Want to own a website or a blog? But don’t know how to make one and the tools needed.
The one stop destination is WordPress. What is wordpress? In the language of a layman, it is a software that creates a website/ blog free of cost. To be more technical, WordPress is an open source content management system, founded in 2003, developed by WordPress foundation, available free of cost to everyone (minimal annual hosting charges).
Quick fact: More than 30% of websites running are powered by WordPress.
WordPress ecosystem offers a number of elements (54,000+ plugins and hundreds of free themes) makes it popular among the users. Let’s define some of its key elements in detail. These elements create a personalised website for all types of users ( from an individual blogger to tech giants like Microsoft).
- Posts
First, in the row is the posts section. Here, you manage all your posts. Also, the option of add new posts, delete, categorize, and tag comes to further customize the post.
For a writer this is the most important section of all, the contents/ posts describe a writer. In fact, any business, start-ups stands on the quality of post created. This section is where you will spend 40% of your time whenever you login.
- Media
Virtual images are what the brain reads and remembers. The media section enables the users to add images,and upload other files.You simply have to select an image or file and upload it in the media library.
Also, you can insert any image in your posts using the drop down option or simply using Add new media. Here, a media library is created for further use.
- Pages
The pages section is not the same as the posts section,though it might look similar. In here, you get to create and edit your homepage (the welcome page), about page, services, and contacts. These are permanent in the sense that it is not changed often unlike our posts.
Once created it usually stays for a long time unless changed for a specific reason.
- Themes
How should your website look? This you can decide with thousands of themes to suit your requirement. Basically, it is the skin of your website that gives a new texture/ appearance and improves the visual representation of your website.
In technical terms, it is a cluster of template files, image files and important code files(.php), which work together to modify your website without changing the software.
The themes in WordPress can be availed from the WordPress free repository. For more options paid themes can be activated too.
- Plugins
What makes WordPress a popular destination for website development ? One of the answers is the thousands of plugins it offers to the users.
Now, what exactly are the plugins?
In simple words, plugins are the PHP scripts( codes) that extend the sphere of the website. Meaning, each plugin that you download either adds to the existing features of WordPress or it adds a new feature to it.
Plugins are available in the WordPress Plugins Directory. You get to add a plugin on the favourite list as well delete one if not needed. Some of the popular plugins amongst many are Yoast SEO, Jetpack, Akismet Anti-spam, Wordfence Security.
- Comments
It is something we all know. Now, enabling comments on your site is a choice of the site owner. Explicitly, site users can edit or delete a comment in a WordPress site.
- Users
A site might have one or more users. The profiles of multiple users can be managed here. You can add, edit or delete a profile, posts of other users of the site you have allowed to access.Here, the number of accessed site users are listed, their posts everything appears.
With these powerful elements, WordPress gives the liberty to the users to customize their website.Thus, not only businesses, blogs but it has become the hub of e-commerce sites as well.
The user-friendly elements in WordPress make it popular among all age groups, all business types, and therefore, a global trend in website development. They say: WordPress never sleeps. It’s an evolving and ever-growing Content creation and management system.