WordPress: The Missing Manual, 3rd Edition

Chapter 3: Testing WordPress on Your Computer

The traditional way of running WordPress is to slap the software on a website and start experimenting. But if you're just starting out, working on a live web server might make you a tiny bit anxious. What if you put your WordPress site in the wrong place? What if someone sees your in-progress mess? What if you have trouble cleaning up your test sites?

You can sidestep these worries by running a private copy of WordPress, just for you, on your own computer. No one else will be able to see the websites you create with it. But you'll have a perfect playground to experiment with your own ideas, worry-free.

Running a private copy of WordPress also makes sense if you don't have the budget for a website of your own or haven't decided what web host to sign up with. That way, you can still get started learning how to use WordPress, even if your plans for web domination are temporarily on hold. And best of all, you can run your private copy of WordPress for free, with no hosting fees.

In this chapter, you'll see how to run your own personal copy of WordPress with a handy tool called Local.

The WordPress Stack

At its core, WordPress is just a piece of software that runs on a web server.

The WordPress software does have some special requirements, though. In fact, it relies on a whole collection of nerd-friendly technologies, which together are called the WordPress stack. You don't need to know these technologies by name, but if you're curious, ...