Incorporating Wordpress Tutorial
Step-by-step instructions for Art Institute Students who want to install Wordpress on their aisites.com domain. Host your own blog!
First, you must create a database using your ols account
Before we even think about uploading, we need to have a database that wordpress can store itself on.
1. Log into your OLS account at stu.aii.edu
2. Once inside, navigate to the MY WEBSITE portion of the site. The link can be found under MY HUB on the welcome screen.
3. Click on Database Management in the Advanced Features section.
4. You are allowed 2 databases on your AI site. If you’ve never created one, this section should show that you have zero databases. Click the CREATE NEW DATABASE button at the top of the screen.
5. You will see a form with four lines to fill in: Database Name, Database Username, Password, Confirm Password
To simplify things, your database and username can be the same. Also, to make naming easier, just add the three digits or three letters of your domain (abc of abc123, or 123 of abc123)
Example of a filled in form:
Database name: abc123aii_abc
Username: abc123aii_abc
Password: *******
Confirm: *******
Note: Don’t worry about the odd naming of the database…it won’t be something you visit often or have to remember. Make sure you write this information down somewhere so you can reference it later in these steps!
Click CREATE
Congrats! You’ve just created your database for Wordpress.
Installing Wordpress
1. Go to http://wordpress.org/download/ and download the zip file to your desktop (or any place you can easily find it).
2. Unzip the file. A folder called wordpress should appear.
3. Go into the folder and find the file called ‘wp-config-sample.php’… this can be opened with a simple text editor like Notepad, but if opened in Dreamweaver it’s very easy to see where to fill in the database information (Dreamweaver uses nice coloring conventions to make code differences stand out).
4. In the code there will be a line that looks like this:
define('DB_NAME', 'putyourdbnamehere');
Put your database name exactly where it asks you to [example(‘DB_NAME’, ‘abc123aii_abc’);
5. The following two lines will ask the same of you for username, then password.
6. Don’t edit anymore of the basic information that follows these first three. Scroll down a couple more lines to find the Authorization Keys section.
There will be four lines in a row that look like this:
define('AUTH_KEY', 'put your unique phrase here');
define('SECURE_AUTH_KEY', 'put your unique phrase here');
define('LOGGED_IN_KEY', 'put your unique phrase here');
define('NONCE_KEY', 'put your unique phrase here');
To get these unique phrases that they are asking for, visit this special link that wordpress provides right in the coding… http://api.wordpress.org/secret-key/1.1/
Cut and paste the four unique phrases into the code where it asks you to.
7. Go to File, Save as wp-config.php in the wordpress folder where the original file was located. You can keep or delete the wp-config-sample, it won’t hurt the process.
8. You’re all set to upload the entire wordpress folder to your domain!
9. Make sure you upload the wordpress folder to your root directory where your index and other main folders are stored. It’s about 5-6 MB so it could take a while.
10. Once everything is uploaded, you are on the home stretch! In an internet browser, type in your domain URL plus /wordpress/wp-admin/install.php
[example: abc123.aisites.com/wordpress/wp-admin/install.php]
11. This should take you to an install page that will provide you with a password. Write this down immediately! It will be used on the very next page.
12. Continue to the next page which will be your new login page. I believe admin is everyone’s username… fill in the password that was given to you.
13. You are in! This is your new blog. Go to PROFILE immediately and change your password to something easier! TO get to your Profile where you can change this, click on the username ‘admin’ next to the word howdy up in the top right corner of the screen. The password change area will be a the bottom of the options on that page.
14. Tada! Anything beyond this point is a Wordpress Troubleshooting Issue. I set you up, now go to the source forums for Theme implementation and personalization! It’s fun and easy. Play around with the dashboard and see how many settings you can discover on your own.
Last, but not least, get your URL to say something other than WORDPRESS
At this point, your new blog address is abc123.aisites.com/wordpress/. Now, wouldn't it look pretty if we could have /blog or /mybeautifulhoughts? We can, and it's fairly easy.
1. Go into the Dashboard, either through the admin link on your blog page (currently abc123.aisites.com/wordpress) or enter your dashboard/login page URL right into your the browser: abc123.aisites.com/wordpress/wp-admin.
2. Once you're logged in, click the Settings button near the bottom of the left navigation and make sure general settings is highlighted.
You will see two fields that look like this:
3. Change these two fields to the new address that you would like to see on your blog page. Make sure you only change the area following the last slash where worpress appears. Also, it's good preactice to use no spacing in your name choice. To make it simple just use /blog.
4. Click save changes at the bottom of the screen.
NOTE: After saving your changes you will no longer have acces to your Dashboard and an error message will come up. DO NOT PANIC. This stage requires you to go into Dreamweaver or an FTP program and access your files so you can fix the links.
5. Find your wordpress folder on your server, and change the name of the folder to the name that you chose. I renamed my folder blog. Yep, and that is it. The blog you are hosting should now be your URL plus the /nameofthefolder... abc123.aisites.com/blog
6. To get into your Dashboard:
Go to your blog { abc123.aisites.com/nameyouchose } and find the link that says admin or log in.
OR, just type in /wp-admin after your blog URL...
{ abc123.aisites.com/nameyouchose/wp-admin }
Happy Blogging! Visit my BLOG and let me know how it went!