Turbocharged installation guide

Thanks for purchasing Turbocharged, and welcome to the wonderful world of blogging and Web site management. We’re positive you’ll enjoy every minute of it. At the moment, your transaction has been completed, and a receipt for your purchase has been emailed to you. Please read the next paragraph carefully.

If you haven’t received Turbocharged yet, don’t worry, it’ll get to you real soon now. You’ll get a e-mail directly from us, with the package and more instructions. For the moment, you may want to take a peek at this installation manual, and get ready for the best experience.

How to install Turbocharged

First, take a minute to think about this: did you purchase the standalone Turbocharged plugin and theme pack, or did you receive the Turbocharged archive with WordPress included?

  • If you purchased the standalone plugin and theme pack, all you need to do is unzip the pack and upload all the files to your existing WordPress installation, then skip to step 5. You might want to check step 1 for more information on uploading files.
  • If you’re installing WordPress from scratch, using the Turbocharged with WordPress archive, keep reading and follow these instructions step by step.

I’ll be guiding you through the process. If, at some point, you encounter questions, remember that purchasing this package entitles you to three support questions, and use them! Just contact us and I’ll answer any question you might have.

Hands-on help is also available for a fee: Just contact us for more information.

Okay, enough talk, and back to our current business. The installation procedure for Turbocharged is pretty straightforward. Here’s a summary:

  • upload the files (or unzip directly in your Web hosting space)
  • create a new, empty MySQL database (if one isn’t already created)
  • tell WordPress your database information
  • run the WordPress installation wizard
  • do some finishing touches

Oh, by the way: I’m assuming you have a UNIX-style (or Linux) Web hosting provider which provides you with, at least, a domain name, PHP, FTP access and one or more MySQL databases for you. If this is not the case, these instructions won’t exactly work out. Please try the standard WordPress installation instructions, or just contact us for a full refund.

Step 1: upload the files

You have two choices to make, and those choices pretty much depend on your skill level. You can either upload the files using FTP, or upload the archive and unzip it in place.

Your Web hosting provider probably issued you with an FTP account (and, if you’re lucky, you’ll also have SSH access). If you don’t have SSH access, and all you have is FTP access, you’ll be stuck with uploading the files via FTP. That Web hosting account has a Web folder typically named public_html, htdocs or www. That’s the folder you’ll be putting your files into. If you don’t know for sure where to place your Web files, ask your hosting provider.

In case you’ll be using FTP:

  • Create an empty folder on your computer, and unzip the archive in there, preserving the directory structure.
  • Using your favorite FTP client (we recommend CuteFTP for Windows users, and Konqueror for Linux users), upload all the files and directories from the new folder into your hosting account’s Web folder (see previous paragraph).

If you’ll be using SSH:

  • Upload the archive to the Web folder of your Web hosting account, by using FTP or SCP (WinSCP is fantastic for that).
  • Open a remote SSH session (PuTTY is great for this) and log on.
  • cd into the Web folder and unzip the file. The file is compressed with tar/gzip, so the fastest route to uncompressing the file usually is the command tar zxvmf Turbocharged-wordpress-*.tar.gz

You should now have a Web folder full of files and directories, and one of them will be named index.php and should be directly into the Web folder.

Step 2: Create an empty MySQL database for WordPress

Because of Web hosting differences, this question is definitely one I cannot guide you through. The right people to do that will be your hosting providers. They’ll either set up a database for you, and give you the user name and password, or they’ll probably guide you through the process if you must do it by yourself.

Step 3: Tell WordPress your database information

At this point, you’ll copy and edit a file included in the archive, and upload it to your Web folder.

Unpack the archive (if you haven’t done so yet) and look for a file named wp-config-sample.php. Open it in your favorite text editor. Change the first four define lines as follows:

  • 'DB_NAME' should be the name of the empty MySQL database from step 2.
  • 'DB_USER' should be the user name for that database.
  • 'DB_PASSWORD' should be the password for that database.
  • 'DB_HOST' should be the database host, but leaving it to 'localhost' is usually a safe bet.

Please remember that the values you’re writing should be between single quotes.

Save it with the name wp-config.php and upload it to your Web folder, preserving that name.

Step 4: Run the WordPress installation wizard

Once you’re here, you’ll want to fire up your favorite Web browser and visit http://your-web-host.com/ (replace that domain name for your own, of course). That screen will say, rather directly, It doesn’t look like you’ve installed WP yet. Try running install.php, where install.php will be a hyperlink. Just click it and follow the directions onscreen.

After installing Turbocharged, you’ll get an e-mail giving further instructions, including the URL address for the administration screen

Step 5: Finishing touches

Personalizing your own space

You’ll want to start personalizing your Web site or blog. Log in to your WordPress administration screen (using the URL provided in the e-mail you got in step 4), and visit the Presentation page (in the top strip of the Web page), then select your favorite theme. Once you’ve done that, visit the Options page and change your blog title and tagline.

Enabling file uploads

By default, WordPress doesn’t allow file uploads. To enable file uploads, make the wp-content directory in your Web folder writable by the Web server. On Linux or UNIX hosting servers, the commands chmod 777 wp-content (through SSH), or site chmod 777 wp-content (through FTP) usually do the trick. Mind you, using mode 777 for the wp-content directory isn’t exactly the most secure thing in the world, but unless you have administration privileges in your Web hosting server, there’s little else you can do.

Nice URLs for your blog

Finally, if you want your blog or Web site to use nice URLs (instead of URLs full with question marks and equal signs) you can change your permalink structure. This is not complicated. But it requires an extra mini-step.

First, ensure that your Web hosting provider has given you permission to use .htaccess files. Ask your Web hosting provider directly for that.

Then, create a file named .htaccess on your Web folder. Yes, the dot at the beginning matters. Make it writable for the Web server (usually a chmod 666 .htaccess through SSH, or a site chmod 666 .htaccess through FTP does the trick).

Finally, visit the Permalinks page, under the Options page, select your permalinks style, then click Update Permalink Structure.

Plugins galore!

The Plugins page, on your WordPress administration screen, is the place to visit. You’ll see a large list of plugins. Activate the ones you wish to use.

Keep in mind that some plugins add functionality which must also be in the theme you’ve selected for your blog — both the RevvedUp and Burnin’ R themes include all plugin functionality. Other plugins add functionality to the Options and Manage tabs of the administration screen. Check them out once you’ve activated a plugin to see what’s new.

Step 6: Finished!

If you got here with no complications, then congratulations are in order! You’re now the owner of a Turbocharged-powered site. Start filling yor site with content, and please let us know of your wonderful experiences!