Site development

Submitted by chopper on Sat, 07/05/2008 - 15:24.

Here's a newbie question: I've purchased some domains and hosting from 1&1. I was able to install WordPress and play around with it. You can see the test site here: www.highfxtest.com. I've learned quite a bit about WP and want to set up my initial site. However, the 1st site I want to develop is a site that has been parked for a while at whypark.com. What I want to do is develop a WP site for my parked domain prior to changing the name servers to the 1&1 location. In other words, I want the domain to be parked while I develop the new WP site. I have asked 1&1 to answer my question and they have responded quickly but without directly answering my question.

I'm able to access the development folder with FileZilla (Wow is that better than Wndows ftp!). However, I have to point my browser to the development directory to be able to install WP and work on the site. Here's my question: Is it possible to point your browser at a development folder without the DNS pointing to the development folder? If yes, how do I do it?

Thanks!

Anyone have an idea on this

Submitted by chopper on Mon, 07/07/2008 - 16:34.

Anyone have an idea on this question?

Thanks!

chopper

The hosting companies I've

Submitted by NickC on Mon, 07/07/2008 - 17:50.

The hosting companies I've used automatically set up a temporary domain or temporary IP address, chopper. That way I can set up and test a site before the DNS is changed/updated.

The details are always included in the order confirmation email.

i've heard major horror

Submitted by Vincent.Tobiaz on Wed, 07/09/2008 - 10:26.

i've heard major horror stories about 1&1, especially support. just fyi

You Need WAMP

Submitted by rayd8 on Wed, 07/09/2008 - 17:27.

Chopper,

Have you taken a look at WAMP? It stands for Windows, Apache, MySQL, and PHP and it is a web development environment that you can install locally on computer. There is also MAMP for Mac users. You can install WAMP on your local machine, then install Wordpress and begin development. Save your Wordpress development/styling as a theme and then just FTP the theme to your domain (with Wordpress installed of course) when you're ready to go live.

It is a little more involved than the basic description I've given but if you do some Google searches you should find resources to download and install WAMP. Go to YouTube for videos for installing WAMP and also installing Wordpress using WAMP.

If you need more help let me know.

-Michael

P.S. The two best web hosting services that I have found and used for a couple years reliably are BlueHost and Hostgator. I would go with Hostgator as my first choice, I've found their support excellent and downtime almost non-existent.

I chose 1&1 already. If I

Submitted by chopper on Wed, 07/09/2008 - 19:20.

I chose 1&1 already. If I don't receive good support or have other problems I'll use another host for my next projects. So far I haven't had any problems. I don't think the people who responded to my questions understood what I was asking. That may be an indicator of poor support.

I've determined that using a temporary domain isn't a good option form me. Moving WP to a new domain is somewhat involved. I have a plan to create content first, switch the DNS when the content is ready, install and configure WP and then populate it rapidly. Installing and configuring WP will only take a couple of hours. Populating the site will take more time. It's all a learning process!

Thanks for the feedback. I'll look into WAMP.