17 of 26

Now that my domain was up and running, it was time to get WordPress installed so that I could create some actual content.  I feared that this step would be bit of a pain, but it really turned out to be very easy (thanks to a bit of guidance from my wife).  Near the bottom of the Host Gator Control Panel, there is a section called “Software / Services” and in that is an icon called “Fantasico De Luxe” which is a collection of scripts that it really easy to install various software packages (such as WordPress).

Fantastico!

Once I clicked on the Fantasico icon, I was brought to a page that listed a whole bunch of software packages available for installation.  Since I was only interested in WordPress for now, I clicked on “WordPress” under “Blogs” and then clicked on the “New Installation” link that appeared on the right hand side.

What can I install for you today?

After clicking on “New Installation”, I was prompted to enter a bunch of information:

WordPress Configuration Options

Here’s a rundown on what the options mean:

• Install in Directory:  This is where you want WordPress installed.  If you leave it blank then it will be installed in the root directory of your domain.  This means that when someone enters a URL of http://<yourdomain> they will see your blog.  This is almost always the desired behavior, so leave this field blank unless you specifically want different behavior.
• Admin access data:  This is a username and password that you will need to in order to administer your blog.
• Admin nickname:  This is what is shown when the blog software displays your name to users in things such as blog posts and comments.  You can change this later if you want to.
• Admin e-mail:  This is self-explanatory.
• Site name:  This is what appears on the header of your blog (in my case it’s “17 of 26″).
• Site description:  This is what appears just under the site name (”the world of programming and technology” for my blog).

I entered my information and hit “Install WordPress”.  The script prompted me a couple of times to verify information and then the installation was complete.  I typed “http://17of26.com” into my address bar and was greeted with the default WordPress theme and sample blog post.  I had a blog!  Pretty amazing considering that all I had to do was click the mouse a few times and type in a bit of information.

I have a blog!