What is WordPress and how does it work?

WordPress is a Content Management System (CMS). This literally means: a system for managing your content, such as blog posts, pages, images, and so on.

What is WordPress? WordPress is a Content Management System (CMS). This literally means: a system for managing your content, such as blog posts, pages, images, and so on. With over 6 million users worldwide, WordPress is one of the most popular content management systems. In 2021, their market share is 30%.

What is WordPress?

WordPress is a CMS, which is nothing more than a platform for publishing and managing blogs and websites. It was written in PHP and used MySQL databases, and, as it is open-source, it is maintained by the community and constantly updated and improved. It is pretty versatile, supporting the creation and administration of a simple personal blog to more complex sites, such as digital stores.

It is an open-source content management system released under the GPLv2 license, which means that the WordPress software can be used or changed by anybody for free. 

A Content Management System (CMS) is a technology that allows critical management components of your website, such as content, without knowing how to code. As a result, WordPress makes it easy for anybody, even non-programmers, to develop a website.

WordPress was released in 2003 by two developers, Matt Mullenweg and Mike Little, based on an old platform called bs/catalogue. Unlike other CMS, WordPress was founded for bloggers initially and evolved to corporate or commercial websites.

How does WordPress work?

WordPress hosts around 19 million websites worldwide. And it has a market share of around 60%. Substantial numbers that should draw you into the world of WordPress. Given these statistics. It wouldn’t be a surprise if website owners. Designers or developers looking to understand how WordPress works and what it is. If you need a little more argument, here are some quick facts about it:

• It has a great community
• It has an easy setup and installation process
• It has a friendly interface
• It has a wide selection of themes, plugins and widgets

With all these advantages of WordPress, it’s easy to see why it can be a go-to platform for advanced web developers and budding entrepreneurs. It becomes easy enough to configure, so new ones won’t have much to think about. However, it becomes pretty diverse to receive several different themes. Plugins and widgets, which a developer can play with.

Given the importance of WordPress for anyone interested, it’s just a matter of understanding how WordPress works to learn how best to maximize it to achieve your goal.

To begin creating your WordPress website, you should first select a theme. Every WordPress site comes with a basic theme. A theme determines how your website looks, and each theme has its unique design, layout, and features. You can change your theme at any time without losing your content because it is configurable.

Working with an editor to create pages or articles allows you to publish material whilst editing. Blocks, including headings, paragraphs, buttons, and images, are used in the basic editor. This helps you to create your page while maintaining a well-organized layout. You can simply switch to a code editor if necessary.

WordPress Elements

1. Installation and update

WordPress is known for its ease of installation; in most cases, it takes less than five minutes to complete! If you already use WordPress, you should know that updates are straightforward; the latest versions of WordPress have an auto-update feature now. You update everything from the dashboard.

2. Native resources

WordPress comes with great features to make your publishing experience easy, enjoyable and possible. It’s easy to use, has a theme system, API for creating plugins, posts by email and web standards are just a few features of WordPress, but there’s more! And remember: WordPress is released under the GPL license.

3. Time to customize

After you’ve found the perfect theme, click the Customize link in the Appearance menu to make it your own. The Customize link will take you – in most cases – to the theme customizer, where you can easily tweak your theme whilst viewing a live preview of your website. Additional configuration panels for extra customization options will be added to advanced WordPress themes.

After you activate the WordPress theme customizer, you’ll see all of your modification choices on the left side of your screen, as well as a live preview of your website on the right. Regardless of the theme you’re using for your website, the WordPress theme customizer comes with a set of basic panels. You must click on the individual panels to make changes. By clicking on any of the blue pencil symbols on the right side of your screen, you may view the settings for a single item.

4. Installing WordPress Plugins

WordPress Plugins are similar to apps for your phone. They allow you to customize and add functionality to your WordPress site. Think of contact forms, photo galleries, and other such features. You can install plugins by navigating to the Plugins page in your WordPress dashboard. There are over 58,000 free WordPress plugins available at the moment. There are also paid (premium) plugins from third-party websites and developers, like Woosa. 

5. Growing community

The WordPress community is present in different places. By getting involved, you can meet more people who work with WordPress, participate in events and ask questions. See the work fronts to find out how to get started.

The difference between WordPress.org vs. WordPress.com

The distinction between WordPress.org and WordPress.com lies in who hosts your website. 

Prefer to use your own hosting provider? In that case you want to use WordPress.org. You must also install WordPress manually (or via your hosting provider), purchase a domain name and maintain your server. Compared to WordPress.com, it’s a much more interactive though more flexible experience.

WordPress.com provides hosting services for your website. You won’t have to download any software or manage a server, either. Your website’s URL will be www.mywebsite.wordpress.com if you use WordPress.com. You can upgrade your WordPress.com account and purchase a custom domain from a third-party vendor as well (meaning your URL will look like this: www.mywebsite.com).

Which one to choose: WordPress.org or WordPress.com?

You may be considering whether WordPress.org or WordPress.com is a better fit for your needs. Let’s go through the benefits and drawbacks of both alternatives in greater detail so you can make an informed decision.

WordPress.org

WordPress.org is the way to go if you want total control over the modification and maintenance of your website. Managing a WordPress.org website, on the other hand, requires significantly more effort. You must acquire and set up your own domain name, as well as upload and install plugins and a theme, change your website’s code, and maintain its security. WordPress.org is free to use, but you must pay for all other aspects of running a website.

WordPress.com

WordPress.com is the way to go if you want an all-in-one solution that handles the majority of the work for you. You won’t have to bother about managing your server, paying for hosting, or registering a domain name again. A WordPress.com plan also includes a lot of customization tools to help you make your website seem exactly how you want it to. There is a free and a premium edition of WordPress.com. You won’t be able to upload any custom themes or plugins if you continue with the free edition, and you’ll have a WordPress subdomain. You may, however, pay for premium upgrades and other plans that offer you even more power and control, as well as purchase a custom domain from a third-party website.

We are developers, so nevertheless we like flexibility and total control. Therefore I would never choose WordPress.com but always WordPress.org.

WordPress FAQs

What is WordPress used for?

This Content Management System (CMS) is a tool for managing websites. Its significant differential is the ease of use of advanced features.

WordPress is simple to get around. Anyone can quickly learn how to use it.

Among other things, including social networks and forums, WordPress is for:

Create websites: By working on digital marketing strategies and improving search engine optimization (SEO), your website also appears for searches related to products and services in your area.

Create online stores: Even those who have never created a website can build their virtual store with WordPress, thanks to website builders and WooCommerce that don’t need technical knowledge.

Create a blog: Blogs are no longer a hobby. 

All this with WordPress!

Is WordPress easy to use?

WordPress is the most powerful content management system (CMS) ever made. People love WordPress because it is easy to use. However, as you dig deeper, you find that many things can still be learned about WordPress.

Conclusion

With WordPress, the options for creating a full-featured website are huge, and an advanced user can make stunning websites or webshops. Of course, professionals understand that renting a server is necessary, as well as operating the domain as you would with any other CMS.

End users who want a simple and practical platform will find WordPress a perfect tool to start their own business, and who knows, expand a regular (blog) website to a webshop also.