classroom websites: how to make a school website...

© 2008 http://blog.classroomteacher.ca

Classroom Websites: How to Make a School Website, Classroom Blog or Edublog

October 2008 Version 1.1

2008 Kisu Kuroneko, Blog.ClassroomTeacher.ca

How to Make a School Website, Classroom Blog or Professional Edublog using WordPress is published by Kisu Kuroneko and Blog.ClassroomTeacher.ca under a Creative Commons Attribution ‐ Noncommercial ‐ No Derivative Works 2.5 Canada license. You are free to Share — to copy, distribute and transmit the work — under the following conditions: Attribution. You must attribute the work in the manner specified by the author or licensor (but not in any way that suggests that they endorse you or your use of the work). Noncommercial. You may not use this work for commercial purposes. No Derivative Works. You may not alter, transform, or build upon this work. For any reuse or distribution, you must make clear to others the licence terms of this work. Any of the above conditions can be waived if you get permission from the copyright holder. The author's moral rights are retained in this licence.

http://blog.classroomteacher.ca

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.5/ca/


Table of Contents About this ebook ..................................................................................................................................... 4 Make sure you have the most up‐to‐date version of this ebook ........................................................... 4 About the Author .................................................................................................................................... 4 7 Frequently Asked Questions ................................................................................................................ 5 1. Why would I want to have a School or Class Website? ........................................................... 5 2. What's the difference between a website, a weblog, a blog, and an edublog? ...................... 5 3. Why should I run my website using blogging software? I don't want my school website to be a blog. .................................................................................................................................................. 6 4. Why Wordpress? ...................................................................................................................... 6 5. How much is this going to cost? Is this really free? What's the trick? ..................................... 7 6. How much time will this take? ................................................................................................. 8 7. How hard is this going to be? Do I have to be a computer genius? ......................................... 8

111 Start a free WordPress.com website ....................................................................................................... 9

1. Visit WordPress.com and click on the Sign Up Now! button. .................................................. 9 2. Fill out the "one‐step" form ..................................................................................................... 9 3. Fill out the second page of the "one step" form .................................................................... 10 4. An activation email will be sent to you .................................................................................. 11 5. You're done. Your account is active ....................................................................................... 11 6. You've just set up your school or classroom blog .................................................................. 11

222 Start a free Edublogs.org website .......................................................................................................... 12

1. Visit edublogs.org and click on the SIGN UP Here link. .......................................................... 12 2. Fill out the Sign Up Form ........................................................................................................ 12 3. Fill out the second page of the Sign Up Form ........................................................................ 13 4. An activation email will be sent to you .................................................................................. 13 5. You're done. Your account is active ....................................................................................... 14 6. You've just set up your school or classroom blog .................................................................. 14

333 Set up a self‐hosted Wordpress website on your own server (using BlueHost) ................................... 15 Part 1. Get a BlueHost Account ............................................................................................................ 15 1. Visit Bluehost.com and click on the Sign Up Now button ...................................................... 15 2. Pick a Domain Name ............................................................................................................... 16 3. Is the domain name you want available? ............................................................................... 17 4. Enter Billing information for your BlueHost account ............................................................. 17

Part 2. Set up a WordPress Blog on your BlueHost account ................................................................ 18 1. Visit BlueHost.com and sign into your account ...................................................................... 18 2. Find Fantastico de Luxe .......................................................................................................... 18 3. Click on the WordPress script on the right hand menu. ........................................................ 18


4. Click on the new installation link ............................................................................................ 19 5. Set up the basic information for your WordPress blog .......................................................... 20 6. Confirm the setup information ............................................................................................... 21 7. You're done! ........................................................................................................................... 21

444 Set up a self‐hosted Wordpress website on your school's server. ........................................................ 22 Is your school's webhost able to run WordPress? ................................................................................ 22 Step 1. Download and Extract the WordPress Package from WordPress.org ..................................... 23 1. Download the latest version of WordPress for free .............................................................. 23 2. Unzip the file on your computer. ........................................................................................... 23

Step 2. Create a database and User ...................................................................................................... 24 1. Log into your Plesk account .................................................................................................... 24 2. Create a new database ........................................................................................................... 24 3. Enter the name of your database ........................................................................................... 24 4. Create a user for your database ............................................................................................. 25 5. Enter in a user name and password for your database user ................................................. 25

