SiteGround Tutorials

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WordPress Tutorial

If you plan to start your own blog website, the best choice for a blog application would be WordPress. Wordpress is an Open Source blog tool, which offers a rich set of blog features as well as a large supporting community. If you have not activated your blog website yet, please visit our blog hosting package, where you get the best service for starting a blog site.

WordPress has intuitive administration, which anyone can handle. In WordPress you will be able to compose a post and publish it on your website with just one click! With WordPress you can easily customize the look of your website for there are lots of free WordPress themes available on the Net.

The WordPress Tutorial: Easy Start covers the following topics:

• Instructions on how to install WordPress via Fantastico tool or without it;
• How to get started with WordPress by writing posts, creating pages in WordPress, etc.;
• How to arrange your blog posts in categories;
• How to manage comments in WordPress;
• How to change the theme of your WordPress site;
• How to install WordPress plugins, such as images, Recent comments, Spelling checker, Google AdSense;
• How to create a backup of WordPress;
• How to upgrade the WordPress version.

WordPress Installation

Get a FREE WordPress installation with SiteGround WordPress hosting Package!

WordPress is really easy to install. It is included in the Fantastico Autoinstaller tool and can be activated in just a few clicks!

WordPress Installation Detailed Tutorial

Please, follow the step-by-step guide below in order to activate Wordpress on your hosting account:

Step 1: Please, login to your CPanel and locate the Fantastico De Luxe icon:

Step 2: Find and click the WordPress link.

Step 3: Then choose New Installation:

Step 4: Decide upon the location of your blog - if you would like to have it as your site front page, leave the directory box blank, otherwise fill in the appropriate folder name. Next, fill in the administrator details and the e-mail account configuration then click the Install WordPress button.

Step 5: A new confirmation page will be loaded for the installation. Click the Finish Installation button if no errors are reported.

If else you will have to go back and rectify the specified issues.

Step 6: After completing the installation the final screen will load, providing you with the installation details. You will be able to e-mail the details to a specified address also in order to keep them for future reference.

Well done! You have successfully installed the Wordpress application!

WordPress Installation

Get a FREE WordPress installation with SiteGround WordPress hosting Package!

If you do not have the Fantastico auto installed on your account or just choose not to use it, you have the option to install WordPress manually. Please, follow the step-by-step guide below in order to activate Wordpress on your hosting account:

Manual installation of WordPress

Step 1: Download the installation file from the WordPress download section by clicking on "Download.zip" or "Download.tar.gz". This way you will have the latest stable release of the script in your computer.

Step 2: Upload it in public_html folder of your account. You can do that via FTP with a client like Filezilla or via cPanel -> File Manager -> Upload file(s). This way, after the installation is completed, the file script will appear once you visit your website.

Another option is to create a subfolder in your hosting account and upload the file in it. The WordPress installation will be accessible at:

http://www.yourdomainname.com/subfolder

Step 3: When you are in cPanel -> File Manager, navigate to the uploaded file and extract it by clicking on "Extract". The other option is to extract the file in your computer and then to upload the content in the desired folder via FTP.

Step 4: Once the files are extracted in the desired folder, you should create a MySQL database for WordPress. You can do that from cPanel -> MySQL Databases. Detailed instructions how to do so can be checked at our MySQL tutorial.

Step 5: Rename wp-config-sample.php to wp-config.php and edit it. Fill in your database connection details in the following lines:

define('DB_NAME', ''); // The name of the database
define('DB_USER', ''); // Your MySQL username
define('DB_PASSWORD', ''); // ...and password

Step 6: Open in your browser:

www.yourdomainname.com/where_wordpress_is_extracted/wp-admin/install.php

This should setup the tables needed for your blog. If there is an error, double check your wp-config.php file, and try again.

Step 7: The installation procedure is finished. You could save the administrative username and the password, since you will need them in order to access the WordPress installation admin backend in the future.

Start up guide for blogs

• How to start a WordPress blog?
• Where to login for the Wordpress admin area?
• Writing a post in WordPress
• Creating pages in WordPress
• How to create a category?
• How to post comments in WordPress?
• How to change a theme?

How to start a WordPress blog?

All you need to do is open a hosting account, where you can have the Wordpress application installed. Here at SiteGround we offer FREE Wordpress installation! With our Wordpress hosting package you can start creating your site right away! If you already have a hosting account, you can check here how to install WP.

Where to login?

