BetterExplained » Getting Going with WordPress

A list of what I've done to get the WordPress blog software up and running.

Get setup

Download, extract
Create database in PHPMyAdmin
Run setup

Get a theme you like

Tweak

Update your theme colors, text, layout
Better title tags using the Optimal Title plugin. I'm not a huge fan of SEO, but it helps to have the title come after the post name.
Better permalinks: /articles/%postname%/
Better Archives: Just show me a list of all my posts, please!

<h2>All Posts</h2>
<ul class="archive-items">
<?php>
$posts =
get_posts('order=DESC&numberposts=50000');
foreach ($posts as $post) :
?>
<li><span class="date"><?php the_time('M d Y') ?></span>
<a href="<?php the_permalink() ?>"><?php the_title(); ?></a>
<span class="date"> in</span>
<?php the_category(', ') ?></li>
<?php endforeach; ?>
</ul>

Read Blogs & Articles

Plugins I actually use

WP-Cache – very fast caching plugin. Remember to chmod a+x the .php files after uploading.

Add to wp-config.php: define('WP_CACHE', true);
Added to cached pages:
<!-- Dynamic Page Served (once) in 0.601 seconds -->
<!-- Cached page served by WP-Cache -->

Edit In Place Killer plugin, lets you edit posts “in place” rather than opening up wordpress. Makes your blog more wiki-like in editing.
TextControl – I couldn’t decide between Markdown and Textile and this lets me choose on a per-post basis (or no special formatting).
Feedburner Feed replacement Feedburner lets you track your RSS readers. This redirects your feed to feedburner, and is the most flexible option (you can disable the plugin and serve feeds from your normal site – users always have the same URL).
Akismet anti-spam Comment spam is bad. Nuff said.
LatexRenderer I’m a geek and want to write formulas in my posts using Latex. Install this if you want to as well.
Code Markup Again, for geeks that want to easily include code in their posts without having to escape every > and <.
Google Analyticator Easily add your google analytics code to your blog.
WP-ContactForm Add an email form to your site. Great for getting quick feedback – not everyone wants to email you at your real address.
WP-Translate Adds links to Google Translate to make your blog available in other languages. Use <?php translate(n); ?> to add the sidebar.
Optimal Title – Make the title of your blog come after your post name (better for search engines and looks better too).

<title><?php if ( function_exists('optimal_title') )
{ optimal_title('|'); bloginfo('name'); }
else { bloginfo('name'); wp_title('|'); } ?>
<?php if ( is_home() ) { ?> |
<?php bloginfo('description'); } ?></title>

Google Sitemap Plugin Sitemaps are a list of all the pages on your site, which help Google and other search engines crawl your site. Use them.
Related Posts List articles related to the current one, good for helping your readers explore the site. Make sure to wrap the function call:

<?php if (function_exists('related_posts')) related_posts(); ?>

The Simple Flickr Plugin lets you add a nice-looking Flickr gallery to your site.