Running Wordpress Locally
I have wanted to try running WordPress locally for a while, and now that I have a computer that isn’t a hand-me-down decade-old machine I can do it. Wow, it has proved to be so helpful. I am currently working on a web site for a start-up ministry and instead of hosting the testing phase in a subdomain of this blog, I can run the testing site locally. Then I can update the subdomain as needed when I want to share with the board of directors what I’ve done do far. Because I had only been working on my local host, I was able to have a “wow” factor at the meeting when I shared how the site was coming along. The launch date for this particular website is January 31st so more on that later!
I had no idea what I was doing when I installed WordPress locally. My friend Franklin always tells me that these things can be done, and basically gives me the right terminology to google it for myself! I knew that I needed XXAMP for Windows and this tutorial was extremely helpful. I’ve now got three installs going: one for Praise & Pray Ministries which is a site in creation, one for Crossroads Baptist Church which is an existing site, and one for testing PHP in general. Now I can play around with a theme or plugin, and know that I am not messing anything up. I back up theme folders regularly in an entirely separate place on my computer as well as the “live” sites.