Once you have your Wordpress blog installed, you need to login into the WordPress administration area, where you can write posts and articles, manage comments, change your theme, etc. To log in the WP admin panel, please navigate to the WP login page from your side menu under the Meta -> Login section or by entering the exact URL:

http://www.yourdomainname.com/wp-admin/

Writing a post in WordPress

Writing posts and pages is the core activity in WP. You can start your editorial experience at the Write menu

 

You can simply proceed with entering the desired content in the Title and the Post boxes. Once you are ready the new post can be published just by clicking the Publish button.

Creating pages in WordPress

Creating individual pages in WordPress is quite similar to writing a post. You should simply click on the Page link from the Write menu.

Note that various advanced options, such as entering meta tag info, are also available in the menu to the right.

WordPress Categories

In order to have your blog in a decent structure and ease your visitors' navigation throughout your posts and pages, you should categorize your posts.

Creating a new category

A new category is created from the Manage menu, Categories section.

Change the category of a post

In order to move a post from one category to another, you should click on Manage -> Posts and click on the chosen post to edit it.

Pick a category and save the post.

Delete a category

Note that deleting a category does not delete posts from that category. It will just set them back to the default category Uncategorized.

Comments in WordPress

In WordPress your visitors have the option to leave comments on your site. This feature creates a dynamic interchange between you and your readers.

Moderate comments

You can moderate your visitors' comments via the Comments tab in the WordPress administrator backend.

Comment options

You have a number of options that you can set for your Comments. They are listed under Settings -> Discussion.

This is the place where the site administrator decides:

• if comments are allowed,
• if pingbacks and trackbacks are acceptable,
• and what constitutes Comment Spam.
• On this SubPanel you also control the circumstances under which your blog sends you e-mail notification about certain events for your site.

Please, make sure you press the Save Changes button once you are ready with your setup.

WordPress Main Functions

The main functions of the WordPress tool are accessible from the upper part of the Admin page. They will help you to create and manage your blog website.

• Dashboard
  Here you can see the latest news from the WordPress developer's site.
• Write
  This is the place where you can share your thoughts and ideas with the world by writing posts and pages or editing the existing ones.
• Manage
  This is actually where you can manage the content of your site. You can see lists of all your Posts, Pages, Categories and Comments, read and edit them. Here you can also edit your Templates and other files used in your blog.
• Links
  Here you can add links to your favorite web sites. They can be organized by category, have internal references about your relationship to their destinations, be automatically associated with images, and can even be rated on a scale from zero to nine.
• Presentation
  From that part of Administrator's area you can manage the way your content will be shown to the visitors of your blog. Here you can change the themes and add new from the developer's site.
• Plugins
  This is the place, where you can manage the existing plugins and add new ones from the developer's site. Every plugin comes with the description about its functionality and instruction how to enable it.
• Users
  Here you can manage your user's profiles or add new users to your blog. This way they also will be able to add content to your blog.
• Options
  This is the place where you can manage all the configuration settings for your blog. This section includes general, writing, reading, discussion, miscellaneous options and customization of permalink structure.
• Import
  Here you can import posts or comments from another system into your current blog.

WordPress Themes

How to change your WordPress Theme

In the default WordPress installation, there are a couple of templates you can choose from. You can find them in your WordPress administration area (Where to login?), under the Design -> Themes menu.

You can change the theme simply by clicking on the desired theme name or thumbnail.

How to upload a new WordPress Theme?

If you would like a new WordPress theme for your blog web site, first of all you will have to download it to your local machine. You can visit our Wordpress themes gallery and download free themes from there:

Once you have the new Wordpress theme on your local hard drive, you have to upload it under the 'wp-content/themes' directory of your website. You have two options to do that:

• You can upload the .zip file of the theme in the 'wp-content/themes' directory via the File Manager and extract it online, or
• Extract the file in your computer and then to upload the content in the desired folder via FTP.

Now, that you have the new theme uploaded on your site in the right folder, you can see it in your WP admin panel and select it as a default theme for your site.

WordPress Plugins

Plugins (also called Add-ons, Components or Modules) are files you usually download separately from the WordPress basic installation. They provide additional functionality to your script that is not included in the standard installation. To install a plugin you generally just need to put the plugin file into your 'wp-content/plugins' directory. Once a plugin is installed, you may activate it or deactivate it from the Plugins menu in your WP administration.

