Installing the WordPress Software on your Web Server

All of the files to create a WordPress blog are available for free on WordPress.org (make sure that you don’t go to .com). Go to the Documents tab and print the “Famous 5 Minute Installation Guide”. These simple instructions are a lifesaver. I will be using the summarized version below as the basis for this tutorial.

1. Download and unzip the WordPress package from the home page at WordPress.org.
2. Create a database for WordPress on your web server. Then, create a MySQL user who has admin privileges
3. Create a MySQL database on your web server
4. Prepare the WordPress Configuration file.
5. Load the WordPress files to your web server
6. Run the installation script from your browser

Download and Unzip the WordPress Software

You have to get the software files for your blog from the WordPress site. Download the latest WordPress Zip file from the WordPress.org site.  The link will be right on the home page.

Create a folder on your hard drive where you will place all of your WordPress files. (i.e. C:DesktopWordpress)

Unzip the WordPress files into your “Blog” folder. Right click on the “WordPress.zip” file and select Open With (your Zip software of choice).

Extract the contents of the Zip archive into the “WordPress” folder that you created.

The files that will run your blog will be contained in the WordPress folder.

Close your Zip application.

The following video shows all of the steps in the process of Downloading and Unzipping the WordPress Software.

Explanation of the WordPress installation Files

What do All of these Files Do Any Way? There are lots of files that go into building a WordPress site. Let’s take a look at what types of files your site contains and how they are organized. There are four important groups of files that are stored in the following folders:  Root, wp-admin, wp-content, and wp-includes.

The Root folder is the top folder of your blog. (The WordPress folder on your desktop for now.)  When someone visits your blog, the files in the root will launch your site and grab the other necessary files to build your pages and display your content.

The wp-admin folder contains the files that build the screens, menus, and functionality that allows you to administer your blog behind the scenes.

The wp-content folder contains a few very important things that store, organize, display, and manipulate the content that users see when they view pages on your blog.

The Plugins folder stores files that you add to your site to create custom functionality that is not contained in the standard software.

The Themes folder contains files that control the look-and-feel of your blog. You can choose from numerous themes that can give your blog limitless appearance options.

The Uploads folder, which does not get created until you start writing articles, holds content like images, videos, audio, and documents that you insert into your articles. All of the custom code, formatting themes, and media that you upload to your blog.

The wp-includes folder contains the programming code that handles all of the complicated inner workings of your blog. This is one area that is best left untouched.

You will learn how to carefully do things that impact many of these files and folders as we move through this guide.

Create a MySQL Database on your Web Server

WordPress uses a database to store your blog’s content. You need to create a database on your web server and a user that can access the database.

You can control the MySQL database on your web server using the phpMyAdmin application.

Log in to your web host’s Control Panel.

C-Panel is a Control Panel that is used by many popular web-hosting providers. These instructions will use C-Panel. (Each web host’s control panel works differently. See their Help or FAQs section for specific instructions.)

There are lots of options available on your C-Panel. Most of them are pretty straightforward and easy to use. You will probably need to scroll down the page a little to get to the database management tools.

Your web-hosting provider may supply a few different tools for managing your MySQL databases. You can use the phpMyAdmin tool to do everything necessary for a WordPress/MySQL database.

Click the phpMyAdmin icon.

The phpMyAdmin page will open.

You can create database users from the Priviledges tab.

1. Click the Privileges tab. This will display the User Overview.
2. Click the Add a new User link.

This Add a new User menu will open.

1. Populate the User Name field.
2. Select a Host (“local host”)
3. Use the Generate button to create a super-secure password
4. Select the Create Database with the same name and grant all privileges radio button under the Database for User section.
5. Click the Go button.

Your new database and the user that can access it will be created.

IMPORTANT: Write the Database Name, Host, User Name, and Password down on a piece of paper and log out of your web host’s Control Panel.  (You will need this information during the next step.)

See it in Action – Video Tutorial

The following video shows all of the steps in the process of Creating a MySQL Database.

Prepare the WordPress Configuration file

WordPress uses a “config” file to store some key configuration information that will allow the application to access the MySQL database that you just created. This file is located in the root of the WordPress directory.

Go into the WordPress folder in your Blog folder and look for the following file:

“php-config-sample.php”

This file contains the settings that tell WordPress how to connect to the database. You will need to modify a few of these settings now.

Start by changing the name of the file to “wp-config.php”. (Just delete “-sample” from the file name.)

