bBlog Tutorial and Installation How To

This tutorial describes how to use the bBlog weblog software with your NEXCESS.NET web hosting account. NEXCESS.NET specializes in hosting bBlog software and this tutorial is meant to help you quickly setup your site with our web hosting service.

bBlog is open source, meaning that you can use and distribute it as you'd like as long as you don't change it.

For the sake of this tutorial we'll assume that you own the domain 'johnsmith.com' and are setting up bBlog at http://johnsmith.com/blog/.

Follow these steps to complete the tutorial:

1. The first thing to do is to run through the SiteWorx MySQL tutorial and create a database for bBlog to use to store the information it needs.

   Create a database called 'bblog' with a user named 'bblog'. When you do this SiteWorx will prefix the database and user names with some text resembling your domain name.

   With our example domain of 'johnsmith.com' the database name is 'johnsmit_bblog' and the username is the same 'johnsmit_bblog'.
2. Download the latest version of bBlog from the bBlog website and unzip the contents of the zip file to your desktop using http://winzip.com.

   You should now have a 'blog' folder containing all the files and folders necessary for installing and running bBlog.

3. Upload the 'blog' folder to your web hosting account. You can do this using an FTP program. If you don't know how to do this, check out the FTP tutorials on our tutorials page.
4. Once the bBlog files and folders are finished uploading, you can now access the 'install.php' page. For this example, we'll point to 'http://www.johnsmith.com/blog/bblog/install.php'. You should now be on the first page of the install wizard. Your screen should look like this:

   

   Click on the 'I agree to these terms' check box and make sure that the 'Fresh Install' radio button is selected. Click the 'Next' button to continue. You should now get a warning saying that some files and folders are not writable. Your screen should look like this:

   

   You need to change the permissions on these files and folders in order for the script to write to them. You can do this using the CHMOD command in your FTP program. If you don't know how to do this, check out the FTP tutorial on our tutorials page. You need to set the following files and folders to these permissions:

   • CHMOD the 'bblog/cache' folder to 777
   • CHMOD the 'bblog/compiled_templates' folder to 777
   • CHMOD the 'bblog/cache/favorites.xml' file to 777
   • CHMOD the 'bblog/config.php' file to 777

   Once you've change the permissions on the files and folders, click the 'Click here to try again' button to continue. You should now be on the 'Database and Blog Settings' page. For the general section, enter information as you see fit. For the database section, you need to enter the information for the database you created in step #1. For this example, we'll enter the information as follows:

   • MySQL Username: johnsmit_bblog
   • MySQL Password: mypassword
   • MySQL Database Name: johnsmit_bblog
   • MySQL Host: localhost - Stays the same.
   • Table Prefix: bB_ - Stays the same.

   In the server section, those fields should be correct so you can leave them as is. Your screen should look like this:

   

   Click the 'Next' button to continue. The script will now create your tables. If you receive any errors, go back and make sure you entered the correct information for the database. Your screen should look like this:

   

   Click the 'Next' button to continue. The script will now load all the plugins necessary for running the blog. Your screen should look like this:

   

   Click the 'Next' button to continue. The script will now write to the 'config.php' file. If you receive any errors, make sure you set the correct permissions on the files. Your screen should look like this:

   

   Click the 'Next' button to continue. The bBlog installation wizard is now complete. Your screen should look like this:

   

5. There are a couple things you need to do before you login for security reasons. First, you need to delete 'bblog/install.php' from your webspace. Second, you need to delete the 'bblog/install' folder from your webspace. Last, you need to CHMOD the 'config.php' file to 644 so it can no longer be written to. You can do all of these things with your FTP program. If you don't know how to do them, check out the FTP tutorials on our tutorials page.

   Once you've done those 3 things, click on the 'Login to bBlog' link to access the login page. Enter the username and password you created for your admin account in the install wizard. Your screen should look like this:

   

   Click the 'Login' button to log into the admin control panel for your bBlog. You should now be on the options page of the control panel. Make sure all the information is either correct, or set to your preferences. Your screen should look like this:

   

   Click the 'Save Options' button to save these values. Your options have been saved. You can now use the admin control panel to manage and customize your bBlog how you see fit. The bBlog tutorial is now complete!

   For more information on how to use bBlog once it's installed, check out the bBlog Documentation.

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