The Bloggers With The Most To Say
Does anybody use Wordpress.org?
I've been thinking about switching from wordpress.com to .org (the one you download). Has anyone done this? Is it much harder to use?
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Simon Ponder on -
I actually have never used wordpress.com, I have always used the .org portion of it.
.org is fairly easy to use. Your webhost should have a control panel that will automate the install process (if it dosn't the install process literally takes 5 min to do).
Installing plugins and themes are pretty easy, plugins can be installed from within wordpress, if you buy a premium theme you have to upload it via FTP; and dump it into the right folder.
But other than that, it is kind of fun to run your own install of wordpress.
If you need help; as long as you are not using godaddy* for your hosting send me a message on here and I will be happy to help.
*I despise godaddy and their backward way of doing things.
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Permalink Reply by Michael Larrick on -
well shit! I used godaddy!
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Permalink Reply by Nick Tabick on -
You said in your reply to me that you used GoDaddy to get your domain, so I'm assuming that you haven't shelled out for hosting yet. You don't necessarily need to panic about this (actually, you shouldn't be anyway), and who you use to register a domain has little to do with where your content is hosted.
I'm working on a larger reply to my section of the thread; check back in a minute or two.
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Permalink Reply by Nick Tabick on
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The cool thing about WP.org and WP.com is that in terms of front-end usability, they're identical. What you see on .com is almost exactly what .org is going to look like, with the exception of that helper toolbar at the top and a few other WP.com-specific things (like the "upgrades" section). (comparison screenshot)
If you decide to move, the most important thing for you to do is find a host who can provide you with the components necessary to install and run WP.org on your own. There is a recommendation list on the WordPress website, as well as a treasure trove of suggestions from others here in the 20SB forums who have made the jump before you. Porting your content over is child's play once you're up and running, so don't worry about it.
The only parts of the transition that you might have difficulty with (because you don't have to worry about them with WP.com) are the initial installation (assuming you aren't provided with a one-click installer by your host) and ensuring that your WordPress installation and plugins are kept up-to-date. WordPress will helpfully suggest that you upgrade components as updates become available/reported, but it's up to you to take the action necessary. If you don't trust yourself with that responsibility, you might want to consider sticking with WP.com.
If you have any other questions, feel free to ask. I volunteer in the WordPress IRC channel from time to time.
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Permalink Reply by Michael Larrick on
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Thanks man! I'm used godaddy to get my domain, so I'm not sure if that makes a difference. Does it cost anything?
I wouldn't mind a little more info in laments terms on the webhosting portion, because I'm not really sure what to do there, as I'm not great with computers. Thanks again and I'd appreciate any more help
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Permalink Reply by Nick Tabick on
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The domain is only half of what you need. In its most basic form, it is used as a friendly way of pointing at your content. Imagine if you had to use http://64.85.164.4 to visit my blog (as an example) instead of http://www.twoslashes.com; my server's IP is not as memorable or anywhere near as friendly as my domain.
The other half of what you need is hosting. This is what you point the domain at, and where you actually store your content. There are a variety of ways to get going (dedicated servers, virtual machines, etc.), but the simple (and recommended for anyone here who doesn't need the extra power/expense) option for you would be to pick a "web host," i.e. someone who lets you pay to use their computers only to host a website. Like I said before, there's a nifty list of recommended hosts who are knowledgeable about and support WordPress installations on their servers. You don't necessarily have to use GoDaddy for your hosting just because you registered a domain through them.
Depending on who you pick to host your blog, setting up WordPress might be as simple as clicking a button in the host's control panel or as involved as uploading the individual files from the package you get at WordPress.org and performing a manual install. For right now, your job will be to shop around and figure out where you want to build up your new home (if that's indeed what you want to do). We can worry about anything beyond that once you've done your homework and made a selection.
If you have any questions about the plans/features offered by various hosts, let me know and I can try to explain.
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Permalink Reply by cooper on -
I self host and I am going to add that go-daddy does suck. I tried to help someone with their blog last winter - they used go-daddy, and compared to what I am used to I was astonished at how F'ed up using it was. I have a couple of domain names with them and even that is a pain in the neck.
