You know what sucks? Installing WordPress..
Yep. I’ve always hated installing WordPress, When i’m creating a new WordPress install, its because I want to play with it right NOW, not in 10 minutes, not in 30 minutes..
Many people will quote the “famous 5 minute WordPress install” but like nearly every other decent sized Web app. out there, This simply isnt true
I mean, Step back for a moment, and look at the steps that you have to do:
- Download the Install package from the website – 7MB ~1 minute on a 1.5Mbit connection
- Extract the Archive – 20 seconds
- Open your FTP Application, Upload the 10MB of files, ~30 minutes
- Visit the Location you installed it in, Run the install ~2 minutes
- Realise PHP cant create its config file automatically, Create it manually, ~5 minutes
Hooray! We have it installed!
..Now, that ”quick” install took nearly 40 minutes.. I dont know about you, But by that time I’ve usually nearly lost interest in what I was originally doing..
Luckily, Since we now have the Core Upgrades as part of WordPress, We dont have to deal with a 30-minute FTP Upgrade.. Its more like a 1-2 minute upgrade..
Thankfully.. People like to automate things, And there are a few other alternative methods of installing, For example, Some hosts now offer Auto-Installers such as Fantastico, Unfortunately these are not always 100% up-to-date when a new release comes out, and often only allows English installs.
(Side note: Yes, I now use SSH + SVN, so a new setup only takes me ~2 minutes via the Command line)