Step 3. Set up the wp‐config.php file .................................................................................................... 25 1. Rename your wp‐config.php file. ........................................................................................... 25 2. Put in your database information into your wp‐config file. ................................................... 26

Step 4. Upload WordPress to your school account. ............................................................................. 27 1. Click on the version of FileZilla that you need and download the file to your computer. ..... 27 2. Install FileZilla on your computer. .......................................................................................... 27 3. Run FileZilla and connect to your school server ..................................................................... 28 4. Find where your school website files are stored. .................................................................. 28 5. Look for the directory that has index.htm or index.php ........................................................ 29 6. Backup your old website. ....................................................................................................... 29 7. Copy the contents of your WordPress folder over to your httpdocs folder. ......................... 30

Step 5. Run the Install Script ................................................................................................................. 30 1. Congratulations ‐ you're done ................................................................................................ 31 2. If you visit your website's login page… ................................................................................... 31

Visit your school website or classroom blog ........................................................................................ 32 How to log into your blog ..................................................................................................................... 32


Introduction About this ebook This ebook will provide step‐by‐step instructions in setting up your school website or classroom blog using a free piece of software called WordPress. Our goal is to help our colleagues and other educators to set up websites that are…

1. Pretty and professional looking,

2. Easy for students to use,

3. Easy for teachers to update content,

4. A community hub providing another communication tool between school and home

After you set up your website, visit Blog.ClassroomTeacher.ca/WordPress to find lessons and tutorials that will walk you through the various features of WordPress so that you can get your website looking just the way you want it.

Make sure you have the most uptodate version of this ebook This is Version 1.0.

Given the dynamic nature of technology, changes will be made as the internet evolves and feedback is received. The most up‐to‐date version of this ebook can be obtained by subscribing to our email newsletter at blog.classroomteacher.ca/subscribe

About the Author Kisu Kuroneko teaches Grade 7 and 8 in Ontario, Canada and writes on blog.classroomteacher.ca, a professional edublog discussing the use of technology (in the K‐12 classroom.) He uses WordPress to manage over 20 blogs, including his school and classroom websites.

http://blog.classroomteacher.ca/wordpress

http://blog.classroomteacher.ca/subscribe



7 Frequently Asked Questions

1. Why would I want to have a School or Class Website? A school website or classroom blog can be your voice on the internet. It's a great way to showcase all of the wonderful things you are doing.

• The reality is that school boards are businesses, and schools are in the business of educating our children. However, like many businesses, there is competition in the marketplace and attracting and retaining enrolment are issues to consider. Maintaining an attractive and up‐to‐date school website can be an opportunity to show off the great work that students and teachers are doing at your school.

• More and more teachers are starting classroom websites. They can be used for everything from posting homework assignments or handouts to publishing student works or presentations. They can provide a safe and moderated opportunity for students to explore healthy and constructive relationships with people around the world. Here are 6 more reasons to get your students blogging.

2. What's the difference between a website, a weblog, a blog, and an edublog? • A website is a collection of web pages on the internet.

• A weblog, web‐blog, or blog all mean the same thing: a type of website where bloggers publish information in (short) posts organized by date. Most blogs are run like an online personal diary, however many regular websites are powered by blogging software (i.e. WordPress, Blogger) because the software is so user‐friendly and easy to use.

• An edublog or educational blog is an education‐related blog: blogs written for or by teachers or students or anyone else in the field of education. Blog.ClassroomTeacher.ca is an example of a teacher blog written for teachers. 8e.YourClassroom.ca is an example of a class blog written for students.

The bottom line is that it doesn't really matter what you call your school or class website. It'll be your home on the internet where you publish school related stuff.

http://blog.classroomteacher.ca/4/6-reasons-to-get-your-students-blogging/


http://8e.yourclassroom.ca


3. Why should I run my website using blogging software? I don't want my school website to be a blog. Blogging software is simply a program that lets you point‐and‐click your way to create great websites. Once your website is set up, you can do everything online to manage your website.

For example, you log into an administrator account to start building the website. You publish information as posts (which are organized by date) or as pages (which are not dated.) Whether your site looks and feels like a traditional blog or a traditional website depends on how you set it up.

