Develop A WordPress Website Offline Using MAMP

When you want to design or develop a dynamic WordPress website offline where no one but you can see it, then the FREE version of MAMP is the way to go.

What is MAMP ?

MAMP stands for Macintosh, Apache, MySQL, and PHP. MAMP is an application you can install on your Mac that gives you all of the tools needed to run WordPress on your local machine, making it much easier for development and testing websites before making them live.

Step 1: Download and Install MAMP on your Mac (Windows version still in development).

Visit the MAMP website to download the FREE version of MAMP. Install it just as you would any other Mac Application.

Step 2: Basic MAMP Settings

Now that you’ve got MAMP installed on your computer, launch MAMP application. While you’re editing settings, MAMP might prompt you for an administrator password. Once you open MAMP, follow these steps:

• Click the PREFERENCES button and then “Ports” (along the top). For ease of use, leave the default ports of 8888 for Apache, and 8889 for MySQL. Your local URL will then be localhost:8888.
• On the PHP tab, verify that version 5 is selected.
• On the APACHE tab, set a document root. This is where all of your files are going to be for your local web server. An example of a document root is /Users/USERNAME/Sites/  (the default location for this is /Applications/MAMP/htdocs/).

Once you’re done editing all of the settings, hit OK to save them.

Step 3: Starting MAMP Servers

To start the MAMP Apache and MySQL servers, simply click “Start Servers” from the MAMP start-up screen. Your MAMP servers have now been started! Once the MAMP servers start, the MAMP start page should open in your default web browser. (If it did not open. just click on “Open start page” in the MAMP window.)

Step 4:  Creating The Database

From the MAMP start page is open in your browser, click the phpMyAdmin link from the MySQL section.

In the center, enter in a database name such as “db_mysite”, leave the default of “collation” and press “create”. (If this is not your first database, click on the word “NEW” in the left column to bring up the “create new database” line.)

Step 5: Downloading WordPress

Download and install the latest version of WordPress. Unzip the file you just downloaded, which will create the folder named “wordpress” (you can rename this to whatever you want – I use the name of my current site – let’s call it “mysite”).  Drag this folder into the MAMP document root from Step 2 above – /Users/USERNAME/Sites/ (or the default location for this is /Applications/MAMP/htdocs/ if you used the default location).

Step 6: Installing WordPress

In your web browser, go to localhost:8888/mysite. You may get a screen that says “There doesn’t seem to be a wp-config.php file. I need this before we can get started.” THAT’S OK! Just click “Create a configuration file” and then click “Let’s Go” from the next screen. Enter the following information for the database:

Database Name: db_mysite  (the database name from Step 3 above)
User Name (database): root
Password (database): root
Database Host/server: localhost
Table Prefix: wp_

Once this is entered and you continue, you’ll receive a message that says “All right, sparky! You’ve made it through this part of the installation. WordPress can now communicate with your database. If you are ready, time now to…”.

Click to “Run the Install” to continue onto WordPress’ famous 5-minute install. Complete by entering a blog name and email address, and you’re ready to use WordPress on your Mac!