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Getting started with WordPress and MAMP on your Mac

by Sang Tang Oct 9th 2009 at 3:00PM

WordPress is among the more popular blog publishing and content management systems available. Some web hosting providers, such as GoDaddy and DreamHost, provide a relatively seamless and integrated WordPress installation process built into their dashboards. However, if you'd like to dip your toes into the WordPress waters and learn what lurks beneath it, but aren't yet ready to make a web hosting commitment (or switch, if your host currently doesn't support it) you can get you feet wet using MAMP.

Like LAMP (Linux, Apache, MySQL, PHP), MAMP contains the principle components of an all-purpose web server -- except, as implied in its namesake, it is built on Mac OS X instead of Linux.

To get started, download and install MAMP (link). At 163 MB, it's rather hefty, so pop in one of those 30 cent Tina's Burritos in the microwave or boil some water for Top Ramen while you're waiting.

  1. After MAMP finishes downloading and mounts, drag the MAMP folder into your "Applications" directory.
    a) Now, launch MAMP. Launching MAMP will result in the "Welcome to MAMP" start page opening in your browser.
    b) The only thing we'll need to do is to create a database. But before we do this, we'll need to make sure that MAMP is properly up and running. And we can do this by looking at the status indicator lights for "Apache Server" and "MySQL Server" on the main MAMP window -- if they're green, we're good to go.

  2. Now, let's create our database.
    a) To create the database, click on the "phpMyAdmin" tab on the MAMP start page menu.
    b) Let's see. I want to create a site dedicated to my favorite TV show of all time, Arrested Development. So, let's name my database "arresteddevelopment."
    c) You can leave all the other fields and options alone.
    d) Now, click on "Create," and our database is now ready.

    We're now done with configuring things on the MAMP side. On to the WordPress installation.

  3. Download the latest version of WordPress -- in our case, version 2.8.4.
    a) Because the WordPress package will likely come in a zip file, and because OS X will likely unzip said file, the resulting package will be unzipped in a folder named "wordpress" (how appropriate).

  4. Now, let's move the the "wordpress" folder into the "htdocs" folder within the MAMP folder -- /Applications/MAMP/htdocs

  5. Now, enter the following address into your browser: http://localhost:8888/wordpress
    a) Oops, it's telling us that we need a "wp-config.php" file. No need to worry. Just click on "Create a Configuration File."
    b) After clicking on the "Let's go" button on the next page, we're presented with a set of options. As Steve Urkel used to say, "don't fret my pet." Just enter the following values for the database, user name, and password:

    Database Name: arresteddevelopment (or whichever name you chose for your database)
    User Name: root
    Password: root

Now we're all set. We just need to fill out our blog title and email address, and we're done.

Though there are certainly are other ways of installing and configuring a WordPress-enabled web server on the Mac, I find the MAMP process the easiest to get up and running. And learning them is half the battle. Go Joe!

The other half is getting good and compelling content out there.



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18 Comments

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Nick Soper

Cool trick for you....

Open up MAMP, go to preferences, click on PORTS, and change your APACHE port to 80. Now everyone on your local network (eg. Connect to the same wifi network) can access your dev environment (your local wordpress site) by putting your IP address (the one with MAMP running) in their browser.

IP address's are hard to remember, to why not go to System Preferences, click on Sharing, then just under and next to your computer name there is an Edit Button. Click that and you can change the local access name of your mac.

Change this to whatever you like, eg "nick" and anyone on your local network can then access your dev environment (your local wordpress site) through a much friendlier URL like http://nick.local/

Pretty cool huh? Bring on the security risks! Go on, live life dangerously!

I spose there might be something better than MAMP. I read about another bit of software that allows to you run a localhost environment in any folder, but MAMP is very easy to set up and very quick and useful for this local wordpress install.

Perhaps add a note about turning errors on in the php.ini, so if you upload you don't get any surprises :-)

October 14 2009 at 6:24 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
usingpond

Funny, I did this exact thing the other week! It's worked out great. For simple sites that don't really need specific things from a robust server admin client, MAMP rules.

One gripe though for me is that you only get one site, so you can only really be working with one at a time.

October 10 2009 at 4:30 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
DentalMac

Try http://bitnami.org/. Is available with WordPress preinstalled. Installation is very simple.

October 10 2009 at 11:49 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Milan

I don't use MAMP (too old) or XAMPP (too bloated), but if you're a developer interested in a clean installation of a LAMP stack on your Mac then you should checkout MacPorts. I've actually written a blog on how to do it yourself (harmless self promotion):

http://blog.magudia.com/2009/08/22/installing-php53-apache2-mysql5-using-macports/

October 10 2009 at 6:45 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
JT

Noob question sorry, but when did godaddy started supporting wordpress and where can I find the option? Thanks

October 10 2009 at 4:41 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
frogbat

mysql isn't built into the client version of osx it is however on the erver. If you are running on a network and doing local development, I find the best product is actually os x server. But it might be over kill for a one man dev. Also, php is not enabled by default in osx. So for less experienced users, setting up a dev environment on a standard mac can be a bit of a challenge.

I've tried mamp after having problems with the mysql install in leopard. I even went so far as to upgrade to mamp pro. The difference between the pro and the standard is that the pro lets you add multiple virtual hosts through the gui. However I've since solved my mysql issues and favour using the standard os system. Also, apple tends to bundle older versions of apache and php as they obviously prefer more stable releases.

A useful tool if you develop multiple sites without mamp is virtualhostx. Allows you to edit the virtual hosts via an easy to use gui. I use headdress on tiger but it seems to have ceased development or availability. However with snow leopard (and prolly leopard too) the web server used is apache 2 so the vhosts are located in a separate file making it easier to set up manually. I still prefer an easy to use gui as on my dev box i have about 75 sites set up...

October 10 2009 at 1:58 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
darren

Why would you use a third party PHP/MySQL build its built into OS X by default.

October 09 2009 at 10:51 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
1 reply to darren's comment
Wazzä

Is MySQL actually built into OS X? I haven't seen it in my install by default?

Essentially you would use a third party tool like MAMP or XAMPP because you can drag and drop an application into the Applications folder, double click and Icon and you have a webserver with PHP support, a database (MySQL) - essentially configured and ready to go without having to compile anything.

October 10 2009 at 12:04 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Pete

Not a fan of MAMP at all, but Arrested Development is awesome!

October 09 2009 at 8:13 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
udougit

I use MAMP with no problems for working on my own blog.

(only problems are how slow the server is on my budget host!)

which is another reason I use MAMP…no uploading of files to the host server to proof a dynamically-driven php site…like a WordPress blog.

http://dougitdesign.com/blog/

October 09 2009 at 8:01 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Twist

I had some issues with MAMP and found it was easier to just install MySQL and use the included Apache and PHP installs in Mac OS X.

October 09 2009 at 5:42 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
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