My Experience with Installing WordPress
I was pleasantly surprised with how easy it was to install a WordPress blog to my server. I use GoDaddy for hosting. The only problem I encountered during the installation was when I wanted to change my permalink structure.
The problem arose when I switched from “ugly permalinks” (http://example.com/?p=N) to “pretty permalinks” (http://example.com/year/month/day/post-name). I already had a .htaccess file in my root directory, but when switching permalink stuctures, WordPress attempts to write it’s own .htaccess file. Since mine was already in place, it failed and I started getting 404 errors on every pages except the home page.
To solve them problem, I simply deleted the .htaccess file I put had in there. Then I switched back to “ugly permalinks” and then switched again to date-based permalinks. This allowed WordPress a change to create it’s own .htacces file with the correct rewrite conditions. I also add my own a couple of my own lines of code to make my site no www compliant. Here is my resulting .htaccess file for my root blog directory:
# BEGIN WordPress
<ifmodule mod_rewrite.c>
RewriteEngine On
RewriteBase /
RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^www.eyermonkey.com$ [NC]
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ http://eyermonkey.com/$1 [R=301,L]
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
RewriteRule . /index.php [L]
</ifmodule>
- END WordPress
Other than that, everything went smoothly. I ended up using a theme called Mandigo with a few images from Orange Crush. I also installed a few plugins:
- Google Sitemap Generator
- Ultimate Google Analytics
- SimpleFlickr
- Gregarious (Social bookmarking – Digg and Reddit)
- and a non-WordPress specific widget for Last.fm
So far, my favorite part of the entire WordPress system is the ability to edit the code of your theme from within the admin panel. Before I discovered that feature, I was manually editing files on my computer, then uploading them to my server. It started to get quite tedious.
My advice to anyone installing WordPress for the first time is to take the time to familiarize yourself with all of the options in the admin panel.
Jeremy Blanchard: Student, Nerd, Enviro-geek
Nice work Jeremy!
It was a good move to go with WordPress. It may be a little clunky, but it has by far the biggest community as well as the most add-ons. Oh, and by the way, for being a first time user, you did some pretty cool customization by combining those two themes. I really like the look you have going here.
But, GoDaddy is not so hot. Eventually, you will want to upgrade your hosting. But for now, it is an alright starting point.
At any rate, keep up the good work!
Thanks for your comments!
I agree about GoDaddy. The day after I switched my hosting over to them, a friend of mine told me about bluehost. They offer so much more at a much better price. As soon as my time with GoDaddy is up, I’m switching to them.
It’s funny that you should comment me today. Just yesterday, I was setting up a friend wit a wordpress blog to use as his small business website (it’s easier to maintain than Joomla or others). One of the themes I was considering was one of yours: Deliciously Blue.
Oh, I just realized you found me because I commented on your blog last night. Ha. It was late. These things slip my mind.
Anyway, WordPress is amazing for many different uses. And I’ve only played with my friends bluehost account a handful of times , but is definitely top notch. It has everything I’ve ever wanted and much more at a miraculous price.
I am personally with MediaTemple, who is overpriced. But hopefully, I am paying for uninterrupted service without issue. But who knows.
This is my first post
just saying HI
i have a question. I judt put up a blog a few weeks ago and last nite i added the permalink structure which gave me the same error as you described. My question is, if I’m just remove the permalinks will that simply put me back to my former link structure and take care of the problem — other than the fact that I’m back to “ugly” permalinks?
tia
Lazarus
I read similar article also named My Experience with Installing WordPress, and it was completely different. Personally, I agree with you more, because this article makes a little bit more sense for me
Great post….