A web log (abbreviated to the more commonly known blog) is a website, usually maintained by an individual, with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video. It is akin to an online diary, albeit one that is readable by others and to which others can append their own comments.

Why should I consider installing a blog on my account?

Blogging accounts are available freely on the World Wide Web. While it is not necessary to install a blogging software on your account, it gives an advantage of giving you control over more features, such as modifying the look and feel of the site through themes or even installing website widgets.

A free blogging software available online and which is compatible with our Linux accounts is Wordpress. For more information regarding its license and technical requirements, please visit http://wordpress.org. Please note that Wordpress is in no way endorsed by webfusion and is used solely for the purpose of demonstration.

Before we start

Requirements

Before installing Wordpress on your webhosting account, you will require the following:

On your local computer:

• An internet connection with FTP connectivity (i.e. port 21 open through the firewall, if any)
• An FTP software (Freeware options are available on http://www.download.com)
• The latest installation zip archive of Wordpress from http://wordpress.org/download

On your webfusion account:

• Your Myserverworld.net or .com username & password
• Atleast one MySQL database associated with the webfusion account to be used to host the blog.

Installing Wordpress

Installing Wordpress itself is very straightforward.

1. Download and unzip the WordPress package, if you haven't already done so.
2. Create a MySQL user who has privileges for accessing and modifying the database.
3. Rename the wp-config-sample.php file to wp-config.php.
4. Open wp-config.php in Notepad.
5. The code you will be looking to change is in the first five lines;

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

define('DB_USER', 'usernamehere');     
// Your complete MySQL username (it can be found on the phpAdmin page, after you //log into the database using Myserverworld.net or .com; it will look like //thedbnameandsomenos@linwebno.atlas.pipex.net)

define('DB_PASSWORD', 'yourpasswordhere'); 
// ...and password
define('DB_HOST', 'databasehostnamehere');    
// The database hostname (it can be found on the phpAdmin page as above, click on //‘Show MySQL system variables’ and note down the first part of the hostname //variable. Eg; if the hostname is ‘cust-mysqlno.atlas.pipex.net’, the DB_HOST is //‘cust-mysqlno’.  

6. Save the wp-config.php file.
7. Place the WordPress files in the desired location on your web server. If you want to have your WordPress installation in its own subdirectory on your web site (e.g. http://yourdomain.com/blog/), rename the directory wordpress to the name you'd like the subdirectory to have and move or upload it to your web server. For example if you want the WordPress installation in a subdirectory called "blog", you should rename the directory called "wordpress" to "blog" and upload it to the root directory of your web server.
8. Run the WordPress installation script by accessing wp-admin/install.php in your favourite web browser. If you installed WordPress in its own subdirectory called blog, for example, you should visit: http://yourdomain.com/blog/wp-admin/install.php
9. That’s it. Your friends can now read your own blog at http://yourdomain.com/blog. Be sure to personalise it with widgets, plugins and themes available at http://wordpress.org.

Technical Support

Please note that we cannot and will not provide technical support on the use of Wordpress, for which online support is available at http://wordpress.org/support, or any other blogging software.

Legal Disclaimer

This article is designed purely as a guide and webfusion in no ways endorses or is associated with Wordpress and is not responsible for any usage issues.