complex or simple. both?

As an example of being confused, while googling info about WordPress compatibility with my webhost (1&1), I came across a link back to this forum. One guy was claiming he couldn’t do it using 1&1, and someone answered him as follows:
>”or you could install the blog on the 1&1 site, and just use the unlimited server to host high bandwidth items like images and whatever. I have an installation of WP running on a 1&1 server and it works just fine”.
I don’t even have the first clue to what an unlimited server is, much less how I would use it host “images and whatever” while “installing the blog on the 1&1 site”. Is he saying I would have to somehow split/marry them, or is he just saying it will run fine if I upload it to 1&1?

I’ve not been with WP for very long, but I can say that WordPress can be both simple and complex. To a complete newbie, the 5-minute install promise holds true most of the time. But even that has some assumptions. It assumes you know how to upload files to your server, for example.
Going beyond the basic installation, WP’s complexity quickly escalates for the tech newbie, IMO. He/She might get intimidated with all those php files and the whole tagging system (but then all blog systems use that). And editing templates assume HTML and CSS skills. (Plus the ability to discern between PHP and HTML code, so that you don’t mess up things). But i have to state, that these assumptions about the user are fair enough. If one doesn’t know how to upload files or basic HTML or things like that, does one really need a powerful tool like WP? one can always start small, perhaps with hosted blogging systems such as blogger or livejournal. then as technical skills grow, he or she can move on to more complex things.
as for your question, i believe as long your server runs a decent version of PHP and MySQL (and assuming of course that PHP was compiled with MySQL support), it should be able to run WP fine. So you have to ask them if they’re running PHP and MySQL.

browndog77,
This might help you out a bit for starters:
https://wiki.www.ads-software.com/IntroToBlogs
If you read https://www.ads-software.com/about/requirements/ , you will have the information necessary for you to give to a prospective host for a WordPress-powered site.
The basics:
You need a web server host (like 1&1 for example) who can meet the needs as laid out in the requirements link supplied above.
Once you have this, you have to create a database, or have the web server host create the database for you. They will give you a database name, user name, and password for the database.
You download WordPress, and then copy the files up to your web server host. You then make some simple changes to a configuration file, so that WordPress can connect to your database.
You then install WordPress, which literally takes only a few minutes, then you login and start blogging.
I am not a coder, hacker, or anything close to that. When I first started with WordPress, I barely knew anything about web hosting and PHP and CSS and all that. You don’t need to know this stuff, but any experience with HTML or web site building or other computer skills is always helpful, of course.
Some basic skills that are helpful:
File transfers – usually done with an “FTP” program of some kind, where you use the program to take your files which are stored on your computer, and move them up to the web host server.
HTML – some conceptual knowledge of hypertext markup is very helpful. https://www.w3schools.com has a lot of great tutorials about HTML. Best of all, it’s free.
CSS – cascading style sheets – this can be a very complex subject, but it’s very possible to start out simply and as you gain more skills and understanding, you can start doing more complex things. See the w3schools link above for CSS tutorials as well.
That’s about it. I’ve given you some things to check out. Yes, there are some very complex sites out there and some very talented people in the WP community, but there are also some very simple sites out there too, as well as a group of folks new to all of this. WP has lots of good support. Invest some of your time and effort in educating yourself in the basics, which will help you with anything you do in site building, and not just WordPress. After that, there are plenty of people here who are willing to offer you some help. We won’t do it all for you, but we can help you get going in the right direction.
Hope this helps.

thanks all for the answers. as far as starting off with something smaller or less powerful; i’ve learned that lesson the hard way. eg., i’ve spent hours upon hours learning how to use “wysiwyg” editors, when i should have just been learning how to hand code in the first place.
i am an artist that visually sets up things a certain way, and it frustrates me no end when i can’t set up a page the way i create it in photoimpact (while i understand far too little to participate in the whole linux/unix/..ix vs. microsoft debate, i champion photoimpact over photoshop with the same fervor as the penguin people).
anyway, as an example of my frustration; i designed a site in photoimpact. p.i. will create web code, but in impacts one major flaw i’ve found so far; the code stinks. not only was the code super bloated, it screwed everything up positionally.
since 1&1 came with free netobjects fusion, i then spent half of my life trying to replicate what i originally created in p.i. to fusion. it’s not exactly been a pleasant experience either. after finally figuring out the majority of the design problems, the next problem was uploading.
i won’t go into it, but i’m having trouble pointing things to one another, creating directories, etc…
to make a long story short: i appreciate the help. i’m determined to learn things right, and even i can see that wordpress beats the pants off blogger. i just gotta figure a few things out first, and hopefully i’ll still have the patience to come back here once i have a better understanding of webhosting.

I think that determination of yours to go back and start over is a feeling that many of us have experienced as we moved over to hand coding and web standards. WP is a fascinating app because it can be as simple or as complicated as we choose to make it. At the entry level it is virtually plug and play. At the high end its plugins and xml feeds. As a learning vehicle it is absolutely amazing.
The way WP is written gives us the open ended opportunity to edit literally any aspect of it ourselves. The people who make themselves unhappiest do not realise that. They want high end customisation and no learning or effort themselves. And they want it done tomorrow. Always best to start by just getting the darn thing installed. ?? Then go from there. Good luck and Welcome to the WP community.

