Wordpress Question

[Lydia123]

My question is quite simple: How do I upload this animal? :)

I'm obviously very new to website hosting (this is my first effort). I'd like to include a blog on my site and yes, I've read all the instructions at Wordpress's site but am still at a loss. I've downloaded the program to my computer. I downloaded ZipDeploy (somewhere I read I had to do that). Now what do I DO with them both? I lose it right here:

<< Step 2: Create the Database and a User
If you are using a hosting provider, you may already have a WordPress database set up for you, or there may be an automated setup solution to do so. Check your hosting provider's support pages or your control panel for clues about whether or not you'll need to create one manually. >>

Thanks for any help you can offer. :)

[felgall]

What I did was to FTP all of the wordpress files to the folder on my hosting where I wanted it (in my case an add-on domain).

I already had a database set up so I didn't need to create one but if you don't have a database yet you need to use the cpanel "MYSQL Databases" option to create a database and a user that can access the database.

When you then try to access the address of the folder where you loaded Wordpress it will redirect to the install program where it will ask you the name of the database, the name of the user and password with access to the database, the prefix you want to use for the tables in the database (by using different prefixes you can set up thousands of wordpress blogs sharing one database) and will then provide you with an admin password to allow you to go in and set up everything else the way you want it.

I have never come across zipdeploy but from the name I suspect that it provides a way of being able to just upload the zip file and extract it on the server rather than running the extract on your computer and then FTPing the individual files.

[Lydia123]

Hi Stephen, thanks for the reply! To clarify, I will be the only user/admin of this site. I want a website showing a collection and I want a blog (with comments enabled) to discuss the collection.

So you're saying I need a database before I can upload Wordpress? And there's a "MYSQL Database" option inside my cpanel that will allow me to create it? Are there instructions anywhere on how to do this? After I create this database, I upload Wordpress, correct? Where do I upload it to on the cpanel?

One more question, when I click on the folders in the cpanel just to see what's inside them, I get a message telling me that "the folder is no longer available." But when I click to close that message, it appears that I'm inside that (empty) folder. So what does "the folder no longer available" mean?

Thanks again for your patience. :)

[Basil]

It looks like there's a MySQL wizard in cPanel now that combines creating a database and adding a user to it in a step-by-step process. It is very simple, it doesn't need instructions.

It doesn't matter whether you upload the wordpress files first or make the database first, you just can't install it until the database exists.

This (http://www.bluehostforum.com/showthread.php?t=7800) might be of some help to you, they've changed cPanel a bit since I wrote it, but it should give you a basic idea of how these things work together. It's for a manual install of phpbb, wordpress and any other database-driven application will work similarly.

Legacy file manager will look more like the one in the pictures, I don't really like the new one.

[skeezix]

Legacy file manager will look more like the one in the pictures, I don't really like the new one.

Amen. The "new" one is not ready for the bigtime. BlueHost support offers 2 suggestions:

Run Firefox;

Use the legacy file manager.

When I use File Manager and try to rename/move files and folders, I never know if the action "took". Sometimes it appears to have accepted a new file name, but upon refreshing, the name that was replaced returns. :confused:

WinXPSP2

[Early Out]

When I use File Manager and try to rename/move files and folders, I never know if the action "took". Sometimes it appears to have accepted a new file name, but upon refreshing, the name that was replaced returns. :confused: I find that refreshing (F5) doesn't do the trick with File Manager. I've learned to close it, then open it again, before I'll assume that anything has actually "taken." It seems to be OK with deletions, but not with renames, copies, etc.

[Lydia123]

Thanks for the responses. I used the mysql wizard to set up a database; I went through all the steps and got a message that the database was created, but I don't see the database anywhere. Is it supposed to show up in a folder somewhere?

Another question. I read in the book "Creating Web Sites" that apparently I can set up a blog at blogger.com and direct it to my bluehost site so the blog will have my url, not a blogger.com url. It appears easier to do this than install wordpress, although I may be wrong. Has anyone done this, and is it just as good as me installing wordpress? I want both a blog and a website, so I don't know how that will work yet (the sharing the URL name). Any comments?

[Nicap]

Thanks for the responses. I used the mysql wizard to set up a database; I went through all the steps and got a message that the database was created, but I don't see the database anywhere. Is it supposed to show up in a folder somewhere?