Gone are the days when you had to be able to program or use expensive and sophisticated software to design elegant and professional web spaces. (Although if you have those skills, WordPress is open‐ended to allow you to tweak and customize your school website.)

4. Why Wordpress? Although there are many blogging platforms out there, over time, we have started to love WordPress. Here are some of the reasons why…

• It's an easy way to create and maintain an attractive website.

• It's free. (The software is open‐source and can be download and used for free.)

• WordPress is used by beginners and experts alike. Beginners can get their website started within seconds. Experts can use their knowledge of programming to modify and tweak their website to perfection ‐ especially through the use of plugins (see below).

• You can make the blog public and open to the world or private and only accessible to students and teachers at the school.

• You can easily add, modify or delete content using webpages called posts and pages.

• Your class website can be interactive. You can let students and teachers leave comments on your web pages, or you can turn off this feature.

• There are lots of free gorgeous themes to choose from to change the look of your website instantly. You can flip back and forth between themes until you decide on the perfect look.

• There's a huge community of people who use WordPress so help is never far away.

• Wordpress is infinitely extendible because you can install new plugins ‐ little pieces of code that let you easily customize your website. Once you've mastered the basics, you can begin to do some very cool things, like geotagging your comments and adding little country flags to show where each comment is from.

http://blog.classroomteacher.ca/32/geotag-your-classroom-blog/#geotag-your-comments


5. How much is this going to cost? Is this really free? What's the trick? Having a basic school or classroom website is free. Either set up a free basic blog account (i.e. with WordPress.com or Edublogs.org) or install the WordPress blogging software on your school's computer servers.

There are only two situations which could cost you money:

1. If you want to have your own customized website address (i.e. yourname.com), then you'll have

to pay around $10 per year (CAD or USD) to register the domain name.

2. If you want to go beyond the basics and really customize your school / class website, then you'll

have to either 1) pay to get extra features (if you use a free blog account like Edublogs.org ‐

costs vary by service), or 2) rent your own shared web server space and run your own

self‐hosted WordPress blog (which costs around $7 USD per month.)

Wordpress software is free, but it comes in 3 different forms:

1. WordPress.com is the easiest to use. Automattic is a software company that maintains WordPress.com which is a version of WordPress that is set up, hosted and completely maintained (by someone else). This is the easiest way to get blogging with WordPress because you don't need any programming knowledge. It takes a few minutes to set up a free account.

2. WordPress.org is what you need if you want to run WordPress on your own computer servers. When you install the free WordPress software on your own webspace, this is called a self‐hosted WordPress blog. You can run the WordPress software off of your school's servers or by paying for a service like BlueHost that lets you rent server space. By running the WordPress software yourself (instead of using a free service like WordPress.com or Edublogs.org), you have the most freedom to do what you want with it. You can install any plugin, use any theme, or monetize your site with your own Google Ads. (With WordPress.com and Edublogs.org, you are limited to whatever plugins or themes are pre‐installed.)

3. WordPress Mu is the enterprise‐level, multi‐user version of WordPress. (In fact, it's the actual software that is used on WordPress.com) You can download it for free and set up your own version of WordPress.com and allow other people to set up their own blogs on your site. For example, Edublogs.org uses this software to allow thousands of teachers set up their classroom websites. Several large‐scale organizations use it as well (i.e. Harvard.) WordPress Mu is free, but setting it up takes a lot of technical know‐how that is beyond this ebook. A school board might consider running WordPress Mu on their school servers so that their teachers and students could create their own WordPress websites.

http://blog.classroomteacher.ca/5/how-to-start-an-educational-blog/#self

http://wordpress.com

http://wordpress.org

http://blog.classroomteacher.ca/BlueHost

http://mu.wordpress.org/

http://edublogs.org


6. How much time will this take? It can take less than 5 minutes to start a WordPress website, but it can take a lifetime to perfect your website just the way you want it.

