WordPress Installation 101

I decided to a few posts sharing the easy way to download and install WordPress blogging / CMS Open Source Platform.

WordPress is my choice because I have been using WordPress for several years now, after having tried many of the other platforms available. As a developer, I have found the learning curve for new users is very low. The back end interface is very intuitive, and the popularity of WordPress, makes finding self-help tutorials online relatively easy. If you are willing to learn some HTML and PHP, you can easily learn how to customize your own WordPress installation.

I am not going to elaborate on the server requirements for the platform, I am going to start from the point where you have already set up your own hosting account and have verified that WordPress can be installed. This tutorial will cover a manual installation of WordPress. Although many hosting providers provide a single click installation, if you decide to install it yourself, you can follow along.

I use HostGator for hosting, and the account includes a CPanel interface for backend functions. If you have not done so already, you will have to create a new database. Then create an admin user and password, and have this information handy as you will need it for the installation. When creating the user for the database, I would suggest letting the random password generator create the password for this user, as it is typically more secure.

First you must download the latest version of WordPress from the .org site. At the time of this article, the current version is 3.3.2. Download and extract the “wordpress” folder. On a Windows machine, you will navigate into the wordpress folder, and create a zip file of all the contents within the wordpress folder. On Windows machines, inside the wordpress folder, right click, and select all or CTRL + A to select all the files. Once all the files are selected. Right click again on the selected files and choose to create a new zip folder. Depending on the version of Windows, and what programs you have installed, the options may vary. The goal is to create a zip file. Name it whatever you like, I will be calling the new zip file, wp.zip.

Upload the file to the desired folder on your website. I use the following PHP script to unzip the files.

Using ZipArchive

$zip = new ZipArchive;
     $res = $zip->open('wp.zip');
     if ($res === TRUE) {
         $zip->extractTo('/home/[root-folder]/www/[optional-folder]/');
         $zip->close();
         echo 'ok';
     } else {
         echo 'failed';
     }

Create a file in the folder, I called mine unzip.php, and ran the code by navigating to the file in a web browser. Then if you navigate to index.php of the folder where you unzipped the files, you will begin the WordPress installation.