Dreamhost is good, I've worked with it before. I use Siteground and have for 4 years. Unlimited bandwidth, it works well for me and you can actually get hosting/including a domain name through a current customer for only 10 bucks the first year.
There is a learning curve. Once it's over though it's a dream.
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Permalink Reply by Cassie on -
I registered with DreamHost just minutes ago and wasn't able to find (translation: didn't see in the 2 seconds I looked) the one-click installation option, so I'm downloading WordPress from their .org location. I'm now editing crazy-looking shit in Notepad and trying really hard to understand WordPress' installation page.
Nick, or anyone else who is knowledgable in this area and happens to read it, step 4 (upload the files) is a little confusing to me. I want them to appear in the root directory of my website, but this I don't understand:
■If you need to upload your files to your web server, use an FTP client to upload all the contents of the wordpress directory (but not the directory itself) into the root directory of your web site.
What the heck is an FTP client, and where on DreamHost can I find it? I don't even know what files it's talking about, nor do I know what the "wordpress directory" is. The only thing I'm worried about is getting the content from my Blogger blog to my new domain and have it look nice.
Can anyone help?
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Permalink Reply by Cassie on
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Okay, I got fed up with doing this myself and managed to find (with ease) DreamHost's WordPress installation option. I just hope it doesn't get messed up since I was already messing around with editing database info in Notepad. Hopefully it'll just save as a separate .zip file or something.
I came across this helpful tutorial (https://support.exabytes.com/KB/a1939/how-to-move-blogger-to-self-h...) and am hoping this will make it a cinch to get all my blogs onto the new domain. I was starting to panic and wonder if I'd made too hasty of a decision in purchasing and hosting the domain with DreamHost when I read you can actually purchase a domain through Blogger, but hopefully this will work out fine.
But can someone tell me what happens if you buy a domain through a certain site and decide you want to use a different host? For example, I currently have DreamHost's free trial. If I wanted to cancel, would it also cancel my reservation of the domain? Would I then be able to go to Blogger if I chose and just purchase that same domain name from them?
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Permalink Reply by Nick Tabick on
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Domain registration is a curious beast. Domains are registered for a year (or multiples thereof) from the date of registration. In your case, since you used the "free domain" provided by DreamHost included in your hosting package, DreamHost will likely charge you for the registration if you cancel early or tell you that they're going to keep the domain. (This is why you need to make sure that you read the agreement you just clicked through!)
I'd disagree with that guide you're linking to as well, considering it makes you install a second WordPress instance, then import from that one to where you ultimately want the content to end up. This is a rather annoying extra/useless step, since you can do all of the reorganization they want you to do in the intermediary blog on the final one.
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Permalink Reply by Nick Tabick on
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FTP stands for File Transfer Protocol, and is an old protocol used for transferring files to another server. DreamHost won't tell you where to get a client (you'll need to look for one yourself, but I can recommend FileZilla and CyberDuck as free clients), but they'll give you the connection information you'll need to plug into that client.
Once you've got the client set up and connected to DreamHost's server, it's a matter of navigating to the extracted .ZIP and dragging the files to the "remote" pane.
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Permalink Reply by Cassie on
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Thanks for the help. I ended up managing to import all my posts through WP's dashboard, the only easy thing I've encountered so far.
It seems you have to know your way around HTML to get a good looking layout... this process is exhausting me. All these plugins. I feel like there's got to be an easier way than downloading plugins in .zip format to my computer before I can apply them to something online. And if I want to edit them (like the sharing plugin I currently have: www.wittytitlehere.com - top of the page), I have to delve into endless HTML. For example, I'm supposed to have the option to make those buttons vertical on the side of the page. I supposedly can also pick and choose which sharing options I want to give readers. No idea how to do that-- one of the screen captures for the plugin shows an easy looking click or un-click option, but I never encountered that.
Ugh. This is taking all inspiration for writing out of me, haha.
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