Before you're ready to install WordPress, the following needs to be done:
If you omitted any of the preceding items, flip to the chapter listed to complete the step.
Fantastico is a very popular script installer that several Web hosting providers make available to their clients. Fantastico contains different types of scripts and programs that you can install on your hosting account, notably, the WordPress software.
Here we make a few assumptions about your hosting environment:
If your hosting provider doesn't give you access to an installation script, such as Fantastico, skip to the next section in this chapter for the steps to install WordPress manually, via FTP.
Follow these steps to install WordPress with Fantastico:
The Fantastico page loads in your browser window and displays a list of available scripts on the left side of the page, as shown in Figure 4-1.
The WordPress page loads, displaying a short description of WordPress and the version that's available with Fantastico. (See Figure 4-2.)
Fantastico is a third-party script that exists as an add-on to cPanel. Web hosts subscribe to Fantastico and add it to your cPanel as an extra service for you to take advantage of; however, Web hosting providers do not control which scripts, or which versions of scripts, are available within Fantastico. Web hosts are completely dependent upon the makers of Fantastico as to what scripts and script versions are available. Fantastico is usually about a month or so behind the game when updating the programs in its script installer.
The Install WordPress (1/3) page, shown in Figure 4-3, displays.
Leave this text field empty to install WordPress in the root directory (http://yourdomain.com), or enter the name of the directory you want to install WordPress into, such as http://yourdomain.com/wordpress. If you type in this text field, the directory should not exist on your Web server; if it does, Fantastico tells you that WordPress can't be installed.
These two items are the username and password for the WordPress administrator, and you use them to log in to the WordPress Dashboard after it's installed (See Book III, Chapter 1).
The information you enter in this section can be changed later in the general settings of the WordPress Dashboard (after it's installed and you've logged in). Enter the info as follows:
This name displays on your Web site after you start publishing to your WordPress blog.
This e-mail address is used for your administrator user account in WordPress, after it's installed on your Web server in Step 9.
The site name displays on your site, and can be changed later, if you want.
The description displays on your site, and can be changed later, if you want.
The Install WordPress (2/3) page displays with several messages. The Fantastico script installer creates the MySQL database for you and displays the name of the database. This page also displays a confirmation message on the domain and directory that WordPress is installed into.
The page refreshes in your browser and Fantastico displays a message confirming the success of the WordPress installation and displays the login URL, username, and password.
If you enter your own e-mail address in the Email the Details of This Installation To text field and then click the Send E-mail button, the URL, username, and password are sent to your inbox for safe storage. (This is an optional feature, but we strongly recommend doing this in case your browser crashes and you lose the information.)
Your WordPress installation via Fantastico is complete, and you're ready to start using WordPress on your Web server. If you installed WordPress by using the Fantastico method and don't want to review the steps to install WordPress manually, flip to Chapter 5 in this minibook to optimize your WordPress installation for performance and security.
If you install WordPress manually, here's where the rubber meets the road — that is, you're putting WordPress's famous five-minute installation to the test. Set your watch and see whether you can meet that deadline.
The famous five-minute installation includes only the time it takes to install the software. This doesn't include the time to register a domain name; the time to obtain and set up your Web hosting service; or the time to download, install, configure, and figure out how to use the FTP software.
The WordPress software is a personal publishing system that uses a PHP/MySQL platform, which provides everything you need to create your own blog and publish your own content dynamically without knowing how to program those pages. In short, all your content (options, posts, comments, and other pertinent data) is stored in a MySQL database in your hosting account.
Every time visitors go to your blog to read your content, they make a request that's sent to your server. The PHP programming language receives that request, obtains the requested information from the MySQL database, and then presents the requested information to your visitors through their Web browsers.
Every Web host is different in how it gives you access to set up and manage your MySQL database(s) for your account. In this section, we use the popular hosting cPanel interface. If your host provides a different interface, the same basic steps apply; however, the setup in the interface that your Web host provides may be different.
To set up the MySQL database for your WordPress site with cPanel, follow these steps:
Click the MySQL Databases icon to load the MySQL Databases page in your cPanel.
Be sure to make note of the database name because you need it to install WordPress.
A message appears confirming that the database was created.
The MySQL Databases page displays in your browser window.
Scroll to the approximate middle of the page to locate this section.
A confirmation message appears stating that the username was created with the password you specified.
For security reasons, make sure that your password isn't something that sneaky hackers can easily guess. Give your database a name that you'll remember later. This practice is especially helpful if you run more than one MySQL database in your account. For instance, if you name a database WordPress or wpblog, you can be reasonably certain a year from now when you want to access your database to make some configuration changes that you know exactly which credentials to use.
Make sure that you note the database name, username, and password that you set up during this process. You need them in the section “Running the installation script” later in this chapter before officially installing WordPress on your Web server. Jot them down on a piece of paper, or copy and paste them into a text editor window; either way, make sure that you have them handy.
The MySQL Databases page displays in your browser window.
The MySQL Account Maintenance, Manage User Privileges page appears in cPanel.
Because you're the administrator (or owner) of this database, you need to make sure that you assign all privileges to the new user you just created.
