Chromebook computers have seen a significant surge in their popularity for the past few years. These devices have made a significant mark in the online world as affordable web-only computers. That is why it is not a big surprise that one of the most common questions among many users today is if it is possible to use WordPress on Chromebook.
Table of Contents
How to create a website on a chromebook
Chromebooks, unlike Macs or standard PCs, don’t have a physical hard drive or better yet, the operating system makes use of the hard drive in a different way. Chrome doesn’t install applications in the same way that Mac or Windows does and this is where problems start.
Chrome is mainly a web-based service that lets you install the same apps found on your smartphone. Chromebook also has a cloud hard drive which means that majority of the files on your Chromebook get stored in Google Drive. It explains the reason why it is common to find small hard drives in most Chromebooks.
There are also larger sites that are as large as or even larger than the hard drive of a Chromebook. Even though this is rare and most will possibly fit on the hard drive, there are big blogs that can have gigabytes of data and it is all too easy to go beyond this limit if your hard drive is only 15 gigs.
If you are planning to create a website on Chromebook, here are the major steps you should follow:
- Enable developer mode.
- Download a text editor.
- Use Chromebrew.
- Install Linux with Crouton.
- Install an IDE.
- Install the packages and tools you need for web development.
Does wordpress work on chromebook?
Yes, WordPress on Chromebook works but to do so, this will locally require Linux, Mac, or Windows-based operating systems. Local installation of WordPress on Chromebook won’t work since Chrome doesn’t support WordPress’ file structure. However, you can virtually install WordPress on a different machine then access that machine from your Chromebook.
Anyone who is signing up for mainly web hosting will be able to use and log into WordPress because this doesn’t require installation of additional software on your local machine. It will also work if you want to make changes to an existing website with the use of WordPress on Chromebook just like how it would be if you are using Chrome on your laptop or PC. An internet connection and a web browser are the only two things you will need to access the website.
But, just because WordPress works on Chromebook doesn’t always mean that you should you go this route right away. Also, remember that a Chromebook is supposed to be web-based and even if WordPress is also a web-based application, you cannot simply install it and expect it to work on your Chromebook. There are a lot of other server-related apps used to ensure that WordPress on Chromebook works.
How to download wordpress on chromebook
If you are wondering how you can download WordPress on Chromebook, first, first you need to know why it would be best that you locally install WordPress on your Chromebook instead of using a web host. More often than not, there is no need for most people to locally install WordPress on their personal computer. The developers are the only ones who will likely need to install WordPress on the hard drive of a computer.
When you speak of local, this means that WordPress is going to sit on the hard drive of your computer and you will be able to access the website provided that your computer is turned on. You can choose from several ways for setting it up and as long as you use Linux, Mac, or PC, you won’t have any issues installing it.
The main reason why WordPress requires something local is extremely important is because there are people who prefer to work on their websites with no need for their customers to see the changes that they make. One more name for local is staging and these two are just the same concept.
With local, you are given the chance to work on a site with no need for you to experience the fear associated with handling a live website. If you ever end up locally breaking something, it is very likely for you to be able to restore it from the backup.
On the other hand, web hosting is usually dubbed as the standard when it comes to WordPress installation. It means that instead of the need to install WordPress on your device, you will rent someone else’s space instead to have it installed.
There are several reasons why this is considered as the most ideal method yet the number one reason is that a web host can give you the much needed peace of mind that you will not be able to get if you will locally host WordPress. They can also handle other things such as security updates and maintenance that will ensue that your site won’t get hacked all the time. After all, hackers are always trying to find their way into servers and if you do things on your own, you are up for some security concerns.
If you are looking for a more technical process of downloading WordPress on Chromebook, here are the steps you need to follow:
- Get your Linux ready.
- Install Apache web server.
- Install MariaDb database.
- Install PHP7.3.
- Download then install WordPress on Chromebook.
Building a local wordpress site on a chromebook
To build a local WordPress website on a Chromebook, you first need a Chromebook that runs Crouton or Ubuntu 16.04 in developer mode. You can then download XAMPP and proceed to installing WordPress.
How to edit wordpress on chromebook
ShiftEdit is an Integrated Development Environment or IDE that is an example of a tool you can use for code development work such as editing WordPress on Chromebook. You might not need it at all if you just want to add content to your website and do everything through your WordPress dashboard.
But, if you need to create new templates, edit your CSS style sheets, or others, you will need an FTP program and a code editor. Many IDE systems combine these two. You can also edit the PHP files and style sheets from your WordPress dashboard but it is not recommended because it doesn’t do error highlighting and code formatting and it is harder to go back and undo edits that you made and regret now. ShiftEdit can work with majority of FTP connections and directly connects to your Google Drive or Dropbox account.