Office 2007 Pro Plus Key Running WordPress on Wind

A couple of days in the past, I saw someone posted on Twitter a question about working WordPress on Windows Server.  Since I had completed this for a couple of websites, I responded with my thoughts and suggestions.  An additional suggested that I publish individuals the following Office Pro Plus 2010, and so right here I go.

WordPress is really a blogging/content-management platform that has been around to get a although.  It has been attaining a lot more in reputation for standard purpose material websites over the previous 12 months I’d say, but is mainly noticed as a blogging platform by most.  Despite the fact that I use Subtext for my platform, I have to admit that if I hadn’t by now began utilizing Subtext, it will be genuinely difficult to sway me absent from WordPress.  It is just the killer app for blogging.  Why?  Due to the immense ecosystem of people making use of it, there is certainly rather a lot a plethora of plugins, themes and equipment for it.

WordPress is a PHP software and mainly used on Linux environments.  But guess what—PHP has long been operating on Windows for a long time.  Actually, our IIS team designed a FastCGI implementation for IIS to generate PHP programs even run far better on Windows.  So here’s how I got started…
Install WordPress
First you naturally need to install the pieces.  I’m assuming here you've accessibility towards the real server.  WordPress needs PHP, MySQL along with the WordPress bits on their own.  You'll be able to definitely hunt all around for those by yourself, or else you can make use of the Web Platform Installer from Microsoft and set up WordPress on your own box in about fifteen minutes such as download time.  No hunting for that right bits, no tinkering for that appropriate configs.  Just install WebPI, decide on WordPress and go.  Honestly, this is the best strategy to get it began on Windows.

After setting up you ought to be up and working with a commencing site.  Login to complete the method.
Choose your permalinks or ‘pretty/clean URLs’
Here’s the primary problem with WordPress on Windows.  By default Windows 2003 is still using ISAPI filters to approach requests.  What this implies is that it requirements something to trigger the subsystem it is going to use to render.  With this scenario it’s .php for your php files of WordPress – IIS then knows to utilize PHP to render the files/logic.

However due to this the default pattern of WordPress URLs on Windows 2003 will probably be <domain>/?page_id=12345.  For everything.  That isn’t very clear or friendly according to your SEO experts. 

Now if you are setting up WordPress on Windows 2008 and IIS7 the following does not apply to you.  IIS7 actually has built-in support for this and WordPress current versions recognize IIS7 installs and do the appropriate configuration for you!!!

If you want your URLs to be like <domain>/my-cool-page-title-name then you’ll need to do some hacking.  You'll be able to do a ton of high-tech stuff like true new ISAPI filters to do some URL rewriting.  I chose the low-tech way: 404 handler.  You see if someone requests <domain>/some-page-name IIS won’t be able to find it and will generate a 404 message.  Luckily YOU control that 404 message.  I use a very simple 404 handler that I found online and modified ever-so-slightly.  You can download mine here: wp-404-handler.renametophp.  Simply put this in your WordPress root folder with all the other PHP pages.  Now in IIS Manager you’ll want to configure the IIS internet site to work with your new custom 404 handler. 


Just click the current one, choose URL and then type /wp-404-handler.php in there and you’re good to go.  Now you are able to go towards the Permalinks section with the WordPress admin and choose “friendly” URLs.  Here’s what I typically use:


Now anytime an individual requests a friendly URL it is going to actually hit your 404 handler very first, determine the correct place and render the content – but keep the friendly URL in tact to the user!

