Any administrator of a WordPress-based site has the option to work “live” and experiment with their changes immediately. However, the risk can be very high, causing problems with content integrity. Instant WordPress aims to minimize that risk by offering a local copy of WordPress without the need to set up servers or activate complex configurations.
If you want to have your own WordPress site the truth is that there are several alternatives. The simplest ones depend on providers like GoDaddy, which for a few dollars a year handle all the “dirty work”, configuring and updating the software. Other users prefer to set up their own servers and optimize even the smallest detail of the code.
Regardless of your current situation, the truth is that no one recommends making very deep changes on the live site. Themes and plugins can become double-edged swords, working correctly one day and causing serious compatibility issues in the next update.
A local development environment for WordPress
To avoid bitter experiences, every administrator and/or developer needs a debugging environment, and that is exactly what Instant WordPress aims to offer. In essence, it turns any computer into a WordPress development server with complete PHP, MySQL and Apache installations, sample pages and images.
Its operation does not depend on any external component, and it doesn't even have a formal installation, so you can load Instant WordPress onto a USB drive or external hard drive and take that environment with you. Its developer mentions several times that Instant WordPress is not appropriate for live sites (I assume for security reasons), and that it should only be used with debugging, development and evaluation in mind.
In short, anyone who is tired of struggling with FTP uploads, remote settings, chaotic plugins and a long etcetera should download a copy of Instant WordPress. Its latest version is based on WordPress 4.7.1, Apache/2.4.23 (Unix), PHP 7.0.14 and MySQL – 10.1.20-MariaDB MariaDB Server. The download is 281 megabytes, and if necessary, the official site also maintains links to previous versions. Compatible with Windows and macOS.
