A short checklist to help you get ready for DSW. You do not need to know how to design or code a website. If a hosting company or someone else manages WordPress for you, you can share this checklist with them.
1. Have a domain and WordPress hosting
Your domain name is your website address, such as yourschool.co.uk. Hosting is the service that stores and runs your website. DSW supplies the website system and its included design; your domain, hosting and business email are separate.
You need a WordPress installation that allows you to upload plugins and themes. Some restricted website-builder plans do not allow this. Before buying hosting, ask the provider: “Can I upload a WordPress plugin ZIP and install its matching theme, and can you help me install WordPress?”
Information to give your hosting provider
For DSW 0.19.1, the released package declares WordPress 6.9 or later and PHP 8.2 or later. Its release manifest lists WordPress through 7.1 and PHP through 8.5. These are release-specific declarations, not a guarantee for every combination of hosting, plugins or future versions.
Your WordPress administrator must be able to upload the Core ZIP, install plugins and themes, and allow WordPress to write the necessary files. Your host should provide HTTPS, backups and a working WordPress email-sending arrangement if you want pupil enquiries. PHP is software on the server; your host manages it. You do not need to change it yourself.
Share this section with your provider before buying hosting. DSW 0.19.1 release notes.
2. Check that you can sign in as an administrator
Keep the sign-in address and administrator access for your own WordPress website. Ask your host or website provider for these if you do not have them.
Your DSW customer account is different: it manages your subscription, billing and downloads. It does not sign you into your driving-school website. Never send either account’s password by email or through a help form.
3. Decide whether this is a new or existing website
New website: ask your host to get WordPress ready, explain backups and tell you when the website is publicly accessible.
Existing live website: do not install and apply a new design without preparation. Follow Using DSW on an existing website, keep a full backup and work on a separate protected test copy first. A test copy lets you check changes without replacing the website pupils currently use.
Discouraging search engines is not password protection. DSW setup can create published pages; do not assume the unfinished website is private.
4. Gather the information pupils will need
- Your driving-school name, main teaching area and a short introduction.
- The lessons you offer, such as manual or automatic, and your current prices.
- Your teaching areas and any restrictions on where you collect pupils.
- The telephone, email and other contact choices you want visitors to use.
- A brief introduction to you and your teaching car.
- Answers to common pupil questions. Testimonials and pupil passes can be added later.
Start with clear, accurate information. You can return to the DSW screens to change it; you do not need to perfect every sentence before starting.
5. Prepare a few good photographs
Useful choices include your logo, a friendly instructor photograph and a clear photograph of your teaching car. Keep the original files somewhere safe. Only use photographs you own or have permission to use. Obtain appropriate permission before publishing pupil photographs or testimonials.
Avoid photographs that reveal private documents, home addresses or other information you do not intend to publish. Additional images are optional—you can build the essential website first.
6. Plan contact, privacy and backups
Decide where enquiries should arrive. If you use an enquiry form, it needs its own setup and delivery test: a visible form does not prove that email reaches you. Your website will also need privacy information that describes what your business actually does.
Ask your host how to back up both WordPress files and the database, and how to restore them. A page export alone is not a complete backup.
Ready to begin?
After purchasing DSW, open your DSW service in your customer account and download the Core ZIP. Keep it zipped. The matching website design is included, not a second purchase.
Next: Install DSW for the first time
Still deciding? See prices and what is included. For help with DSW, contact us without sending passwords or private pupil information.