I’lll comment on this briefly.

This involves backing up the database and importing it into the live database server (you can use phpmyadmin for that). Next you have to copy all your web files including the wordpress install and then copy them to your new server.

However, that is just part of the story as the WordPress database will not likely have the correct info for your real world domain name so your site may not work properly at first. So before doing anything, try these steps:

1. Before copying the wordpress install and all files to your server, first duplicate the entire wordpress install and set it aside for a moment – you will need it when you want to do further local development. Also, go into phpmyadmin and export/backup the wordpress database. Import it back into a new database in phpmyadmin locally for future local development.

2. Go into your live local WordPress wp-admin and change the WordPress URL to your real domain name etc. – as soon as you change it, WordPress will no longer work on your local machine. (which is OK, since you made a duplicate as mentioned above, right?) Copy that non-working wordpress install to your new online server.

3. You may need to tweek wp-config for your server’s database credentials, etc. online. For more local development, go into the duplicate of your local WordPress install ad tweak wp-config to use the backup of the wordpress database that you put in a new database (per #1 above). Make your local duplicate your new live wordpress for local development.

4. Next, export/backup the new-non-working wordpress local database using phpmyadmin. (it does not work because it now has your real online URL embedded but you are working locally!)

5. Next, open that local database backup with a text editor. You can use textview or textmate or whatever you like. Then you need to globally search and replace all instances of your local URL with the real online URL. You will notice that image URLs, for example, will be wrong otherwise although other URLs will be correct.

6. Next, import that revised database into your new server.

Launch WordPress on the new server.

After doing this a few times, you will become a pro – believe me!

More tips here straight form the horse’s mouth:
http://codex.wordpress.org/Moving_WordPress

Keep in mind that the wordpress database stores your URL (domain name) and also file location for all images, etc. So “localhost…” will not be correct for your live site online – that needs to be changed to “yourdomain…” That is why it is important to search are replace localhost with your domain using a text editor before importing the database into your live site.

It is also important to make sure that Apache that comes with the Mac is not running and wrestling with the Apache launched my MAMP. That is why I suggest turning off web sharing and then setting MAMP to use port 80 for Apache. That way, there can be no confusion as to which Apache is active, etc. during development.

These are just guidelines. There are many ways to work with MAMP.

I followed this tutorial to set up a localhost with MAMP but I’m having trouble editing the .php file for WordPress (I’m trying to create a theme). I’ve tried both Coda and Dreamweaver CS4 to do this but the files are all locked and displays the files as “read-only.”

I’m guessing it’s a problem with my MAMP. I believe I granted all access to myself as it is indicated in the “Priveleges”

Any tips? I’ve been running in circles searching for this on the web. =/

Best regards!