WordPress...Feeling overwhelmed

**botrishlaw** · Nov 8, 2007 12:39

I just started looking at WordPress more seriously....I use blogger now. I thought it would be a quick install and start using it. After reading about two pages...I am now very unsure. So many here swear by it though, so I still want to explore the option.

That said, I want to seek some opinions...
1. Do you have it locally installed then upload to your site thought FTP? How smoothly does that go? I use 1&1 for my hosting, so I am unsure about compatability. I am sure it would be fine, but anyone else doing this.

2. If I upload to my webhost am I then "stuck" with using it under only a single domain (forgive me if this seems way off, but I am still rather new to this). If it is uploaded and managed from the host level, are all my changes and updates happening "live"?

3. I see the issues of the plugins...is there a seperate plugin for everything?

4. I guess what I am getting at, is it going to be a major learning curve to implement this??

Thanks for all your input!

**felgall** · Nov 8, 2007 12:52

1. I would expect almost weveryone is doing it that way since that is the correct way to do it.

2. Want 10 blogs then just upload 10 copies to the appropriate places on your hosting.

3. Like most open source scripts there are lots of plugins to do just about anything someone has thought of to do with the base script.

4. You have to enter about 5 values during the install. I haven't seen an easier to install product.

**botrishlaw** · Nov 8, 2007 13:04

Thanks for the info....

I will take a deep breath and go on over and take the plunge!!

I am sure I will be back!

**Lars-Christian** · Nov 8, 2007 13:36

It really isn't hard at all. If you want to make it a bit easier on yourself however you can get a host which has cPanel and Fantastico, which allows for one-click installations of WordPress.

Of course, it doesn't take a genius to read these slightly overdone instructions either

To express what that says, just shorter and more to the point, what you should do is create a database, edit wp-config-sample.php with the database information and save it as wp-config.php. Then upload all the files in the WordPress dir to the directory on your server you want your blog (for instance yourdomain.com/blog or whatever) and then run the install-script (http://yourdomain.com/thediryouchose...n/install.php).

And after then, have fun customizing it

And no, WordPress has an extremely low learning-curve compared to other content management systems I've worked with.

**aaronjj** · Nov 8, 2007 13:43

1) A lot of hosts have auto-installers for WordPress. I think 1&1 has something called Click 'n Build.

**Anat** · Nov 8, 2007 14:11

If you don't have fantastico or some other auto-installer and you've never installed a script before than don't feel bad if there is a learning curve

We've all been there and done that (i.e. installed a script for the first time).

Lars pretty much summed it up. My pointers would be -
1. If you don't have cpanel, just ask your host to create the database for you.

2. If you do have cpanel, then you have to create a user, create a database and then add that user to the database. So, three steps when you're in the database panel in cpanel (I used to forget to add the user to the database at first, and that just won't work).

I would say, stick to installing and getting it to run, worry about plug-ins later on. One step at a time has to be less stressful.

Remember, if you're having any problems, there are the boards, always

**tjthayer** · Nov 8, 2007 14:41

1and1 works perfectly fine with WordPress. I have several WordPress blogs (and a multitude of websites) on 1and1.

Just create the MySql database using the 1and1 control panel and make note of database name, password, host, etc.

Then, upload your WordPress files to the folder of your choice and run the WP installer.

It's a piece of cake... I added one <snip> just yesterday. It took all of 3 minutes total.

**ryanhellyer** · Nov 8, 2007 15:23

WordPress is definitely one of the easiest programs to install. Having said, that I can imagine it would be a bit baffling if you have zero experience with such things.

Off Topic:

tjthayer, you may want to remove those links to your sites in your post above. Sitepoint gets titchy at people promoting their own sites on here. If you need to refer to your own site, just point people towards your signature or pretend it's somebody else's site :P

**tjthayer** · Nov 8, 2007 16:51

Woops... Sorry about posting links to my sites above. It wasn't meant as self-promotion (especially since once of the sites is just a WordPress/K2 mockup with no content). Won't happen again...

**tjthayer** · Nov 8, 2007 16:57

Trish - If you get stuck with this I would be happy to help you out. I've got several years experience with both WordPress and 1and1, so I know my way around.

Just send me a PM if you need assistance beyond this thread.