Topics
- Introductions
- Syllabus Review
- The Class Blog
- What is WordPress?
- Why Choose WordPress ?
- Alternatives
- WordPress.org vs. WordPress.com
- Example Sites
- Finding a Host
- Installing WordPress
- Downloading WordPress
- Setting Up The Database
- Editing the wp-config file
- Uploading WordPress via FTP
- Activating your WordPress site
- A Quick Tour of the WordPress Dashboard
What is WordPress?
WordPress is an open source, Web publishing platform. It was originally developed as a blogging tool, but has grown into a powerful CMS (Content Management System) used the world over for building complex dynamic Web sites. This site is built with WordPress!
Why choose WordPress?
- Free
- Open Source
- Mature
- Customizable
- Easy to Maintain
- Large Community
Alternatives
WordPress.org vs. WordPress.com
WordPress.org is where you can download the latest version of WordPress for installation on your own domain. It is also where you can find documentation and support, and add-ons to customize your site.
WordPress.com is where you can set up a blog under the wordpress.com domain (yourblog.wordpress.com). The basic service is free and supported by advertising, premium services like your own domain name are available for a fee.
Example Sites
Some people think they don’t want to use a system like WordPress because they don’t want there site to look like a “template” or a “blog”. Basic WordPress sites do share similar layouts but there are thousands of free and commercial themes that you can use and, if you want to get into more advanced techniques, completely customize. Here are some examples of sites that were built with WordPress:
REgistering a domain and Finding a web Host
If you do not already have a domain name (www.yourcoolsite.com) and a web hosting service, you will need to take care of this before next class.
You can registered any domain name that is available. You can use any host you want, as long as they meet the requirements for WordPress listed farther down.
WordPress recommends a number of hosts here. I think all of these hosts offer one-click install of WordPress, which will greatly simplify your setup.
If you currently have a domain and a host, make sure your host supports the following:
- PHP 5.2.4 or higher
- MySQL 5.0 or higher
- Apache or nginx Web server (recommended)
For either a new or existing host, you will need to be able to do the following:
- Access your site via the host’s control panel
- Access your site via FTP
- Create a new mySQL database via myPHPAdmin
Installing WordPress
I’m going to do a demo install for you today, next class you are going to do it yourself!
Note: If your host has one-click install, you won’t need to do most of these steps
1. Download WordPress
The latest release of WordPress can be downloaded here. It will be a .zip archive. When you unzip it, you will see a directory that looks something like this:
Wordpress Downloaded Files
2. Setting Up The Database
WordPress stores all of your site content in a mySQL database. If your host doesn’t offer one-click install, you will have to create a new database with phpMyAdmin. The way you access this will differ depending on your host, but phpMyAdmin looks like this:
You will create a blank database, with nothing in it. Once you do this, you will need to know:
- The database name
- The database user name
- The database password
3. Editing the wp-config file
In the WordPress files you downloaded, you will find a file called wp-config-sample.php. You will need to add your database information to this file and rename it. You can open this file with a plain text editor like TextEdit, TextWrangler, NotePad, etc. Do not open it in Microsoft Word!
In this file, you are going to enter your database name, user name, and password:
Then, a little further down, you are going to replace some additional lines for better security for your WordPress site:
Go to: https://api.wordpress.org/secret-key/1.1/salt/
Copy the information from the browser window to your wp-config file, replacing what is already there.
Now, save or rename the file as wp-config.php.
You are ready to install WordPress!
4. Uploading WordPress via FTP
You must upload your WordPress files to your Web server with an FTP (File Transfer Protocol) client, a special piece of software that allows you to move files from your desktop computer to the remote Web server. The computers here have two FTP clients installed:
- Fugu
- Fetch
It doesn’t matter what you use, they all function pretty much the same.
- Another popular FTP client for Mac is Cyberduck.
- On a PC, Filezilla is a popular free FTP client.
To connect to your site via FTP, you will need to know:
- FTP hostname
- FTP Username
- Whether you need to connect via FTP or SFTP
- FTP Password
This is what the connection screen looks like in Fetch:
Once you’ve connected, navigate to the directory you wish to install WordPress into. If your whole domain will be the WordPress site, this will be the main or “root” directory.
When you are in the right directory, drag all the files in the WordPress directory from your computer into the FTP window. It will take some time for all the files to upload, and when you are finished, the directory will look like this:
Make sure that the file list is the same as what is in the folder on your computer. WordPress will not work if all the files are not uploaded.
5. Activating your WordPress site
Once everything is uploaded to the Web server, open up a Web browser and navigate to your domain and directory (like www.yourdomain.com or www.yourdomain.com/wordpress). If everything installed correctly, you will see a screen like this:
File in the site title (you can always change this later), the username that you would like to use, and the password. For the password, choose something easy for you to remember, but hard for someone else to guess. WordPress will tell you if your password is weak!
A Quick Tour of the WordPress Dashboard
If time permits, we’ll take a further look at the admin system behind WordPress.
Homework
To continue in this course, you must have a domain and a hosting account that you can install WordPress in.
By next week’s class, if you do not already have a domain and hosting, register for a domain and set up a hosting account. You don’t have to do this at the same place, but it does make things easier. If you run into any trouble with this, please email me at classes@catherinegarnier.com and I will do my best to help you. If you already have hosting, make sure that your host supports the PHP and mySQL requirements mentioned above.
For next class, you will need:
- Your username and password for your Web hosting account, and the address where you log in to your hosts “control panel” to administer your account.
- Make sure you know how to create a new mySQL database from the control panel
- Your FTP username and password (this may be the same as your hosting username and password) and the FTP hostname (this may be something like ftp.yourdomain.com)