The document discusses the benefits and challenges of local WordPress development. Some key advantages of local development are that it allows testing changes without risking breaking the live site and is generally faster than making edits directly to the live site. Potential downsides include transferring large databases and files to the local environment and clients not being able to see work in progress. It provides tips for setting up a local development environment using software like XAMPP or MAMP and migrating an existing live site to local development.

1. Having Fun with Local
Development
Julian Medina
@julianlmedina

2. Why go Local?
● Faster
● No chance of breaking the live site. Ex.
Recently I found out that if I upgraded a
certain plugin it would've somehow
magically broken the footer (don't ask me
how :)). Fortunately I tested this out Locally.
● And the list goes on and on

3. Downsides of Local
Development
● From personal experience, it can be a drag
taking over an existing site and working on it
locally. This has included taking over a site
with >10 MB Database and a pretty bulky
wp-content directory.
● Some clients seem to not like it either
because they can't see the site being built.
This is often remedied by making a "Stage"
site.
● Different server configuration than live
server.

4. Software
● XAMPP
● MAMP (If you're on a Mac)
● WAMP
● Homebrew + MySQL (Haven't tried it yet)

5. Starting a site locally
● Install WordPress locally
● Develop the site
● Upload the site via an FTP Client or SSH.
● Upload the Database via phpMyAdmin
Warnings
● Links may not work after going local
● Site may not function because you're missing
something.
● A whole lot of other things can go wrong...

6. Existing live site to local tips
● Good ways of troubleshooting seem to
include deactivating all plugins. This can
either be done through phpMyAdmin or
renaming your plugins folder.
● A good last resort (that ended up working),
delete the entire WordPress directory locally
and re-download via FTP.

7. Great Sites for Help
● WordPress Codex (http://codex.wordpress.
org/Moving_WordPress, http://codex.wordpress.
org/Installing_WordPress_Locally_on_Your_Mac_Wit
h_MAMP)
● Google
● Smashing Magazine - Developing WordPress Locally
With MAMP (http://wp.smashingmagazine.
com/2011/09/28/developing-wordpress-locally-with-
mamp/)