Installation
Install SiteShot as you would any other WordPress plugin.
- In the WordPress admin under the Plugins menu, select Add New.
- Click the Upload link and the top of the page.
- Browse to where you downloaded the zip file and select it.
- Click Install Now.
- Upon successful installation click Activate Plugin.
Support License Activation
After you have activated SiteShot, go to the Connections : Settings admin page and click the Licenses tab.
Enter the support license key that you received in your email receipt and click the Activate button. With your support license key activated, any time there is an update released, you will be notified in the WordPress admin with an opportunity to update to the latest version with a single click.
Usage
Templates such as the Default Entry Card and cMap use the Template Customizer for configuration this includes choosing to display the SiteShot instead of the logo or photo. To display the the SiteShot in these templates, follow these steps:
- Navigate to the Connections : Templates admin page.
- Click the Customize button for the activated template. The page will reload displaying the Customizer on the left with a preview on the right.
- In the upper right of the Customizer click the back arrow.
- Click the Image panel tab.
- In the Image Type select dropdown choose the SiteShot option.
- Publish the changes and exit the Customizer.
Tip
Templates such as Circled and Gridder are configured with shortcode options. To display the SiteShot is as easy as setting an option in the Connections shortcode. Here’s a sample shortcode:
[connections image="siteshot" image_single="siteshot"] |
That’s all it takes. If you would like to see SiteShot in action, take a look at the template demo for the cMap and Market templates.
As an added bonus, you can use SiteShot completely on it own. Actually, you do not even need Connections or any of its premium template in order to use it!
FAQs
Do the Site Shot previews have an effect of load time for a page?
I’m sure it does. It could be positive, negative or even no difference. It really depends on a whole host of factors which will be different for each site. The best way for you to tell is to load the page 10 times clearing the browser cache after each time and average out the page load time. Do it twice once with SiteShot loaded and once without it.
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Can you choose for which entries you want a SiteShot image or not?
Sorry, no. It all or none.
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If an entry has a logo/image, will this override the SiteShot preview?
No, but, it is possible to use a SiteShot as a backup if there is not an image/logo. You would use the image_fallback='siteshot' shortcode option which is available to many of the premium templates. Setting this option would display the SiteShot only if a image/logo was not available.
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Thumbnails are taking a long time to load, is this normal?
SiteShot uses a WordPress.org service to provide the screenshots of websites. When you view your directory, SiteShot senda a request to that service. That request enters a processing queue. If that processing queue is busy it can take a little time to get a thumbnail. In my experience though, usually the thumbnail is available within a few seconds and will appear in the next page load. Now, if a site that is being screenshotted is slow to respond the WordPress service it will move on and come back to it as to not hold up the processing queue. At least that is my best guess based on experience because I do not have any real insight on how they manage that processing queue.
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