At this point it is possible to close your remote server session – all other routine tasks can be carried out via the net admin console.
Find Awesome Plugins
Finding plugins is VERY easy in WordPress – it’s in the administrative console with the app:


Search for what you want and you can install correct from the admin console – no will need for FTP and unzip, etc.  Right here is actually a list of my default plug-ins that I set up (all of which you are able to search via your WordPress installation for more details and to directly set up):
Akismet – comment spam tool All-in-One SEO pack – tools for enhancing your SEO metadata for your posts/pages Contact Form 7 – a typical contact form engine Google XML Sitemaps – an auto generator of sitemap.xml files for search engine indexing Internet Explorer 6 Upgrade warning – you know, to support the death to IE6 cause :-) Actually Simple Captcha – for contact forms to prevent robots. WPTouch iPhone Theme – if you want an iPhone friendly theme Silverlight for WordPress – to embed any Silverlight XAP in a post/page Silverlight Media Player for WordPress – uses the Silverlight Media Framework for embedding video or IIS Smooth Streaming content.
There are TONS much more, but these are my default that I always put on every web site initial.  If you want Twitter and other types of integration, they are there…just search for them.  There are currently above 9,500 plugins to choose from…amazing!
Find Awesome Themes
Whatever you do, don’t skip this step.  Don’t keep the default WordPress theme – it is like any other default user interface thing on any software…it sucks.  Like plugins, there are an array of places to acquire awesome themes.  Here’s my default go-to list:
WooThemes – these guys are sweet.  Their menu system is actually going to be a part of WordPress 3.  Most of their themes are premium paid themes Office 2007 Pro Plus Key, but they do have several free.  If you want high quality, check out these guys. Themeforest.net – a larger selection of theme from various user-contributed designers and developers.  These aren’t free either, but for < $40 it is possible to have a great quality looking theme. wpsnap.com – these are free themes with community licenses.  There are some gems in here, but most are lower quality compared to your previous two recommendations. WordPress theme ############## – explorable from the WordPress admin page in your installation there are some in the following (some repeats from wpsnap.com).  Usually aren’t the most effective to be honest.  My favorite for a cleaner default look is Journalist – it is very basic, but clean looking and professional.
There is no excuse to have a crappy looking WordPress internet site no matter if you have no money, doing a blog, doing a content-managed website, etc. No excuse.  Spend 30 minutes and find a good template.  Guess what, it installs from the web admin console as well!!!
Author Material
While WordPress uses a web-based interface for authoring material Purchase Office 2010, it isn’t required.  Windows Live Writer understands the WordPress API for both posts and pages and can be used like a rich client tool for authoring content.  It’s awesome together and I use it exclusively to author content for my WordPress websites.
Gotchas for operating on Windows 2003
Ok, even though I’m sure there are others, I genuinely only found one big gotcha although working WordPress on Windows 2003 (that shouldn’t apply to your IIS7/Windows 2008 installations).  This involves plugins that do form posting.  A good example can be a PayPal plugin that is really a full shopping-cart for PayPal (yes it is in the plugin ############## and free).  Most plugin developers assume your installation is likely Linux.  If this assumption is made, postbacks for some plugins might not work if you utilize the clean/friendly URL 404 handler I talk about above.

Each plugin is going to be different Office Professional Plus 2007 Key, but you’ll likely should modify the post action of that plugin to point much more directly to that index.php?page_id=XXXX where your content material page is.  I’ve only had to do this twice and It’s relatively painless.  One thing to keep in mind even though is always that as plugins update (you are alerted in your web console if a new version exists), your changes will likely be overwritten, so document them Microsoft Office Enterprise 2007!
Extend WordPress oneself!
Since I’m a Silverlight guy, I wanted to produce sure there were some good Silverlight plugins in the ##############.  The plugin developer procedure is very PHP driven so if you don’t know that, follow the Situation methodology (Copy Always Steal Everything).  It is possible to learn from others.  I developed my WordPress plugins for Silverlight very quickly.

Microsoft is also doing far more with WordPress through the MIX labs crew.  Check out their information on for other ideas and how, if you want, to run WordPress on SQL Server as well!
Summary
WordPress is awesome.  WordPress on Windows is also awesome.  Windows 2003 takes an additional tweak, but other than that it is very simple to obtain operating and take advantage of this ecosystem.  What other WordPress on Windows guidelines do you have?

Hope this helps!