Tch And Wordpress? (questions Too)

[jamestl2]

I've recently been thinking about switching to wordpress (It's not a blog, but my site could probably use it because for its blog-style formatting)

 

I was just wondering if TCH offers any sort of WordPress download, or package of some type, I looked on the TCH homepage and couldn't find anything relating to it.

 

Also some wp questions I have include:

1. Does Google "like" WordPress-made pages? (I mean is it easier to ger ranked higher, recieve more links, etc. with a WordPress site? Also, would I lose my google ranking for converting my already existing web pages to wp style?)

 

2. Where is the best place to download it the fastest and for free? (If TCH doesn't offer it, and so that I wouldn't have to worry about programming code or syncing it, or additional charges I wouldn't need, etc.)

 

3. Are there any important restrictions I should be concerned about, like bandwidth, FTP time, etc.?

 

Thanks for the Help

[TCH-Thomas]

The easiest way to install it would probably be through the fantastico part of your cpanel.

 

As for the other questions, I will need to leave that to someone else.

[abinidi]

Hi Jamestl2,

 

Yes, you can one-click-install Wordpress with at TCH account. It is part of the offerings in Fantastico, which you access from your account's control panel. I actually run a number of wordpress sites on my TCH accounts (I think its up to 5 now), and while Fantastico is convenient, its always good to remember that TCH's policy is that it is your responsibility to keep your software updated. WordPress is a great platform, but it has vulnerabilities. If you don't upgrade to the latest version when it becomes available, you could be putting your site (and sometimes even your entire shared server) at risk. Manually updating your scripts is always the safest way to go, and WordPress isn't a hard one to update. You can ask for help here in this forum, if you need it.

 

As for your other questions:

 

1. Yes. Google does like WP pages, especially if you use Date and Name-based Permalinks. This is a setting you change in WP, after it is installed. (You may need to make your .htaccess file readable in order to make this work, but we can help you with that as well, when you are ready.)

 

2. When your account is active, you go to cPanel, and select Fantastico. Under Blogs, select WordPress, and click Install. That is all there is to it.

 

3. By itself, WordPress is pretty light. If you add a bunch of plugins, you may cause some trouble with the processor, depending on what you are trying to do; and, of course, if your site gets slashdotted or digged, you may have trouble with bandwith. I've never had that fortunate of a problem, and I've never come close to having bandwidth troubles and my blog is getting around 6,000 unique visitors each month with a total of about 11,000 total monthly visits. On my blog, with my content, that uses around 1/10th of my total available monthly bandwidth. But be aware that if you are using large images, hosting video, or use audio, those numbers will shoot up dramatically, and very quickly.

 

Hope this helps. Let us know what else we can do to help.

[jamestl2]

Alright thanks,

As you can tell I’m not very familiar with WP, and some other people recommended me to the software,

 

Yes, you can one-click-install Wordpress with at TCH account. It is part of the offerings in Fantastico, which you access from your account's control panel. I actually run a number of wordpress sites on my TCH accounts (I think its up to 5 now), and while Fantastico is convenient, its always good to remember that TCH's policy is that it is your responsibility to keep your software updated. WordPress is a great platform, but it has vulnerabilities. If you don't upgrade to the latest version when it becomes available, you could be putting your site (and sometimes even your entire shared server) at risk. Manually updating your scripts is always the safest way to go, and WordPress isn't a hard one to update. You can ask for help here in this forum, if you need it.

 

Does Fantastico offer the updates too (Which I would update manually, right?), or should I look someplace else for them?

 

As for your other questions:

 

1. Yes. Google does like WP pages, especially if you use Date and Name-based Permalinks. This is a setting you change in WP, after it is installed. (You may need to make your .htaccess file readable in order to make this work, but we can help you with that as well, when you are ready.)

 

2. When your account is active, you go to cPanel, and select Fantastico. Under Blogs, select WordPress, and click Install. That is all there is to it.

 

3. By itself, WordPress is pretty light. If you add a bunch of plugins, you may cause some trouble with the processor, depending on what you are trying to do; and, of course, if your site gets slashdotted or digged, you may have trouble with bandwith. I've never had that fortunate of a problem, and I've never come close to having bandwidth troubles and my blog is getting around 6,000 unique visitors each month with a total of about 11,000 total monthly visits. On my blog, with my content, that uses around 1/10th of my total available monthly bandwidth. But be aware that if you are using large images, hosting video, or use audio, those numbers will shoot up dramatically, and very quickly.

