I want to run through the things I do with WordPress before I even upload it to my server. My host offers the option to install it directly into a sub-domain folder but I prefer to upload it myself, and have the exact copy on my hard disk as is on the server.

I edit and create my WordPress 2.8 themes in Dreamweaver using the ThemeDreamer extension. I really cant recommend both of them highly enough, I couldn’t live without them!

Well here is my WordPress checklist I hope it helps (part of the reason of writing it is to remind me too!):

1. Create an email address on my server (host) associated with the new installation.

2. Rename the wp-config-sample.php to wp-config.php. Then edit its contents. Define your database name, database username and password that you have set up on your server (host). I have created one database to hold all my wordpress doings, that way I never need to create a new database on the server etc. However if you do this (which I advise) you have to change line 56 on wp-config.php; $table_prefix  = ‘***_’; replace the *** with the prefix of your choice, normally a shortened version of your domain name.

3. Open this file in folder /wp-includes/class-phpmailer.php; enter the email address from step 1 into lines 75 and 88. If you are on a shared host i.e. Bluehost, Justhost or Hostmonster then this setting is especially important as it will make sure that emails from your WordPress site will have a ’valid from header’ (the sender of the email). If you dont change this on a shared host the email comes from username@box***@yourhost.com….very undesirable. The code should look something like this:

var $From ='info@yourdomain.com';
/**
   * Sets the From name of the message.
   * @var string
   */
  var $FromName          = 'Root User';
  /**
   * Sets the Sender email (Return-Path) of the message.  If not empty,
   * will be sent via -f to sendmail or as 'MAIL FROM' in smtp mode.
   * @var string
   */
  var $Sender            = 'info@yourdomain.com';

If the above does not suffice then open /wp-includes/pluggable.php and change:

line 352:
$from_name = 'putyournamehere';
line 369:
$from_email = 'putyournamehere@' . $sitename;

In line 352 you can put your site name and in line 369 put your website email address.

4. Change and customise the admin graphics (login graphic etc). Find them in /wp-admin/images/. The ones you want are named: logo.gif, logo-ghost.png, logo-login.gif, wordpress-logo.png, wp-logo.gif and wp-logo-vs.gif. So 6 images to change in total. Keep them the same size and file type, just change the way the look. Open them up in Photoshop or Fireworks and stick in your website logo. If the images do not look as expected then you will have to optimise or save the file with the correct settings i.e. for .gif files choose the ‘web adaptive’ setting.

5. Open /wp-settings.php and edit line 13 to read ’64M’ instead of ’32M’. This is not absolutely necessary but if you intend to extend the functionality of your WordPress site by using multiple plugins then this is good practise. Personally I think WordPress should set it to 64M as standard.

Well thats my top 5 suggestions on pre-installation changes to WordPress. Now your good to upload!

Let me know what pre-installation changes you make to WordPress 2.8 using the comment form below.

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