Instant Blog

Instant Blog is a multi-purpose blog & magazine script. You can create easily Facebook Instant Articles & Google AMP pages. Instant Blog has clean, responsive and user-friendly design. You are able to manage your posts,categories, users and settings with its powerful Admin panel. Dynamic form for creating posts. Ad management ready you can easly add ads to your posts. It is secured, seo optimized, fast and simple to use.

Features

Create Responsive Blog posts.
Create Google AMP pages
Auto embed content with URL from Youtube, Twitter, Facebook & Instagram
Ads Ready
Admin Panel
Search engine accessible
Responsive and mobile optimized
Built with Laravel and Bootstrap 5

Requirements

PHP >= 8.1.0
BCMath PHP Extension
Ctype PHP Extension
Fileinfo PHP extension
JSON PHP Extension
Mbstring PHP Extension
OpenSSL PHP Extension
PDO PHP Extension
Tokenizer PHP Extension
XML PHP Extension

Installation on Shared Hosting

Important!
If you want to use api features, before installation please create Facebook Page , Facebook Api and Google Api
If you want to add them after installation, you can edit "instantblog/.env" file and write there anytime you want.

Create a Database : Create a MySQL database for Instant Blog to use.

Create a new directory : Connect to your web host using your usual FTP/SFTP client.
Navigate to the root directory and create a new directory with same level of your ( public_html or www ) , and rename it as " instantblog ".

Note : We create a new "instantblog" directory because Laravel has different folder structure and safest way to store laravel files out of the public folder...

Upload Files : Extract the downloaded zip file from CodeCanyon and you will see those folders and files :

3a. Upload instantblog.zip to inside of newly created instantblog folder and extract it.

3b. Upload public.zip to your public_html or www or yoursite.com and extract it.. (Where you usually upload your files in your hosting.)

Note: On your hosting, your folder structure need to be like image below :

Launch the Installer : You are ready to begin the installation process. Enter the following URL by changing with your domain name. Example : http://www.yourdomain.com/install

Installation Wizard Steps : Please follow installation wizard steps below.
1. Click the button "Next Step" to start the installation as shown below
2. Here is the screen which checks whether the requirements are met. If you see a green checkmark as shown in the figure it does mean that you are free to move on to next step otherwise please make sure to have the mentioned requirements
3. This is the permissions screen which checks whether the required folders have the mentioned permissions. If you see a green checkmark as shown in the figure it does mean that you are free to move on to next step otherwise please make your folder permissions correctly. (These folders are inside of your "instantblog" directory). Now you can press Install button.
4. Enter your website url and your database informations as shown below, you dont need to change others.
  
  Do not use space between words!
  
  Enter the host name for DB_HOST, generally the host name would be localhost
  Enter the newly created database name for DB_DATABASE
  Enter the MySQL username name for DB_USERNAME
  Enter the MySQL PASSWORD name for DB_PASSWORD
5. Click scroll down near text box and and enter your Facebook & Google Api informations
  
  Do not use space between words!
  
  For Facebook & Google redirects only change “https://www.yoursite.com/” and do not change “auth/facebook/callback” & “auth/google/callback”.
6. Click scroll down near text box and and enter your Hosting mail informations.
  
  Than Click save.env, you will receive “Your .env file settings have been saved” message, move on to last step by clicking the button Install Now”.
  
  Do not use space between words!
  
  If you want to use Gmail as a server u can make these settings :
  MAIL_DRIVER=smtp
  MAIL_HOST=smtp.gmail.com
  MAIL_PORT=587
  MAIL_USERNAME=yourmail@gmail.com
  MAIL_PASSWORD=xxxxxx
  MAIL_ENCRYPTION=tls
  MAIL_FROM_ADDRESS=from@yourmail.com
  MAIL_FROM_NAME=ExampleName
  * Than go to https://myaccount.google.com/lesssecureapps and turn on Less secure app access.
7. It's All ! : If you didnt receive any error message, your installation is completed..You will see the below image in the final!

