Tutorials: WordPress

GETTING STARTED WITH WORDPRESS

Setting Up Word Press

This tutorial is designed to help you get setup with WordPress. The entire process from start to viewing your new blog with its first post should take no more than 15 minutes. It is that easy. Just follow step-by-step and you will have your own blog in no time!

BEFORE YOU BEGIN:

There are several things you will need before you begin.

1. You have own your own domain name. If you have not yet done this OR if you are uncertain if you have done this, it may be helpful to visit our Domain Registration Tutorial.
2. You have arranged to have your domain hosted. If you have not yet done this OR if you are uncertain if you have done this, it may be helpful to visit our Domain Hosting Tutorial.
3. You have the ability to FTP to your server. If you do not know how to do this OR do not have the information you need to do this, it may be helpful to visit our FTP Tutorial.

Server Requirements - Let's take a quick look at what WordPress requires you to have on your server in order for it to successfully install. The software relies on two pieces of software - the first is called PHP and the second is MySQL. The only strict requirements are PHP version 4.1 or greater (if the either the 4 or 1 is greater you are fine) and MySQL 3.23.23 or greater (again, if any of the numbers are greater you are fine). If you arranged hosting through 1and1 or another similar company you have all you need and can proceed to the installation. If you are uncertain if your server matches the requirements, you should check with their support department to make sure.

INSTALLATION:

We have now confirmed that you have the necessary requirements, so it is time to move forward with the installation. The first thing you need to do is download the WordPress software. You can always get the newest version by going to this site. Clicking that link will open a new window. Go ahead and click on the file that says something like wordpress-1.0.2-blakey.zip. The numbers in the word may vary a little bit, but that is fine - it just means the version you are downloading is slightly newer than when we wrote this tutorial. On the next page select a location to download the file from. Any of them should be fine. It is a small file so don't worry too much about finding one close to your location. Save the file to your desktop.

The file should take only a few seconds to download, though it may take a bit longer if you are on a dial-up connection. When it has finished downloading you will need to unzip it (a zip file is one that contains many files within one file - it is like a box containing many items). When you unzip it, you will find a folder on your desktop called something like wordpress-1.0.2. Go ahead and open that folder. Inside you will see a whole list of files.

Next Page