Web Monetization

An Omeka S module that enables streaming micropayments on your sites.

When cloning this repository remember to rename the directory from "WebMonetization-module" to "WebMonetization".

Enabling Payment

To start payment, a user must get a Coil membership for $5 per month, install the Coil Extension or the Puma Browser app, and log in to Coil. Click here to learn more about Coil.

Monetizing Your Site

To monetize your site, go to your site settings and under "Web Monetization" add your payment pointer. Payment is disabled by default, but you can configure it to be enabled by default.

You can then edit any page and add a "Web monetization" block. Now, when you view the page on the public site, you'll see a control that users may use to start or stop payment. In site settings, you can also add a banner that contains the control on every page of your site. This control will only appear if the user is using a supported browser (using Coil or Puma).

Configuration Options

These configuration options are available in your site settings, under "Web Monetization":

Payment pointer: The public address for your wallet, provided by your wallet provider.
Payments turned on by default: Check this to enable payment by default.
Add banner: Check this to add a payment banner to every page of your site.
Monetization disabled message: Display this text when monetization is not enabled in the browser. Clear to display nothing.
Site disabled message: Display this text when payment is disabled/stopped in the browser. Clear to display nothing.
Site enabled message: Display this text when payment is enabled/started in the browser. Clear to display nothing.

Customizing the Payment Control

We designed the payment control for general purpose use. It's available via a page block as a simple toggle button that allows users to start or stop payment. If this is not sufficient, you can customize the control by either overriding the template, stylesheet, and script, or by modifying them directly.

You can add the control anywhere in your site by using a provided view helper. For instance, if you want it to render on every page, open your theme's layout template and add the following:

<?php echo $this->webMonetization()->control(); ?>

You can modify the control's copy and markup by editing the template file: WebMonetization/view/web-monetization-control.phtml.

You can modify the control's styles by editing the stylesheet: WebMonetization/asset/css/web-monetization-control.css.

You can modify the control's functionality by editing the JS file: WebMonetization/asset/js/web-monetization-control.js. You should use the provided WebMonetization object to power it: WebMonetization/asset/js/web-monetization.js.

If you've modified these files, make sure you make backups before upgrading the module.

How It Works and Repurposing

The JavaScript used for this module is written in a way that can be repurposed for uses outside of Omeka S. Here's a generic rundown of how this module enables monetization.

Load the WebMonetization JS object and the custom JS that powers the payment control. Useful functions to include in your custom JS are:

WebMonetization.isReady(): Is monetization ready?
WebMonetization.init(): Initialize web monetization.
WebMonetization.isEnabled(): Is the current path enabled for payment?
WebMonetization.enablePayment(): Enable payment.
WebMonetization.disablePayment(): Disable payment.

Then, configure web monetization using these meta tags:

<meta name="web_monetization_payment_pointer" content="">: The payment pointer.
<meta name="web_monetization_enable_by_default" content="">: Whether to enble payment by default (false by default).
<meta name="web_monetization_path" content="">: The current path. While a URL path is the conventional way to identify whether the current page is monetized, it could be any string that identifies the page in the current URL's origin.