Installing a WordPress Blog
I took notes while installing this WordPress Blog, and have started putting them together, I plan to add to this document, particularly some of the more difficult stuff after the install…
WordPress is well known for its ease of installation. Under most circumstances installing WordPress is a very simple process and takes less than five minutes to complete. It has become so popular that most web hosts offer tools (e.g. Fantastico, Simple Scripts, or Premade Scripts) to automatically install WordPress for you. I’ll cover cPanel, Simple Scripts and Manual Installation. Try to get the most recent stable version such as 2.9 or better. The later versions are the easiest to install.
The following installation guide will help you, no matter which method you use. There are some existing instructions that I’ll include, they are less detailed and commonly known as “The Famous 5 Minute Installation”, if you feel comfortable that would be the best quick-guide it is at the bottom of the document.
Things to Know Before Installing WordPress
There are a few pre-requisites to the installation that you’ll need along with making sure your host supports running WordPress, which is almost a certainty considering how widely used WordPress has become.
You need access to your site and its directory along with some basic software to proceed with the installation. These are:
- An access to your web server (via shell or FTP)
- A text editor such as Notepad or Wordpad.
- An FTP Client (if installing on a remote server) – FileZilla is my favorite.
- Your web browser of choice. Chrome is my new favorite.
Requirements of your Host to Run the WordPress
Not sure about the requirements? Use this pre-made note to ask your hosting provider.
I’m interested in running the open-source WordPress <http://wordpress.org/> blogging software and I was wondering if my account supported the following:
-
- PHP 4.3 or greater
- MySQL 4.1.2 or greater
Thanks!
Just copy, paste, and send
Installation using cPanel – Very Easy!
Step 1: Log Into Control Panel
Step 2: Find the WordPress Installation Icon
Step 3: Click the Install Button
Step 4: Choose Installation Preferences – Expand Step 2 of this screen also.
Step 5: Fill out the expanded Advanced Options – This is where you set the admin userid and password. You must not lose it.
Step 6 – Click Complete Button and wait for completion screen (below).
Install Confirmation
Step 7 – Open the Admin Window (note the address in your confirmation window)
The Admin Screen
Step 8 – Open your Blog to view it, I like to use a separate browser and hit refresh as I make changes. Pretty Ugly, but now is the fun part applying themes and customizing.
I’ll write about Themes and Widgets in another article. But this is the same blog you are reading now… just with different Themes and customizations and content of course.
First Look At Blog (it has changed a lot in a few weeks)
IF you are not able to install WordPress via an Automated Method described above, then you may install it manually.
The best manual installation is the “Famous 5 Minute Install”
Notice How much the blog has changed since this first version, also my blogging skills have improved a lot this one needs lots of clean up.
Famous 5-Minute Install – If you don’t have an automated option
Here’s the quick version of the instructions, for those that are already comfortable with performing such installations. More detailed instructions follow.
- Download and unzip the WordPress package, if you haven’t already.
- Create a database for WordPress on your web server, as well as a MySQL user who has all privileges for accessing and modifying it.
- Rename the wp-config-sample.php file to wp-config.php.
- Open wp-config.php in your favorite text editor and fill in your database details as explained in Editing wp-config.phpto generate and use your secret key password.
- Place the WordPress files in the desired location on your web server:
- If you want to integrate WordPress into the root of your domain (e.g. http://example.com/), move or upload all contents of the unzipped WordPress directory (but excluding the directory itself) into the root directory of your web server.
- If you want to have your WordPress installation in its own subdirectory on your web site (e.g.http://example.com/blog/), rename the directory wordpress to the name you’d like the subdirectory to have and move or upload it to your web server. For example if you want the WordPress installation in a subdirectory called “blog”, you should rename the directory called “wordpress” to “blog” and upload it to the root directory of your web server.Hint: If your FTP transfer is too slow read how to avoid FTPing at : Step 1: Download and Extract.
- Run the WordPress installation script by accessing wp-admin/install.php in your favorite web browser.
- If you installed WordPress in the root directory, you should visit: http://example.com/wp-admin/install.php
- If you installed WordPress in its own subdirectory called blog, for example, you should visit:http://example.com/blog/wp-admin/install.php
That’s it! WordPress should now be installed.
One response
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