Now You can go to activation page :
Example : http://www.yourdomain.com/login
How to Activate?

Did you receive error :
If you wrote your database details wrong, you can start installation from begining. Follow these steps :

Delete "installed" file on your hosting instantblog\storage\installed
Type on your browser yoursite.com/install
When you made changes, dont forget to press "save.env" button.

Installation on Cloud Server

IMPORTANT : Follow These instruction if you want to Install "Instant Blog" on Cloud Server with default Laravel structure, otherwise please dont pay attentiton!

Because "Instant Blog" folder structure is ready for shared hostings and you can easily change few lines codes and folder structure and you can install on Cloud Server.

Extract the downloaded zip file from CodeCanyon and you will see those folders and files :

Upload instantblog.zip to your server and extract it. Create a new folder inside and name it "public", Upload public.zip to inside of "public" folder and extract it. You will have default Laravel folder structure as below.

Download and Open public/index.php and edit below codes with your html editor and re-upload.

Find :

require __DIR__.'/../instantblog/vendor/autoload.php';

and replace with :

require __DIR__.'/../vendor/autoload.php';

Find :

$app = require_once __DIR__.'/../instantblog/bootstrap/app.php';

and replace with :

$app = require_once __DIR__.'/../bootstrap/app.php';

Find and remove below code :


   $app->bind('path.public', function () {
      return __DIR__;
   });

Go to http://www.yourdomain.com/install and Installation Wizard will start. You can follow installation wizard steps from above.

Quick Start Guide

After successful installation go to yourdomain.com/login and Activate the Instant Blog. After successful activation you will get your admin password and redirect to login page.

After you logged in it will redirect you to member home page. Press Add new post button.

You will see a form as below, You can create new post with this dynamic form. All inputs are explained below the image.

Title : Write title for your post.
Description : Write short description for your post. It will be shown under your title in the post.
Post Type : You can select wich kind of post you like to create. Below input box will change up to your choise.
- Image post : You can upload a photo and it will be thumbnail and poster of your post. You can upload jpg, png & gif formats. Recommended image with is minimum 860 px.
- Video post : You can use YouTube video for your thumbnail and poster of your post. You need to enter URL of the YouTube video and it will automaticly create thumbnail. Example : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eXaMplE
- Text post : If you dont want to use a image or video for your post, you can click this button. It will create text only post. But you can select background color of your post.
Category : Select a category for your post. You can create a new category from your admin panel. Go to categories section and create new category from there.
Add More : With this dynamic form you can add new content parts for your post. You can add unlimited new form inputs. Details are below :
- Header : You can add new header input.
- Text : You can add new text input for your content.
- Text + : It will add text editor, you can use it for styled text or for link adding.
- Image : You can upload images for your content.
- Youtube Video : You can insert YouTube video for your post, You just need to add URL of the video.
- Tweet : If you want to embed a Tweet inside of your post you can use this option. Just enter URL of the Tweet and press Embed button. Example : https://twitter.com/Interior/status/463440424141459456
- Facebook Post : If you want to embed a Facebook Post inside of your post you can use this option. Just enter URL of the Facebook Post and press Embed button. Example : https://www.facebook.com/20531316728/posts/10154009990506729/
- Instagram Post : If you want to embed a Instagram Post inside of your post you can use this option. Just enter URL of the Instagram Post and press Embed button. Example : https://www.instagram.com/p/tsxp1hhQTG/
- Pinterest Post : If you want to embed a Pinterest Post inside of your post you can use this option. Just enter URL of the Pinterest Post and press Embed button. Example : https://www.pinterest.com/pin/99360735500167749/

When you are ready to publish your post, you can press “Submit Post” button and it will create post for you .

Settings Help

More information about Settings in admin panel.