 

Hope this helps. Let us know what else we can do to help.

 

I don’t have any video, audio or many images on my site, just content.

 

My site also uses a tree structure, with just “Page titles” linking to the pages, does WP allow this type of linking, as in not having a brief summary of the page in the link? (hope this question is understandable, It looks to me like WP uses "brief summary" internal linking)

 

Is WP compatible with Dreamweaver 8 (which is what I am currently using, I was thinking about keeping my structure I already have and just use WP to remake my “content-filled” pages)?

 

I also have a few Google Questions,

 

1. Some of my pages are already indexed (although nowhere near SEO standards), so would I lose the pages that are already indexed (Plus some of them are in "Supplemental Hell" for reasons I do not know of)?

 

2. Would it be better to recreate the website from scratch so Google can recrawl everything with WP structure (I currently used Dreamweaver 8 to make everything)?

 

Thanks Again

[TCH-Thomas]

When new versions are released they are also showing up in the Fantastico (one click updating), but with some delay I think, so it would be better and more secure for you to manually install WP and its updates.

 

Manual installation and updating

There is a great installation tutorial here.

 

Updating WP is usually just a matter of upload and overwrite a few files so that should not be a problem either.

[joefish]

My site also uses a tree structure, with just “Page titles” linking to the pages, does WP allow this type of linking, as in not having a brief summary of the page in the link? (hope this question is understandable, It looks to me like WP uses "brief summary" internal linking)

 

I don't follow. Are you talking about the main page containing only links to content stored on other pages?

 

 

Is WP compatible with Dreamweaver 8 (which is what I am currently using, I was thinking about keeping my structure I already have and just use WP to remake my “content-filled” pages)?

 

As far as I know, Dreamweaver doesn't have the capability to interact with WordPress at all. You can still use Dreamweaver to help you with creating layouts, but you'll have to get your hands dirty to make them into proper WP themes.

 

 

I also have a few Google Questions,

 

1. Some of my pages are already indexed (although nowhere near SEO standards), so would I lose the pages that are already indexed (Plus some of them are in "Supplemental Hell" for reasons I do not know of)?

 

2. Would it be better to recreate the website from scratch so Google can recrawl everything with WP structure (I currently used Dreamweaver 8 to make everything)?

 

Thanks Again

 

The best thing to do would be to recreate your content in WordPress, then delete the old files and use 301 redirection to send all visitors (including search engines) to the new WP content. Search engines will usually update their listings when they encounter a 301.

[jamestl2]

I don't follow. Are you talking about the main page containing only links to content stored on other pages?

 

On my site I have a menu of links which takes you to a page which links to the content pages, it's kind of hard to explain though, for example, if you go to my site (which is in my sig) and click on the "Humor" Link, it will take you to a page that lists all my "Humor" Pages, so you could click on "Top Ten........." and view that "content-filled" page, it would probably be easier to see what I mean if you wanted to visit my site to see how I have it layed out.

 

Hope this clarifies it

[abinidi]

So, if I were to Word-Press your site (using Word-Press as a verb that means "convert your site to a WP-driven site"), I'd say ditch Dreamweaver and go 100% WordPress.

 

Do WP and Dreaweaver play well together? Well, yes and no. You can edit WP theme pages with Dreamweaver, but you can't just take a Dreamweaver HTML page and make it a WordPress template.

 

What you want is a WordPress 2.1 site. With WP 2.1, you can create a "home page" that users see every time they hit your site. This turns WP into more of a content management system (CMS) than a blog.

 

On your "home page" you would create the same links and such that you have on your current site. You would use categories for each of the "Top 10" categories that are currently on your main site page.

 

Your users would select the category that they wanted, and a list of posts that are associated with that category would be displayed.

 

I suppose you could use pages the same way that you used posts, but I think it is easier to use posts rather than pages, so I won't muddle that up with a discussion on how you could use posts for the same effect.

 

In theory you could have a Dreamweaver-created top layer with a WP-driven lower layer, but you would have serious theme issues (your main site pages wouldn't look like your main page), and it would be much harder to manage and keep updated. With WordPress, you just add your content, and everything else works.

