I build all my websites using the online WordPress software. I do this for several reasons, including — from my clients’ perspective — control, flexibility and the ease-of-use it gives them to directly edit and update their sites online, and get results instantly.
But there can be times when it is helpful to edit a WordPress site offline.
If you are creating a site from scratch, it can be quicker (no large files uploads) and more secure to work offline. If you want to test out new features on a site, doing this offline gives you a test site. It lets you play freely without worrying about breaking the live site.
WordPress though is an online tool. To use it offline requires installing software that mimics the online environment, and then setting up WordPress software offline on your computer.
There are several software tools you can use. I use Wamp.
Wamp is straight-forward to set-up. It then enables you to log on to a WordPress site offline (installed on your computer) and get full and seamless WordPress functionality.
The three steps to having an offline WordPress website
The three steps to using WordPress offline are:
- Install Wamp on your computer
- Install WordPress on your computer
- Final set up
l’ve set them out step-by-step in the three tabs below. Work though the tabs to get the information you need, and do get in touch if you need any help.
- Download and install WAMP.
- Open WAMP. (Installing it should have automatically put the WAMP icon on your computer.)
- Open phpMyAdmin:
- Type ‘localhost’ in your web browser and press Enter.
- Click the phpMyAdmin link from the Tools menu at bottom-left of the localhost webpage
- Enter ‘root’ in username.
- Click Go.
- Create a database for your website:
- In phpMyAdmin, click the Databases tab.
- Under ‘Create database’, give your database a meaningful name associated with your website (i.e a name you can remember).
- Click Create.
After installing Wamp, install WordPress on your computer, as described in tab 2.
- Download WordPress.
- Unzip WordPress and give the unzipped folder a name you will remember.
- Move the unzipped folder in to your wamp64/www folder (in your computer’s C drive).
- In a web browser, open localhost/<WordPress-folder> (WordPress-folder is the name of the unzipped folder in step 2).
- Choose your language (English).
- Click Continue.
- Enter this information as requested:
- Username = root
- A password is not required
- Enter the database name (that you created in tab 1, step 4).
- Click Submit.
After installing WordPress, go to tab 3 (Final set up) above.
After clicking Submit (from tab 2):
- Follow the next steps as directed (on your screen) to complete the WordPress set-up.
- Log in to WordPress (the same as you would online).
- Get to work!
