(in wp-admin/includes/update.php if you are looking for them).
You may decide to change some basic configuration options, such as the database name or the MySQL database user, although you will only change the default of root@localhost if you have full control over the web and database servers. The configuration file also has entries for “security keys” that are used to provide stronger security for browser cookies. Security keys are discussed in more detail in Chapter 13. Editing your wp-config.php file affects the changes right away. Changing the database table prefix, for example, causes WordPress to instantiate a new set of tables and create a clean-slate installation. Make those edits and then go back to your top-level URL and you will find yourself with new admin user information and logged in to a starter Dashboard, as in Figure 1.8. Old tables are not removed from MySQL, so you’ll have to do manual cleanup.
At this point, if you want to set your URL to be different from the location in which you installed WordPress, you can choose Settings and General from the Dashboard and change the URLs for both your top-level address as well as the WordPress installation directory. If you dissociate your site’s URL and the WordPress directory, make sure you move the index.php file to the desired top-level URL, and then edit the last line to include the proper subdirectory path to WordPress.
Before creating your first post, it is also a good idea to establish a permalink structure so that everything you write follows the naming conventions you have chosen to make it relatively easy for readers to find, share, and link to your content. As expected, it is another option in the Settings portion of the Dashboard; options for permalink naming and their impact on performance and database schema are covered in more detail in the next chapter.
Whether it has really been five minutes, or a few hours of tracking down mismatches in hostnames, usernames, and database configurations, you are now ready to publish the first post of your own writing.
A successful WordPress installation already has a first post and comment published, thus ensuring that all of the moving pieces are moving in unison, and giving your website some initial content. When you are ready to add your own first words, either use the right-hand QuickDraft panel in the Dashboard to post an entry (you may need to dismiss the new website help first), or go to Posts and click Add New to be taken to the built-in WordPress editor. Figure 1.9 shows an entry in progress in the QuickDraft panel, followed by the updated Dashboard after it has been successfully posted.
Figure 1.9 Publishing from the QuickDraft panel
If your tastes run more old-school, you can always crank out content in your favorite text editor and then copy it into the editing pane. Be careful with WYSYIWIG word processors such as Microsoft Word or OpenOffice if you want to copy into the WordPress HTML composition window because the HTML will be riddled with additional tag and style information. Finally, a variety of standalone editors publish to WordPress using the Atom Publishing Protocol or XML-RPC. Options for enabling posts to be published remotely are, as you would expect, in the Dashboard’s Settings section under Writing options.
Click Publish for your own “Hello World” moment. Multiple subsystems created that editing pane, saved the content in a database, generated and saved the referential metadata, and then emitted nice-looking HTML. Most of the user-visible pieces are governed through the Dashboard and certain functions will be covered in various chapters.
SUMMARY
This chapter covered how WordPress got to where it is today with a brief history lesson and also touched on its current popularity. Part of WordPress’s rise in the web realm is attributed to the simplicity of the installation process. The next chapter dives into the core of WordPress so that you can take advantage of its extensibility, friendly design, and function.
2
Code Overview
WHAT’S IN THIS CHAPTER?
● Downloading WordPress
● Configuring wp-config.php and .htaccess
● Exploring the wp-content directories
● Enabling maintenance mode in WordPress
WordPress is a software package that comprises groups of source code files that perform specific tasks within the system. Understanding the code, including file and folder structure, is essential to understanding how WordPress works as a whole.
After reading this chapter, you will be familiar with downloading and exploring the WordPress filesystem. This chapter also discusses configuring key WordPress files, including the powerful wp-config.php and .htaccess files. It also covers some advanced configuration options available in WordPress.
DOWNLOADING
The first step to installing WordPress is to download the source files required for WordPress to run. This section digs deeper into the core of WordPress.
You can download the latest stable release of WordPress directly from WordPress.org by visiting the download page located at http://wordpress.org/download/.
You can also update WordPress directly from your current WordPress installation by visiting the Updates WordPress section under the Dashboard ➢ Updates screen. Click the Download button to download the latest version of WordPress to your computer.
WordPress also features Subversion (SVN) access. Subversion is a free, open source version control system. WordPress uses Subversion to manage files and directories and the changes made to them. You can download the latest WordPress source code by checking out http://core.svn.wordpress.org/trunk/.
The SVN trunk directory contains the bleeding edge version of WordPress that is actively being developed. Typically, this version of WordPress contains bugs and is generally used for testing purposes. Running a production website using the trunk version of WordPress is not recommended.
SVN is the mechanism developers use to actively develop on the WordPress core software. With SVN, you can create and submit patch files for inclusion into the WordPress core. Chapter 16 covers this in detail.
Git is another very popular source code management system. Many developers, and not just in the WordPress community, have switched from SVN to Git for version control because of the many benefits Git offers over SVN. The WordPress core team has set up a Git mirror for WordPress core development. To access the Git repository run the command git clone git://develop.git.wordpress.org/. For more information on working with Git and WordPress core development, visit http://make.wordpress.org/core/2014/01/15/git-mirrors-for-wordpress/.
The SVN and Git repositories are considered equals, so if you plan to work with the WordPress core you can use the version control system that you are most comfortable with.
The default format for the WordPress software download is in a compressed zip archive named latest.zip. You can also download WordPress in a compressed tar archive named latest.tar.gz. There is no difference between the files in the archive, only the compression method used.
You can download the zip and tar archives directly from these URLs:
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