Making a Custom WordPress Install
By Neil Sweeney Tuesday, 4th October 2011
As a WordPress developer, making websites and plugins is a good challenge and highly rewarding experience with WordPress. The only annoying thing when developing WordPress across a number of different locations is the install.
Automattic have done a great job streamlining the install process with choice of a GUI or text interface to get the configurations all setup. But one aspect they haven’t work on so much yet is a custom WordPress install; there is no official option as of yet to build a WordPress package that will automatically install and activate plugins that you chose but that’s not to say there isn’t one though!
Posted in Guides, Wordpress | 2 Comments »
WordCamp UK 2011
By Joe Gardiner Saturday, 16th July 2011
WordCamp UK 2011 kicks off today at Portsmouth University and CatN, as a Gold sponsor, is here. We have set up our stall in the foyer and are keen to introduce attendees to our products.
If you’re attending WordCamp this weekend come and say hello, sign up for our beta test which will give you a free account for the weekend, and let us show you around our range of products.
Posted in Hosting, News, vCluster, Wordpress | 3 Comments »
Sharing a Single Database
By Joe Gardiner Thursday, 3rd March 2011
All vClusters come with a single MySQL database. This can sometimes cause problems when you attempt to install multiple instances of WordPress on a single vCluster account.
This guide shows you how to avoid database clashes with a very simple step in the WordPress installation process. If you do not know how to install WordPress please follow the guide, ‘Installing WordPress on your vCluster‘.
Getting Started
Download the latest version of WordPress from http://wordpress.org, and extract it to a folder on your desktop.
Now you need to follow the usual WordPress installation steps. Open the WordPress folder you extracted on your desktop and copy the wp-config.sample.php file to wp-config.php.
The next step involves editing the wp-config.php file you just created.
Editing the wp-config.php
Open the wp-config.php with your favourite text editor. If you are using Windows I would suggest downloading a php file editor such as Scite as Windows editors add line breaks which will corrupt the php file.
Once the file is open take a look at its contents…
You can enter the vCluster database information as usual, but before saving and closing the file scroll down a bit further and find the line…
$table_prefix = ‘wp_’;
This prefix will be added to the front of any WordPress tables in your MySQL database. This is what you need to change to ensure there are no clashes between tables using the same name.
Change this prefix to anything that suites your particular project. For example my website is joegardiner.co.uk, so I will change my prefix to:
$table_prefix = ‘jgwp_’;
When your table prefix is chosen save the file and close it. You can continue to install WordPress in the usual manner, following this guide: ‘Setting up WordPress on your vCluster‘
Posted in Guides, Wordpress | No Comments »
Importing from another blog
By Joe Gardiner Thursday, 3rd March 2011
Importing from another WordPress blog is a quick way of copying your site. Whether you need to move from one host to another, create a development copy of your site, or create a backup, exporting and importing a WordPress blog is the easiest way to do this.
Getting Started
The first thing you need to do is log in to your WordPress blog. As usual go to your sites URL and stick /wp-admin on the end. Enter your login details to get to the WordPress dashboard.
Exporting
In the sidebar find the Tools tab and expand it by clicking on the arrow if it isn’t already. Under the Tools tab are the two options Import and Export.
The first step is to export from the blog you wish to migrate. Go ahead and click the Export button now. In the Export screen you have the option to export, Posts, Pages or everything. Make your choice and click the Download Export File button.
You will then be asked where you want to save the Export file. Choose a location and download the file.
This file contains all of the data necessary to recreate your WordPress site on a fresh installation.
Importing
To import your site into another WordPress instance follow the same steps above to find the Tools tab in the WordPress dashboard. This time choose the Import option.
You will be given a list of systems to import, but in this case it will be just be WordPress. Go ahead and choose WordPress as your system.
Click the Choose File button to navigate to the location of the export file you downloaded earlier.
When you have located the file, click the Upload File and Import button to watch the progress. Your new WordPress instance will now contain all the content from your previous blog!
Posted in Guides, Wordpress | No Comments »
Vhosting: an alternative to WordPress multi-site
By Joe Gardiner Wednesday, 1st September 2010
With the release of WordPress 3.0, multi-site functionality allows a network of sites to be managed by a single WordPress dashboard. Unfortunately some of our clients are having difficulties setting up a multi-site network, and WordPress.org codex is not always beginner friendly.
Vhosting offers an alternative by allowing multiple sites to be hosted on your single vCluster IP address. You can then use independent WordPress installs on each of these sites, decentralising a network and allowing you to manage each site manually.
We already have a guide for “vhosting” and “multiple domains on your vCluster“, but you can follow the instructions here as well to setup multiple WordPress installs on vhosts. read more…
Posted in Guides, vHosting | No Comments »