Setting up WordPress

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Setting up a WordPress site for tutorials

I was working on various “nerd” projects and decided to start documenting them in case others might find it helpful. This idea led me down the path of starting a website using WordPress and I diverted my attention one Saturday evening and began the process of installing an instance of WordPress on a self-hosted server running Server 2022, IIS 10 and PHP 8.1. After 4-5 days of poking at it I decided to go with a hosting service and here I am – learning Word Press, SEO, themes, plugin and all the glorious bits and pieces. I’ll share my thoughts and discoveries as I go.

First attempt – WordPress self hosted:

After hours of web searches and multiple failed attempts, I finally gave up on my plan to “slef host” and chose to go with a hosted offering. My original plan was Self-hosted Windows 2022 with IIS10 and PHP 8.1. Here’s what I learned.

  • During my ressearch, I discovered that almost every guide will reference using the Windows Platform Installer which is no longer being developed and supported. For instance, the official documentation for WPI last references Server 2008R2. Also,I found a post from the last remaining developer that stated the product was dead but, wasn’t able to find that page again for a reference link, unfortunatley.
  • I tried anyway and got various IIS 404 and 500 errors from Fast-CGI after trying a dozen different configurations referenced in various articles.
  • In the future, I’m going to try using PHP 7 per the advice of some folks on the Word Press IRC Support Channel.

Second attempt – using a hosting service:

After the epic fail with a self hosted attempt I began a new session of searching for cheap\best WP hosting services. Hostinger ended up being my first choice with Bluehost was a close second. The decision was based on multiple reviews and the available pricing plans. Check out the recommendations from the WordPress.org site here.

Signing up with Hostinger was easy. I had an existing domain registered with GoDaddy and pointing the GoDaddy name servers to Hostinger’s servers took less than 24 hours.

I have just enough knowledge of HTML and CSS to know that I don’t want to design my own site so template seemed like a good idea. As it turns out, there are hundreds, if not thousands, of options that range from free to thousands of dollars. To my surprise, the process was much more tedious and less intuitive than I expected. All I wanted was a simple site to write “How To’s” with some screenshots and good organization to make topics easy to find.

WordPress Themes and Plugins

Update: After a few days\weeks into this project, I’ve discovered that the functionality I really wanted was delivered by plugins. Currently, I’m using:

Helpful Tips:

  • First, try the wpbeginner tutorials- I’m very impressed with their content so far. I wish I found them when I first started!
  • Also, try the free video course on Udemy. These were a huge help in getting the “demo” pages removed, a basic theme installed, and learning the fundamentals.  You may find that one of the WordPress Dashboard’s tips points you to this course.  If you’re a beginner like me, it’s worth the time!
  • When signing up with Hostinger you may get an email account from Titan.  If so, here is the link for the TITAN DNS records (as compared to the Hostinger settings).  This was the topic of my first support experience with Hostinger via chat, on a Sunday afternoon.  The chat rep was courteous, immediately identified the issue and offered to correct it for me: +5 stars!

Training and Tutorials:

  • wpbeginner – I’m very impressed with their content so far. I wish I found them when I first started!
  • WP Learning Lab – youtube channel (while much of this dated but can still be helpful)

If you have WordPress questions, tips or advice please consider contributing to the discussion in the User Forums.