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Step 1: Download WordPress

First step, navigate on over to the download page at WordPress.org. Do not download WordPress on any other third party site.

You can download either the .zip or .tar.gz file, both contain the same files. You would probably rather download the .zip if you are a Windows user. Once you have extracted the files you will be ready to upload the files to your hosting account. Go ahead and click the link below to see the next page in the tutorial.

Step 2: Extract the files
You should have extracted all the files in the latest.zip or latest.tar.gz and have them all ready to go in a directory on your local machine. I use Windows XP, and it will look some of  like this.

Keep in mind that some of the icons may look slightly different for you depending on the default programs you have chosen for the filetypes.

Next you will need an FTP client to upload the files to your web host. If you still don’t have a host at this point, we highly recommend Micfo for affordable shared and reseller solutions. They even have Fantastico on all accounts, so you don’t even need this manual installation tutorial. Okay, back to the FTP client. We recommend using either FileZilla or SmartFTP. Both are free and relatively straightforward to use. Make sure you download the Client and not the server. We will be using FileZilla for the next part of our tutorial.

Step 3: Upload files to your host
Using FileZilla, it’s easy to upload files directly from your computer to your hosting account. Open it up, type in your login details at the top and click the Quickconnect button.

You should have a screen like you see above. Make sure you are uploading within the public folder, which is usually called /public_html/. If you want to install to a subdirectory, that’s fine as well. Once you have uploaded all the WordPress files and folders in the same structure as in the .zip or .tar.gz file, you are ready to set up your database.

Step 4: Set up the database
This is where it may get a little tricky. We will be using cPanel for the example. When you login to your cPanel account, you should see something like this below.

Different versions may differ, the important thing is to navigate to the MySQL® Databases page. You should now be at a page which looks like this.

On this page you will create the MySQL database, and the user that connects to it. Keep in mind that this not related to the WordPress admin login, we will get to that step next. First, type in the name you want to call your database. For this example, we will simply call it wordpress. The next step is to create a user which will connect to the database. For purposes of the example we will use dbuser as the username and you can use your imagination for the password. Please make sure you write down the password you use temporarily, because it is needed for the next step. You will then need to add that user to the database you just created with All privileges. You should now have something that looks like this.

Notice the prefix of yourusername_ in the database name and username. This is your username for your hosting account. You will need to use the database name and username as you see it on this page, or it won’t work. Next we will actually start installing WordPress via the web-based installation script.

Step 5: Install WordPress …finally
it’s almost done now. You have already uploaded the WordPress folders and files to your hosting account and set up the database. Now it’s time to navigate to the URL you have installed it on via your web browser. If everything was uploaded properly, you should see a page like this.

Yes, that’s right, you are supposed to see an error. Why? Because WordPress doesn’t know how to connect to the database you’ve just created. Go through the create a wp-config.php file through a web interface page and enter the database details. You probably won’t need to edit the last two fields.

Hopefully there won’t be any errors. If there are you will need to create a wp-config.php file manually. After the database has been configured to work with WordPress, it’s smooth sailing. Everything past this should be relatively straightforward. Just type in the title of your blog, your e-mail, and you are done. Your username should be admin and your password will be automatically generated for you. Go ahead and login and change this if you want.

You should have something like this as your final result.

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In a Joomla site, or any for that matter, there should be standards regarding how things look. Standards imply that someone has taken the time to write something like what you’re reading. Reason for this: Good looking stuff doesn’t just happen. It takes some planning.

Anatomy of a Joomla Story

First, all stories (same thing as what others call a “post”) have at least four elements.
1.) A descriptive title 2.) Some intro copy 3.) A thumbnail image and 4.) The rest of the story

The Thumbnail

All stories should have an intro thumbnail. Why? Because people relate to images, not text, and it looks better. So decide on a size and stick to it for all stories. Suggested size is something about 150 or less in width. You can vary the height based on the amount of intro text. (It’s more important to lock the width than trying to do both)

Intro Text

Every story should have about the same amount of intro text.You do this because at some point, you’re going to display multiple stories on the same page. This is especially important when you’re displaying in more than one column. Look at any newspaper. The front page is always the same. The story begins, but then has you flipping back to page 8 to read the rest. Same concept applies here.

