Terrible mistake. Help out a frustrated newbie?

  • Alright guys, so without knowing anything about managing websites, I signed up with Bluehost today. Through Bluehost, I installed WordPress onto the database, and created an account.
    It was all fun and games until I foolishly tried to change the URL in those two deadly boxes in my settings page. This is probably the oldest mistake in the book, I tried to change the URL from https://www.sloppyphonics.com to yes, https://www.sloppyphonics.com/blog. Now I cannot log in to my account.
    I have searched far and wide for the solution to this, and have found one that seems to work for people but it uses this FTP access program. I don’t know what an FTP access program IS let alone how to use one. I couldn’t figure out how to install the one I found.
    Foolishly, I created another wordpress account at sloppyphonics.com/blog. Only to later find out that wordpress accounts cannot be deleted.

    So my questions are:
    Can I get my domain name (www.sloppyphonics.com)back without it being a wordpress blog page?
    How can I fix my account after botching up with the URLs? (Instructions for dummies please, I am very new to this lingo)

    Thanks to anyone who can help!

    Flummoxed in Fairfax

Viewing 4 replies - 1 through 4 (of 4 total)

  • To manage your website files, you will either need to use a FTP client or cPanel (if your webhost has it). See: https://codex.www.ads-software.com/FTP_Clients

    Here’s how to fix the URL issue:
    https://codex.www.ads-software.com/Changing_The_Site_URL

    Thread Starter dennis098

    (@dennis098)

    Thanks, But I have a hard time finding the functions.php it is talking about. and can I am still wondering about my domain name

    Hi Dennis

    OK Don’t panic – this is easy honest. Just read carefully and go slow! If I can understand it anyone can!

    If you wanted your blog to have the url https://www.sloppyphonics.com/blog then this would normally work if it is attached to a non blog site called https://www.sloppyphonics.com.

    So say you had https://www.sloppyphonics.com that you built in Dreamweaver or other web builder, then added a blog, when you added WP via Fantastico (the best way to do it through Bluehost’s cpanel) it would automatically call the blog https://www.sloppyphonics.com/blog.

    If you used Fantastico to install WordPress you can use Fantastico to delete the installation, but if not you need to delete the wordpress folder/folders and the wordpress database. Use the cPanel File Manager to delete the files and folders, and use the MySQL Database Wizard to delete the database user and database.

    With regards to FTP:
    Download the free Filezilla at https://filezilla-project.org/. The best FTP tool IMO.

    Just think of it as exactly like Windows Explorer with the Folders showing on the left (if you click Folders at the top). It’s just a way of organizing your files and folders, that’s all. Only it allows you to upload files and folders to your website. You need it if you want to change a WordPress theme for example.

    Now install it, and once open go to File > Site Manager.

    Then add New Site and your site’s cpanel details under ‘Normal’. This saves you having to remember your login every time you want to change something. The tool has its own forum and tutorials, but I’ve never needed them.

    You just drag folders from the left box (your hard drive) to the relevant folder on the right (your website). You can also download folders from the server to your hard drive the same way.

    BTW your site is already at https://www.sloppyphonics.com/blog/ – it’s there!

    The link you put in your above post doesn’t work because you put a period at the end.

    The next thing to do is just to change the theme by downloading one you like at https://www.ads-software.com/extend/themes/ – unzipping it, and using Filezilla to FTP it by dragging it across from your hard drive to the ‘themes’ folder on the right by opening ‘public_html’ > ‘WP-content’ > ‘themes’.

    Good Luck!

    Sorry I just re-read that you can’t login, so delete your blog from the server using Fantastico if you used that initially, or via the other method mentioned above. I am not familiar with this method but there are lots of sites on how to do this if you do a search.

    Good luck

Viewing 4 replies - 1 through 4 (of 4 total)
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