 

A problem you have with your site right now is that you have file names with spaces that you've uploaded to your site. So you have URLs with spaces. These aren't allowed, so they are replaced with escaped space characters (%20 represents a space). You never want spaces in your URLs. It looks unprofessional and can cause trouble for some users. WP won't let you create posts (or pages, for that matter) with spaces, so you aren't going to be able to simple re-create your site structure and keep your Google ranking for those specific pages. Instead, you'll have to create a 301 redirect, as was mentioned above, however, I'm not sure how 301 redirects work with space characters in URLs (maybe space characters don't matter, I don't know, but it could potentially flub you up.)

 

I'd guess that with WP Permalinks you'll actually get better SEO ranking because your URLs will be much cleaner than the space-infested ones you are currently using.

 

I think you are going to really like working with WordPress. Do a Google search for "WordPress theme" and find a WP theme that you like, and then we can help you install it in your WP installation.

[DWD]

FYI...WordPress 2.2 just came out.

[jamestl2]

I uploaded the wordpress compressed file to cPanel, then I clicked on "Extract All Contents", then it opened a new cPanel Page that shows current status of files in the zipped folder such as:

"inflating: wordpress/wp-includes/feed-rss2.php"

 

But then I go back to my "public html" folder and it acts like nothing happened, so I tried unzipping it again, and the same thing happens, I'm confused, so why isn't it unzipping? Or where do the unzipped files go?

 

EDIT: Nevermind, it unzipped after the fourth or fifth try. Don't know why it took so long though.

Edited May 16, 2007 by jamestl2

[TCH-Thomas]

When you have clicked the "Extract link" wait until the page have finished loading.

Then close the file manager (but not the whole cpanel) and reopen it, in public_html, see if it have created a directory "wordpress" or the name you given the directory.

[jamestl2]

This install.php file is hard to read (with the large gaps and all) and I don't want to mess anything with the installation up,

 

It shows two text boxes and I don't know if you are supposed to type anything into them or not (below it says "ERROR no email address", so is that what we put there?).

 

Also, is there any way to make the installation instructions clearer, or is there a link that will guide you through the setup, (the TCH page only tells you to "follow the on-screen instructions") because I fear I will encounter similar reading problems within the next pages of the setup?

[TCH-Bruce]

Try these instructions. They should help. Just scroll down to the screen you are looking at.

[jamestl2]

Thanks, but now I get a new error, it is a completley white screen that only reads:

 

"Fatal error: Call to undefined function: is_wp_error() in /home/cpanelname/public_html/wordpress/wp-includes/functions.php on line 1320"

 

Did I forget to enter information or something?

Where is line 1320?

Edited May 17, 2007 by TCH-Don
removed cpanel name

[TCH-Thomas]

Don´t know if this is relevant to your problem but make sure you

 

1) Created mysql database. See movie instruction here.

 

 

2) Changed the following in wp-config-sample.php:

 

/ ** MySQL settings ** //

define('DB_NAME', 'putyourdbnamehere'); // The name of the database

define('DB_USER', 'dbusernamehere'); // Your MySQL username

define('DB_PASSWORD', 'yourdbpasswordhere'); // ...and password

 

 

3) Renamed the wp-config-sample.php to wp-config.php

 

 

4) Upload and try to install again

[jamestl2]

Tried everything again, and the text, graphics, etc. all look the way it should, but...

 

Now it says there is a database connection error. It says they "can't contact the database server at localhost", and all the instructions told me to leave this part alone, so i am not sure what to do. What should be where it says "localhost"?

[TCH-Thomas]

Have you added the user to the database as the movie tutorial above describes?

[jamestl2]

Have you added the user to the database as the movie tutorial above describes?

 

Yes,

however in my mySQL, it lists two databases, the one I created, which has the user added to it,

 

and another database, called "wrdp1", which doesn't have any users, I don't even know what it is doing there.

[TCH-Bruce]

"wrdp1" looks like something Fantastico would create. Have you tried installing with Fantastico and then again manually?

[jamestl2]

"wrdp1" looks like something Fantastico would create. Have you tried installing with Fantastico and then again manually?

 

If you mean have I downloaded the wordpress program through fantastico, then uploaded my files and then try to have it installed, then yes, that is what I have done without success.

[TCH-Thomas]

Fantastico installs wordpress automatically, so no need to do anything but answering a few questions it asks in the wizard.

