WordPress is Open Source Software. It is used for web publishing. This system enables users to create the website without knowledge of coding or other computer languages. The user can create his WordPress website by following simple step by step instructions.
- Posts
Posts are pieces of the content entered on the website. It appears in reverse chronological order.
Posts have different components as under:
Title/Headline Box- It is the box to enter the title or headline of the post. While entering the title, comma, hyphens, apostrophes, and other symbols can be used.
Permalink- It means a permanent link. Every post, pages, categories on the WordPress website have permanent URLs. Visitors on the website always land on the same page or blog with that URL.
Body Box- It is the area of writing information that you want to present on the website.
Publish Box- It controls the status of posts. Draft post means the post is yet to be published. Published post means the post is visible by the visitors on the WordPress website.
Format Box– It is used to choose the format of the post.
Categories Box- Usually, the posts have six to seven different categories. The category box displays the category of the post.
Tags Box- It helps visitors to find similar posts on the WordPress website.
2. Pages
Pages are the rigid content of the website. It doesn’t change with time or does not appear in the chronological order. Pages consist of the information that sounds pertinent irrespective of time.
Pages are created with the help of PHP code, the template file, etc.
The functionality of the pages can be improved with the plugins.
For eg. Pages like Contact, About, Copyright, Disclaimer, etc.
3. Media
Media is the menu in the WordPress admin area. The user can manage to upload all kinds of media files (images, videos, audios, documents, etc.)
4. Themes
The themes decides the design and appearance of the website. It is created with template files, style sheets, image file (.jpg, .png), and required code files (.PHP), etc.
WordPress provides some default themes. Themes can be customized in limitless ways, depends upon a choice and need of the user.
Default Themes- WordPress has three themes in default. To switch between the themes, follow these steps as under,
Administration screen> Appearance> Themes.
Theme Directory- It consists of around 2900 reviewed and tested themes. The user can find an appropriate theme by advance search with filters. It facilitates to choose a theme as per subject, need, and choice of the user.
Themes added to a theme directory are appearing in the Administration screen.
The theme can be previewed by clicking on the “Preview” button.
The process to add a new theme- The user can download any theme from the theme directory with the following steps-
Administration Screen> Appearance> Themes> Select Add New > Use search option > Click Preview or install button.
To install a downloaded theme, click on the “Upload Theme” button at top of a page to upload a copy of the theme.
If the theme is downloaded but not activated, the “Live Preview” option is accessible. It allows the user to preview the content of the WordPress website.
5. Plugins
The plugins consist of a PHP script. It improves the user interface of the WordPress website. The plugin can boost the features of the website. Completely new features can be added to the WordPress website with plugins.
Usually, volunteers develop plugins that are available for free to users.
Plugins are included in the Plugins Directory. There are some popular plugins such as,
- Security
- Spam control
- SEO
It is given for the sake of the sample. There are around thousands of plugins included in the directory.
Search and installation of plugins- The plugin directory provides a search option to find desirable plugins. Plugins indexed in the directory are available as a zip file to download. The user needs to upload that zip file to the WordPress website.
Plugins can also download from admin screen with steps-
Plugins> Add New.
There are three different ways of installing plugins-
- Automatic installation of plugins
- Uploading plugins through the WordPress admin area.
- Manual installation of plugins.
Uninstallation of Plugins- Plugins are uninstalled through an admin screen. To uninstall a plugin, click on the “Deactivate” link and then “Delete” link of the plugin.
6. Comments
It helps in the mutual discussion of visitors along with the owner of the website. When the user activates the comment feature on the WordPress website, WordPress enters several text boxes below the content.
Visitors can leave their comments in that text box. On approval of the comments entered by the user, it appears beneath the content.
It is divided into four categories as pending, approved, spam, and trash. The Comment can be disabled for any new post or blog.
Discussion Setting- To reduce spam, users can make discussion settings to the comments of the WordPress website.
7. Users
In WordPress, users of the website can be categorized into various roles.
For eg. Author, Editor, Contributor, Developer, etc.
WordPress has prescribed user roles. User roles can be modified, added, or removed according to the need of the website. Each of the roles has individual capabilities. The user has to work within the parlance of their capabilities. The user role feature helps to manage the multi-user WordPress website.
Bottom Line
Earlier, web designing or launching websites was so difficult. It was a part of the monopoly of software engineers. Now, a layman without any experience of coding can create his WordPress website.