The custom domain feature allows you to use your own domain name as your gallery address, giving your gallery a more professional appearance. When setup correctly, visitors will use an address such as mydomain.com to view your gallery, instead of username.dphoto.com.
This feature requires that you have your own domain name. If you don’t have one yet, you can purchase one from a domain registrar such as GoDaddy or Google Domains.
Choosing Your Address
Assuming you have your own domain name, you will need to decide on the exact address you would like to use for your gallery.
- If DPHOTO is your primary website, then you would use the address mydomain.com or www.mydomain.com
- If you are using DPHOTO in addition to an existing website, then you would choose an appropriate subdomain like clients.mydomain.com or gallery.mydomain.com
Creating DNS Records
You need to create a DNS record that links your domain to your gallery. This is done through your domain host (the company that you purchased the domain from). Creating DNS records can be a daunting task for most users, so we recommend you contact the support staff at your domain host and ask them to do it for you. You can send them the text below (but change gallery.mydomain.com to the address you have chosen):
"Please create a CNAME record for my domain so that 'gallery.mydomain.com' points to domains.lightbox.co. If you need to create an A record, please use the IP address 54.174.117.183"
If you are comfortable setting up DNS records yourself, then you can use the information below to configure the DNS records:
- For addresses with a subdomain, create a CNAME record that points to domains.lightbox.co
- For naked domains, create an A record that points to 54.174.117.183
Updating your DPHOTO account
Once the DNS records are setup, you then need to tell DPHOTO about the address. To do this, sign into your account and then go to Galleries > Domain, and enter your address.
Tips and Troubleshooting
Frame Forwarding and Redirects - One common mistake is that people (or sometimes the domain registrars) use Frame Forwarding or Redircts instead of the setting up DNS records. While these methods appear to work, they have major flaws and limitations. To help you avoid these issues, DPHOTO will only generate links using your custom domain once we detect that the DNS records are correctly configured.
SSL Certificates - DPHOTO will automatically issue and renew SSL certificates for your custom domain for free, so visiting your gallery will be encryted and secure.
Multiple Domains - Need more than one address to point to your gallery? No problem. Just setup the DNS records correctly for each address, and then enter the addresses as a comma separated list on DPHOTO. For example, entering 'mydomain.com,www.mydomain.com' means people can access your gallery on either mydomain.com or www.mydomain.com. When DPHOTO generates links for your gallery, it will use the first address in the list.