Generally speaking, after you spend 5 minutes to set up your WordPress site, it'll take a few hours to add material to your website. For example, change the look of your website (theme), add some content (text, images, etc) and choose those privacy settings. Give yourself some time to figure out how the blogging software works, how to moderate comments, etc. But, once you've set up your website, adding new information in posts and pages will only take the time it takes to type it in

7. How hard is this going to be? Do I have to be a computer genius? According to Technorati (the Google of Blogs), there are over 112.8 million blogs in the world (or blogosphere). Some are written by computer geniuses, but most are run by regular people.

How much technical skill you need depends on which version of WordPress you want to set up.

WordPress How Hard is it to Setup? Cost

Chapter 1. Start a free WordPress.com website

EASY Basic Account is

Free

(Extra Features

cost money.)

Chapter 2. Start a free Edublogs.org website

EASY Basic Account is

Free

(Extra Features

cost money.)

Chapter 3. Set up a self‐hosted Wordpress website on your own server (using BlueHost)

EASY-MEDIUM

(You can install WordPress with the click of a

button with BlueHost.)

Approx. $7 per

month.

All features are

available.

Chapter 4. Set up a self‐hosted Wordpress website on your school's server.

DIFFICULT

(You may not be able to install WordPress on your

school servers because 1) you may not have the

required access / skill, or 2) your school may not

meet the technical requirements for WordPress.

Free. (if you can

get WordPress

installed.)

All features are

available.

http://technorati.com/about/


111 Start a free WordPress.com website 1. Visit WordPress.com and click on the Sign Up Now! button.

2. Fill out the "one‐step" form 1. You'll need to pick a username. This is the username that you will use to log into your account.

The name you pick here doesn't have to be the name of your blog (but it can be.)

The hardest part is often coming up with a user name that is still available. Sometimes, all the good ones are already taken. (Only lowercase letters and numbers are allowed (no hyphens or other punctuation).

2. Type in your password. Try to pick a password that your students can't guess.

3. Type in your email address. They will send a confirmation email here to activate your account so make sure you put in a real email address. You can change it later if you want to. (If you forget your password, this is where they will send you information to reset your password.)

4. Read and Agree to the Terms of Service.

5. Make sure you leave the Gimme a Blog option selected.

6. Click on Next.

http://wordpress.com


3. Fill out the second page of the "one step" form 1. Decide on what you want your blog domain name to be. The address that people will type into

their web browsers will be yourname.wordpress .com. It cannot be changed, so choose wisely. (Well... that's not 100% true. If you don't like this name, you can always back up your work, set up another blog with a different domain name, and then just copy over your work.)

2. Choose a title for your blog. (This can be changed at any time)

3. Choose a language for your blog.

4. Decide your privacy setting. If you want your blog to appear in Search Engines (like Google, Yahoo, or Technorati) then leave this box checkmarked.

If you want to hide your blog from the search engines, clear this box. Note that hiding your blog from the search engines doesn't prevent someone from typing in your website address and seeing your website. There are some more things you'll need to do to hide your blog

This privacy setting can be changed at any time.

5. Click on the Signup button.


4. An activation email will be sent to you 1. A confirmation email will be sent to your

email address. When it comes, click on the link and your account will become active.

2. If you want to update your profile and fill out your first name, last name, and a little information about yourself, you can... but you can do this later as well. This information

5. You're done. Your account is active 1. After you click on the link in the email, you should see a screen saying that your account is

active. It will display your username and password to log in to your blog. (If you don't like your username, you can change it later.)

2. Click on the link to view your site or type in your website address in your browser. (yourname.wordpress .com)

6. You've just set up your school or classroom blog You've just finished setting up a website for your school or classroom and should see the default WordPress blog. Everything on this site can be changed, from the layout to the colours, to the title and the sidebar links. Everything.


222 Start a free Edublogs.org website 1. Visit edublogs.org and click on the SIGN UP Here link. Be careful to type in that website correctly. Edublog.org, Edublogs.com, and Edublog.com are similar but different websites.

2. Fill out the Sign Up Form 1. You'll need to pick a username. This is the username that you will use to log into your account.

The name you pick here doesn't have to be the name of your blog (but it can be.)

Only lowercase letters and numbers are allowed (no hyphens or other punctuation). The hardest part is often coming up with a user name that is still available. Sometimes, all the good ones are already taken.

2. Type in your email address. They will make up a password and send it here so make sure you put in a real email address. You can change it later if you want to.