Generally the Plugin installation is a straight forward process still additional work might be required for the different Plugins. By default it is enough to upload the plugin under the 'wp-content/plugins' directory for the WordPress installation and activate it from the administrator backend.

The removal is also straight forward in most cases. Simply remove the directory for the plugin you would like to uninstall and it will be automatically deactivated.

Still always bear in mind that not all Plugins are easy to install so always refer to their documentation and installation instructions first.

WordPress Plugins: WordPress Images

If you would like to include images or photos on your posts, you will need a Gallery Plugin added to your WP. Please, find here more details on how to install plugins.

Our example is based on WPG2 gallery plugin.

You can download WPG2 here.

If you plan to install Gallery 2 plugin, please make sure that you also download and install Imageblock and Imageframes modules for Gallery2. Downloads of the modules can be found here.

Once the Gallery addon is installed, you can see its admin section included in WP:

You can include images in your WP Posts or Sidebar. In order to include images in the Sidebar, you need to add the following code to your WordPress Sidebar Template file:

<li><?php print g2_sidebarimageblock(); ?></li>

In order to do that, please, edit the sidebar.php file through CPanel->File Manager.

It can be found at:

/public_html/wp-content/themes/default/

Now you can set your image preferences from the WP Admin panel. Please, go to WPG2 -> Sidebar Block, where you can set which pics you would like to include in the Sidebar. Please set the Image Size so that your images are included in the Sidebar and not outside of it. Please, make sure you press Save Changes once you make the changes.

Now you can see the Random Image displayed on your WP sidebar.

You can visit First Steps with WordPress for further reference.

WordPress Plugins: Recent Comments

Recent Comments Features:

• Highly configurable via WordPress admin interface;
• Support for WordPress 1.5 or higher;
• Adjustable layout by macros;
• Handles trackbacks and comments in separate lists, in one combined list;
• Widget support;
• Caches the output;
• Order comments by date, or by posting;
• Support for gravatars;
• Option to exclude comments to posts in certain categories;
• Doesn't show pingbacks originating from own blog;
• There is a special version for lyceum multiblog installations, which could be found here .

How to install Recent Comments

Step 1:

First of all you will need to download the get-recent-comments-1.5.1.zip file from here.

Step 2:

As soon as you have the file you should unzip it in your local computer. Then, you should upload the get-recent-comments.php file under your:

/public_html/path_to_your_blog/wp-content/plugins directory.

If you are not sure how to do this, we kindly recommend you to refer to our FTP tutorial where you will find step by step instructions how to do this.

Step 3:

When the plugin is uploaded under your plugins directory you should access the administrative area of your WordPress at: http://yourdomainname.com/wp-admin.php

Being there you should get to the Plugins section from the top menu.

Click on the Activate button on the left. This will activate the plugin that you have already uploaded.

Step 4:

Drag the widgets "Get Recent Comments" and "Get Recent Trackbacks" into the sidebar.

If your theme does not yet support widgets, insert to following code into the sidebar template:

<?php if (function_exists('get_recent_comments')) { ?>
<li><h2><?php _e('Recent Comments:'); ?></h2>
<ul><?php get_recent_comments(); ?></ul>
</li>
<?php } ?>

<?php if (function_exists('get_recent_trackbacks')) { ?>
<li><h2><?php _e('Recent Trackbacks:'); ?></h2>
<ul><?php get_recent_trackbacks(); ?></ul>
</li>
<?php } ?>

We strongly recommend you to revise the Instructions section under the Recent Comments plugin menu.

WordPress Plugins: Spelling Checker

What is WordPress Spelling Checker?

The Spelling Checker plugin for WordPress provides a built-in facility for spelling checks on posts from within the administration pages as well as spelling checks on comments via simple calls added to your templates. It requires no changes to the WordPress code, you merely drop it into the plugins folder and enable it in the interface.

How to install:

First of all you will need to download plugin. The spell-plugin.zip file can be downloaded from here. As soon as you have the file you should extract (unzip) it on your local computer.

To install a plugin you generally just need to upload the plugin file into your wp-content/plugins directory. Once a plugin is uploaded, you may activate it from your WordPress admin area.

