LyleChamney

“Tab”? I do believe you mean menu item. By default, that option is not enabled.

To do so, you must:
– first, create a custom menu
– select the area where it will be displayed
– set the option to add top level pages automatically to the menu

For more info, check this out:

http://codex.wordpress.org/WordPress_Menu_User_Guide

– are you using the default MAMP ports (8888 for Apache and 8889 for MySQL)?
– are you using the default MAMP document root (Applications/MAMP/htdocs)?
– are both Apache and MySQL running (green boxes)?
– there is no need to ‘fiddle’ with httpd.conf for a default MAMP install 🙂
– are you trying to set up something that is not a default MAMP install?
– default MAMP installs ‘just work’ 🙂

You should also change the home field in the options table.

Once those two (siteurl and home) are changed to http://loclahost/wordpress then install and run this plugin to update the rest of your links:

http://wordpress.org/plugins/velvet-blues-update-urls/

— select all options EXCEPT the last one (GUID)

Once that is done, go to:

Settings > Permalinks and Save.

Try disabling all plugins.

Do the same with the wp-content/plugins folder; add an X to the end so that it is /pluginsX

If this gets the dashboard content area visible again, you know it is a plugin that is causing the issue.

You will get warnings on the plugins page after you do this. Go back and rename it back to /plugins and then when back at the plugins page (after a refresh or navigating away from it) reactivate them one by one until the culprit is determined. Chances are is is a plugin that is not compatible with the updated WP.

If all you want to do is create new posts and publish them on your WP dot COM site, or edit ones that are already there, and do so when off line (not connected to the internet), then perhaps look into MarsEdit.

While it is not free, there is a free trial. I have been using it for years and it works very well.

Check it out on the App Store here:

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/marsedit-blog-editor-for-wordpress/id402376225?mt=12

Just to add to what ClaytonJames has correctly mentioned.

There are a number of local web server products which allow one to set up and run software such as WordPress, Joomla!, Drupal, eFront, etc. on their own computer, generally for testing and development purposes.

They all include at least the basics for an “AMP Stack”, AMP standing for Apache (the web server), MySQL (the database server) and PHP (the programming language). Add to this the operating system and you get WAMP for Windows, MAMP for Mac and LAMP for Linux.

Somewhat confusing the issue is that there are a couple that use the acronym as their own “brand” so to speak. Notably WAMPServer and MAMP.

Some of the popular ones for Windows are XAMPP, WAMPServer, Uniform Server (my fave) and Desktop Server. MAMP is one of the most popular for the Mac OS.

Note also that you can have any number of them on your system, just that you can only have one running at a time (without some extra work). On my system for example, I have all of the above-noted Windows products with many instances (versions) of Uniform Server. They just have to be installed in their own separate location on your hard drive.

Additionally, within each, you can have any number of WordPress or other similar ‘scripts’ installed. The only limit is the space on your hard drive.

Check the Microsoft Web Platform Installer forum for how to either run your local web server software as a service (so that it restarts on a reboot) or how to start the web server software manually after a system restart. As you have found out, they have to be running in order to access your locally installed WP.