3. Read and Agree to the Terms of Service. (Basically that your are somehow associated to education: teacher, student, librarian, etc.

4. Make sure you leave the Gimme a Blog option selected.

5. Click on Next.

http://edublogs.org

http://edublogs.org/wp-signup.php


3. Fill out the second page of the Sign Up Form 1. Decide on what you want your blog domain name to be. The address that people will type into

their web browsers will be yourname.edublogs .org. It cannot be changed, so choose wisely. (Well, that's not 100% true. If you don't like this name, you can always back up your work, set up another blog with a different domain name, and then just copy over your work.)

2. Choose a title for your blog. (This can be changed at any time)

3. Decide your privacy setting.

If you want your blog to appear in Search Engines (like Google, Yahoo, or Technorati) then leave this on yes, I would like my blog to be visible ... in public listings.

If you want to hide your blog from the search engines, clear this box. Note that hiding your blog from the search engines doesn't prevent someone from typing in your website address and seeing your website. There are some more things you'll need to do to hide your blog.

This privacy setting can be changed at any time.

4. Select a blog type: Click on the down arrow to see your options:Is this a teacher blog, a student blog, or an other type of blog?

5. Select a language.

6. Click on the Signup button.

4. An activation email will be sent to you 1. A confirmation email will be

sent to your email address. When it comes, click on the link and your account will become active. If your email doesn't arrive, check that you typed in the correct email address and check your junk mail box as well.


5. You're done. Your account is active 1. After you click on the link in the email, you should

see a screen saying that your account is active. It will display your username and password to log in to your blog.

(If you don't like your username, you can change it later.)

Write down your password. You'll need it to get into your blog. (They'll also send you another email with your randomly generated password.

2. Click on the link to view your site or type in your website address in your browser. (yourname.wordpress .com)

6. You've just set up your school or classroom blog You've just finished setting up a website for your school or classroom and should see the default Edublogs theme. Everything on this site can be changed, from the layout to the colours, to the title and the sidebar links. Everything.

Skip to chapter 3 to find out how to start filling in your content.


333 Set up a selfhosted Wordpress website on your own server (using BlueHost) Paying for a web host to run your own self‐hosted WordPress blog is not for everybody. In fact, it's for very few teachers out there.

If you're new to blogging, start out with a free WordPress blog, either at WordPress.com or Edublogs.org. Try it out, create a school or classroom blog and see what you can and can't do.

Many teachers are perfectly happy with what they are able to do with a free blog. Your students can post and comment in a perfectly safe environment using the basic templates (themes) and features (plug‐ins) provided.

But some teachers will want more. And these are the people who should consider paying for some server space on a web host and running their own WordPress blog(s) off of their server space. Here's how we knew we were ready to switch to a self‐hosted WordPress blog.

Using BlueHost to run a self‐hosted wordpress blog takes two steps:

1. Set up a WordPress blog on your BlueHost account.

Part 1. Get a BlueHost Account

1. Visit Bluehost.com and click on the Sign Up Now button

http://blog.classroomteacher.ca/62/why-we-chose-bluehost-to-run-our-classroom-blogs



2. Pick a Domain Name You get one free domain name when you sign up with BlueHost. (As long as you have an account with them, the domain name is free.)

1. Pick a domain name that you want. This is what your students will type into their web browsers to get to your site (i.e. yourname.com)

2. What 3 letter extension do you want your domain name to end with? .com is the most popular, but most of the good names are taken already. You can also get a .net, .org, .biz, .info, or .us domain name. (To be perfectly honest, most students (and people) get confused if it doesn't end with .com.)

BlueHost does not currently sell Canadian Domain names (names ending in .ca). If you want to get a Canadian Domain name for your classroom or school website, you can buy it from a different company and simply point the domain name to your website. There is a huge price difference from different companies (domain registrars). Canadian domain names cost anywhere from $9.95 to $50 (per year), and since the product is exactly the same, you might as well buy your domain name for $9.95 per year. Read our post on what teachers should look for when buying cheap domain names.

3. Check that you've added BlueHost Domain Privacy. This is very important for teachers. When you register a domain name, you have to give your full name, address, telephone number and email address. This information is publicly listed in the WHOIS database which anyone, including your students can access online.