Plugin upload process:

• Copy the "spell-plugin.php" file into your "wp-content/plugins" directory. If you are not sure how to do this, we kindly recommend you to refer to our FTP tutorial where you will find step by step instructions how to upload a file from your local drive to your web hosting account.
• Create a new directory in your "wp-content" directory called "spell-plugin". Make sure that the permissions of this directory are 755. To find out how to do this, please, take a look at the FTP -> Change permissions tutorial.
• Copy the remaining files (except for the "spell-plugin.php" file, which we have already set in the "wp-content/plugins" directory) into this new "spell-plugin" directory.

Plugin activation:

• When the plugin is uploaded under your plugins directory you should access your administrative area of your WordPress at: http://yourdomainname.com/wp-admin.php. Being there please, click on the Plugins section from the top menu.



• Click on the "Activate" button on the left. This will activate the plugin that you have already uploaded.

Once activated, you MUST VISIT the plugin options page at least once to enable the functionality. The plugin will NOT function and no "Check Spelling" button will appear, before that. Simply visit this page:

http://yourdomainname.com/wp-content/plugins/spell-plugin.php?speller_setup

How to use WordPress Spelling Checker?

On the "Write Post" page there should be a new button called "Check Spelling". Click it. You will get a new window that performs the spelling check. Note that you must have Javascript enabled for this to work. You must also have the "aspell" executable on your hosting machine (SiteGround.com servers have this installed) since it is required by the spell checking functionality.

Well done! You have successfully installed the Spelling checker plugin for WP!

WordPress Backup

WordPress is composed of files and a database. In order to backup your WordPress blog, you need to backup both your files and the database. 

It is always advisable to perform regular backups in order to avoid any data loss.

How to backup the WordPress files?

In order to backup your files we recommend you using FTP. Copy the files to your local hard drive. After that you can easily upload back the files and your site will be restored. If you're not sure which folders should be copied please copy the whole 'public_html' folder or the WordPress directory. Click here to learn how to use FTP.

How to backup the WordPress database?

Detailed inscrutions on how to create backup of your database can be found in our How to backup/restore MySQL database tutorial.

Well done! You have successfully created a backup of your WordPress system!

WordPress Upgrade

WordPress Upgrade to latest version

Step 1: Backup the Database Tables and Files including .htaccess. Please refer to the WordPress backup tutorial for further instructions on how to complete this step.

Step 2: Deactivate Plugins

Deactivate all the Plugins you use from the Plugin Management Page:

Some Plugins might not work with the new WordPress version, and that is why you would better deactivate all of them in order to avoid discrepancies. This will ensure that you won't end up with an upgraded-but-broken installation of WordPress after the upgrade process. Click on the Deactivate button on the left. This will deactivate the plug-in.

Step 3: Overwrite Files

• Overwrite option 1: Get the latest WordPress version from Wordpress download page and upload it to the WordPress directory, overwriting all the files that exist there. This will preserve your images and themes.
• Overwrite option 2: Deleting your old files on the server and uploading the newer files from the new version you've downloaded is an alternative which will ensure that the files on the server have been replaced for sure.

If you are not sure how to do this, we recommend you to refer to our FTP tutorial where you will find step by step instructions how to upload files.

Which option is better?

Generally, it is a good idea to delete whatever is possible because the uploading (or upgrading through cPanel) process may not correctly overwrite an existing file and that may cause problems later.

DO NOT DELETE these folders and files:

 

wp-config.php file;
wp-content folder;
wp-images folder;
wp-includes/languages/ folder--if you are using a language file, do not delete this folder;
.htaccess file--if you have added custom rules to your .htaccess, do not delete it;
Custom Content and/or Plugins--if you have any images or other custom content or Plugins inside the wp-content folder, DO NOT delete them.

DELETE these Files and Folders:

 

wp-* (except for those above), readme.html, wp.php, xmlrpc.php, and license.txt; files; Typically files in your root or wordpress folder. Again, don't delete the wp-config.php file.
wp-admin folder;
wp-includes folder; If using a language file remember don't delete the wp-includes/languages/ folder
wp-content/cache folder; You only see this folder if you are upgrading FROM WordPress 2.0.

Step 4: Run the upgrade script

Visit your blog's Upgrade Page (http://yourdomainname.com/wp-admin/upgrade.php) and follow the instructions that are displayed.

Step 5: Reactivate Plugins one by one

Activate your plug-ins, one by one, at the Plugin Management Page. Check if everything works as expected.

If any Plugin does not work, deactivate it and then you might contact the plugin author to encourage the author to upgrade the plugin.

Please, feel free to contact us if you have any questions or recommendations about this tutorial at: tutorials 'at' siteground.com