My WordPress Adventure: A Journey of Triumphs and Trials
Hello, dear readers! Today, I invite you to join me as I recount my personal journey of setting up a WordPress website. It’s been a wild ride, filled with exhilarating moments of seeing my ideas come to life, and hair-pulling frustrations of troubleshooting. I have been done this rode before But hey, every great adventure has its highs and lows, right? So, let’s dive into the world of WordPress together, exploring the fun, the struggles, and everything in between.
The Spark of Inspiration
It all started with a spark, an idea that ignited my desire to create a space where I could share my thoughts and experiences. The thrill of envisioning my very own website was nothing short of exhilarating. I could already see the layout, the color scheme, the content… it was like watching my dreams materialize right before my eyes. Then I woke up.
I decided to take on the world of WordPress in a new way. I wanted to build a WordPress site from the ground up. The plan is to host a VM Ubuntu Web server on a VMware ESXI machine. I built the ESXI Machine a few years back on an old AMD FX 8900 series system in a mid-tower case to host a website. That’s a whole other story building a ESXI installation from scratch. I knew what I needed to do to build out the VM. In the past I used guides from “digitalocean.com”.
This time I wanted to put ChatGPT4 and my AI prompt skills to the test. The Test: ask ChatGPT to create me a set of instructions on installing Ubuntu Web Server. These instructions had to include the CLI commands for Linux, which include configuring the firewall, building a LAMP stack (Webserver) and installing WordPress and a SSL/TLS certificate all from the command line.
Diving into the Build
With my mind brimming with ideas, I started first by setting up the Ubuntu VM and snapshot the clean install. I then started working on my prompt for install of the LAMP stack, word press and the SSL/TSL certificate. It took a several hours and a couple of reloads before I got the ChapGPT Prompt to give me the correct steps for a working LAMP stack and getting a WordPress setup page. I thought wow you did it, YES! But upon further inspection and trying to use the WordPress installation I ran into database issues with MySql. Either my memory was forgetting something in the prompt or steps were left out. I didn’t know after about 8 hours of work at this point.
I decided that I needed to move on from using ChatGPT for the instructions. I reached back out to my trusted source in the past. The community guides at “digitalocean.com”. Within a few hours I had a working Web Server with an updated Working WordPress site. (and snapshot, learned the hard way how valuable a snapshot can be)
On to the next and last challenge of the build. Picking a WordPress Theme, setting up said theme, and configuring plugins and site settings. Oh the Joy!, I actually do enjoy the challenge of Creating and Designing the whole build from backend infrastructure to frontend facing web page.
The Peaks and Valleys
As with any journey, there were peaks and valleys. There were moments when everything fell into place seamlessly, and I could hardly contain my joy. Seeing my ideas come to life on the screen was incredibly rewarding.
But then, there were the valleys – the moments of hair-pulling frustration when things didn’t go as planned. Whether it was a setup failure or plugin that refused to cooperate and locked me out of the front end as an admin twice, troubleshooting became my constant companion.
Yet, it was in these moments of struggle that I learned the most. Each challenge was an opportunity to learn something new, to grow, to improve. And with every problem I solved, I felt a sense of accomplishment that far outweighed the frustration.
The Adventure Continues…
Setting up a WordPress website has been a wild ride, but it’s an adventure I wouldn’t trade for anything. The fun, the struggles, the learning – it’s all part of the journey. And the best part? The adventure is far from over. With every new update, every new plugin, there’s always something new to explore in the world of WordPress.
So, here’s to the highs, the lows, and everything in between. Here’s to the adventure that is WordPress. And most importantly, here’s to all of you, my fellow adventurers, who are on this journey with me. Let’s continue to explore, learn, and grow together.
Until next time, happy WordPress-ing!
Post written by Sean with rough draft created with ChatGPT4
