Great guide, I hope a separate ESP8266 forum subject will be opened soon; ESP8266 questions arise everywhere on this forum, no structure for the moment.
Your guide should be pinned somewhere, very useful!!
Nrajc5295:
I want to connect ESP8266 wifi module with Arduino
Unless you have a specific need for a separate Arduino, the ESP01
alone is a good place to start, there are no connections to make as it runs
Arduino code directly. It has only 4 digital I/O and no analogues but
a lot can be achieved with that. The ESP01 is ridiculously cheap, very
simple to use & utterly reliable as a long-term Wifi client.