Quick guide to hosting Foleon Docs

Every Foleon Doc needs to live on its own URL. You have 2 options for hosting your content: using a (free) Foleon domain or your own custom domain. In this article, we'll discuss these 2 options and how they shape the URL of your live Foleon Doc.

Hosting decisions to make

To help you quickly understand which hosting decisions you need to make, we've created this handy infographic to get you started. 

1. Decide on a domain:

• Use a (free) Foleon domain
  If you want to host your content on a free domain, you can select the Use a (free) Foleon domain option. For this option, "foleon" will always be included in the URL.

If you choose this option, your domain is automatically secured for free, and there are no other steps you need to take.

• Custom (sub)domain
  Host your content on a custom domain you set up with your hosting provider (e.g., ebook.yourdomain.com). Costs will depend on your hosting provider.
  
  

2. Custom domain setup with your hosting provider

First, you decide on a domain name. This can be a subdomain (e.g., ebook.yourdomain.com) or a root domain (e.g., www.yourdomain.com).

Once you’ve chosen your domain name, you’re ready to configure your domain in the DNS settings of your hosting provider. 

• Regular setup
  Go to your domain provider's DNS settings and point a CNAME record to our servers at s1.foleon.com. After that, set up your domain in account settings > domains.
  
  
• With a reverse proxy
  If your hosting setup requires a reverse proxy, link your domain to an intermediate (like Cloudflare), so that the intermediate can point to our servers at s1.foleon.com. With this setup, you must manually add an SSL/TLS certificate to secure your content.

3. SSL/TLS certificate

If you're hosting your content on a custom domain, you have to secure it with an SSL/TLS certificate to make sure it's safe for your audience. You have two options:

• Let Foleon generate an SSL/TLS certificate for you (recommended)
  The default option is to let Foleon secure your custom domain with the help of Let’sEncrypt. There’s nothing you need to do to renew your certificate, and there is no impact on your live Foleon Docs site upon renewal.
  
  
• Manually configure SSL/TLS for a custom domain
  If your hosting setup requires a custom SSL/TLS certificate (e.g., https://help.foleon.com/hc/en-us/articles/11334909955473-Use-a-reverse-proxy-for-your-custom-domain), you must manually install it and are responsible for its renewal.

Where to manage your domain setup

In the dashboard, go to the project you want to set up the hosting for. In project settings, scroll down to your domain setup. There you will see the 2 options discussed in this article: using a (free) Foleon domain or your own custom domain.

If you decide to go for a custom domain, click  + new domain. Alternatively, click account in the left sidebar and go to domains. Click + new domain to get started.

Use a (free) Foleon domain

If you want to host your content on a free domain, you can select the Use a (free) Foleon domain option. For this option, "foleon" will always be included in the URL.

By default, your Foleon Doc will then live on the following URL:

https://account-alias.foleon.com/project-alias/foleon-doc-alias/page-alias

To better understand this URL and how it's made up, we go over the different components below:

• https:// — The default hostname is always secured with SSL/TLS.

• account-alias — The account alias is a hyphenated version of the company name you enter when creating an account. If you want to change your account alias, please contact support@foleon.com. Keep in mind that changing this will affect all of your Foleon Docs in your account.

• foleon.com — Foleon Docs live on our domain by default. Depending on your plan, you can also choose to publish on a custom domain instead.

• project-alias — The project alias is a hyphenated version of the name of the project a Foleon Doc lives in. You change it through a project's settings but keep in mind that changing this will affect all Foleon Doc's within that project.

• foleon-doc-alias — the Foleon Doc alias is a hyphenated version of a Foleon Doc name. You can change it through a Foleon Doc's settings. It needs to be unique within a project.

• page-alias — the page alias is a hyphenated version of a page name. You can change it through a page’s settings.

Let’s talk about what happens when, for whatever reason, any part of this URL is incorrect or missing:

• account-alias — If the account alias is incorrect, visitors will be prompted with a Foleon 404 page.

• foleon.com — If the domain is incorrect, visitors will be prompted with a browser error page.

• project-alias — If the project alias is incorrect or missing, visitors will be prompted with a Foleon 404 page.

• foleon-doc-alias — If the Foleon Doc alias is incorrect or missing, visitors will be directed to the most recent published Foleon Doc within the project. Alternatively, they will be directed to the primary Foleon Doc.

• page-alias — If the page alias is incorrect or missing visitors will be redirected to the first page of the Foleon Doc.

Use your own custom domain

Next to using the default hostname, you can choose to publish on a custom domain instead.

This can either be a subdomain or a domain that you have set up with your hosting provider. Either way, URLs will look something like this:

http(s)://your-subdomain.your-domain.your-top-level-domain/foleon-doc-alias/page-alias

To better understand this URL and how it's made up, we go over the different components below:

• http(s):// — Depending on the protocol of your domain Foleon Docs will either live on HTTP or HTTPS. To secure your domain, making it "HTTPS", you can install a SSL/TLS certificate in the project settings. Read more about securing your domain in our article How we generate an SSL/TLS certificate for you.

• your-subdomain.your-domain — You can either publish on a subdomain or root domain. Read more about using a custom domain in our article Hosting on a custom domain.

• your-top-level-domain — You can publish on any top-level domain (e.g. .com/.nl/.de).

• base path (optional) — You can decide the add a base path to structure your URL. If you want to use one domain for multiple projects, this is required for a successful setup. Learn more in our article Hosting on a custom domain. 

• foleon-doc-alias — The Foleon Doc alias is a hyphenated version of a Foleon Doc name. You can change it in the Foleon Doc settings.

• page-alias — The page alias is a hyphenated version of a page name. You can change it in the page settings.

Let’s talk about what happens when, for whatever reason, any part of this URL is incorrect or missing:

• http(s):// — What happens when a visitor navigates to HTTP/HTTPS is based on your domain’s protocol. To secure your domain, making it "HTTPS", you can install a SSL/TLS certificate in the project settings. Read more about securing your domain in our article How we generate an SSL/TLS certificate for you.

• your-subdomain.your-domain.your-top-level-domain — If any of these are incorrect or missing, visitors will be prompted with a browser error page.

• foleon doc-alias — If the Foleon Doc alias is incorrect or missing, visitors will be directed to the most recent published Foleon Doc within the project. Alternatively, they will be directed to the primary Foleon Doc.

• page-alias — If the page alias is incorrect or missing, visitors will be redirected to the first page of the Foleon Doc.