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If all is well, you see the Website Baker Installation Wizard, as shown in Figure 3-5.

Figure 3-5: The Website Baker Installation Wizard helps you get started.

Most CMSs work in a similar way: You install a set of base files to the server, and then the system helps you get the other systems configured. Here’s how to install Website Baker:

1. Check system configuration.

The Step 1 section of the installation wizard ensures all the needed components are available on your server.

2. Ensure folders are writable.

The CMS will need to write files to the server. If you’re in a Unix-based system, you may have to check the file permissions to ensure all files and folders specified in this section can be written to. Each specified file or folder can be set to 777 permission.

See Chapter 1 of this minibook for more on changing Unix permissions. (Even if you use a Windows or Mac at home, your Web server might use Linux or Unix.)

3. Set default settings.

Specify the path to the CMS, the default time zone, and the default language.

4. Specify your operating system.

Windows has its own way of doing things, so let Website Baker know whether you’re using Windows or a Unix-based system. (Mac OSX and Linux are both Unix-based.)

5. Include database information.

Supply the information needed so Website Baker can get to your database. Supply a database name as well as the username and password you want to use to access the database. Check the Install Tables option to have Website Baker automatically build the database you need.

6. Enter the Web site name.

This name will appear on all the site’s pages (but you can change it later).

7. Create an administrator account.

The admin account will have the ability to change the site. Create a user named admin with a password you can remember.

8. Install the CMS.

Press the Install Website Baker button to install the CMS. Figure 3-6 shows the installation wizard after I filled in the contents.

If all goes well, you’re greeted by the administration page shown in Figure 3-7.

The final step of installing your CMS is to remove the install directory. This directory contains the scripts and tools you used to install the CMS. If you leave it in place, bad guys can reinstall your CMS from the Web and destroy your settings. Use your file management or FTP tool to delete the install directory from your Website Baker directory as soon as you’re satisfied the installation went well. When you do this, the warning about the installation directory will disappear.

Instead of installing the CMS manually, many hosting services have automated installation scripts for popular CMSs that you can use. Freehostia has built-in support for Website Baker, but I find the automated systems tend to have older versions of the software. You should still know how to set up the CMS by hand.

Figure 3-6: The CMS is ready to install.

Figure 3-7: Congratulations! You now own a bouncing baby CMS!

Getting an overview of Website Baker

The administration page (refer to Figure 3-7) is the control panel you and other administrators use to build the site. The administration page’s tools are the foundation of the entire site:

♦ Pages: Where you add the primary content for the site. Each page is built here. Website Baker features a few standard page types, and you can install hundreds more through the module feature.

♦ Add-ons: The core installation of Website Baker is reasonably basic, but you can customize it in many ways. The most important techniques are to add new types of pages (modules) and new visual themes (templates). I describe both techniques later in this chapter.

♦ Settings: Allows you to change global settings for the site. You can modify the site name, description, theme, and other settings from this panel.

♦ Access: Allows you to add new users and groups and grant various users access to different parts of the system. For example, if you’re setting up a site for a church, you might want the children’s pastor