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WordPress How to Make a Website with WordPress Installing WordPress The Famous 5-Minute WordPress Install

jessica grinberg
jessica grinberg
14,117 Points
Posted by jessica grinberg
jessica grinberg
14,117 Points

I purchased a domain and hosting plan via GoDaddy, I am planning to design the website myself

I purchased a domain and hosting plan via GoDaddy, I am planning to design the website myself do I need to download the wordpress files and database on my computer? If not where are the files so i can make modifications to themes etc...? I am new to WP thanks for the help!

6 Answers

David Tonge
PLUS
David Tonge
Courses Plus Student 45,640 Points
David Tonge
David Tonge
Courses Plus Student 45,640 Points

Yeah you could just work on the theme locally using something like this then move the theme to your live server when you're finished with the development.

Michael Hazani
Michael Hazani
1,043 Points
Michael Hazani
Michael Hazani
1,043 Points

You should note however, Godaddy already offers an easy 1-click installation of wordpress. When logged into your account, just find "Wordpress" in Cpanel and go from there - it's very intuitive.

jessica grinberg
jessica grinberg
14,117 Points
jessica grinberg
jessica grinberg
14,117 Points

Thanks for your answer, yes that's exactly what I did, I thought it was too good to be true at first!

David Tonge
PLUS
David Tonge
Courses Plus Student 45,640 Points
David Tonge
David Tonge
Courses Plus Student 45,640 Points

I understand and was aware of the one click install but you should never work on a website on the live server. Especially building a theme from scratch.

Michael Hazani
Michael Hazani
1,043 Points
Michael Hazani
Michael Hazani
1,043 Points

Definitely - but you can just 1-click, then download the wp-content folder and work on it locally. That's what I did for my experimental WP environment.

(For extra credit, you can make your environment a git repo, push changes to GitHub, and pull from GoDaddy whenever you want to integrate the changes - version control means you can always undo changes and keep track of your work!)

David Tonge
PLUS
David Tonge
Courses Plus Student 45,640 Points
David Tonge
David Tonge
Courses Plus Student 45,640 Points

Yeah but without a local install you'd just be making blind edits. If you watch almost any Wordpress tut they'll suggest having a local install when theme building. I'm not saying you're wrong but having a local install is the best way to build a theme from scratch and see your changes or build themes that interact with certain plug-ins. The original question asked about theme building. Version control is something you should always use in general.

edit: I work as a developer in which we have three servers ... Dev, QA, and Prod and I still use a local install with Wordpress.