Main
Site Name : Enter name of your site.
Site Description : Enter description of the website for seo.
Site Title : This is the title of your website and it will appear on your meta tags and browser.
Site logo for dark background : Upload your site logo for dark background. Recommended png file and size : 200x35 Example :
Site logo for light background : Upload your site logo for light background. Recommended png file and size : 200x35 Example :
Default Theme You can select which theme will be default for your site, select “Dark” or “Light”
Important : If you change the theme and you cannot see changes you must clear your browser caches
Site Footer You can add text for footer.
Allow users to add posts? If you want to disable users to add post, select “No” . It will hide “Add post button” for users.
Allow comments on posts? : If you want to hide Facebook comment box on posts you can select “No”.
Allow comments on posts? : If you want to hide Facebook comment box on posts you can select “No”.

Optional
On the tab you can see “Optional” settings. You can change text of menus from this tab. If you want to add Google Analytics code or Other script to head you can add it on this section.

Adsense
Post Adsense code : Inside of your post content it will appear.
Post Sidebar Adsense code : It will display ads on sidebar of single post. Recommended style is square ad type.
Between Posts Adsense : For adding ads to between posts on index page , use “Between Posts Adsense code” section.
NOTE : If you use google adsense, for better result use “New In-feed Ad” option and make visual preferences there. Recommended “Image above” style.

Google Amp
Ads on Amp : If you want to use Ads on your Google Amp page click " yes" otherwise select “no”.
Ads Code : You can use your Ad code here, Google AMP support ads, but you need a special code for using it. You can find your App server code on this link : https://www.ampproject.org/docs/reference/components/amp-ad#supported-ad-networks

If you want to use Google Adsense example code will look like below, Change your data-ad-client & data-ad-slot with your own information.
```
<amp-ad
layout="responsive"
width=300
height=250
type="adsense"
data-ad-client="ca-pub-XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX"
data-ad-slot="XXXXXXX">
</amp-ad>

                     
```

User Roles

You can change user roles from " admin panel > users " section. Click edit on user and choose role.

Super Admin : First user when you install the script your admin user. Has all the rights.
Admin : Can see admin panel & change site settings, can edit & delete posts & users, change user roles etc.
Editor : Can edit & delete & publish posts , if your site setting is dont allow posts for users , editor can add post.
Verified User : if your site setting is check posts before publish for users , Verified User can add post.

How to create Facebook Api

You need Facebook api for social login. Follow these steps :

Go to https://developers.facebook.com/apps/
Click Create app on the rigt top of the page.
Next page Select an app type, click Consumer and press next button on the right bottom.
Write App Display Name, App Contact Email and click Create app button.
You will see "Add Products to Your App screen" and press Facebook Login setup.
You will see "Use the Quickstart to add Facebook Login to your app. To get started, select the platform for this app" and click www icon.
You will see "Tell Us about Your Website" form fill out your domain save it and press next until it finishes, you dont need to get any code. www icon.
Click Facebook Login > Settings on the left menu.
NOTE: YOUR WEBSITE NEED TO SUPPORT HTTPS (SSL)
Click Facebook Login > Settings. And select make following changes :
- Client OAuth Login : select Yes.
- Web OAuth Login : select Yes.
- Use Strict Mode for Redirect URIs : select Yes.
- Valid OAuth redirect URIs : Write your Url like this https://www.yourdomain.com/auth/facebook/callback change “yourdomain” with your domain name.
Save Changes.
Now you can see your App ID and click show button to see your App Secret. Copy them you will use during the installation of “Instant Blog”. As you can see on empty green circle, App is not “Live” yet, we need to make some settings, follow below steps. Click Settings on the left menu, under Basic options make following changes
Now we need to make App is live. Click In development on the top menu. And opening page under “switch to live mode” , click Live Mode.

