MAMP stands for Macintosh, Apache, MySQL and PHP. Using MAMP framework, you can access your PHP server and MySQL server locally on your Mac. MAMP provides all the tools you need to run WordPress on your Mac. Four step process below guides you through the installation process for MAMP and WordPress on your Mac.
1. Install MAMP
Go to MAMP website, click on 'Download now' for MAMP. Current version of MAMP requires that your Mac be running on Mac OS X 10.4.x or later.
Once download is complete, click continue to proceed with installation. Read the License Agreement and click "Agree" to install.
Once the installation is complete, you should see a window with MAMP, MAMP PRO and Applications folders in it. Drag MAMP folder and drop it on to Applications folder. Application is installed when the contents are copied to Applications folder.
2. Basic MAMP configuration
Launch MAMP application from /Applications/MAMP/MAMP.app. You will see MAMP application window with options to Stop Servers, make changes to Preferences, Open start page along with status of Apache and MySQL servers.
Now, click the Preferences button. Next, click over to "Ports." The default MAMP ports are 8888 for Apache, and 8889 for MySQL. If you use this configuration, you shouldn't get asked for your password, but you'd need to include the port number in the URL (localhost:8888). If you'd like to leave the port number out of the URL, change the Apache port to 80. If you are using port 80 as your MAMP Apache port, then you'll always be asked for your password.
Finally, on the Apache tab, set document root ( Default value would be /Applications/MAMP/htdocs ). This is where all of your files are going to be for your local web server. Once you're done editing the settings, click OK to save.
3. Start MAMP servers and Create Database
Click "Start Servers" from MAMP main window to start MySQL and Apache servers. Status is shown green when servers are started. If start page is not opened already, Click "open start page" button and that will open MAMP page in the browser.
To create the database, go to phpMyAdmin tab. Under actions, give a name and press Create to create a database. Once the database is created, you can see it on left sidebar.
4. Download and Install WordPress
Download the install WordPress from WordPress.org download page. Once done, locate "wordpress" folder and move all the contents from "wordpress" folder to MAMP document root folder ( e.g.: /Applications/MAMP/htdocs ). Now, go to wordpress page at http://localhost:port/wordpress to run the install. Provide database name, hostname, username and password to complete the installation. Alternatively, you can update this information at wp-config.php.
Once the installation is complete, login to WordPress admin page at http://localhost:port/wp-login.php using the default login credentials generated for you. You may want to change the default password once you login to WordPress admin page.
From WordPress admin page, you can change themes, install plug-ins, edit settings and start adding blog posts on your locally installed server settings.
If you run into issues installing WordPress, you can refer to their handy installation guide here.
