Getting Started with WordPress

Getting Started with WordPress (2008 edition)

Stephanie Leary
The Texas A&M University Writing Center
Download the handout (PDF) »
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WordPress is versatile...

... but limited...

• Standard version: just one (1!) blog/website
• Multi-blog versions: many plugins and themes will not work
  • WordPressMU
  • Lyceum
• Cross-platform, but...
  • notifications use sendmail unless SMTP plugin is installed
  • clean URLs require Apache's mod_rewrite or a custom PHP 404 error page for IIS
  • MySQL only
• Workflow is still minimal.

... and a little quirky.

Out of the box:

• Scheduled publishing feature means future-dated entries will not appear.
• Stats are possible with a plugin; the most popular requires an API key from wordpress.com.

• Akismet, the included (and best) spam guard plugin, requires an API key from wordpress.com.
• Themes are ...different.

It is, however, powerful.

• The addition of plugins and themes can turn it into a small-scale CMS.
• Feeds (both Atom and RSS) are generated for just about everything.
  • Looking at an archive page -- category, monthly, by author...?
    • Append feed/ to the URL for RSS.
    • Append feed/atom/ to the URL for Atom.
• Installation is EASY.

Common problems

• Installation
  • .htaccess file missing or corrupt
  • bad permissions (file, directory, or database)
  • quirky PHP settings
  • incompatible line break types (e.g. Mac line breaks on Windows server)
• Upgrading
  • wp-includes files not fully updated
  • incompatible themes or plugins

Moving your installation: Old and busted?

• Create SQL dump (structure and data!) from the old database
• Import SQL file into new database
• Change the two URL fields in wp_options table
• Copy themes and plugin files to new server
• Create new wp-config.php
• Go to Settings -> Permalinks and hit save (to regenerate .htaccess)

Moving your installation: New hotness...?

• Manage → Export on old site
• Manage → Import on new installation
• This is buggy, mostly by design.
  • Some fields are not included (e.g. excerpts).
  • Users are not exported. Imported posts can be assigned to users in the destination install.
  • Plugins, themes, and settings are not included.
• Conclusion? Use export/import if posts and pages are all you need to transfer.