Workspace Setup
Topics
- Notes
- Password Manager
- VCS (Version Control System)
- AWS (Amazon Web Services)
Overview
We are going to go over getting a nice, clean, workspace set up to make managing your new website and infrastructure easier for you. First we are going to get a ’notes’ app, and then an email address set up to manage all of the accounts and communications that will occur through your new site. We will also set up so ease-of-use tools, such a password manager to hold all of your credentials, a GitHub account to keep all of your website code, and we’ll go over setting up an AWS account for basic testing (and hosting your site if you’d like, too!). By the end of this article, you should have a basic WordPress website set up and be able to log in and manage it effectively.
Notes
Any note app will work here, but I have found using OneNote to be rather effective. While other options exist, I like OneNote because it syncs across all of my devices, so I can pull up notes I’ve created on my phone for review and quick edits. You can use this app on Windows, and OSX (Mac); Linux support is not available but you can use the online version of the app.
An Alternative, Open-source note taking app that I have used in the past is called ‘Zim’. Zim can be installed on pretty much any flavor of Linux, has a Windows installer, and can be run on OSX as well, although to install it on a Mac there are a few extra steps. More information can be found here (link).
Password Manager
You need a password manager. I know people are really bad about using good passwords, either not making very good ones in the first place, or using the same passwords across multiple apps. If you are going to set up a website on the public facing internet, now is a really great time to start breaking those habits because you are putting a lot more at risk, and taking some precautions can go a long way.
See the following post for advice on creating good, memorable passwords.
But even the most memorable password will get forgotten unless you use it frequently, and considering most browsers save your passwords, not very many people are typing their passwords in frequently for services they use everyday, let alone something they only have to log into occasionally.
I realize everyone probably already has an email address that they like using for a number of things, however when managing a website, especially when doing any sort of marketing, you will find that the number of emails you receive is going to increase. You are going to get emails from prospective clients, sales orders from your website, and any information regarding accounts that you are using to manage your site. For this reason, right from the start, I advise setting up an email address to manage things separate from your personal email. While you are free to use whatever you would like, gmail has always been a favorite of mine, as you get plenty of storage, and it’s free. Once you create your account, make sure you save the username and password in your password manager.
VCS
Version Control Systems, A.K.A. VCS, are pieces of software used to track changes over time. The most popular VCS is called ‘GIT’. GIT uses what’s known as repositories to track changes to projects, and allow you to easily see what changes have/are going to be made, rollback to earlier versions, track who made the changes, and other useful features. While you can run your own private repository, http://github.com offers a free, public repository host. Create an account and you can use it to track changes to your website, and later on in another tutorial we are also going to leverage GitHub to automatically update WordPress.
Once you have created an account, make sure you download the associated tools. While you can do everything manually, if you are using Windows, I recommend installing Git for Windows, which includes a lot of tooling that will make it easier to use.
AWS
Amazon Web Services is a cloud provider for web hosting. In simple terms, hosting is a computer (server) that is managed by someone else where you can put your website files. While it is technically possible to run your website from a computer in your own home, there are many benefits to hosting with a proven, reliable company, and these days you can get started for cheap, as well.
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