Hi browndog77:
As an artist, you might be particularly interested in learning about what css is capable of. See for example CSS Zengarden — it’s all the same html file, only the css (and of course the images) differs; particularly impressive ones are here here (scroll!) and here.
For me, WordPress’s huge plus is a relatively low required entrance level, leading to endless learning opportunities.

HELP!…but first- before i get to my question: enjoyed reading the comments and the links…funny thing you mentioned zen garden, b/c i have that site bookmarked on my computer under “learn how to do this”. even more bizarre, i have the nautilus example bookmarked in the same category. either it’s a small world or great minds think alike!
unfortunately, i really just don’t get it; it hasn’t clicked yet. looking at code makes me feel like i’m back in high school, staring at a latin test i never studied for. i flunked latin, spanish, and french with the same gusto, but hopefully i’ll learn how to speak ‘haxxor’ (forgive me) since at least there’s some incentive.
anyway, LET THE GAMES BEGIN
i checked 1&1 and after a bit of searching found that i have one mysql database, so i wrote down the database name, user name, password, and host name. understand i have no idea what all this means, i’m only following the directions from word press.
those directions are as follows:
“1.) Make sure your host meets the requirements. Also, have a database ready with proper username and password.
2.) Unzip the package you downloaded.
3.) Open up wp-config-sample.php and fill in your database details. Save and rename the file to wp-config.php.
4.) Upload all the files to your webhost
5.) Run the installation file. Relative to where you uploaded the files, ita€?ll be in wp-admin/install.php.
this brings me to my first question; 1.) when it says “have a database ready with proper username…” which one of the names goes here- database name, user name, or host name? i’m assuming it would be ‘user name’ but they all start out ‘db+misc. numbers’ and i want to get it right from the start.
-question 2.) when it says to unzip wordpress, is there any particular place i should unzip it to, or just anywhere on my computer that i feel like?
-question 3.) when i upload the files to my webhost, do i just create a directory with ‘wise ftp’ and then upload it to that folder? if so, what do i need to name it?
5.) to “run the installation file” do i simply click on it?
i know these questions probably verge on ridiculous for some of you, but i really could use the help. thanx again.

1 – If you have phpmyadmin, use that to simply create the database. Note it’s name, and the username and password you used to get to phpmyadmin. All that info goes into wp-config.
2 – Anywhere ??
3 – Yup. Create the directory using your ftp program. Bear in mind that this will be part of the url, so you might want ‘blog’ ‘diary’ or whatever
4 – Just checking it’s still here ??
5 – You install by going to https://www.yoursitename/your directoryname/wp-admin/install.php

@ browndog. No need for podz step 1. Your host has already done it.

question #4- when podz says to create…ahhh nevermind ; )
killer response time, thanx. i’ll try it now.

help, i screwed up…further blurring the line b/w stupidity and ignorance(!), i forgot to do step #3 -“Open up wp-config-sample.php and fill in your database details. Save and rename the file to wp-config.php.”
so after uploading, when i typed in www…/wp-admin/install.php, i got the following message “There doesn’t seem to be a wp-config.php file. I need this before we can get started. Need more help? We got it. You can create a wp-config.php file through a web interface, but this doesn’t work for all server setups. The safest way is to manually create the file.”
so what should i do now? go back and fill in the correct details for the file on my computer, change the name, then upload it to the same directory? (and just delete the wp-config-sample.php file on there now?)
and yes, i feel stupid. ; )

cue the worlds tiniest violin…i decided to go ahead and follow thru with my idea posted above, which was to change the wp-config.php file on my computer, then upload it and erase the wp-config-sample.php file that i erroneously loaded.
when i opened the wp-config-sample.php file to fill in the correct details, it opened up in ‘cse html validator lite’ (freeware html editor that i must have downloaded and forgot about, but left the default option to “open all php files” or something along those lines)
anyway, what showed up was a bunch of code that looked like this: – just a snippet, obviously, but i think it’s the most relevant one(?)
// ** MySQL settings ** //
define(‘DB_NAME’, ‘wordpress’); // The name of the database
define(‘DB_USER’, ‘username’); // Your MySQL username
define(‘DB_PASSWORD’, ‘password’); // …and password
define(‘DB_HOST’, ‘localhost’); // 99% chance you won’t need to change this value
now, if that is indeed the part i need to change, where do i change it? what part do i erase? what do i do with all the ‘//’ and parentheses, or do i just leave those alone?

Just change these:
wordpress
username
password
localhost
Everything else can remain as is.

browndog77. Welcome to WordPress my friend. It is the bits in single quotes eg ‘wordpress’ which need to be replaced with real data. But you are definitely making progress. This stage just involves a few small steps, each of which must be completed 100%. But after wp config it is an easy ride.

got so used to hand holding that i forgot to search around! while you guys were answering, i found the idiots guide to changing the wp-config-sample.php file.
in case anyone else has the same problem, it’s found at https://wiki.www.ads-software.com/5MinuteInstallation/wp-config.php
as soon as i finish, i’ll share a quote from my experience with asking for help from blogger (obviously before i found this place. ) not only do i find it quite amusing, it’s stark contrast with all the help here is amazing.