The hosted service
A hosted site is one we run for you. You never touch a server: you sign in to an account with us, create your site there, and from then on work in the site's own admin panel. This page is for anyone whose choir's site is hosted by us, or who is deciding whether it should be.
If you would rather run the software on a server of your own, see Hosted or self-hosted?.
What we look after, and what you do
| We look after | You look after |
|---|---|
| The servers your site runs on | The words, pictures, concerts and pages on your site |
| New versions of Choir Master CMS: your site is always on the current one, and there are no update notices to act on | Your members, donors and ticket buyers, and the information you hold about them |
| The security certificate (the padlock in the browser), on our address and on a domain of your own | Your domain name, if you use one: buying it, renewing it, and adding the DNS record we ask for |
| Sending email: login links, announcements, tickets and notices | What your emails say and who they go to |
| Encrypted backups of your site's database and uploaded files | Your plan and how it is paid for |
| Your own Stripe account, if you take card payments |
Two places to sign in
A hosted choir has two places to sign in, and both use the same email address.
| Place | Address | What it is for |
|---|---|---|
| Your account | account.choirmastercms.com | Creating the site, your plan and billing, your own domain, connecting Stripe, your details |
| The admin panel | Your site's address followed by /admin/login | Everything on the site itself: settings, concerts, members, tickets, donors |
Neither has a password. Each emails you a link that signs you in: see Sign in to your account and Log in to the admin panel.
The "Your account" page
Your account is one page, headed Your account. It is made of these cards, in this order.
| Card | What is in it | Read |
|---|---|---|
| Hosted site | Before you have a site, the form that creates one. Afterwards, your site's name, address and plan, and the Open its admin panel button | Create your site |
| Hosted site: Plan (or Plans) | The plan your site is on. On Free, the paid plans and their buttons; on a paid plan, the renewal date and Manage billing | What each plan includes, Move to a paid plan, Invoices, changing plan and cancelling |
| Hosted site: Your own domain | Connecting a domain you own, such as yourchoir.org | Use your own domain name |
| Hosted site: Taking payments | Connecting a Stripe account so your site can take cards | Take card payments: connect Stripe |
| Setup and migration | Having us set up your site and move your content across | Have us set up your site |
| Self-hosted | A licence key and the download, for a site you run yourself | Get a licence key and the download |
| Your data | How to ask for an export, or to close your account | Your data |
| Your details | Your name, your choir's name and your country | Your details and country |
The Plan, Your own domain and Taking payments sections are inside the Hosted site card, and appear once you have a site. The Setup and migration card appears once your account has a country.
A message about what you just did (in a pale box) or what went wrong (in red) appears at the top of the page, under the heading.
How a hosted admin panel differs
The admin panel of a hosted site is the same one a self-hosted site has, with a few differences:
- What you can use depends on your plan. The foot of the admin menu shows which plan the site is on.
- Every admin logs in with an emailed link. There is no shared password.
- There are no update notices: we update every hosted site ourselves.
- Bulk email (an announcement to your members, say) is queued and sent in the background. See How your site sends email.
- The menu has an Email page for Site Admins and Admins. On the Starter and Premium plans it is where you send announcements from your own address: see Send announcements from your own address. On the Free plan it only explains that this is part of a paid plan.
The full list is in Hosted and self-hosted: what is different.
Where to start
- New here: Sign up, or Start a site we host for the whole first hour.
- Want to look before you sign up: Look around the demo site.
- Stuck: Get help.