By adding BlueHost Domain Privacy to your domain name, BlueHost will publish their contact information (instead of publishing your contact information) to protect your privacy. (See an example.) You still own and control the domain name, but your personal information is hidden from the WHOIS database.

As of June 10, 2008, the Canadian Internet Registration Authority no longer publishes registration details for .ca domain names. So, if you buy a Canadian domain name, your privacy is guaranteed.

4. Click on the next button.

http://blog.classroomteacher.ca/80/domain-names/

http://www.bluehost.com/privacy.html


3. Is the domain name you want available? 1. The domain name that you want may be owned by

somebody else. It can be hard finding a domain name that is available. A lot of the good ones are already taken.

2. Try a different domain name and then click on the Check Domain button. (You can use dashes ‐ and underscores _ , but no periods in your domain name)

4. Enter Billing information for your BlueHost account 1. If the domain name you want is available, you

can go ahead and set up a BlueHost account.

2. Make sure the domain name listed is the one you want. (There's only a 5 day refund policy on domain names.) Also make sure that you have the free BlueHost Domain Privacy checked.

3. Fill out your account information

4. Fill out your billing information

5. Choose the pricing package that is right for you.

6. Set up your account password

7. Click on Next

Someone from BlueHost will call your telephone number to confirm you set up an account.


Part 2. Set up a WordPress Blog on your BlueHost account

1. Visit BlueHost.com and sign into your account 1. In the top right hand corner, enter in your domain name and password to log into your

account. This will log you into the cpanel.

2. Find Fantastico de Luxe 1. On the right hand side there should be a list of features. Find the one called services /

software and click on Fantastico de Luxe.

3. Click on the WordPress script on the right hand menu. 2. Use Fantastico to automatically install any of the scripts listed on the left. Click on the

WordPress script.



4. Click on the new installation link 1. Click on the new installation link to automatically setup a new WordPress blog on your

account. The number in brackets is the version of WordPress. (Later on, you might want to set up multiple wordpress blogs as separate subdomains so that each teacher can have their own homework or classroom blog. You can do that from here.)

2. After you have set up a few WordPress blogs, you'll see them all listed here as well as which version of WordPress you installed. WordPress is constantly being improved and new versions are always getting released. It takes a little bit of time, but eventually Fantastico releases a new script to install the latest version of WordPress. You can upgrade your older WordPress blogs to the latest button by clicking on the Upgrade link.


5. Set up the basic information for your WordPress blog 1. Choose which domain name to install your blog on. (If you have more than 1 domain name

associated with this account, or if you've set up multiple subdomains ‐ 8b.yourdomain.com, 8c.yourdomain.com, etc, then click on the down arrow to see a list of all the domains.)

2. Leave the directory blank. This will install WordPress in the root directory. Chances are that you won't want it installed anywhere else.

3. Type in the username and password to log in to your new wordpress account. (You can change the password later, but you can't change the username. You can however, create another admin user later on and delete this one if you don't like the name.)

4. Choose the nickname that will appear where you create a post. (This can be changed at any point.) Choose an email address that will be associated with this user. (This can be changed later as well.)

5. Choose the site name that will appear as the title of this blog, as well as a description that will appear in the header of your blog. (This can be changed at any time.)

6. Click on the Install WordPress button.

http://8b.yourclassroom.ca

http://8c.yourclassroom.ca


6. Confirm the setup information 1. Fantastico will confirm the name of the

MySQL database that it is creating for your WordPress blog, the directory where you are installing WordPress, and the domain name that will be used to access the blog.

2. All you need to do is click on the Finish installation button.

7. You're done! 1. Fantastico will automatically set up your WordPress blog for you as well as remind you what

your username and login password is.

2. To log into your site, click on the link, or type in your website address with /wp‐admin added to the end.

3. You also have the option of emailing yourself your username, password, and website login address.

Visit your website's login page… (Either by clicking on the link in step 2 above or typing in your website address with /wp‐admin added to the end, you should see the following login screen.


444 Set up a selfhosted Wordpress website on your school's server. Chances are your school board provides a space for individual schools to set up a webpage. They might even provide a template or some support in getting your website up and running. But, more than likely, it'll be a cookie cutter template that you'll have to update by using a web design program like Dreamweaver.

