Tutorial of what, why & how of WordPress

Back in 2003 when we first got camera phones and witnessed the first instalment of Peter Jackson’s adaptation of J. R. R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings we also got the first release of WordPress.

WordPress is a free and open-source content management system (CMS) based on PHP and MySQL. So what on middle earth does that mean?

A content management system is basically a way to manage image, text and code and assist in the creation and modification of digital content, Good examples of CMS platforms are WordPress, Drupa, Joomla and ExpressionEngine. This could be considered as the library that you have been writing your website in.

MySQL is an open source relational database management system this stores all your data that can be used by the CMS to piece together all the data and read and write new entries. This can be considered as the librarian of the library indexing all your data and how to find it.

Why is WordPress so popular and why should you think about using it?

• Cost, it is open source and thus FREE
• Over 50% of all CMS platform users are using WordPress. Approximately 75 million websites.
• A huge amount of add-ons such as themes and plugins
• Easy to learn and great if someone else needs to pick the pieces at a later date
• Flexibility to be tailored to nearly any requirement

WordPress enables users to add and edit content and also through themes and plugins. Themes can range from completely free all the way through paying hundreds of dollars or a monthly subscription. Typically the higher the initial outlay the more advanced the features and thus usually easily adaptable to what you want. The theme as the name suggests is how your website will be laid out. A theme is the building block or basic construct of your story.  Plugins can be used for a huge variety of tasks including performance, keyword analysis, linking online accounts, forms and also editing themes and code. There will be much more about themes and plugins in future blogs!

Ok, enough of the history lesson! Get on with it!

Server installation of WordPress

Website hosts now typically provide one-click installations or preinstall WordPress when you open your hosting account. The process to install WordPress typically takes a few minutes and once installed you can access the   WordPress login screen using either the hosting providers link or simply entering the default URL, usually www.domain-name.com/login or www.domain-name/wp-login.php.

Local server (on PC) install of WordPress

Yes, you can run WordPress on a local PC without needing a “sever” this is a great way to test and learn WordPress. You actually will be needing a server, but your PC with the help of some software will create this environment as a virtual server. This method is likely more tricky than a server-side installation which is usually a one-click affair!

So what software do you need to run WordPress locally? There are a few good options out there to choose from. Here is a quick list of some of the options for a local testing environment for WordPress!

• MAMP (OSX with a beta version for the PC – Free and Pro versions available)
• instantWordPress (Windows – Free. Note, presently WordPress is down, https://instantwp.com/)
• Bitnami (Windows, – Free)
• XAMPP (Windows, OS X and Linux – Free)
• ServerPress (OSX & Windows – Free and Pro versions available)
• Varying-Vagrant-Vagrants or VVV (more complex and requires other installations)

It is best to view each of the options and carefully select what level or attributes the best suit you.

It is important to note that if you push your locally developed website live that you ensure the base URL is changed from local: host or similar to your actual domain, or you have a broken website!

In future blogs we will cover setting up WordPress and also installing themes and plugins!