Tutoriel.ca

I had a blogger, but when I wanted to add a Flash video to it, it got so complicated(I had to upload the video on another server, then, for some reason, the controller would not appear) that I decided to buy my hosting and domain name at GoDaddy.com, because they are cheap. At first, I thought it was the best solution, becaues they offer a free Quickblog account when you buy a domain name. I was wrong! Quickblog is GoDaddy's blog client. That software is very new, so it's still not as complete as older software like WordPress, or even blogger. Also, when GoDaddy pretend to offer a Quickblog when you buy a domain name, they forget to tell you that your blog will have an ad banner on top of the page and that you cannot remove it or modify it. You will have to pay an extra 2.99/month to have an ad free blog. I had the chance to use Quickblog though, and I didn't like it that much. I strongly believe that a software as to be as ergonomic as possible, and easy enough for granny to use it, hey, I know what I'm talking about, I'm a User Interface Designer! So I don't think that Quickblog is easy enough to use, and even worst, it's almost impossible to modify your template! That's why I decided to install WordPress...

WordPress is famous for it's 5 minutes installation. I can hear you say: "Yeah, right!". I decided to give it a try anyway. I have to say that I didn't get it right the first time. Some people say that it's impossible to install WordPress on a GoDaddy server. You will have to tweak one of the original file. Let's say that it should'nt take more than 6 minutes if you are hosted with GoDaddy. And even if you have an economy plan. You have to know that I didn't fail PHP class only because I really wanted to pass it, putting twice the efforts everyone else in the class would. I am no programmer.

You will need:

1. Your GoDaddy account informations(username, password, etc.)
2. A text editor(Notepad will do just fine, but if you use Dreamweaver, you can use it as an FTP client too)
3. An FTP client(to upload your files on the server)
   

Step 1: Download WordPress

You can download the software here: http://wordpress.org/download/ . I suggest you download the .zip on your computer. Then unzip it on your computer, you will have a WordPress folder, with all of the files you need in it.

Step 2: Create the MySQL database

Log on to www.godaddy.com, using your user name and password.



Go to My Account. On one of the top menus(the one with the icons), select Hosting & Email, then Web Hosting and Databases. You will then see a list of your hosting accounts. Click the Open link, to open the control panel, next to the account you want to open.



A bunch of icons will now appear, look for the MySQL icon, under Databases and click it.



If you don't see any icons under Databases, it could be that it's not expended, click on the little + sign right beside the word Databases. You should now see it.



You should now see a list of your MySQL databases. You want to create a new one, so click on create new database.



You will now create your MySQL database connection information. You get to choose the name of your database, wich will also be your MySQL username. I suggest you use the word wordpress, or blog in your database name, this way if you create many databases, you will recognize it easily. In this case, just as an example for the Step 3, my User Name will be JackieO. Enter your password and confirm it. In this case, let's pretend I used muffin as a password.



Confirm that you want to create a MySQL database with that name by clicking Create database. If you want to change your user name or password, click Edit.



Let it process, after a few seconds, either you are gonna get an error message, saying that you cannot create a database with that name because it already exist(just go back and try with another name), or you will see a list of your MySQL databases. You will probably notice that the status of your database is "Pending setup", it's normal, and the status of your database will soon change to "Setup". Congratulations, you just created a MySQL database! Click on your database name to see your database informations. You should see a screen similar to this one:



All you have to do is to select the host name: mysql107.secureserver.net in this case. CTRL + C over it once it's selected. You will need it for the next step.

While you are still in your account, let's the operating system of your hosting account. You need to be able to run .php scripts. Select Web Hosting & Databases from the menu at the top of the page, then click on your blog's domain. You will see a Switch Operating System link on the right, click on it. Now select the same plan you have right now(unless you want to downgrade/upgrade it), but with W /PHP, instead of W /ASP. It's a very important step that you should not skip, otherwise it won't work.



Step 3: Tweak it!

Open the file: wp-config-sample.php with either a text editor like notepad, or better, if you have it, with Dreamweaver. Don't panic when you see the code! The only 4 lines of code you will have to change are the 3rd, 4th, 5th, and 6th lines. Right now, it goes like this :

define('DB_NAME', 'wordpress'); // The name of the database
define('DB_USER', 'username'); // Your MySQL username
define('DB_PASSWORD', 'password'); // ...and password
define('DB_HOST', 'localhost'); // 99% chance you won't need to change this value

What you see after // on every lines are some comments, to help you figure out what to do if you want to play in it. It's not really part of the code. All you have to do now, is to change wordpress with the name of your database(Jackie0), username with your MySQL username(Jackie0), password with your password(in this case, muffin). Now the "not so tricky part". Unlucky we are, next to localhost, notice what the comments says: 99% chance you won't need to change this value. Well we are the unlucky 1% who needs to change it. That's because you cannot have a localhost on GoDaddy! Change the localhost to (in this case mysql107.secureserver.net) CTRL + V. Save your file as wp-config.php at the root of your folder wordpress.

Step 4: Upload the file

All you need to do now is to upload the file on your web server, using your FTP client. If you are hosting with GoDaddy, don't forget that your ftp host is ftp.yourdomain.com.(change yourdomain by your domain name). Before you upload it, you might want to rename the folder wordpress. If you don't rename it and upload it at the root of your domain, it will be accessible through: http://www.yourdomain/wordpress . You might want to rename it to blog, or else. Then you might want to create a subdomain, and forward it to http://www.yourdomain/wordpress, but that's another tutorial ;) ...

Step 5: All set!

Allright, you are almost done! If granny could do it, I'm sure you did too! All you need to do now is to run the WordPress installation with your web browser somewhere around. http://www.yourdomain.com/wordpress/wp-admin/install.php . Just follow the instructions, and you will be done within a few seconds.

Easier than you thought it would be?