You may or may not be able to get WordPress working on your school's website. Although using WordPress is relatively easy, installing it on your school's server requires a little technical finesse on your part.

Chances are also pretty good that your school board will not provide direct support in getting WordPress up and running. Detailed instructions on how to install WordPress can be found at http://codex.wordpress.org/Installing_WordPress

Is your school's webhost able to run WordPress? WordPress requires PHP (version 4.3 or better) and MySQL (version 4.0 or better). It can run on both a server running Linux / Apache, or a server running Microsoft IIS. (Although, you're better off with the Linux / Apache option.)

Send off the following email to your computer people:

I'm interested in installing WordPress as the content management system for our school website and was wondering what version of PHP and MySQL we have, as well as if the mod_rewrite Apache module was supported.

If you do meet the technical requirements, you'll also need the following information from your computer people:

What is the FTP address for the school website? What is the username and password for the site? How can I access cPanel (or Plesk), as well as, phpMyAdmin, (or MySQL) to setup the databases?

http://codex.wordpress.org/Installing_WordPress


Our school website host uses Microsoft IIS aand Plesk. Here are step‐by‐step instructions on how to get WordPress up and running on this system. (WordPress provides detailed instructions, but we're simply trying to make it easier for educators in our board to set up WordPress.)

Step 1. Download and Extract the WordPress Package from WordPress.org

1. Download the latest version of WordPress for free 1. Visit http://wordpress.org/download/ and

click on the red Download WordPress button. Save the zipped file on your computer.

2. Unzip the file on your computer. Unzip the compressed WordPress file into a folder on your computer. For example, in Windows, open up my computer

1. Click on the black triangle beside the compressed WordPress file to expand the folder.

2. Right click on the WordPress folder to open up the next menu.

3. Click on extract all to unzip the WordPress file.

http://codex.wordpress.org/Installing_WordPress#Detailed_Instructions

http://wordpress.org


Step 2. Create a database and User Create a database for WordPress on your school's server, as well as a MySQL user who has all priviledges for accessing and modifying the database. This step will differ, depending on what your school's server uses to manage their MySQL database. Instructions are provided for PLESK 8.3.

We had to ask our IT department to set up a Plesk Account for our school website. You'll need to get the website address (like a secured IP address location) to log into your Plesk Account, as well as a user name and password.

1. Log into your Plesk account 1. Type in your login and password to log in.

2. Create a new database 1. Click on the Create a Database option. (If you don't see

this option, you might need to click on HOME and then find the Databases button. You should now see a button that says Add New Database.)

3. Enter the name of your database 1. Choose a name for the database (i.e. wordpress). No one will ever see this name ‐ it's just

used by the WordPress software. But don't forget the name, you'll need it in a few steps. (This is the DB_Name which you'll need later in the wp‐config.php file.)

2. Change the database type to MySQL. (If you don't do this step, you'll get an error page when you try to access your website.)

3. Click on OK to create the database.


4. Create a user for your database

1. You should get a message saying that the database was created.

2. Now you need to click on the Add New Database User to set up a user so that the WordPress software can access your new database.

5. Enter in a user name and password for your database user 1. Type in a database user name (i.e. blog) and password. Don't forget your username and

password ‐ you'll need it in a couple of steps. (Your user name is your DB_User. Your password will be your DB_PASSWORD which you'll need later.)

Click on OK to create the account.

Step 3. Set up the wpconfig.php file

1. Rename your wp‐config.php file.

1. Go back to where you unzipped the WordPress software.

2. Find the file called wp‐config‐sample.php and rename it wp‐config.php


2. Put in your database information into your wp‐config file.

Open up your wp‐config.php file using a text editor (i.e. like notepad)

1. Replace putyourdbnamehere with your actual database name (DB_NAME) from the previous step.

2. Replace usernamehere with an actual username (DB_USER)

3. Change yourpasswordhere with your actual password (DB_PASSWORD)

4. Visit http://api.wordpress.org/secret‐key/1.1/ and wordpress will automatically generate a long and complicated secret key for you. Simply copy and paste the AUTH_KEY, SECURE_AUTH_KEY, and LOGGED_IN_KEY into your wp‐config file. (You won't need to remember this anywhere else.)

