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As I set up my new membership site using WordPress and Digital Access Pass, I’m making a few notes about things I’m running into, or shortcuts I’m taking.

First, when I went to activate DAP after installing the plugin that it requires, I got an error message:

Sorry, it appears that a required library (PDO) for connecting to a MySQL database has not been enabled. Pls ask your web host if your web site can have ‘PHP PDO Enabled for MySQL’

Installation failed. Please de-activate LiveLinks and re-activate it when you’ve resolved this issue. (101)

So I have submitted a support ticket to my host (this site is running on Kiosk, but you can use that or Hostgator). That should be fixed pretty soon. (UPDATE: it was fixed in about an hour – no sweat!)

While I’m waiting, I’m putting in a few quick settings that I always do for my blogs.

First, in the Settings, Permalinks, I’m changing the default structure of the URLS to %postname%. This makes my URLs more SEO friendly. I just have to make sure I don’t make any posts simply as dap, since that’s the folder of the script.

Next, I paste in a long list of ping services under Settings, Writing, Update Services.

I activate Akismet and delete Hello Dolly plugins. I upload and activate Comment Relish. Comment Relish is the nifty plugin you may have noticed here at AskBobTheTeacher.com. When you first comment, you get an automatic reply message.

I’m not going to spend time right now on my theme, but I do want to set myself up for easy changes. After searching the web, asking on Twitter and other places, I hear so many great things about the Thesis theme from DIY Themes that I pick that up and load it up. Out of the box it’s simple enough, but I’m told there are so many flexible customizations I (or my designer) can do, that it’s worth paying for. (Thanks to Mike Krumlauf for the final nudge!)

Mike told me I also should pick up the free Thesis Open Hook plugin, so I’ve uploaded and activated that as well.

A lot of adjustments can be made right from the Thesis dashboard, which is pretty cool. I’ll have to really play around in there soon.

For the Users settings, I change my own profile to include my main blog website. I change the display from admin to Bob The Teacher.

I’ll also need to set up the initial post, About Me page, and change the inital blogroll links to something more useful than the default settings. And I’ll need to add a few categories.

That’s pretty much it for now.

Bob Jenkins

p.s. If you’re just creating a regular website, and you want a blog as well as plenty of pre-built power, definitely get yourself a Quansite (that’s what AskBobTheTeacher.com works on). But if you want to be your own tech person, spend time with plugins, and add extra scripts, then you need to have your own hosting account.

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