Lydia123, If you back out to cpanel. Where you normally would click on "Mysql wizard" click on "MySQL Databases". You should see the database you created listed under the "Current Databases" section.


Another question. I read in the book "Creating Web Sites" that apparently I can set up a blog at blogger.com and direct it to my bluehost site so the blog will have my url, not a blogger.com url. It appears easier to do this than install wordpress, although I may be wrong. Has anyone done this, and is it just as good as me installing wordpress? I want both a blog and a website, so I don't know how that will work yet (the sharing the URL name). Any comments?

I believe you can do what your staying with blogger. Though I would have to read their help docs to figure it out myself. I also am playing around with wordpress and have been enjoying it. I think as long as you make sure you do a personal back up of your sql database once a month you will not have anything to worry about. Wordpress gives you (in my opinion) a little more freedom then blogger does.

[Lydia123]

<< I also am playing around with wordpress and have been enjoying it. I think as long as you make sure you do a personal back up of your sql database once a month you will not have anything to worry about. Wordpress gives you (in my opinion) a little more freedom then blogger does. >>

Would you mind telling me how you uploaded it? I've read the instructions here that people have been kind enough to post, but I haven't gotten it to work yet for me.

What more freedoms do you have with it than with blogger that you like?

BTW, I just looked in "mysql databases" and you are right, the database I made is there! So with that step out of the way I can now upload Wordpress?

[Nicap]

Would you mind telling me how you uploaded it? I've read the instructions here that people have been kind enough to post, but I haven't gotten it to work yet for me.

Lydia123, I am going to assume your on a Windows or Macintosh. So lets say you downloaded the compressed ZIP file onto your computers desktop. The first thing you need to do is uncompress this file you have download. Once the uncompressed file has been unzipped you can upload it to your server via ftp.

This link should help you: http://codex.wordpress.org/Installing_WordPress#Famous_5-Minute_Install

But, if you find your self needing more help just say so. I will be happy to do what i can.


What more freedoms do you have with it than with blogger that you like?

I am pretty sure that blogger only allows you to have 2 pages. The blogging page it's self and a profile page. Your not so limited with wordpress. You can have more then one page (i: a links page, a photo gallery, quotes. ets). You have tons of themes you can download also to change the look and feel of your site quickly.



BTW, I just looked in "mysql databases" and you are right, the database I made is there! So with that step out of the way I can now upload Wordpress?

Correct. See the link above i left you.

[Lydia123]

Thanks for the response. Actually, I called Bluehost tech help several times today -what great support, there is hardly any wait and their techs are very knowledgeable and helpful!- and it turns out all I had to do was go to Fantastico in the cpanel, click a few things, and it installed itself!

[skeezix]

I went through all the steps and got a message that the database was created, but I don't see the database anywhere. Is it supposed to show up in a folder somewhere?

You never really see the "database" as a file because it doesn't exist as such. Think of it as one giant storage area hidden deep in the bowels of the host. What you are doing with MySQL is you are creating permission to use some of that space in which you can store your personal papers, pictures, etc.

Try this simplified analogy (very simplified): The database is a building that contains 2 rooms. One of the rooms is called "MySQL" and inside that room stand hundreds of file cabinets. Some of these file cabinets have locks on them and contain files and photos and other stuff. The stuff inside the cabinets belongs to various users. On the back of these cabinets are cables that lead into a connecting hallway. That room is what you and I refer to as "the database".

You and I are "users". We are assumed to be dumb and are not allowed to touch the file cabinets. We are not even allowed enter the MySQL room. We are dangerous and cannot be trusted with all that data. Who knows, we might accidentally bump into one of the cabinets and knock it over, or trip on one of the cables and dislodge it, or light up a cigarette and burn the whole place down!! So we are kept on the other side of the wall.

At the other end of the connecting hallway is another large room where the users can do their work. Call it a "user area" if you wish.

Finally, the user area has a second door that leads to the outside world. That door is locked by one of those keypad-type locks, but can be unlocked by entering the correct data into the keypad. The correct data consists of a username and a password.

When you set up your "database", you are telling the building manager
that you would like to store some information inside the building. The floor manager then collects some basic information from you and issues you a username and password that you can use on the keypad. This allows you to enter the user area.

