Linas M blog

Introduction

I have decided to write this tutorial, because not everyone can install WordPress properly and I’m not even talking about plugin installation. That’s why I’m going to write a very simple and clear tutorial how to install WordPress properly with all necessary plugins and permalinks configuration in .htaccess file. Ok, let’s begin…

Downloading Wordpress

First of all you have to download a latest copy of WordPress from the web, than unzip it and make the necessary changes. So download the latest copy of the WordPress by going here: http://wordpress.org/download/ and press on the big picture “Download .zip”. It should be named “latest.zip”. Than unzip it and go to the next step.

Installing WordPress

First of all you have to create a data base (db) on your web server. When you do that, just fill in the information in the “wp-config-sample.php” and rename it to “wp-config.php”. All you have to change is: data base name, data base user name, data base password. You don’t need to modify the “localhost” line. When you done all these steps, you have to upload all files to the server. Once you done that go to your web site like this: www.yourdomain.com/wp-admin/install.php (don’t forget to change “yourdomain.com” to your own domain name :D ). Than follow the installation setup and complete it. Don’t forget to remember the given password (you can change it to your own one latter). After installation you should be redirected to login page (www.yourdomain.com/wp-login.php). Sign in using user name “admin” and the generated password. Than go to the profile menu and change your password to the new one. Well that’s it – installation completed!

Configuring Permalinks

If you are still logged in press the “Options” tab, than “Permalinks”. Don’t change anything in here (at least you know what you’re doing :D ). Just press the button “Update Permalink Structure” and copy all the text below. Than open the “.htaccess” file on your web server (if you don’t have one – create it) and paste all the copied text in it and save the file. Now you have all your links nice and easy to read.
IMPORTANT: All the time you create a new page (not story, but a new page) you have to press the “Update Permalink Structure” button and copy the new generated text to the “.htaccess” file again! If you don’t do that you will get an error while opening the new page. Well that’s it about permalinks, let’s continue…

Installing and using plugins

1. Sitemap of your entire web page. I think this plugin is very good, because search engines like site maps. It’s easier for them to index all your articles. So here we go: First of all you have to download the “Sitemap.php” from my web site. Here is the download zip file: [Download]. Extract the downloaded file and make the changes inside. Change the keywords and description. Upload the “sitemap.php” to the main Wordpress directory. Than all you have to do is put a link in your main page to (www.yourdomain.com/sitemap.php). How to make a link? It’s very simple: Go to your control panel and press “Presentation” tab, than select “Theme Editor” and find the “Sidebar template”. Press it. Than in that script you have to find something like “< ?php wp_loginout(); ?>”. Create a new line just after this and put the following script: “press to view”. Than press “Update File”. (P.S. Don’t forget to make the file you are changing writable, it means make the “sidebar template” CHMOD 777). And that’s it. You have a sitemap of your webblog.

2. E-mail notification plugin. It helps people to know when your web page is updated. Every time when you put a new story on your blog the email notification will be sent to all subscribed users. Well I guess you get the point :D. So let’s get started: Download the e-mail notification plugin from the developer home page: [Download]. Open the readme.txt file and start doing everything that is in there. Only one thing, on the stop number 5 they are saying that you have to put one line in the “post.php”. When I was installing this plugin on my WordPress 1.5. I could not find that line “} // end if publish” on my file. So I did it other way. If you have the same problem just put that extra line just under this line: “$location = “post.php?action=edit&post=$post_ID”;” on the fresh install it’s somewhere about line 151. And that’s it follow “TO USE IT” instructions and you should get it working in no time! Good luck!

3. Meta Tags on your web site. “XFish Meta” – that’s the name of our plugin. This plugin will make a meta tags on your web site such as “meta keywords” and “meta description”. These meta tags are very important for search engines to get the best from your website. So here we go: Download the plugin from developer website: [Download].

Copy all source and paste it in the txt file, than rename it to: “xfish_meta.php”. Than upload this file to your server in the “plugins” folder, and press “Activate” button in the plugins section in the control panel. If you have any problems while installing this plugin please feel free to write your problems in the comments. Well that’s it!! Good luck for everyone!

Wow! How big tutorial I wrote here :D. I do proud of my self :D.