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If you are curious if you can build a WordPress site offline, you certainly can. You may be interested in creating your website offline so that you can develop it before you pay for hosting. Or if you are a web designer, you can build your client’s website locally first test it, and then make it live.
In general, there are two ways you can use to build a WordPress website offline. Although you can find several tools for building a website offline, to create a WordPress website, the easiest tools to work with are Xampp, and Local by Flywheel.
If the idea of creating a website offline has been something you wanted to try but it seemed too complicated, you’re not alone. However, the good news is you don’t need to worry about spending money on an extra hosting account because you can create it offline. If you’re looking to create a WordPress website locally, this guide will teach how.
It’s helpful to know how to do this if you are a WordPress developer and want to test plugins or customize your site before releasing it on the web.
Why Create a WordPress Site Offline?
There are quite a few good reasons to build a WordPress site offline. If you’ve ever had a website break because you installed a plugin that didn’t work correctly, you might appreciate having a way to test out a plugin before using it on a live website. One of the biggest reasons WordPress developers create websites online is for testing purposes.
Another reason people like to build websites offline is so that they don’t have to pay for hosting. If you have an existing hosting plan, you can set up a staging site to create your website. However, by designing a website locally you don’t need a hosting account at all. This can be really handy when working with clients. If a client’s hosting plan (or your own) doesn’t have the capacity to host an online testing website, you can build it offline and then publish it when you’re done.
If you are a web designer you may design a lot of websites. You could design every website from scratch. But, saving a website built on a local server allows you to have a website pre-built with a theme and plugins already installed. This way you don’t have to start with a clean WordPress install. You can save all the plugins and customizations so that all you have to do is change the design elements.
Ways to Build a WordPress Site Offline
Though you can find many tools to help you build your WordPress website offline, such as EasyPHP, WampServer, WNMp, Xampp, and Local by Flywheel are the most straightforward and easy to use tools. I trust these two more because I have installed and tested these tools personally.
Therefore, in this tutorial, I’ll show you how to create a WordPress website offline, using two tools; Local by flywheels and XAMPP Local Server.
Method 1: Build a WordPress Website offline with Local by Flywheel
Local by Flywheel is the most convenient tool to help you with creating a website. All you have to do is to add simple information, and your website will be ready within no time. So, let’s dig into how you can use Local by Flywheel.
Local is a web development tool created by Flywheel that lets you install the WordPress software locally on your machine so you can test how the plugins or themes work and how your site will look like when it is live.
Step1: installation
To install the Local software, please visit the official website of Flywheel or click here to download.
Next, you’ll select the platform where you’ll install this software. Local comes with perfect support for Windows, Mac, or Linux.
Now, after selecting your preferred operating system, you’ll be required to enter some personal details like your name, email address, or phone number. After entering the information, press Get it Now.
Now, you can see the file is downloading and once the download is successful, install Local on your computer.
Click on the + sign on the Local dashboard to start your website.
In the next window, you’ll choose your environment; go with the “Preferred” option.
Click on continue, and on the next window, you’ll enter credentials for setting up your WordPress site. Enter an admin name, password, and email address, and your site will be created successfully.
Now, your site is created offline, and you can see an Admin button on the left side where you can enter your site’s dashboard and install themes and plugins.
Another amazing feature is that you can share your website link with anyone via sharing a live link.
I find Local very easy to use compared to other WordPress tools like XAMPP etc., to build websites offline.
Now, let’s move to our next method, where I’ll show you how you can create a WordPress website offline using the XAMPP server.
Method 2: Build a WordPress website offline with a XAMPP server
XAMPP is a beginner-friendly and open-source web server that you can set up on your computer to run a website offline. Especially if you want to try hosting a website offline before actually going through the hassle of finding a host and paying for it or if you’re just trying out new things without having to worry about messing anything up. Many people use XAMPP when they find out how easy it is, so why not give it a shot?
Moreover, Xampp is a feather-light Apache distribution that lets developers create a local webserver to test plugins or themes.
Step1: XAMPP installation
First, download the latest version of the XAMPP server on your computer. Click here to download XAMPP. Then install it on your computer.
Once you have downloaded the XAMPP folder, install it on your computer and move to the next step.
You’ll be required to go to the XAMPP control panel and start MYSQL and Apache modules.
Now go to WordPress.org and download the latest version of WordPress.
You’ll get the latest version of WordPress in a .zip folder. Extract the file with Winrar or 7zip tool.
Now paste the extracted file of WordPress in the following folder.
Windows C:> Xampp > htdocs
Rename this WordPress folder as your website name. I have used Demosite name as my website name. Now my URL will be localhost/Demosite.
Now, to access your website, open the browser and type “localhost/Demosite. You’ll see a WordPress setup page.
After selecting your website’s language, press continue to add details regarding your database name, password, and username.
Next, you’ll need to create a database for your site using PHPMyAdmin. Go to your browser and type localhost/phpMyAdmin.
Now, add your database name and click on create.
Next, you’ll be required to assign a User to your Database. This can be done easily by clicking on Database and then Privileges Now, add details of this newly created User account.
Add user account details like username, passwords, hostname, and note down these details somewhere because you’ll need this information afterward.
Now click on Go to save the information. Next, go to the WordPress setup page to add all the details.
After adding all of the details, run the installation process to complete the setup. In the next window, you’ll add essential information about your site, such as Site Title, username, passwords, etc. Ensure that the Search engine visibility checkbox is unchecked. Then finally, WordPress will be installed on your computer.
You can visit your WordPress site by typing localhost/yoursitename or enter into the admin panel and type this localhost/yoursitename/wp-admin.
Building a WordPress Website Offline is Easier Than You Think
If you have just started learning how to use WordPress, building an offline site might seem intimidating. It’s actually not that hard. If you really want to get better at web design, this is a great way to learn new skills This way you can try something out without worrying about breaking anything. Try these methods for free and see what you think. If you can build a WordPress website online, you can build it offline.