Okay so now you have opened the outside door to the user area and you go inside. You look around and decide you want to make a website and/or blog. But you are not allowed inside the MySQL room, and even if you were, you wouldn't have the foggiest idea what to do. So just what do you do? Why, you go get your easy-to-use WordPress (or Joomla, or Drupal) installation kit, that's what you do. You download it from the WP (J or D) site, open it up (i.e. unzip it) and haul all the stuff inside into the user room with you (i.e. upload the files).

When you opened the installation kit out popped a little man who is called the "Installer". Let's call him the WP Installer because you want to use WordPress. So you tell him to do his stuff and he then asks you some questions about what you want him to do, and he does his thing. Now this little man has a key to the connecting hallway and the MySQL room beyond. He grabs all the stuff that came in the installation kit and he goes into the MySQL room.

He finds an empty file cabinet and installs drawers in it, each drawer with a label. Think of these drawers as "tables" and it is these tables that will hold the data you want to store. the WP Installer then connects a cable to the file cabinet and then leads the cable through the connecting hallway and into the user area.

Next he goes into the user area and sets up a desk for you. He connects the cable to the back of the desk. On top of the desk are two panels, each containing a bunch of buttons and switches. He plugs these panels into two sockets on the desk.

One panel is labeled "WPAdmin". This panel is connected to the guts of the desk where all the WordPress tools are stored. Like the Options, the Dashboard, the Manage, the Users, etc. You will use this panel most of the time to build, enter and edit data, and maintain your website/blog. To use the panel you are given a key (i.e. a password and username based on the information the WP Installer collected earlier from you).

The other panel is labeled "PHPmyAdmin". The installer connects this panel into another socket on the desk. This panel bypasses the WPAdmin panel and connects directly to your file cabinet in the MySQL room. If you know what you're doing, you can use the controls on this panel to directly access the contents of your file cabinet. You need a key to use this panel as well.

Hopefully this will give you somewhat of an idea of how the control panels work in relationship to you and your area of the "database".


Another question. I read in the book "Creating Web Sites" that apparently I can set up a blog at blogger.com and direct it to my bluehost site so the blog will have my url, not a blogger.com url. It appears easier to do this than install wordpress, although I may be wrong. Has anyone done this, and is it just as good as me installing wordpress? I want both a blog and a website, so I don't know how that will work yet (the sharing the URL name). Any comments?

Because you are asking on a BlueHost user forum, I assume you have an account with BlueHost. If so, you can use Fantastico to install WordPress for you. In the process, the MySQL database will be "set up" as well (by the WP Installer, the little man, you remember).

I and many other folks use WordPress (and other CMS as well) for combination website/blogs. I used WP to build all of my site (www.springvalleyhoa.org (http://www.springvalleyhoa.org)) and all pages look pretty much the same. However, some are static pages, while others allow comments ("blog" pages). Didn't plan it that way, but that's how it turned out and it seems to have turned out for the best.

You can do that too.

Anyway, hope you are able to make some sense out of this. The War Dept. is calling me for dinner so I better hop to it. Good luck. If things get tough, just keep posting here. It wasn't a piece of cake for me either. Think of it this way - your first Thanksgiving family dinner probably took days to prepare for, but your 20th will only take a few hours...

[Lydia123]

Skeezix, that was a great post, and I am saving it for further reference. :) Being as you are the Wordpress pro, can you answer the post I just made about c/ping ads into Wordpress? I don't know how to find the HTML option to do this.

[skeezix]

I'm glad if it helped you, but in the great ocean of WordPress, I've just stuck my toe in. It took me quite a few tries before I finally got the hang of installing WP, and it took a bunch of questions on this and on the WP forum as well. I really just started out (last August), and I don't really know much more than you about WP, php, MySQL, and all that.

Many other folks on this forum have the knowledge, experience, and willingness to help people like us out and any of them can help you a lot more than I can.

[The Wiz]

To make things much more faster, upload the zip or tar file and unzip it on the server. Much less time. But before you do unzip it on you computer and make sure it creates it's own folder. Then upload to your root folder. I found it will create it's own folder with the chmods in place.

[Lydia123]

To make things much more faster, upload the zip or tar file and unzip it on the server. Much less time. But before you do unzip it on you computer and make sure it creates it's own folder. Then upload to your root folder. I found it will create it's own folder with the chmods in place.

I'm not sure I'm following ...are you saying to re-upload the downloaded backup file, and then unzip it? And to make a folder for it first? What are chmods?