ProPhoto - Premium Wordpress Theme for Professional Photographers - Single Column, big pictures - Blog Template

Sometimes, when you install WordPress and ProPhoto, and try to edit your theme files in the Theme Editor for the first time is says something like: “You need to make this file writable before you can save your changes. See the Codex for more information.”

This is caused by permissions set wrong on the files WordPress is trying to edit. Sometimes during the process of FTPing files, permissions get messed up. To fix this, change the permissions on the files that aren’t working to “777″ or “0777.” You can do this within FTP programs, or in your file manager. You can see how to change permissions in the end of this video about using a file manager.

Yes. Bludomain does allow to FTP files to your hosting account, and will also give you access to your webhost cPanel to create a mySQL database. Email them and ask for your FTP information, and how to log into your cPanel. It should be something like: http://mybluwebsite.com/cpanel or http://mybluwebsite.com:2082/ with probably the same login info as your FTP.

Sometimes, after you’ve installed WordPress and are trying to upload a picture for the first time, you’ll get an error that says something like: “Unable to create directory /home/user/public_html/blog/wp-content/uploads/2008/02. Is its parent directory writable by the server?”

This error occurs occasionly and is basically the result of a permission problem. For some reason, WordPress doesn’t have permission to create the folder needed to store your uploaded picture or imported blog. The fix is pretty easy. First, if using your FTP access or your online file manager utility from your CPanel, create a folder inside of “wp-content” and name it exactly “uploads”. Then try again. If this doesn’t work, again using your FTP program or online file manager utility, set the permissions for the folder “wp-content” to 0777 temporarily. Try it again. Assuming it works (it should), change it back to 0755 and try again. If it still works, then leave it like that. If it won’t work after you change it back, change it back to 0777 again and leave it.

If you’re having trouble changing permissions, call your web host for help. Act dumb and happy. (Acting dumb and happy really works. It’s gotten me far in life.)

There is also some info and a brief demonstration of changing permissions in this video, and in this one.

IF you have this problem, you almost certainly have an old version of WordPress. Due to the advanced features, specifically inline commenting, you need at least WordPress Version 2.3.2 or higher. It is always best to stay up-to-date with the most current version of WordPress.

So, you’ll need to upgrade WordPress. Instructions can be found here:

http://codex.wordpress.org/Upgrading_WordPress

the simple version is:

a) back up your mySQL database (not 100% necessary, but always a good idea)
b) back up your ‘uploads’ folder, located in ‘wp-content’ (again, not necessary, but a good idea) by downloading the whole folder to your computer so you have a copy in case you mess up step C.
b) download the newest version of Wordpress from http://wordpress.org/download
c) unzip the file and REMOVE the “wp-content” folder so that you DO NOT upload it.
d) upload the rest of the whole folder into the same directory where your blog exists. all the files should overwrite the old ones.

If you’re version of WordPress is really old, it may prompt you to upgrade your database once you’ve got the new version installed. (This is why I recommend backing up your database first. i’ve never had a problem in the upgrades I’ve done, but the thought of ‘upgrading my database’ without backing it up gives me the willies.)

Usually you can backup your database fairly simply from within your web host control panel. Look for your mySQL manager and there is probably a button to backup the database. If you’re stuck, call your web host and ask them to talk you through backing up a mySQL database. If you act dumb and happy, they should help you.