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My next suggestion for those of you wanting to set up your own Wordpress blog, is to download the Firefox browser and switch to it. Aside from the fact that Firefox renders web pages more accurately to web standards (Internet Explorer 5 & 6 are the worst offenders here), Firefox offers many other advantages:

1) Tabbed browsing. You can have more than one page open in a window. I use this all the time. I open a link on a page in another tab, while still staying on the page I’m reading. I can then go over later and read the new page.
2) Pop up blocking. Need I say more?
3) Better security and protection from spyware. (with Firefox on my Mac, I’ve NEVER gotten spyware. Knock on wood. Knock on wood again for good measure.)
4) Firefox offers search suggestions in their search bar. If you start typing something in, a drop down list appears for you to choose from. Or you can finish typing it in yourself. I have to say, I use this often for things I’m not sure how to spell!
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Tags: How to Blog, Wordpress, Wordpress Setup Series by Kacey
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So you decided you want to set up your own Wordpress blog. I’m going to take you through the steps, one by one over the next few weeks. The first step is deciding on a hosting service to host your blog. A reasonably priced hosting service is BlueHost. You can get web space for $6.95 a month and a free domain name. Don’t forget to check the box for privacy if you want to hide your personal information.

BlueHost uses Cpanel for the administration interface for your website. I find CPanel an easy interface to use. They also have Fantastico which basically has a one click install of Wordpress.

For more information about picking a domain name see this post.

I’m going to be setting up another blog here on Dandelion on a subdomain to show you the steps on setting up Wordpress, uploading a theme and setting it up. We’ll then add some plugins and you’ll be all set to go with your very own Wordpress Blog on your own website.

My next post will be about finding an FTP client to use to upload files to your blog. I’ll be discussing Filezilla, which is free and available for both Windows and Mac.

Tags: How to Blog, Wordpress, Wordpress Setup Series by Kacey
11 Comments »