 

I would personally remove it all and reinstall.

[jamestl2]

Well, I deleted the wordpress, restarted my computer, reinstalled wordpress onto my hardrive, reentered the information, uploaded and unzipped everything on cPanel, and I still got the same "can't contact the database server at localhost" error.

So I don't think that solved the problem.

[TCH-Bruce]

Please tell us what you are installing to your hard drive? What OS are you running? Do you have a web server and mysql running on your computer?

 

Just remove all the wordpress stuff on the TCH server you placed there and delete any databases you created for wordpress and users you added for those databases.

 

Then go into cpanel select Fantastico and select Wordpress, tell it what folder you want to install it into and fill out your email address and any other info it asks for. It will install automatically and you'll be ready to go.

 

It shouldn't take more than 30 minutes to get this cleared up.

[jamestl2]

Trying to install wordpress 2.2

(Am I supposed to have an earlier form of wordpress in cpanel first? Because that may be the problem)

I am running on Windows XP

I am able to connect to the server and mySQL database via cpanel

 

Here is the complete process I used most recently after restarting my computer:

1. I clicked on the wordpress 2.2 Link mentioned earlier in the forum

2. Downloaded wp 2.2 zip file

3. Entered information into sample file

4. Renamed and resaved sample file as “wp-config”

5. Zipped wp 2.2 folder up

6. Uploaded compressed file via cpanel

7. Extracted everything in cpanel

8. clicked on the install.php URL.

9. received the “localhost” error

[TCH-Thomas]

Everything to step 7 looks fine.

 

8. clicked on the install.php URL. Instead for this, try going to http://yoursite.ext/wordpressfolder/wp-admin/install.php and following the instructions on the screen and see what happens.

 

Also, do not forget to create a database and add the user to the database. Ue the same info as you entered in the config.php

Edited May 17, 2007 by TCH-Thomas

[jamestl2]

Everything to step 7 looks fine.

 

8. clicked on the install.php URL. Instead for this, try going to http://yoursite.ext/wordpressfolder/wp-admin/install.php and following the instructions on the screen and see what happens.

 

Also, do not forget to create a database and add the user to the database. Ue the same info as you entered in the config.php

 

Actually, that is what I meant by install.php URL:

(http://www.toptenlisted.com/wordpress-2.2/wordpress/wp-admin/install.php)

 

Yes, I also entered the information into the database

[click]

Also, I believe MySQL usernames will be cropped if they're too long, so make sure the info in wp-config.php matches what is shown on the MySQL page in cPanel. Double check the password, too.

 

edit: ... and that the user has "ALL PRIVILEGES" for the database.

Edited May 17, 2007 by click

[jamestl2]

Also, I believe MySQL usernames will be cropped if they're too long, so make sure the info in wp-config.php matches what is shown on the MySQL page in cPanel. Double check the password, too.

 

edit: ... and that the user has "ALL PRIVILEGES" for the database.

 

The information is identical in both mySQL and wp.config.php and my user has all privileges checked,

Also how long is too long, I mean how many characters?

 

My username is 8 chars long.

Edited May 17, 2007 by jamestl2

[click]

If it had been cropped, the shortened name would be shown in cPanel so it doesn't sound like that's the problem. Looking at one of my usernames, it looks like it shortens them to 16 characters.

[click]

My username is 8 chars long.

 

Assuming you're on a shared server, make sure you're adding cPanelUsername_ to both the database and user names in wp-config.php.

[TCH-Bruce]

In the wp-config.php file you need to modify these values to refect your database, user and password.

 

// ** MySQL settings ** //

define('DB_NAME', 'your-cpanel-name_database-name'); // The name of the database

define('DB_USER', 'your-cpanel-name_user-name'); // Your MySQL username

define('DB_PASSWORD', 'password'); // ...and password

define('DB_HOST', 'localhost'); // 99% chance you won't need to change this value

 

In the above example:

 

Replace your-cpanel-name with your actual cpanel ID

Replace datebase-name with the database name you created

Replace user-name with the user name you added to the database

Replace password with the password you created for the user accessing the database

 

The your-cpanel-name_ is required.

[jamestl2]

The your-cpanel-name_ is required.

 

This made it work

 

Thanks for the help everyone

[TCH-Bruce]

Finally.