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A wordpress question.

by pjlyons1uk
9 replies
Fellow warriors,

As someone breaking into this business of IM learning my way around I know I can ask this question and I'll get an honest answer.

Is it possible to run wordpress offline so I can design a site offiline then I can purchase the domain name later and upload the offline file ?

The reason being buying domains and hosting here in South Africa is very expensive so I can design it and become happy with it then launch. At the moment I am trying to tune (not fine tuning) the site post launch which I'm not really happy with.

Best wishes and thanks for your help

Pete
#adsense #question #wordpress
  • Profile picture of the author Droopy Dawg
    Do you have your own webserver inhouse? You can load wordpress on your home PC if you have either apache or IIS (Microsoft only of course), and you'll need to install php and mysql onto your server.

    THEN you could load wordpress. Once you build your site you'd need to "export" the file, then import into your online account.

    To be honest... you'd do better buying hosting from a company like hostgator or bluehost (unlimited domains), and all you'd need to do is buy a domain name for each site ($10 per year).

    Just my opinion of course.
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    • Profile picture of the author vicone
      Wordpress is written in PHP so you will require a server emulator on your PC to be able to run PHP files on your home PC.

      For this reason, many of us install XAMPP which can be obtained here (it is a free download):

      apache friends - xampp

      This enables us to test websites we've built using PHP as if they are located on a server.

      XAMPP is known as a "local web server" or "personal web server". It is very easy to use and install.

      Once XAMPP has been set up, you simply save a copy of your test program in a file that is running under XAMPP and then you access that file with your browser, telling it to go to 'local host'.

      Display will appear as if it is accessing a domain on a server.

      Also, I don't know why you are buying domains and hosting them in South Africa. Local suppliers are notorious for overcharging for these. I've bought and hosted hundreds of domains in the US for a fraction of the price available in my home country.

      Go to Namecheap for good deals with domain names and Hostgator, as mentioned above, is also excellent to host the domains you buy. Simply obtain the address ('nameservers') from the new host and when you buy the domain name 'point' it to the nameservers provided by your host.

      Ivan
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      • Profile picture of the author pjlyons1uk
        Originally Posted by vicone View Post

        Wordpress is written in PHP so you will require a server emulator on your PC to be able to run PHP files on your home PC.

        For this reason, many of us install XAMPP which can be obtained here (it is a free download):

        apache friends - xampp

        This enables us to test websites we've built using PHP as if they are located on a server.

        XAMPP is known as a "local web server" or "personal web server". It is very easy to use and install.

        Once XAMPP has been set up, you simply save a copy of your test program in a file that is running under XAMPP and then you access that file with your browser, telling it to go to 'local host'.

        Display will appear as if it is accessing a domain on a server.

        Also, I don't know why you are buying domains and hosting them in South Africa. Local suppliers are notorious for overcharging for these. I've bought and hosted hundreds of domains in the US for a fraction of the price available in my home country.

        Go to Namecheap for good deals with domain names and Hostgator, as mentioned above, is also excellent to host the domains you buy. Simply obtain the address ('nameservers') from the new host and when you buy the domain name 'point' it to the nameservers provided by your host.

        Ivan
        Thanks Ivan for the reply,

        I don't wish to sound ungrateful thought to answer your question above, I live in South Africa and so I have to multipy all $ cost by 10 to convert into my local currency.

        So you see $10 a year domain name then $10 a month hosting means it costs me nearly 3 days wages to launch one site. As most hosting companies I have come across require you to pay the year up front.

        Wages here are not that great hence trying to top it up and make life comfortable with IM.

        Best wishes

        Pete
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  • Profile picture of the author gjd6599
    You can get hosting for about ten dollars a month at hostgator.com and they are excellent, and you can buy domain names for ten dollars a year at godaddy.com or namecheap.com

    Good Luck Glenn
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  • Profile picture of the author The Pension Guy
    vicone is right: the best method for locally build a WP site or tweaking a theme - is XAMPP.

    On the other hand, I don't understand your worries about buying domain/hosting in the country you are in. Buy domain at name.com or namecheap.com + a hosting package from a decent host (like those suggested above) and you are set.
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  • Profile picture of the author premiuminvestor
    hey bro

    I'm also in Africa [Nigeria specifically] but I don't depend on local designers and host. The internet makes it easy to get things done asap.

    Godaddy could offer you hosting and a free domain name with the hosting, just choose the wordpress hosting plan and you are set to go.
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    • Profile picture of the author pjlyons1uk
      Originally Posted by premiuminvestor View Post

      hey bro

      I'm also in Africa [Nigeria specifically] but I don't depend on local designers and host. The internet makes it easy to get things done asap.

      Godaddy could offer you hosting and a free domain name with the hosting, just choose the wordpress hosting plan and you are set to go.
      Thanks for the advice,

      Maybe with my new websites I will use godaddy at the moment I use hostmonster for hosting ok but am sure there's better.

      Best wishes

      Pete
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      • Profile picture of the author vicone
        So you see $10 a year domain name then $10 a month hosting means it costs me nearly 3 days wages to launch one site. As most hosting companies I have come across require you to pay the year up front.
        Hosting can be obtained for a lot less than $10 for each domain. There are many that will allow multiple domains to be hosted on the one account for about $10 per month. You can usually pay by credit card or Paypal on a monthly basis.

        If you reach a point where you have numerous domains then I'd suggest getting a "reseller" account which allows each domain to be hosted with its own CPanel (this provides statistics for each domain). For instance, Hostgator has a $25 pm reseller account which can be paid by Paypal or credit card each month and it allows hundreds of domains to be hosted on that one account. A number of other hosts in the US can provide a similar service.

        I'd suggest avoid having the domain supplier also host your domain. You may find that features you take for granted are not available. Also, you then have the freedom to compare hosts and pricing to get the best deal. As well, if you ever have problems with the host you can change to another without your domain being held to ransom.

        Ivan
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  • Profile picture of the author Kezz
    I usually find that the best way is do the design part offline, and the content addition online. Wordpress is so easy to add content with that it takes more time to migrate a site from a localhost emulation to the online version, than it does to just set all the content up live.

    So, I usually get xampp running and design my theme, and get everything looking pretty. Then I install WP online, and make sure the privacy settings hide the site from the search engines until I'm ready.

    I set the plugins and content up, get everything looking spiffy, then go back to the privacy settings and open it up for crawler access.

    Oh and on hosting, my personal experience has been that Hostgator have the best service at the cheapest rate.

    Hope that helps!
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