5. You can set up multiple wordpress blogs on a single database by changing this table prefix, but you shouldn't have to. There is a free wordpress plugin called wp‐hive that will allow you to setup multiple blogs once you have this one setup.

6. Save this file. (Make sure it's called wp‐config.php and not wp‐config.txt or wp‐config‐sample.php)

http://api.wordpress.org/secret-key/1.1/


Step 4. Upload WordPress to your school account. You can use any webdesign program (like DreamWeaver) or a FTP program (like FileZilla which is free.)

1. If you don't have an FTP program download FileZilla

2. Visit http://filezilla‐project.org/ and click on the FileZilla client button (not the server button).

1. Click on the version of FileZilla that you need and download the file to your computer.

2. Install FileZilla on your computer.

http://filezilla-project.org/


3. Run FileZilla and connect to your school server 1. Enter in the host name. (You'll have

to ask your computer people the FTP address for your website. It probably looks something like: ftp://schoolname.schoolboard.ca)

2. Type in your username.

3. Type in your password.

4. You can probably leave this blank. (The default port is usually 21. If you're using a secure FTP, the default port for a SFTP is 22.)

5. Click on Quickconnect and you should connect automatically to your school server.

4. Find where your school website files are stored. You need to find where your website pages are stored. You're looking for a file called index.html or index.php.

Chances are, it's hiding in a directory called httpdocs (although it might be hiding somewhere else.)

1. Click on the folder httpdocs to open it. You can either click on the link in the top right window or the bottom right window.


5. Look for the directory that has index.htm or index.php 1. Once you've clicked on the

httpdocs folder, click on the up and down arrows to see what's in the folder.

2. You're looking for the directory that has a file called index.php or index.htm. (Chances are this is where your website is stored.) Rename the index.php file to index2.php. (When you install WordPress, it'll create it's own index.php file and you might want to revert back to your old website.)

6. Backup your old website. 1. Click and drag the httpdocs folder over to your computer. It will automatically create a folder

called httpdocs and copy all of the files over.

2. If anything goes wrong, you can click and drag your new httpdocs back onto your webserver on the right. You can tell it to overwrite any files restoring your website to the current setup.


7. Copy the contents of your WordPress folder over to your httpdocs folder. 1. Find your wordpress folder on your computer

2. Click in the bottom window and press ctrl‐a to select all of the files in blue.

3. Drag the blue selected files over to the httpdocs folder on your school webserver. This will copy all of the WordPress files over to your webserver. Note: Your previous school website might have a file called index.php. Filezilla will ask if you want to overwrite this file with your version from WordPress. Click yes to overwrite the old index. At a later point, if you decide to revert back to your old website, you'll have to restore your backed up version of this index file so that your old website works again.

Step 5. Run the Install Script If you uploaded your WordPress files into the root directory of your httpdocs folder, then in your web browser, simply type in the name of your school website address. (If that doesn't work, just type in http://example.com/wp‐admin/install.php where example.com is the name of your school's website.)

1. Type in the name of your blog.

2. Type in the name of your email account which will be associated with this blog.

3. If you want your blog to be listed on Google and Technorati (a blog search engine), then leave this checkmark. If you want your blog to be hidden from Google, then clear the box.

4. Click on the Install Wordpress button.


1. Congratulations ‐ you're done

1. WordPress will automatically create a username (admin) and password for you. Copy this down. (It will also be sent to the email address you gave.)

2. Click on log in to get into your blog.

2. If you visit your website's login page… (Either by clicking on the link in step 2 above or typing in your website address with /wp‐admin added to the end, you should see the following login screen.


I set up by blog... now what Visit your school website or classroom blog Type in your website address into your browser (i.e. example.com) and you should see the basic WordPress theme.

1. On the bottom right sidebar, there should be a link that says log in. Click on the link, or simply add /wp‐admin to your website address (i.e. example.com/wp‐admin). This will take you to your login screen.

How to log into your blog Simply type in the username and password for your admin account and click on the login button. (If you forget your password, click on the Lost Your Password link and it will give you the option of resetting your password through your email address.)

Visit http://blog.classroomteacher.ca/wordpress/ for lessons on how to add content to your school website / classroom blog.

classroom websites: how to make a school website...

Documents