I have a local installation and a second installation on my server.
Thread Starter
ryanoz
(@ryanoz)
I don’t understand. I’m really going to need to see the results of my changes without it affecting the online site.
How do you have a local installation? Do you mean with the database local and everything? I have no idea how to do this.
As it is now, I’m going to be changing, uploading, replacing, and refreshing the site to see the change. Meanwhile, anyone viewing the site will see every little change also.
EDIT: I didn’t install my wordpress, it was installed automatically by my hosting service.
Get a copy of XAMPP. Install it.
XAMPP is a locally run, all-in-one, Apache webserver. It includes PHP, Perl, MySQL, etc. And a neat little control panel for turning them on and off as needed. You can get the lite version, as all you need is Apache, MySQL, and PHP. The rest is all extra.
So, once you install it, you can load a fresh copy of WordPress into its htdocs folder (make a wp subdirectory). Then start mySQL and Apache and proceed with a normal WordPress install. Use phpMyAdmin (comes with it) to create the database, then manually change the wp-config.php file, and then load up a web browser and go to http://localhost/wp/wp-admin to run the install.
Basically, you can run the entire server on your own local machine to test. You can make changes and observe them instantly in a browser. You can install plugins, themes, etc. Export a copy of your data from the live server and import it into your local one. Etc.
It’s very handy.
Thread Starter
ryanoz
(@ryanoz)
Thanks Otto for the XAMPP info, looks nifty.
I was able to install another copy of wordpress
automatically thru my hosting server. I just
installed it in a /testing/ folder. This sorta
helps out, but I’ll still be uploading/refreshing
constantly. I’ll check into XAMPP, it may be over
my head though.
XAMPP is as simple as it gets.
