Tutorials: WordPress

GETTING STARTED WITH WORDPRESS

UPLOADING

At this point you have downloaded the source files from WordPress and have unzipped them so they are now sitting on your computer. The next step is to upload them, or copy them, to your own server.

Open your FTP program and connect to your server using the settings provided by your host.

Before you can continue you have to make a decision. Do you want your blog to be the very first thing people see when they go to your site? If so, you will want to place all your files in what is known as the "Public" folder on your site. This may be the first directory you see when you connect via FTP or it may be called something like public_html. You will have to consult your host's documentation to find out for certain.

If you decide that you do not want the blog to be the first thing people see when they visit your site, you will need to create a folder within your Public folder called something like "wordpress." You can usually do this by right-clicking in your FTP software and selecting New and then Folder from the menu that pops up. Enter that folder once you have created it.

Go to the directory where you will install WordPress. You now need to click and drag each file from the directory to your server.

You will need to change a permission on one of your files. To do this wait until it has been copied to your server. Using your FTP program, right click on the file called weblogs.com.changes.cache and select Properties or CHMOD. You will see a number that will probably say 644 or something similar. Change that number to 666 and hit "OK."

INSTALLATION

You now have the necessary files on your server, so you are ready to proceed with the installation procedure. The rest of this should be quite seamless!

To start, go to your browser and type in the following address - www.YOURDOMAIN.com/wp-admin/install-config.php. Obviously where it says YOURDOMAIN.com you will have to enter your domain name. If successful, you will see a screen that looks like this:

Just your luck! It tells you that you need some more information before you can proceed any further. You need:
Database name
Database username
Database password
Database host
Table prefix (if you want to run more than one WordPress in a single database)

This is starting to sound complicated, isn't it? Well don't quit now! It will not take long to gather this information. You will need to go to your host's control panel and try to find this information. If you are using 1and1, go to your control panel, choose your hosting package (if necessary) and then select Applications from the list of options. Under applications you will see an option for MySQL Administration. You may have to run through a very brief setup procedure, but that screen should display all the information you need. There may be a short delay (5 minutes or so) while your host configures your database.

When you have all that information, return to your installation process and click on "Let's Go!" The next screen will look like this:

Go ahead and enter the information you just gathered. Your host may refer to Database Host as Host Name. To be on the safe side, change your Table Prefix from _wp to _wp1 in case you decide to begin a second blog later on. When you have entered all the information, press Submit. If all the information is correct you will see a screen like this:

If some of the information is incorrect, you will see this screen:

If you see this one you will need to hit your BACK button, correct the errors and try again. If you simply cannot get it to work, contact your server host's technical support department.

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