how to set up wordpress website for a novice.

kala85

Hi I have designed a website in Dreamweaver before , but I was looking to design a website using wordpress. I have downloaded the wordpress softwear from wordpress.org page. Can I set up the wordpress on my computer first or design it on my computer - how do I do this and where can set up a hosting account cheaply and register a dot com webpage..

Liam Byrne

You can, but Wordpress needs a web & database server to run.

Download and install WAMP first, then install Wordpress on that.

kala85

Are there any irish web hosts that have wordpress installed on their server already??
how difficult is it to install the wordpress softwear onto the server if its not already there??

Abelloid

kala85 wrote: »

Hi I have designed a website in Dreamweaver before , but I was looking to design a website using wordpress. I have downloaded the wordpress softwear from wordpress.org page. Can I set up the wordpress on my computer first or design it on my computer - how do I do this and where can set up a hosting account cheaply and register a dot com webpage..

You can set it up on your PC at home, but you need to install XAMPP first. You can then export the database and theme to the real online installation.

Even if you don't want to transfer everything it's good to have a good look around and see how everything functions, without any web hosting.

http://www.jdavidmacor.com/2007/07/24/how-to-install-wordpress-locally/

Most web hosts will have an easy install option for Wordpress, not much more than a couple of clicks.

Most of the hosting providers have app wizards that allow you to install wordpress easily. Beware that these wizards often install wordpress in "odd" locations which may cause problems later with ftp, etc. It's usually better to manually install.

Using XAMPP, you can create a development environment on your local PC and install wordpress. Once you have everything ready, sounds like the only thing you'll need to move from local to webhost is the theme. Install wordpress on the server, install any plugins/widgets you need and upload the theme.

Moving the database from local to remote is not recommended, as there are many installation-specific entries stored in the wordpress DB. These will need to be changed before the DB will work on the new site. A search and replace with a good editor like notepad++ will do it, assuming the DB is small, but still.. If you're just doing design on the local machine, uploading the database doesn't come into it.

Zascar

Op get a basic hosting package with any of the main Irish hosts like blacknight, register365 or Digiweb etc - they will all have an autoinstall of wordpress, however I find its better not to autoinstall but to do it yourself, its not that hard apart from the database setup. However, check out www.fiverr.com - there are plenty of people who have wordpress experience who offer their services for US$5. Highly recommended