on github at https://github.com/openscholar/openscholar. Commercial end user support is also available from the OpenScholar team at support [at] theopenscholar.com.