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" Quick and Easy Blogs " by John Williams

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Let Fantastico Set up Your WordPress Blog

You need to have CPanel available on your website to use Fantastico but

other Control Panel systems may also have an option which can install

WordPress onto your site for you.

Type this address into your web browser to open your CPanel Control Panel:

http://www.example.com/cpanel

Of course, you replace example with the actual name of your website. If you

registered a different type of domain (not a .com) then you will change the

com to the appropriate suffix.

Type in your username and password to get access to your Control Panel.

The layout of these screens will vary if you are using a different version of

CPanel but all recent versions have had Fantastico and Wordpress available.

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Scroll down and left click on Fantastico.

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1) Select WordPress from the options listed under Blog.

2) Then, Click on New Installation

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On the next screen, you fill in some details for your new WordPress blog.

This is the first of 3 screens.

Install on domain: Type in the name of your domain where you are using

Fantastico to install the new blog.

Install in directory: If your blog will be the main part of your web site,

leave this box blank and Fantastico will install the WordPress files in the

/public_html folder of your web site.

If you want the blog to be installed in a sub-folder, and not in the

/public_html folder, type the name of the sub-folder in this box. You must

not already have a sub-folder with that name on this web site.

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Admin access data: Type a username and password for the Admin area into

these boxes. The password should be very hard to guess.

Admin Nickname: This name will appear on your posts in the blog.

Admin email: Type in the email address where you want to receive emails

from this blog. I strongly suggest that you create a special email address for

this blog, perhaps with a service like Google’s Gmail or Microsoft’s HotMail.

Never use your most important personal or professional email addresses for

any blogs.

Description: You can put a short, positive description of your blog here.

Now, Fantastico tells you the name of the Database which will be created to

hold all the information about your WordPress blog and the name of the User

who will be linked to that Database.

Fantastico will create both the Database and the User.

Write the information down with the other details you already have.

Then, left-click on Finish Installation.

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The next screen shows the other information you will need to use your new

WordPress blog.

It shows the WordPress configuration and the database set-up were

successful.

Then, you can see the admin username and password that you need to get

into the admin area and its web address (URL). Even though WordPress will

email you this information after you do the next step, write down these 3

pieces of information just in case the email is lost – you will need them.

Put your email address into the box at the bottom of that screen, then left-

click Send Email, and the system will email you the details you need.

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Then, you can click on the Back to WordPress Overview button to return

to that screen. If you don’t need to do that, then you can click on either the

Home or Logout links at the top-right of the page.

Close the window in your browser that you used for setting up your blog

through Fantastico.

Check your email to see if you have got the email the WordPress installation

program sent you with the administration details of your new blog.

If you cannot find it, check your Spam filter and email Trash basket, just in

case.

Then, open a new browser window and type in the address Fantastico gave

you to get into the Administration area of your new WordPress blog.

When that page opens in your browser, type in the Username and Password,

and login.

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Set Up Your WordPress Blog Yourself

We’ll start with the part which sounds challenging but it’s really easy.

Go to the Control Panel on your website.

My demonstration will use CPanel. If your hosting provider supplies a

different type of Control Panel, you will have to make some adjustments and

ask your hosting provider for assistance if necessary.

If you have CPanel, the address you type into your web browser is

http://www.example.com/cpanel Of course, you replace example with the

actual name of your domain.

Type in your username and password so that you get access to your Control

Panel.

The actual layout and pictures you see will vary depending

on the version of CPanel which your host provides.

Check in the column at the left of the page that you are not already using all

of the MySQL® databases which your host provides.

You might see something like 0/4 or 8/unlimited depending on the hosting

package which you have.

If you see something like 4/4, then you need to add the details for your blog

to one of the databases you are already using or (preferable) to decide if you

need the programs which you are using the databases for as much as you

want a blog.

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It’s much easier to have the blog on its own database.

If you have a spare database, just scroll down and left click on MySQL®

databases.

When the Database window opens, type in the name for your database

where the details of your blog will be stored.

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Then, left-click on the Create database button.

You will see a message confirming that your database has been created.

Click on the Go Back button.

Now, you will create a User for the new database.

Type the Username and Password for the User who will control the Blog into

the boxes under the Current Users heading. (These example entries don’t

exist on any of my databases).

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When you get the message that your new user is created, left-click on the Go

Back button.

Now you will add this user to your blog’s database.

Left-click the Add User To Database button.

Your Control panel will add a short version of your domain name to the front

of each Username and Database which you create.

In this example the prefix is ezyto_ which is added by the system to each

user and database on this domain.

You need to type in the full name, including this prefix.

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Setting up Your WordPress Files

Your next step is to download the current version of the WordPress platform

(that’s 2.7 at the time of writing).

Do not download a version that is labelled “Beta” – these are experimental

versions which may contain minor or even major bugs and should not be

used on regular “live” web sites.

Left-click on the Download button at the far right of the Menu at the top of

the page. That will open this page in your web browser.