Above is an example of how a 2 column layout might appear with similar sized thumbnails and intro text.

Read More vs Page Break

You use Read More when there’s just one more page to view. If however you have 10 pages that make up a story, it’s better to use the Page Break function so that readers can jump to any page within.

Uploading Images with Media Manager

You have two ways to do this. FTP or the Joomla Media Manager. As we have already written one of these for FTP, this time we’ll cover the Media Manager. Both Joomla 1.0.x and 1.5, to get to the Media Manager, log into the backend and look for the button:

Find The Image

For a story, you will need to upload two (or more) images. The thumbnail and the other one(s).

When you’re done finding the image, then click …

Where are my images?

It’s important to remember where you upload your images. Therefore, this too should be included as part of your documented process. e.g., All images that you plan to use within stories, should be in the /stories directory. If you have lots of categories, then it’s a good idea to have category directories within. e.g., stories/cat1

If you don’t remember where you uploaded images, it will be tough to insert them into the actual stories later.

Inserting the Thumbnail

Remember where you put that image?

You must indicate the location of the image, usually starting with images.

Align Thumbnails LEFT

Thumbnails should be aligned left, generally speaking. (sometimes people like to align right)
If you are a lefty, then do this:

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When you install with sample data, you begin with content you eventually will not want. What follows are the steps that one might take to remove said content.

To get rid of all this, login as an admin

This is what the backend login looks like

Get rid of the Modules first. So go to Extensions/Module Manager

It’s best to disable modules. Don’t delete them. You might need them later.

Modules to disable:
Banners, Footer, Resources, Key Concepts, Example Pages, Polls, Who’s Online, Advertisement, Random Image, Syndication, Latest News, Popular

Next, get rid of the main menu items

Select the ones to remove, then TRASH them!

Next remove the top menu items

This is what it looks like to remove menu items

Now get rid of the content

You can kill most of the items that come with the Joomla install

Get rid of that Welcome to the Front Page

Trash the sample categories

Now your site should look something like this

Note: In the real world, you would only do this for training purposes. If you plan to build multiple Joomla sites, the best method is to create an empty install, then use that copy of the database for future ones. All of the above clicking is of real benefit when learning a new system as the best way to drill something into your noggin is with repetition.

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Log in as admin

Go to Static Content Manager to list all items

Click on the item you want to update

Make your changes, then hit SAVE (never the BACK button!)

Logout… It’s done

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Download and install a copy of FileZilla

Select the Site Manager to add a new site

Fill in the fields that pertain to your domain

Your website is in the public_html directory (but the backup is not)

If you’re running Joomla, this is what your Joomla directories look like

The backup files will be in the root directory (never in public_html)

When you finish downloading the backup file, delete it from the web server

READ THIS
Be very careful with FTP It’s very easy to delete an entire directory with a few clicks. Also, never leave the backup file only on your local hard drive. Burn it to a CD and tuck it away in a safe place in a location other than where your hard drive is. If the backup was for a client, mail them a copy of the CD.

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If you run out of disk space, then your site is going to have problems either with email, your website or both. Here are the leading causes:

1. Inbox is filled. This happens when you don’t delete old mail OR you deleted old mail online AND didn’t purge the trash folder.

2. You have spam filtering enabled and your spam goes to a folder (usually called SPAM) that has accumulated. If this mail is not deleted, it can have the same impact as a filled inbox, even though you have no mail waiting for you.

3. You (or someone) uploaded too many files to your website. This happens most often when an image gallery is installed and you allow others to upload to your site.

4. Your log files are configured to never delete. (Log files are usually configured to “roll-over” every month so this doesn’t happen.)

Here are a few areas where you might want to look for the above

TIP
At the top of cPanel there is a line that looks like this:

First, make sure you have this configured!

Second, you should NOT put your normal domain-based email address** in this contact setting as that will do you little good if your email is down … and it sends the alert to your dead email. Best advice: Use a secondary email address that you monitor or even better, the address to your cell phone. e.g., 7345551212@vtext.com (this is what it might look like for a Verizon phone) That way when something goes wrong, you’ll know about the moment the server knows.

** If your domain is contactdubai.com, do not put admin@ contactdubai.com here!

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