For Facebook and Instagram Embed Feature follow these instructions :
Click App Review button on the left menu and press Permissions and Features. Than opening page find Oembed Read and press Request Advanced Access button
Left menu click App Review > Request and opening page click Edit
Click Provide verification details box
Fill the form with your details and press save
Click How will your app use the Advanced Access Oembed Read feature? box
Fill the form with your details and press save
At the end press "Submit for Review" button. They will check your website if its eligable they will aprove it.
Final check : After approvement , Go to your api Permissions and Features and you must have these permissions active like image below

After clear caches on : https://www.yourdomain.com/instant/clear

How to create Google Api

You will need google api for social logins. To create a Google Api just follow the steps below.

Go to https://developers.google.com/ and log in or create an account, if necessary.
After logging in go to this link https://console.developers.google.com/project and click on the blue CREATE PROJECT button as depicted in the photo below. Wait a moment as google prepares your project.
Fill in whatever Project Name you want and press create button.
You will be redirected to below page , here click on the logo Google Cloud Platform logo.
Select your Api from dropdown menu and on left menu APIs & Services > OAuth consent screen link.
Select External and press create
In this screen, you need to fill your website URL, privacy policy URL, etc. Continue untill summary
Dont add any scope Continue untill summary and finally press back to dashboard button
In this screen, press Publish App
Press Credentials on left menu. Than Create Credentials on the top and select OAuth clien ID
Select Web application and enter your site URL to Authorised JavaScript origins and enter “http://www.yoursite.com/auth/google/callback” for Authorised redirect URIs. Then Click "Create" button.
Almost done, wait for google to create your new project and you should see the screen below where you can copy Google Client Id & secret, you must write them to "instantblog/.env" file.

Google AMP Configration

You dont need any setup for Google AMP pages.
When you create a normal post on your blog, it will create AMP page too. By adding “/amp” slug to your post Url you can see your amp page. Example : www.yoursite.com/posts/your-post-name/amp

If you want to index your AMP Page on Google immediately you can use this link to submit your post :
https://search.google.com/test/amp

Activate & Deactivate

How to Activate?

When you installed Instant Blog script for the first time, you need to activate it.

Go to login page (yourdomain.com/login) and it will ask you to enter your Code Canyon Purchase Code. If you do not know about your Purchase Code please follow this tutorial: Where Is My Purchase Code?
Enter your Code Canyon Purchase Code
Press Activate button
After successful activation you will be redirected below page, and you can copy your admin password. Click "Go to login page" and use your password.
* Please do not forget to change your password from admin panel / profile section.
* Password on the below image is example. You will have an unique generated password.

Notes:

Your purchase from CodeCanyon entitles you to a single use of your purchase. If you wish to use the product on multiple sites, you need to purchase multiple licenses – one license per site. This is made clear when you are purchasing on License Terms.

If you want to move your website to another domain, you need to deactivate current website first and need to re-activate for your new domain.

If you have any trouble about activation, you can contact us from Code Canyon Support Page.

How to Deactivate?

If you have previously activated your license on a website, you no longer are able to activate the same license on another domain. So If you plan to use your license for another website, you can deactivate current website, and then you are able to activate it on the new website.

Login Instant Blog with your Admin profile.
Go to yourdomain.com/deactivate
Press Deactivate button
After successful deactivation please delete "instantblog" folder from your deactivated website hosting.
* Do not forget : You will not be able to use deactivated website and you will lose your datas when you delete your website.

Translation

For translating user-side text on Instant Blog follow these steps:

Open "instantblog\resources\lang\en\messages.php" with your text editor and replace sentences with your own language

Open "instantblog\resources\lang\en.json" if you want to translate user roles, change second line.
When your editing finished, save and upload files to same locations.

