Backlight, Wordpress, and a Custom Theme

Backlight 4, 5 & 6 Support
#1

Hello!
Thanks for an awesome product. I am new to Bcaklight 6 - please forgive a newbie question.

I have a wordpress site, hosted by WPEngine. I use a theme (Kadence). I want to create galleries using Backlight within the WP install, such that they run off my main domain, e.g. https:/mydomain.com/portfolios/gallery1

I have read your recommendations in response to another similar post (Setting up a WordPress based Backlight site - TTG Tips and Tricks)

Do I create a new folder (“Backlight”) and another (e.g. “portfolios”), both a the same level as the current level which includes wp-admin, wp-content, and wp-includes? Then upload only the backlight/ and galleries/ folder into “Backlight”. Not upload the index.php and the .htaccess files. ?

then follow the rest of the instructions?

Will this let me keep using the Kadence theme on my site and only apply the Backlight gallery theme in the galleries - which I want.

Thanks for your help!
Pradip

#2

That is mostly correct.
Instead of creating backlight and galleries folders, just upload those two folders from your unzipped Backlight download to the root of your site (same level as the WordPress installation).

1 Like
#3

Thanks again for your help Rob.

I did the above, but now getting a message:
Failed to open stream: Permission denied in /nas/content/live/pradipmalde/backlight/installer/lib/InstallerUtility.php on line 16

Permissions for both folders are 755

#4

Are you running your site on a NAS?

Is so, that may be an issue. I really don’t know anything about it but it has come up in the forum multiple times. Try searching the forum for “nas”

@Ben will likely need to advise

#5

my site is running through wpengine.

I am on chat with them right now in case it is an issue from their end. It seems like a permissions issue… will keep you posted.

#6

They have reset permissions and that seems to have removed he error message. But now, I just keep geting asked to enter my order email and it does not go further than that. Have tried two different browsers. and reset cache.

#7

The installer prompt says: “Please provide details for your most recent SendOwl Backlight order to proceed with installation.”
I purchased Backlight from Gumroad, via the Backlight website. Not SendOwl. Could this be the reason I cannot proceed with the install?

#8

When you first install, you need to enter your order email. (You used to have to provide an order number too, but with the new fulfillment method, I don’t think you do.
After you enter it and click “Log in to Installer” you should see a button to install Backlight.
Once it’s installed, you’ll see a log in. Are you even getting that far?

#9

This could be the problem.
Were you previously using an earlier version of Backlight?

Either way, @Matthew will probably need to sort it out

#10

No, have not used Backlight before.
Thanks.

#11

I suggest sending @Matthew a direct message (click on his name and then the blue message button) and include the details of your order

#12

Okay. Thanks. Just sent.

#13

I’ll look into the labelling of the ‘SendOwl’ in the installer. Our backend handles both SendOwl and Gumroad orders, so this shouldn’t be a functional issue.

What happens when you try to click submit with your email? Are you seeing a message that the order could not be found or does the page appear to do nothing? If the latter, can you share your domain with us? If you don’t wish to publicly then please send me a direct message by clicking on my name followed by Message.

#14

Hi. I enter my email address and click the button. The email entry box reappears, blank. i.e. nothing happens.
The domain is pradipmalde.com

#16

Thanks for that. Your domain is using Cloudflare. That’s a content distribution network that attempts to cache your site. What’s likely happening is that the CDN is returning a cached copy of the form when you submit the email instead of sending the request to your server and Backlight.

Can you check your hosting settings to see whether cloudflare can be disabled?

#17

Hi Ben, Yes, I can temporarily disable Cloudflare. I understand that I do that just so Backlight can be activated. Once done, will I be okay with reactivating Cloudflare? Thanks

#18

I temporarily disable Cloudflare. Went through the setup step. After enter my email, the next window was different (yay) with a prompt to install. Clicked that, then got this error:
Warning: ZipArchive::extractTo(…/modules/custom-resources/phplugins/phplugins-pangolin-sample.php): Failed to open stream: Permission denied in /nas/content/live/pradipmalde/backlight/installer/lib/Client.php on line 86
Unable to get details from: …/modules/custom-resources/module.xml

Any thoughts?

#19

Hi @kozopress, I’m wondering whether WPEngine is suitable for non-WP websites.

Can you try the following:

  1. Login in via FTP and look at the contents of the backlight/modules directory. If there’s nothing in there, then it looks like a permissions issue.
  2. Can you see what the ownership and permissions are like for that directory? Permissions could look like a number such as 700 or 755, or might look like a set of values such as rwx------ or rwxr-x-rwx.

I can then advise on what permissions to try depending on the answers to the above.