Installing WordPress

Topics Covered in This WordPress Tutorial:

Creating a Database, Installing WordPress, Creating a Wp-config.php File

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Exercise Overview

With the right environment in place, you can now install WordPress on your computer. This exercise will show you how to create a database, install the open source WordPress files, and edit the site’s configuration.

Creating a Database

1. The first step in creating a WordPress site is to establish a database for it. This is because WordPress sites rely on MySQL databases to hold all the content: posts, settings, images, etc. To create a database, you will use phpMyAdmin. Start your server and open phpMyAdmin, as shown below:

Installing WordPress

We have already downloaded WordPress for you. When working on your own projects, it is always best to download the latest version from WordPress.org. However, for this class, it saves us some time to have already downloaded it for you.

Take note that different versions of WordPress require different versions of PHP. If you installed the latest version of MAMP at home, you will need to follow the directions below to use WordPress 4.1 (the version in your class files).

1. Download the class files. Refer to the Downloading the Class Files page at the beginning of the workbook on how to download and install the class files.

2. Navigate to the Desktop, go into the Class Files folder, then the WordPress.org Class folder.

3. Select the WordPress-4.1 folder and hit Cmd–C (Mac) or CTRL–C (Windows) to copy.

4. Go to your htdocs folder:
   • Mac: Hard Drive > Applications > MAMP > htdocs
   • Windows: C: > xampp > htdocs

5. Hit Cmd–V (Mac) or CTRL–V (Windows) to paste the WordPress-4.1 folder.

6. Rename the new pasted folder mrpBlog

Creating a Wp-config.php File

The wp-config.php file establishes the connection between your site and the database. WordPress offers two ways to create a wp-config.php file—through a web interface or manually. Let’s see how to use the web interface.

1. Open Chrome and go to:
   • Mac: localhost:8888/mrpBlog
   • Windows: localhost/mrpBlog

2. English (United States) should be selected, so click Continue.

3. Click the Let’s go! button at the bottom of the page.

4. Enter the following database information:

   Mac
   

   Database Name:	mrpBlog
   User Name:	root
   Password:	root
   Database Host:	localhost
   Table Prefix:	wp_

   Windows
   

   Database Name:	mrpBlog
   User Name:	root
   Password:	(leave blank for local install)
   Database Host:	localhost
   Table Prefix:	wp_

   Getting Database Information for Wp-config.php

   Info about your local database can always be found by going to the start page of MAMP or XAMPP. The start page will tell you the host, username, and password for the MySQL Server. Information specific to the database can be found by clicking on the phpMyAdmin link on the homepage. Database names will be listed on the left of the screen. If you click on a database name, you can see the prefix being used in the table. This same process also applies to updating database information when moving a WordPress site to a remote server. We will cover that in more detail in a later exercise.

5. Click Submit.

6. Click Run the install.

7. For Site Title, enter: Monteith Restoration & Performance

8. For Username, enter: mrpAdmin

   NOTE: It is not a good idea to simply use admin as your username as this can make WordPress sites vulnerable to hackers trying to crack the admin’s password.

9. For Password, enter and re-enter: student

   For a real live site, you’ll want to choose a stronger password. But for class we can keep it short to save time typing it in.

10. For Your Email, enter an email address that can be accessed for the remainder of the class. Make sure to double-check the address before submitting the form.

11. Uncheck Allow search engines to index this site.

    NOTE: You will be able to change this once you have uploaded your site to a live server. For a real live website, you’ll want to leave this checked!

12. Click the Install WordPress button.

    If your blog information was accepted, you will get a success screen showing your new Username. Congratulations, you just did a custom install of WordPress! Now let’s check the site out!

13. Click the Log In button.

14. For Username, enter: mrpAdmin

15. For Password, enter: student

16. Click Log in.

    Welcome to the Dashboard of your site! The Dashboard is the first page you see when you log into the administrator section on your site. It gives you access to all of the different operations WordPress has to offer.

    The Dashboard is built using a responsive design. That means the page is designed to look differently on different devices and screen sizes. This book assumes you are working on a desktop with a wide enough browser window that you see the page as it is meant to be seen on the desktop, as shown below. At smaller screen sizes, some elements on the page may look different or be in different locations than we say in the book. For example, at smaller screen sizes, the navigation links on the left are only shown as icons.

    

17. At the top of the page, click the Monteith Restoration & Performance title to see the front-end of your site.

    NOTE: The gray menu bar on the top is only visible to logged in users and not the public.