Left-click on the Download button to get the Windows version of the current

WordPress package (I’ve used a red arrow to point to it in the above picture).

If you use a Macintosh, the wordpress.org site will probably automatically

direct you to the page where you can download the Mac version.

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A box will appear on your monitor screen:

Left-click on Save.

This box lets you browse to where you want to save the archive which

contains the WordPress files.

I suggest that you create a new folder on your Desktop to put this archive in.

But, you may choose to save it anywhere on your computer where you can

find it easily.

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I created a folder on my Desktop and renamed it Wpress27

When the WordPress archive finishes downloading to your computer, you

should check the file with your anti-virus program before opening it. This is a

wise step to take with every file which you get on your computer, not just

those which you download from the Internet.

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Then, you can use your archiving program (sometimes referred to as an

“unzipping” program) to extract the WordPress files from the archive. I use

WinRAR. Other good programs are 7-Zip (free) and WinZip (another excellent

commercial program like WinRAR). A program for the Mac is Aladdin Stuffit

but I think Macintosh computers have an archiving program supplied within

the system.

When the files are all extracted into the folder you created for them on your

computer, you will be ready to transfer them to your web site.

There are two ways that you can do this:

Use the Control panel on your website to bring the files from your computer.

Use your File Transfer (FTP) program to transfer the files to where you want

them on your web site. Two good FTP programs for Windows based

computers are Filezilla and Core-FTP. Both these programs are free to use.

Using Your Website Control Panel to FTP the Files

Go to the Control Panel on your website. My demonstration will use CPanel

which is one of the most popular Control Panels currently in use.

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If your hosting provider supplies a different type of Control Panel, you will

have to make some adjustments and ask your hosting provider for assistance

if necessary.

If you do have CPanel, the address you type into your web browser is

http://www.example.com/cpanel

Of course, you replace example with the actual name of your website.

Type in your username and password so that you get access to your Control

Panel.

Scroll down and left click on File Manager. When the File Manager is

displayed in your web browser, left click on the small picture of a folder

beside /public_html.

This will display the files and folders in your /public_html folder.

If you want the blog to be the main part of this website, then you will

transfer all of the files within the WordPress archive into this /public_html

folder.

Doing this through the Cpanel File Manager will be a slow process. You will

save much time if you use your FTP program to transfer all those files.

If you intend to install the blog in a sub-folder below the /public_html folder,

you only have to transfer the archive to your /public_html folder.

Just left-click on the Upload Files text.

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Then, left-click on the browse button beside the first box on the upload page.

When the browse window opens, navigate to the desktop on your computer

or wherever you put the WordPress archive.

Left click on the archive.

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Then, you'll see the link appear in that first upload box.

Left-click on upload and the transfer from your computer to your website will

begin.

When the archive appears in the /public_html folder, click on the name of the

archive.

Then click on Extract Files in the menu at the top right corner of the File

Manager.

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In a few minutes, you will have a WordPress folder inside the /public_html

folder.

Then, you can click on the name of the WordPress folder and select the

rename option from the Menu at the top right of the file manager.

Choose whatever name you want to use for the folder which contains your

WordPress blog. It could be something relevant to the topic which you will

focus on in the blog.

Using Your FTP Program to Transfer the Files

I will use Filezilla for this demonstration. It is a free program for computers

using the Windows operating system.

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Open your File transfer program.

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Left-click on File Manager in the Menu at the top left of the Filezilla screen

and then select “Site Manager”.

Select the web site you will transfer the WordPress files to and left-click the

OK button.

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Your FTP program will display the contents of the selected web site in the box

on the right.

Scroll down in the “Local Site” box on the left and left-click on the folder

which contains the WordPress files.

Setting up your Blog in the /public_html Folder

If you are going to transfer the files to the /public_html folder on your

website, and make the blog the first thing your visitors see when they reach

your site, follow these steps.

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Left-click in the box which shows all the folders and files to be transferred.

Then, open the folder which contains the extracted files.

Then select all the files and folders there by holding down the Control key

and pressing A.

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Left-click in the box and keep holding down the left mouse button. Then,

drag your mouse right into the box on the right which shows the contents of

the selected web site’s /public_html folder.

All the folders and files will be transferred to the /public_html folder on your

web site.

Setting up your Blog in a Sub-folder Below the /public_html Folder

If you are going to transfer the files to a sub-folder below the /public_html

folder on your website follow these steps.

Left-click on the WordPress archive which you downloaded from

http://www.wordpress.org/ and keep holding down the left mouse button.

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Then drag your mouse into the box on the right which shows the contents of

the selected web site’s/public_html folder.

Filezilla will start to transfer the archive containing the compressed

Wordpress files to the web site.

When the transfer is complete, you will see the archive in the /public_html

folder on the web site.

Close your File transfer program.

Open a new window in your web browser and type in the address of your

web site’s CPanel or whichever other Control Panel is provided by your

hosting company.

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