Trial Version

  • I have a homebuilt website and want to upgrade it to something that looks a bit more professional. Someone suggested WordPress and I agree the websites created with it look great – so far so good.

    The problem I have is that I want to make sure it is going to work for me with my level (low!) of understanding etc but to use it I need to pay my webhost for the SQL database. Is there anyway to have a play around without paying for the SQL database until I know it is going to work for me? As it’s an annual fee, I’d rather, for example, make sure that if I need new artwork creating etc, I can do all of that before I start paying for the database.

    Any suggestions? I’m finding the whole thing a bit difficult to follow :S

    Thanks

Viewing 15 replies - 1 through 15 (of 16 total)

  • Install WordPress locally–XAMPP is a good environment https://www.apachefriends.org/en/xampp.html

    See Installing WordPress

    Thread Starter tvgirl

    (@tvgirl)

    Help – I am completely lost! I went to the installing WordPress page and followed the links to install WPI but that didn’t work properly as apparently I need the Windows XP disc and I can’t find it. I’ve tried the apache friends one and it has apparently downloaded but I just keep getting messages saying it is not a trusted site and I can’t work out what on earth I am supposed to do next anyway.

    Please help – I thought wordpress was meant to be easy but it is driving me nuts!!

    If you host doesn’t offer a 1-click install of WordPress then think about using https://wordpress.com to see how WordPress works.

    Thread Starter tvgirl

    (@tvgirl)

    I’ve looked at wordpress.com, but unfortunately it won’t help me work out whether I can build a website for my business with it.

    I’ve managed to get the WPI installed but when I get to installing wordpress it gets stuck saying that it cannot access the database. I am only given the option of MySQL in the drop down menu and I am saying it is a local host. I have mySQL v 5.1 installed on my pc.

    I just want to be able to play around with this a bit to see what I can do with it and without anyone else seeing my efforts at the moment.

    I’m running Windows XP Professional

    Thanks

    On my xampp install, the MySQL database is on ‘localhost’.

    https://www.google.com/search?q=installing+xampp+to+run+wordpress

    Thread Starter tvgirl

    (@tvgirl)

    I don’t have xampp installed any more – just the WPI from the links on this site which is meant to install WordPress but it won’t because it says it can’t access the database.

    Thanks

    Try using EasyPHP instead.

    Thread Starter tvgirl

    (@tvgirl)

    Okay, I think I need help in words of one syllable. I have tried installing easyphp, which seems to have worked, but half the menu options are greyed out meaning I cannot click on them and when I try to install wordpress I get a differenet fault message – now saying the root@localhost is denied access.

    So starting from the beginning, all I want to do is download a version of wordpress onto my pc which I can then play around with to build a website. I do not want this to be viewable by anyone else and I do not want my current website to be affected by it while I try to build a new website. If I am able to build a website I like with wordpress I then want to upload it to my webhost so that other can access it too.

    So, in words of one syllable, what should I do? It is driving me absolutely insane and to be honest have never come across a website which has so little information on how to install the software and how to use it once it’s installed!

    Please help before I shoot myself!

    Thank you

    WordPress requires a web-server, PHP, and MySQL. So to do that you need to install a package like XAMPP or EasyPHP. Once those are working you can install WordPress.

    You might also consider finding a host that already supports WordPress with a one-click install and doesn’t over-charge to use MySQL.

    Thread Starter tvgirl

    (@tvgirl)

    I’ve installed xampp twice, easyphp once and xampplite once. They seem to install okay but then I can’t install wordpress or I can’t access the xampp homepage or when I do then I can’t access myphpadmin to set up my databases. I’ve googled it and found step-by-step instructions, but they don’t help with what do if you hit a snag.

    It seems that I have Microsoft, so I did find a workaround for that – but it doesn’t work.

    Driving me mad – so much for being easy to use.

    Obviously time to call it a day and look elsewhere for web building tools.

    :o(

    Did you manage to set up a database and a user with all privileges via EasyPHP/PhpMyadmin? I’ve just set up EasyPHP on a new Win7 machine, so the steps you need to go through are still pretty fresh in my mind.

    Thread Starter tvgirl

    (@tvgirl)

    No – I’ve not managed to get anywhere!!

    Is EasyPHP installed & running?

    Thread Starter tvgirl

    (@tvgirl)

    not anymore. I REALLY struggled with easy php when I tried it yesterday and have been trying xampp today instead.

    What OS are you running?

    I’ve been running XAMPP for Windows (I use Linux) for a year now, and it works right out of the box. I had some trouble with it in the beginning, but the problems were OS-related (as Windows is a terrible server OS. There are 30MB Linux distros that work better than any Windows install).

    To install it, all you have to do is get PHPMyAdmin (web-based MySQL manager) and create a database called ‘WordPress’. The default login username is ‘root’, and the password can be set here (assuming XAMPP Full is installed): https://localhost/security/.

    All you do next is just unzip WordPress, type in your PHPMyAdmin credentials (which are your MySQL database credentials), and you are good to go.

    BTW, what is greyed out in XAMPP? If you have lite (as I do) version, you can install PHPMyAdmin from the ZIP file, just like WordPress.

    Post back if anything works/fails, as I bet others will have the exact same problem…

Viewing 15 replies - 1 through 15 (of 16 total)
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