Optional Translations :

Admin Panel Translation : You can translate admin panel on this file : "instantblog\resources\lang\en\admin.php"
Translating validation messages : Validation messages are created by Laravel if you want to change them. Open "instantblog\resources\lang\en\validation.php" with your text editor and replace sentences with your own language. But while editing you will see :attribute sentences, do not edit them. just replace english text. You dont need to translate all , just translate necessary sentences.
Translating time-ago text : If you like to translate time-ago text to your language follow these steps:
1. Open : "instantblog\app\Providers\AppServiceProvider.php" with your text editor.
2. Add use Carbon\Carbon; code as on below image.
3. Add Carbon::setLocale('xx'); code as on below image. Change "xx" with your language code.
4. Save and upload to same location on your hosting.

FAQ

How to change images ?
If you like to change favicon and social share images. You can replace png files inside of public directory.
Favicon : favicon.png size: 16x16
Social share image : images/social.png size: 470x246
How to change style?
You can change style of the blog, by editing css file. It is located inside of “public/css” directory. Open instant.css by your text editor and you can make changes.
How to delete posts?
When you logged in visit the post you have created and you can see edit & delete buttons on the top of your post.
How to unpublish posts?
While editing your post, if you uncheck “Live” checkbox your content will not be appear on website, but you can see them on “Posts” section under Unpublished tab.
How to create a post category ?
You can create a post category from Admin panel > Categories section. Only active categories will be appear on website. It mean you need to link at least a single content with that.
How to use Instant Blog on https (HTTP Secure) website ?
If you are using https domain and if you have image upload problem it will fix it.
Open instantblog\app\Providers\AppServiceProvider.php file with your text editor and make these changes like image below:
1. Add this code as above image : use Illuminate\Support\Facades\URL;
2. Add this code as above image : URL::forceScheme('https');
3. Save and Upload file to your hosting again.

Changelog

Instant Blog v3.3
- Laravel framework updated.
- Bootstrap updated
- Php version updated.
- Fix some files.

Instant Blog v3.2
- Laravel framework updated.
- Php version updated.
- Notification system updated.
- Facebook Instant Articles Removed.
- Fix some files.

Instant Blog v3.1
- Add link option to post images.
- Cookie consent option.
- Total post of user shows on profile.
- Fix some files.

Instant Blog v3.0
- New Admin panel design & translatable.
- Dark & Light theme select option.
- Member Profile page updated.
- Added follower system.
- Added Ban user option.
- Fixed image deletion on post delete.
- Share buttons updated.
- Notification system updated.
- Many other visual changes.
- Documentation updated.
- Fix some files.

Instant Blog v2.7
- Added Tiktok embed.
- Added post view counter.
- Documentation updated.
- Fix some files.

Instant Blog v2.6
- Added own comment system.
- Added Image alt option.
- Added Header select option (H1, H2, H3 etc.).
- Fix some files.

Instant Blog v2.5
- Fix some files.

Instant Blog v2.4
- Bootstrap updated to V5.
- Added drag drop sortable form.
- Jquery removed, only pure javascript.
- Internet Explorer support dropped.

Instant Blog v2.3
- Fix some files.

Instant Blog v2.2
- Laravel framework updated.
- Added user roles.
- Fix api changes.
- Fix some files.

Instant Blog v2.1
- Fix api changes.

Instant Blog v2.0
- New design.
- Laravel framework updated.
- Facebook Instant Article updated.
- Fix some files.

Instant Blog v1.5
- Blank link windows fix.
- Added forget password feature.

Instant Blog v1.4
- Facebook api update fix.
- Responsive share buttons style fix.

Instant Blog v1.3
- Added Pinterest Features
- Added RSS feed ( yoursite.com/feed )
- Added Translation for user-side
- Facebook responsive embed fix
- Fix for admin nav page

Instant Blog v1.2
- fix some files

Instant Blog v1.1
- Added Page Feature.
- Added Footer Feature.
- Added Google Analytics code box.
- Auto generate slug for unsupported charachters.
- Firefox image upload fixed.
- Social user image fixed.
- Google amp image size fixed.
- Script Activator & Deactivator.
- Readme document updated.

Instant Blog v1.0
- Initial public release