A Beginner’s Guide to Building WordPress Websites with Microsoft WebMatrix
Hey there! Today, I want to take you on a special journey into the exciting world of WordPress development using Microsoft WebMatrix. I’ll walk you through the entire process, from installing WebMatrix to getting your WordPress site up and running on the web. Ready? Let’s dive in!
Contents
Discover the Power of WebMatrix for Front-End Design
When it comes to web development on Windows, you’ve got plenty of options. There’s Notepad++ for the minimalists, Netbeans for the code wizards, Eclipse for the professionals, and Aptana for the cool kids. But have you ever heard of Microsoft WebMatrix? This nifty tool is a game-changer, making front-end web development a breeze. Trust me, you’re about to unlock a whole new level of web wizardry!
Step-by-Step: Installing WordPress with WebMatrix
Forget about complex installations. WebMatrix makes it super simple to get WordPress up and running. Just follow these easy steps:
- Open up WebMatrix and head over to the “App Gallery”. This is where our magic begins!
- In the App Gallery, find the WordPress app and click on it.
- Hit the “Install” button, and WebMatrix will take care of the rest. Easy peasy!
- Once the installation is complete, you can start building your WordPress project right away. Are you excited yet?
If you’ve never used MySQL before, don’t worry! The first time you go in, the program will ask you for a password. It’s a simple step to make sure your data stays secure.
Once you’ve agreed to the WordPress UELA, WebMatrix will get right to work. It’ll quickly fetch WordPress and take care of all the technical stuff, like setting up the database name and password.
When you’re working in WebMatrix, the first thing you want to do is click on “Site Admin.” This will take you to the WordPress admin page. Once you’re there, you’ll need to fill in some important information, like the name of your site and your admin password. After that, just click “Install WordPress,” and you’re good to go!
Now, if you’re like me, you might prefer using a customized host name instead of the default “localhost:1245.” To make that happen, you’ll need to open Notepad as an Administrator. Then, open up the hosts file from the “Windows\system32\drivers\etc\” folder in Notepad.
Once you’ve got that file open, just add this line: “127.0.0.1 dev.wp.com” This will set the “dev.wp.com” address to your local IP address (127.0.0.1). Now, keep in mind that “dev.wp.com” is just an example – you’ll want to change that to whatever you want your custom host name to be. And that’s all there is to it!
Now it’s time for a crucial step. First, open WebMatrix as an Administrator – this is necessary because you need special privileges to modify the address. After that, navigate to the Settings panel in the Site workspace and update the URL. Remember to use the one we added in the hosts file.
The “port 80” tells us which port to use for the address. Without it, the URL will just show an error.
Editing Files
If you’re good at PHP and WordPress functions, you can make changes to files for themes or plugins. But, you must never touch the core files; that’s a big no-no.
This is a cool feature in WebMatrix – it stops you from tinkering with the core files and gives you a warning instead.
As I mentioned in my previous post, WebMatrix is going to be a big help for you. It has this really cool feature called auto-completion. What it does is show you a list of all the WordPress functions, and it even tells you how to use them!
Uploading WordPress to an Online Server
Now that you have finished building your WordPress website, it’s time to put it online. WebMatrix gives you two options for doing this: you can either use Web Deploy or FTP (File Transfer Protocol). Before you begin, make sure to check with your hosting provider to see if they support Web Deploy.
In my case, my hosting provider doesn’t support Web Deploy, so I will be using FTP instead.
Just a quick reminder: the FTP method doesn’t support transferring MySQL databases. So, it’s probably best if you import it yourself using a MySQL Administrator for Windows, like MySQL WorkBench.
In conclusion
I’ve got to tell you, WebMatrix is an amazing piece of software from Microsoft. It’s free, well-designed, and works seamlessly with open source projects like WordPress, making the development process a breeze. Plus, there are plenty more features we’ll be diving into in our upcoming articles. So, stay tuned!
