How to install and develop a website using WordPress:
Websites are considered one of the best ways to communicate your ideas, concepts and information to people who are interested in you or your company. The problem till now has been that this medium has required the services of a web developer to all those who are not web developers themselves. Even the slightest tweak to a webpage requires you to spend time learning tools and tricks that you may not really be inclined to learn (especially if you are not a techie).
Today software called "content management systems (CMS)" have made it much easier for simple folks to edit and create pages on their websites without the need for a web developer. A CMS is simply any software that allows the creation of a basic webpage template and then publishes all pages in that particular format. The template provides details about how the advertisements should be displayed, the format of the headings and the dimension of the banner etc and all pages are then displayed in that format. The idea is to free the everyday user from the design aspect and help them edit/create content easily.
One of the most popular CMS is WordPress which is primarily used to create blogs but can as easily be used to create simple websites easily. Installing WordPress is easy and a step by step installation is available on the WordPress website. The amazing thing about WordPress is the vast literature available related to managing, expanding and modifying its existing facilities to develop fascinating websites. Moreover, WordPress themes are easily available and can be installed just by placing some files in the correct folder and then activating it from the admin console. Advanced and better themes are available at nominal costs and one can get a customized theme developed easily. If one counts the maintenance cost of doing updates every time you add or edit your website then the it is certain that you will save yourself a lot of hassle and cost.
There are of course a lot of things that WordPress cannot do for you:
1. It will not develop graphics for you itself
Needless to say that it is a content management system and not a graphic edit tool. You still need to develop and modify all your graphics separately.
Needless to say that it is a content management system and not a graphic edit tool. You still need to develop and modify all your graphics separately.
2. It will not allow you to develop any special pages
All your pages in are going to look alike. You cannot have a different color scheme for your products page and a different one for your contact page.
All your pages in are going to look alike. You cannot have a different color scheme for your products page and a different one for your contact page.
3. HTML based website only
Websites developed using WordPress are inevitably only HTML based and not flash based. So if you stick to using WordPress then forget the slick animations that come along a flash based website.
Websites developed using WordPress are inevitably only HTML based and not flash based. So if you stick to using WordPress then forget the slick animations that come along a flash based website.
Whether you decide to use the WordPress CMS to build your next website or use static HTML do realize that its always costly to change your platform in the middle of the project. So research your platform and assess your needs well before actually starting on the project.
Advantages of using WordPress:
1. Simple to use but powerful content management
It is hard to fault the content management system behind WordPress, it has been modified and improved so much that with the latest version, it is a joy to use. With a choice of HTML or WYSIWYG editors, ability to upload images and easy to use tags and categories. You will have to look long and hard to find a more user friendly and free content management system.
2. Content and design separation
One of the great things about WordPress is the separation between content and design, the back end content management system is completely separate from the template that is used to display the website. Thousands of themes are available to download and you can switch effortlessly between them without affecting your content.
3. Built with search engines in mind
Google seems to love WordPress, for whatever reason blogs get crawled quickly and generally the pages seem highly optimized to be search engine friendly. Of course it still depends what you write and how you use your keywords, but WordPress is certainly not going to hinder your Search Engine optimization plans.
4. Easily customizable
This has to be one of my favorite things about the platform, it is so customisable. Whether it's the thousands of plugins available to just download and immediately snap into your site, or the countless themes to make your website look just how you want it, or just the ability to be able to edit page design yourself through the content management system. With a little knowledge WordPress is easy to customise to just how you want it.
5. Cheap to set up and host
As it uses a PHP for the programming language and MYSQL for the database, it can be run on a very cheap UNIX hosting package. You can have a site up and running for just a few dollars a month. Or if you're not yet ready for your own domain name, you can even have them host it for you for free. It is a very cost effective solution for getting a website up and running quickly.
How to create a website using Wordpress:
Get domain name and hosting
§ First step to is to buy your domain name and hosting. I use GoDaddypersonally
Setup your hosting account
§ Select your Hosting plan
§ Login to your GoDaddy account
§ Click on Hosting and chose My Hosting Account
§ Find your hosting plan and click on Setup Account
§ Select the checkbox and click Next
§ Chose username and password you would like to use for your FTP hosting access and click Next
§ Chose Select a domain from this account and find your domain name
§ Finish the setup by clicking Submit
Get your FTP Account Information
§ When your hosting has been setup you will get an email titled “Hosting Account Setup” from GoDaddy
§ Find your “FTP Account Information” in the email
Hosting/FTP User Name: your username
Web Site URL: your domain URL
FTP Site URL: your FTP URL
Your Web Site Visitor Statistics: Your stats URL
Web Site URL: your domain URL
FTP Site URL: your FTP URL
Your Web Site Visitor Statistics: Your stats URL
Create MySQL database
§ Login to your GoDaddy account
§ Click on Hosting and chose My Hosting Account
§ Find your domain name and click on Manage Account
§ In the upper menu click on Databases and chose MySQL
§ Click on Create Database
§ Write description, chose username and password
When the MySQL has been setup, click on the pencil to “Edit/view details” and save the following details:
MySQL Database Information Status:
Setup Host Name: your host name
Database Name: database name you have chosen
Database Version: 4.1
Description: description you have chosen
User Name: username you have chosen
Setup Host Name: your host name
Database Name: database name you have chosen
Database Version: 4.1
Description: description you have chosen
User Name: username you have chosen
How to install Wordpress:
§ To install WordPress, go to WordPress.org and download the latest version
§ WordPress 3.0 comes in a .zip file so unzip it
§ Now you have a WordPress folder
§ Find the wp-config-sample.php file and rename it to wp-config.php
§ Open wp-config.php in text editor (like NotePad++) and find this part:
§ // ** MySQL settings – You can get this info from your web host ** //
§ /** The name of the database */
§ define(‘DB_NAME’, ‘putyourdbnamehere‘);
§ /** MySQL database username */
§ define(‘DB_USER’, ‘usernamehere‘);
§ /** MySQL database password */
§ define(‘DB_PASSWORD’, ‘yourpasswordhere‘);
§ /** MySQL hostname */
§ define(‘DB_HOST’, ‘localhost‘);
§ Take your MySQL Database Information you have from GoDaddy and insert them in places where I have marked with bold:
§ Your MySQL Database Name should replace putyourdbnamehere
§ Your MySQL User Name should replace usernamehere
§ Your MySQL password should replace yourpasswordhere
§ Your MySQL Host Name should replace localhost
§ Now find following in your wp-config.php:
§ define(‘AUTH_KEY’, ‘put your unique phrase here’); define(‘SECURE_AUTH_KEY’, ‘put your unique phrase here’); define(‘LOGGED_IN_KEY’, ‘put your unique phrase here’); define(‘NONCE_KEY’, ‘put your unique phrase here’);
§ Visit secret key and copy details you get there and insert them instead of the above.
§ Save wp-config.php
§ Login to your web hosting
§ Get a FTP client (like FileZilla)
§ Open FTP client and login to your hosting account using your FTP account information
§ Place all the files from your WordPress folder onto your server
§ In this example I will place all files in root directory (http://www.yourdomain.com). The directory will look something like this when the files are uploaded:
Comments
Post a Comment