You will also need to modify a few lines of code in the wp-config.php file.

Open the wp-config.php in a text editor. (Right click on the file and select “Open with (your text editor)”.

Scroll down to the line that contains the following text:

define(‘DB_NAME’, ‘putyourdbnamehere’);

define(‘DB_NAME’, ‘putyourdbnamehere’);

This is where you will need the Database information that you just wrote down.

Change “putyourdbnamehere” to the name of the Database that you just created.

Change “usernamehere” to the name of the Database User that you just created.

Change “yourpasswordhere” to the Database User Password that you just created.

* Leave “localhost” alone. Note: Some hosting providers will require you to add the address of the database server here. Set this to whatever you entered when you created the database/user.

Save and close the wp-config.php file.

See it in Action – Video Tutorial

The following video shows all of the steps in the process of Preparing the wp-config File.

Loading the WordPress Files to Your Web Server

You will need to use FTP software to load the WordPress files from your computer to your web server. There are numerous FTP applications available use whichever one you prefer. I use Filezilla because it’s free and works the same on my Mac, PC, and Linux machines. (Get Filezilla here.)

Launch your FTP software and connect to your web server. (You can find instructions and settings on your web hosting provider’s site.)

Configuring the FTP Settings

Click File> Site Manager

Filezilla’s Site Manager will open.

Configure your web server’s settings.

1. Click the New Site button.
2. Enter the Host and Port information from your hosting provider.
3. Select Normal from the Logon Type dropdown list.
4. Enter your FTP User Name and Password from your hosting provider.
5. Click the Connect button.

Once your connection is made you will see two file panes. The Left pane shows the folder and files on your Local Computer and the Right pane shows your Server.

Local Pane: Browse down to the folder where your WordPress files are located: (C:DesktopWordpress)

Server Pane: Browse to the “root” folder where your files belong. This may be the highest folder in the FTP pane or there may be a sub-folder that has your domain name.

There will be an “Index” file in that directory that is named either “index.htm” or “index.html“. This is the page that your domain name will display by default when a browser goes to your URL.

Delete this file. (Yes, this is a little scary, but just does it!) You will replace the file in just a moment.

Local Pane: click in the grouping of files inside the “WordPress” folder and select them all. (Edit> Select All)

Drag the selected files and folders across to the Server pane and drop them. This will start copying all of the WordPress files from your computer to the server. It will probably take a few minutes.

Close your FTP application when the files are finished copying.

See it in Action – Video Tutorial

The following video shows all of the steps in the process of Using Filezilla to Load the WordPress Installation Files to your Server via FTP.

Run the WordPress Installation Script

Now that all of the WordPress files are on your server you are ready to run the installation script that builds the application on your server.

1. Open your browser and type the following into the Address bar: “http://www.YOUR-DOMAIN-NAME.com ” (Substitute your actual domain name for YOUR-DOMAIN-NAME.)
2. Enter the name of your blog in the Site Title field
3. Enter your User ID in the Username field
4. Type your desired password in the Password, twice fields
5. Enter your email address in the Your E-mail field
6. Click the Install WordPress button

Your blog is now created and you will see the Confirmation message.

The WordPress Administration Interface

Now that your blog is created, you can log in and begin configuring its settings.

Click the Log In button.

The WordPress Dashboard

When you log in to WordPress, you will see the WordPress Dashboard. The Dashboard is the home page for WordPress’ administrative tasks.

The Dashboard has a menu down the left side, which groups your blog’s functionality under the following headings:

Posts, Media, Links, Pages, Comments, Appearance, Plugins, Users, Tools, and Settings

These are the default sections. WordPress allows you to make numerous customizations that can add more menu items.

When you click on a heading, you will see items that allow you to work with contents, settings, functionality, etc. The standard WordPress functionality will be covered in the next few chapters.

See it in Action – Video Tutorial

The following video shows all of the steps in the process of Running the WordPress Installation Process.

See the Rest of This Series

This is the 1st article in a 7 part series of tutorials on Creating a WordPress Blog. View the rest of the series:

1. How To Set Up a WordPress Blog
2. Configure the Settings on a WordPress Blog
3. Writing a Blog Aritcle Using the WordPress Web Interface
4. Controlling the Look of a WordPress Blog Using Themes
5. Adding Extra Features to a WordPress Blog with Widgets
6. Extending WordPress Functionality with Plugins
7. Publishing WordPress Articles Using Third Party Applications

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