What is WordPress?

Are you considering to create a proper website for the first time?

Fed up with cluttered social networking “pages” or limited website builders? You want the real thing now?

Then you will ask yourself what this WordPress is and how it works behind the scenes. This article is for you!

You’ve got the words. Become the press!

WordPress empowers people to publish online. More specifically WordPress is a tool for creating websites. It allows you to write articles as if you write an email or an office document but instead of hitting “send” or “save” you hit “publish”. Then it appears online. WordPress publishes it without forcing you to send a file to a server manually.

What is WordPress?

WordPress is an open-source content management system (CMS) that is used to create and manage websites. It is a highly popular platform that powers over 40% of all websites on the internet. But what is WordPress, exactly? At its core, WordPress is a software application that allows users to create and manage their own websites without needing to know how to code. It is highly customizable, and users can choose from a vast library of themes and plugins to create a website that fits their specific needs.

WordPress was first released in 2003 as a simple blogging platform. Since then, it has evolved to become a full-fledged CMS that can be used to create any type of website, from personal blogs to e-commerce sites to corporate websites. WordPress is free to use, and because it is open-source, developers from around the world are constantly working to improve it and add new features.

One of the great things about WordPress is its ease of use. Even if you have no experience with web design or development, you can create a professional-looking website in just a few hours. The platform is intuitive and user-friendly, and there are countless resources available online to help you get started.

In addition to its user-friendliness, WordPress is also highly customizable. With thousands of themes and plugins available, you can create a website that is tailored to your specific needs. Whether you want to add a simple contact form to your site or build a complex e-commerce store, there is a plugin or theme out there that can help you achieve your goals.

In short you write or take photos and WordPress manages and publishes the outcome.

Now the whole world can potentially access your recipe, rant or poem. They just need to know your website address. Wait, isn’t Facebook online publishing as well? I’m already using it!

Unlike Facebook or Instagram WordPress publishes your text or images on your own site and Web space. That’s why it’s called “self-hosted WordPress”.

You own and control your content yourself by renting space from a web hosting company (hard-core geeks sometimes have a server in their basement but mere mortals don’t).

Of course Facebook and Instagram owner Mark Zuckerberg rather prefers to get your content and make money off it. He’s one of the richest men now along with the Amazon and Google billionaires! You can make money writing or making photos too. Why give it away?

WordPress provides a home base for your content

How does WordPress work? WordPress is based on a programming (or scripting) language called PHP. It’s also very popular and open source just like WordPress itself.

Open Source means that anybody can see the code and fix it. That’s why open source software is far less error prone than proprietary one that is owned by a single company. Someone will always spot an issue, report or repair it.

PHP communicates with the server your WordPress is installed on. Instead of saving your content on your computer locally WordPress sends it to the server. WordPress lets you save and/or publish it there.

Unlike on Microsoft Word you do not just save your document as a file but it gets saved to a database WordPress uses. Early CMS software also used text files but databases are much more versatile.

A database is basically like a closet with many compartments. WordPress looks them up and creates an online document where each item is matching the others. The hat matches the dress and the shoes.

For example a database can save

• the headline
• the post address
• the body text

separately.

Without a data base you would create a new file each time you’d change the post address. With a database you just edit the address independently of the rest.

When using WordPress, you also do not have to code or design your website yourself. HTML is the code that underlies every website.

WordPress automatically creates HTML code behind the scenes. It uses so called themes – prefabricated designs – and the content from the database to create the HTML for you.

World-famous designers work for you for free

Instead of designing yourself, you have world-famous designers create the so called themes you can use. Themes are templates or ready-made designs.

You can tweak them a bit if you want – add an image or change the name of the blog but the hard work is already done.

Are you interested in web development or even programming? Of course once you learn

• HTML
• CSS
• JavaScript

or even PHP – the underlying technologies powering WordPress and most other websites you can create your own design and a unique theme nobody else uses.

Coding is only for power users. Even web developers rather tend to use existing themes and plugins. There is no need to reinvent the wheel!

Add features for every need like a geek

For the most common needs, there are many plugins already. The same applies to themes. There are themes for

• lawyers
• florists
• photographers

– many of them. The more common a problem or trade is the more solutions or designs there are.

WordPress has a huge community of people who contribute to the software itself or provide plugins and themes.

WordPress is not owned and controlled by a single person or company. Unlike on Facebook or Twitter, you own your content and are responsible for it yourself.

Likewise, you can add features and site elements to your WordPress website based on your own needs.

• Do you want to set up an online store? You can add Woocommerce.

• Do you want to add a contact form? You have plenty of options.

• Do you want to manage your comments with a third-party tool? You can use Disqus. We do here on the blog!

• You want to measure the number of people who visit your site? You can add Google Analytics to it using a plugin.

These little tools solve most problems without having to touch the underlying code. You just literally “plug in” those tools to your WordPress. Once you learn web development, you also can add themes and plugins yourself! You don’t have to, though.

WordPress is a powerful and versatile platform that can be used to create any type of website. Its ease of use, customization options, and vast library of themes and plugins have made it a favorite among bloggers, businesses, and developers alike. Whether you are looking to create a simple personal blog or a complex e-commerce site, WordPress is an excellent choice.

WordPress works without coding skills, and you can even add advanced functionality without being a geek either! That makes WP perhaps the most powerful online publishing tool out there.

We simplified the publishing process with WordPress even more. When using EasyWP you do not need to take care of all the geeky tasks anymore. Installation and backups for instance are no hassle by now.