Wordpress blog & setting it up as the main domain

Hi All,

I am a newbie and I have tried looking for answers to my question to no avail.

I very recently got my domain names, webhosting space etc etc. Deciding on how to make a website, I have opted for Wordpress since my idea is to have a blog that resembles a website and has an online community. So far so good, I have been toying with Wordpress and it is starting to look nice and as I would like it to be.

When I went to file manager, I saw that the blog (installed through Fantastico) was put as a root of public.html. So, if I typed on my browser my domain as in www.mydomain.com, I would get an error as there was nothing there. Reading around a bit, I decided to include in the code of the index.html a line saying that the website is under construction. Now, when I click on the aforementioned domain I get an "under construction" message (with a picture) as I desired. Again, all fine and dandy.

The problem comes when I now want the actual blog (which is almost finished) to be what it is "seen" (newbie term) when people click on www.mydomain.com. The only way to see the blog (which is what I want the website to be) is via typing mydomain.com/blog . I am concerned of modifying anything in the public.html, or file manager for that matter, thinking I would delete anything important. So my main, and other questions, are:

1) How can I have the Wordpress blog as the website itself (people click on www.mydomain.com and get the front page of the blog). Where do I put the blog folder in file directory? Do I modify the index.html file?

2) Since I have been heavily working on the blog, I had it public (seen by anyone when typing the url) but now I would like to have it hidden until it is finished. I went to the blog folder and changed permissions to 750. Is there any other better ways to be able to work on the blog and not have an unauthorised message cropping up when mydomain.com/blog is typed on a browser? The same case would apply for the future when I am working on, say, the forum. Shall I create a new folder somewhere outside public.html and throw the stuff there?

3) I have the header image for the WP log actually saved in the public.html file as I had no clue where to save it. If I type www.mydomain.com/header_image, I get the image. I would like this to not be accessible via typing the address on a browser so where could I put it in the file manager? For that matter, where can I put any images and files I want for the blog (or website/forum) so that they are only accessible by me through Cpanel?

4) I see the name .htaccess thrown around a lot in forums but I dont know what it exactly does and what is its purpose. I have read how to modify it and all that but still am clueless as to its purpose. Anyone can tell me?

5) Any good newbie tutorials regarding managing one's files in such a fashion? All I find is either installation tutorials or tutorials with a lot of technical words. I have been very busy trying to learn even more basic stuff and getting the WP blog to look somewhat decent and now have the time to learn the whoel modifying files on the file manager.

I would appreciate any input on this and/or recommended newbie reading material.

Many thanks

 

Thank you so much for the reply, that was very helpful and I am going to try it now.

However, I have tried it and whilst the Wordpress log is now assigned to the main domain, the structure has crashed.

Please check the website

/http://www.manlycurls.com (obviate the content as I used Bible passages to fill the content to see how it looked)

When I did the changes, I reloaded the browser and the blog was fine but then 2 seconds later, it crashed the format.

Also, how do I log in to the blog now? I tried using wp-admin at the end of .com and it gives me an Internal Server Error.

This is the sort of stuff I was fearing it'd happen.

Thanks

 

I see, I was actually thinking as I was doing it that I had seen something in the WP settings about where does the blog go. That means at least things are beginning to sound familiar to me!

Pardon my newbiness, how do I go back? Shall i select everything again and move it to the blog folder on public_html? I did a back up before touching anything, shall I use the back up instead?

Once I do this and change the setting on the WP, I do the same as you outlined in your first post correct?

Thanks!

 

OK.

One question, the WP settings has two site addresses I can change.

WordPress address (URL)
Site address (URL) - it says here: Enter the address here if you want your site homepage to be different from the directory you


Which shall I change?

 

I changed both to manlycurls.com

It now seems to be working. However, I would like to ask if the edited file for wordpress on .fantasticodata should look like this

<?
$thisdb = "myadmin_wrdp1"; $thisdomain = "manlycurls.com"; $thisscriptpath = "/home/myadmin/public_html/";
?><?php $OIN = 1 ; ?>

the root is:
/home/myadmin/.fantasticodata/WordPress/manlycurls.com|blog

The file edited is named

manlycurls.com|blog

Likewise, am I right in assuming this symbol "|" when used in the file directory stands for "/" but without the code implications?

I am asking all these questions because I have read horror stories of people making small changes with file directory and chaos ensuing.

Thanks!