A page opens with a confirmation message that you've added your selected user to the selected database.
You return to the MySQL Databases page.
The MySQL database for your WordPress Web site is complete and you're ready to proceed to the final step of installing the software on your Web server.
Without further ado, get the latest version of the WordPress software at http://wordpress.org/download.
WordPress gives you two compression formats for the software: .zip and .tar.gz. We recommend getting the Zip file because it's the most common format for compressed files and both Windows and Mac operating systems can use the format. Generally, the .tar.gz file format is used for Unix operating systems.
Download the WordPress software to your computer and then decompress (unpack or unzip) it to a folder on your computer's hard drive. These steps begin the installation process for WordPress. Having the program on your own computer isn't enough, however. You also need to upload (or transfer) it to your Web server account (the one you obtained in Chapter 1 of this minibook).
Before you install WordPress on your Web server, you need to make sure that you have the MySQL database set up and ready to accept the WordPress installation. Be sure that you've followed the preceding steps to set up your MySQL database before proceeding.
To upload the WordPress files to your host, return to the /wordpress folder (shown in Figure 4-4) on your computer where you unpacked the WordPress software that you downloaded earlier. If you need a review on using FTP (File Transfer Protocol) to transfer files from your computer to your Web server, review Chapter 2 in this minibook.
Using your FTP client, connect to your Web server, and upload all these files to your hosting account, into the root directory.
If you don't know what your root directory is, contact your hosting provider and ask, “What is my root directory for my account?” Every hosting provider's setup is different. On Lisa's Web server, her root directory is the public_html folder; some of her clients have a root directory in an httpdocs folder. The answer really depends on what type of setup your hosting provider has. When in doubt, ask!
Here are a few things to keep in mind when you upload your files:
For the most part, it's a safe bet to make sure that the transfer mode of your FTP client is set to autodetect. But if you experience issues with how those files load on your site, retransfer the files by using the appropriate transfer mode.
Some hosting providers run their PHP software in a more secure format — safe mode. If this is the case with your host, you need to set the PHP files to 644. If you're unsure, ask your hosting provider what permissions you need to set for PHP files.
The final step in the installation procedure for WordPress is connecting the WordPress software you uploaded to the MySQL database. Follow these steps:
If you chose to install WordPress in a different folder from the root directory of your account, make sure you indicate that in the URL for the install script. For example, if you transferred the WordPress software files to the /blog folder, for example, you point your browser to the following URL to run the installation: http://yourdomain.com/blog/wp-admin/install.php. If WordPress is in the root directory, use the following URL to run the installation: http://yourdomain.com/wp-admin/install.php (where yourdomain is your domain name).
Assuming that you did everything correctly (see Table 4-1 for help with common installation problems), you see the message shown in Figure 4-5.
The Welcome to WordPress page appears, giving you the information you need to proceed with the installation.
If you named your database wordpress, for example, you enter thatin this text box. If your host requires you to append the database name with your hosting account username, you enter username_wordpress, substituting your hosting username for username. Lisa's username is lisasabin, so she enters lisasabin_wordpress.
You can change the table prefix to create an environment secure from outside access. See Chapter 5 for more information.
You see a message that says, “All right, sparky! You've made it through this part of the installation. WordPress can now communicate with your database. If you're ready, time to run the install!”
Another welcome page appears with a message welcoming you to the famous five-minute WordPress installation process.
For security reasons (and so other people can't make a lucky guess), passwords should be at least seven characters long and use as many different characters in as many combinations as possible. Use a mixture of uppercase and lowercase letters, numbers, and symbols (such as ! “ ? $ % ^ &).
The WordPress installation machine works its magic and creates all the tables within the database that contain the default data for your blog. WordPress displays the login information you need to access the WordPress Dashboard. Make note of this username and password before you leave this page. Scribble them on a piece of paper or copy them into a text editor, such as Notepad.
After you click the Install WordPress button, you're sent an e-mail with the login information and login URL. This information is handy if you're called away during this part of the installation process. So go ahead and let the dog out, answer the phone, brew a cup of coffee, or take a 15-minute power nap. If you somehow get distracted away from this page, the e-mail sent to you contains the information you need to log in to your WordPress blog.
If you happen to lose this page before clicking the Log In button, you can always find your way to the login page by entering your domain followed by the call to the login file (for example, http://yourdomain.com/wp-login.php — where yourdomain is your domain name).
You know that you're finished with the installation process when you see the login page, as shown in Figure 4-8. Check out Table 4-1 if you experience any problems during this installation process; it covers some of the common problems users run into.
So do tell — how much time does your watch show for the installation? Was it five minutes? Stop by Lisa's blog sometime at http://lisasabin-wilson.com and let Lisa know whether WordPress stood up to its famous five-minute installation reputation. She's a curious sort.
The good news is — you're done! Were you expecting a marching band? WordPress isn't that fancy ... yet. Give them time, though. If anyone can produce it, the folks at WordPress can.
Let us be the first to congratulate you on your newly installed WordPress blog! When you're ready, log in and familiarize yourself with the Dashboard, which we describe in Book III.