WordPress Primer and Quick Start Guide

As you may have surmised from the title of this ebook, this is intended to be a very short guide to get you started with the WordPress blogging software. The basic tasks will be covered, with links to read tutorials or articles with more in depth information.

This guide covers the following:

• The Difference Between WordPress and WordPress.com
• Installing WordPress and the Famous 5 Minute Install
• Update Your Profile and Password
• Update Your First Post, Comment, and About Page
• Installing New Themes
• Installing New Plugins

If you already know how to do all of the above, you may just want to skip to the end and start perusing those links ;).

This is a free ebook. You are welcome to distribute it as long as it remains free of charge, unaltered, and the copyright notice is intact. (Though you’re welcome to use this book as a bonus to those who sign up for your free mailing list, you may not use it as a bonus for people purchasing a commercial product. That’s just another of saying this ebook should be distributed completely free of charge.)

The Difference Between WordPress and WordPress.com

Back in August 2005, Matt and the WordPress team launched a hosted blog site at http://www.wordpress.com/. Because there was some confusion over the standalone version of the software and the hosted version, a general naming convention has emerged. The standalone version of WordPress that can be installed on your own server is referred to as WordPress while the hosted service is called WordPress.com (note the .com at the end).

If you’re brand new to WordPress and want to get a feel for the admin panel, then you could sign up with a free account at WordPress.com (http://www.optiniche.com/blog/189/). You will get the overall feel of WordPress, though there are a couple things to keep in mind as you test out the blog. Features like custom themes and custom plugins are disabled for security reasons and the stats that are available on WordPress.com are not yet available in the standalone version of WordPress.

This quick start guide is written for those who will be using the standalone version of WordPress, though some information such as editing the initial post, comment, and about page will apply; it is something to keep in mind while reading.

Installing WordPress and the Famous 5 Minute Install
One beneficial feature of WordPress is the famous 5 minute installation. In reality, the install can take anywhere from three to ten minutes from start to finish.

Some web hosts, especially those using cPanel with Fantastico, will have one-click WordPress installation enabled. This is the fastest WordPress installation method, but it has some drawbacks. Before going the one-click installation route, it’s important to make sure the version of WordPress being installed is up to date. Also, you will not be able to perform any advanced installation of WordPress when using the on-click installation method.

Download WordPress Primer and Quick Start Guide