Hi, I am loving these videos. But I am wondering if I am able to download WordPress without a host so I can just learn how to use it by hands on practice? I think it would be very beneficial if you allowed people to get used to it by doing, not just listening and watching. I am learning this to see if this is something I want to continue learning for the future. I'm not ready to build a website yet.
Thank you,
Laurie
Shawn Hesketh answered 5 years ago
Hi Laurie,
Happy to hear you're loving the videos.
You might reference my answer to a very similar question, which I've pinned to the top of the Help Forum:
https://wp101.com/question/how-do-install-wordpress/
You might also recall from watching this video from the Introduction to WordPress section in our WordPress 101 course:
You can download the latest version of the WordPress software from WordPress.org. But it’s important to note that WordPress is not a normal application like Microsoft Word.
“That means it’s not designed to run on a personal computer like other applications. Instead, it needs to be installed on a web server in order to work. So, you’ll need a web hosting provider — and today there are dozens of excellent Managed WordPress hosting companies who will not only install the WordPress software for you — but also manage your site for you, keeping the software up-to-date, creating backups every night, and even monitoring it for security issues.
“And, if you choose a Managed WordPress host, you don’t need to bother with downloading or installing the WordPress software on your web server. That part is done for you automatically.”
An excellent way to experiment with WordPress before committing to creating your own website is EasyWP. You can spin up a new WordPress site on EasyWP in less than two minutes, and it costs just $1 for your first month. That should give you plenty of time to ‘kick the tires’ and determine if WordPress is for you.
Now, there is a software application that creates a local web server on your own computer, and then installs WordPress within it, enabling you to run WordPress on your own computer. It's called, Local by Flywheel, and it's the easiest way to install WordPress on your Mac or Windows PC and develop your WordPress site locally.
Then, when you’re ready to make it live, you can push your local site to Flywheel for hosting with just one click within the app. Or, you can manually migrate your site to a proper host.
Hope this helps!