Installing WordPress
What do you need?
To have a website using WordPress, you need at least the following:
- a domain (the name of your site)
- space on a server (for all of us who don't have our own server, this means a webhost), with an SQL server (most webhosts have this today)
- an FTP program, a program for uploading the website
Getting the installation files
A lot of hosting sites have installation of WordPress as a feature you just click on to install. If this is an option, this is by far preferable to a manual install, as it removes some of the steps described below. If you don't have that option, you go the the site wordpress.org/download/. If you need to have WordPress in another language than English, e.g. German, you add the language code before WordPress, i.e. de.wordpress.org/download/. Here you click on the download button.
When clicked, your PC will download an installation file, packed as a zip file. Where to place the file is a matter of personal preferences. I usually place things like this in a folder on my workspace, si I don't forget to delete it when WordPress has been installed.
The Zip file has to be unzipped. For Windows, this is done by right-click on the file and selecting Extract all. Now you can select where you want to unzip the files. Windows 10 suggests a subfolder in the current folder as default, but the choice is yours.
Now we are ready for the installation.
When clicked, your PC will download an installation file, packed as a zip file. Where to place the file is a matter of personal preferences. I usually place things like this in a folder on my workspace, si I don't forget to delete it when WordPress has been installed.
The Zip file has to be unzipped. For Windows, this is done by right-click on the file and selecting Extract all. Now you can select where you want to unzip the files. Windows 10 suggests a subfolder in the current folder as default, but the choice is yours.
Now we are ready for the installation.
The installation
The extracted Zip file contains a foldes named wordpress. The entire content of this folder must be uploaded to the website using FTP, and this is where you have to stop and think for a minute.
How do you want to use your WordPress? Do you want the primary part of your website (the part your visitors land on, when writing the domain name) to be done using WordPress, or do you only want it for a secondary part of the site, e.g. a blog or a webshop? If the primary part of the site has to be WordPress, the files in the folder wordpress must be copied to the website's root, otherwise the files have to be copied to a folder. The recommendation from here is not to call the folder WordPress, but give it a descriptive name, e.g. blog or webshop, depending on the intended use of the installed WordPress.
Before you can start the installation procedure, you need to create an SQL database at your webhost. Your hosting service have a description of the procedure which you follow (and a support function that can guide you through it, if the description is incomprehensible). When creating the SQL database, be sure to note the following:
When the files have been uploaded to the site, you start the actual installation.
The installation procedure is opening the file wp-admin/install.php (i.e. http//domain/folder(if applicable)/wp-admin/install.php) in a browser. A welcoming page now appears, telling you that you need to know the database name, etc. to proceed. This information you add and click next.
Now the wp-config.php file containing information about the connection to your database is prepared. If it doesn't work, for some odd reason, you open the file wp-config-sample.php using an editor e.g. Notepad++, and write the information about database name etc. directly in the file. After this, you save the file and upload it to the server, an try opening wp-admin/install.php in your browser once again. If it still doesn't work, you have to go to one of the WordPress forums and ask for help.
Now you reach a welcoming page, where you write the name of your WordPress installation, your user name, an access code and a mail address. This is where you name the installation, e.g. Peter's Blog or The Art Blog or whatever suits you fancy, and set yourself up as user on the system, so you can log on and start writing content and make the site look nice. When you press the button Install WordPress the installation is finished, and you can log on and start working.
If you access you WordPress site now, there is a standard page with "Hello world!" WordPress comes with a standard set-up, that enables you to start blogging right away. If you need to use the site for something else, you have to start by installing new themes, for things to work. For most people, it will be necessary to change the set-up and find an appropriate theme, so the visuals will me more to their liking, but a such, the site is ready, and you can start blogging.
How do you want to use your WordPress? Do you want the primary part of your website (the part your visitors land on, when writing the domain name) to be done using WordPress, or do you only want it for a secondary part of the site, e.g. a blog or a webshop? If the primary part of the site has to be WordPress, the files in the folder wordpress must be copied to the website's root, otherwise the files have to be copied to a folder. The recommendation from here is not to call the folder WordPress, but give it a descriptive name, e.g. blog or webshop, depending on the intended use of the installed WordPress.
Before you can start the installation procedure, you need to create an SQL database at your webhost. Your hosting service have a description of the procedure which you follow (and a support function that can guide you through it, if the description is incomprehensible). When creating the SQL database, be sure to note the following:
- Database name
- Database username
- Database accesscode
- Database host
- Table prefix (if you want more than one WordPress installation in the same database)
When the files have been uploaded to the site, you start the actual installation.
The installation procedure is opening the file wp-admin/install.php (i.e. http//domain/folder(if applicable)/wp-admin/install.php) in a browser. A welcoming page now appears, telling you that you need to know the database name, etc. to proceed. This information you add and click next.
Now the wp-config.php file containing information about the connection to your database is prepared. If it doesn't work, for some odd reason, you open the file wp-config-sample.php using an editor e.g. Notepad++, and write the information about database name etc. directly in the file. After this, you save the file and upload it to the server, an try opening wp-admin/install.php in your browser once again. If it still doesn't work, you have to go to one of the WordPress forums and ask for help.
Now you reach a welcoming page, where you write the name of your WordPress installation, your user name, an access code and a mail address. This is where you name the installation, e.g. Peter's Blog or The Art Blog or whatever suits you fancy, and set yourself up as user on the system, so you can log on and start writing content and make the site look nice. When you press the button Install WordPress the installation is finished, and you can log on and start working.
If you access you WordPress site now, there is a standard page with "Hello world!" WordPress comes with a standard set-up, that enables you to start blogging right away. If you need to use the site for something else, you have to start by installing new themes, for things to work. For most people, it will be necessary to change the set-up and find an appropriate theme, so the visuals will me more to their liking, but a such, the site is ready, and you can start blogging.