What is WordPress? Simple explanation for beginner’s

WordPress is a free open source content management system (CMS). It is written in PHP and databases MySql.

In earlier, when it is launched, it was working mainly for blogs.

It is a skillful website platform for different varieties of websites.

 From blogging to an e-commerce website, business website, personal websites, and many more. 

It is a Versatile CMS with the excellent solution for both small and large websites. 

The developer designed the websites with usability and flexibility in mind.You can download WordPress from the wordpress.org website.

For example, you can create the types of WordPress websites –

• Blog
• Personal Website
• Business Website
• Ecommerce Store
• Resume Website
• Portfolio Website
• Forum Website
• Event Website
• Membership Website
• Wedding Website
• E-learning Website

1. Blog – A blog is a particular type of website where you can write articles, tutorials, photos, reviews, food recipes, thoughts, etc. You have to write the content mostly on the blog website.
2. Personal Website – A unique website is a particular type of website where the website owner writes about itself. It may be about itself life or their hobbies.
3. Business Website – A business website is a particular type of website where a business owner writes about their businesses.
4. Ecommerce store or Ecommerce website – An ecommerce website allows you to sell your products and collect payment via online payment systems. You can download WOO-COMMERCE Plugin and Ecommerce WordPress Theme, and you can quickly develop your ecommerce website. You can also extend the functionalities of wordpress so you can have your ecommerce website.
5. Resume Website – Some people use the wordpress resume website because they want to display their caliber and technology with different looks with other attendees. It may be a one or two pages website, and so many good themes are there. 
6. Portfolio Website – It mainly uses by designers and photographers to show their portfolio to the clients. It is good that you don’t have to carry all the papers with you. So many portfolio websites are available.
7. Forum Website – A forum website can help users who are searching for particular subjects. Many people are using the forum to find the solutions, and they also answer other user questions. It is divided into the categories so it can be helpful for the users.
8. Event Website – If someone wants to host the event, then wordpress is easy for them to sell the tickets and get the payment online via online payment systems.
9. Membership Website – A membership website allows you to put the content or read the content after its login. WordPress also handles the membership website with some additional plugins.
10. Wedding Website – You can share the details of your wedding dates with a wedding website built on a wordpress. There are so many Themes related to the wedding website.
11. E-learning Website – You can develop an E-learning website via the LMS plugin. Student takes the classes online and also download the materials from the website. Teacher and Student also see the progress of completing the course and much more from an e-learning website.

Possibilities are endless when it comes to customization of WordPress websites. 

You can download the Themes and Plugins for adding the new design and the features and functionalities. 

You can also create the theme from scratch, but you have to know about PHP, CSS, JavaScript, and MySql.

What is Content Management System?

Content Management System (CMS) helps users create, manage, and modify their content without any technical knowledge.

Some Content Management System (CMS) –

1. WordPress
2. Joomla
3. Drupal
4. Magento (for e-commerce stores)
5. Squarespace
6. Wix
7. Typo3

Many more CMS are there, but that is not that much famous.

The most popular and famous CMS is WordPress.

Approx 100 million websites are already on WordPress.

It’s market shares are approx 62% as compared to other CMS.

History of WordPress –

The Father of WordPress is Matt Mullenweg and Mike Little. 

The First Version of WordPress came on 27th May 2003. 

In the first version, a new admin interface, new templates, and it is in XHTML1.1.

Version 1.2 came in May 2004, and this time it came with a plugin architecture. 

What is a Plugin? 

A plugin is a small software which you can use in your websites according to your requirement.

Version 1.5 came in February 2005, and this version has pages, comment moderation tools.

In this version, Matt announced Theme words.

What is the theme? 

 It is the collection of templates and stylesheets used to define the display of the website. You can modify the theme with your necessities.

Version 2.0 came in December 2005. In this version, they introduced a new admin dashboard. They used Javascript and DHTML for a better interface.

We also can use categories and tags in the post.

Akismet Anti Spam plugin was pre-installed in this version, and this is the first plugin released with WordPress installation.

One database plugin, wp-db-plugin, also came with this version, and it dropped in 2007.

In the theme system, the function.php released was the first time. 

WordPress co-founder Matt Mullenweg registered the trademark of WordPress and it’s logo on 1st March 2006.

Happy Cog Web Design Company joined the WordPress project in 2008, and the company designed WordPress’s new admin interface.

WordPress co-founder Matt Mullenweg transferred the WordPress trademark and logo to WordPress foundation in June 2010.

It was the historic decision, and it ensured that WordPress grow regularly.

Version 3.0 came on 17th June 2010. It was the significant step of WordPress as CMS.

Many new features were coming in the 3.0 version, like custom post types, better custom taxonomies, custom backgrounds, header, menus, the contextual help on admin screens, etc.

Version 3.0 came with Twenty Ten Theme, and it is the default theme.

In 2011 the post formats and admin bar features were introduced. 

In the year 2011, it is introduced an e-commerce platform. So the user can develop a powerful online store.

It came in 2011, the theme customizer, theme previews, and new media manager.

We can create image galleries with this version.

Version 3.7 came in 2013. It came with an automatic update, and your website will update automatically with minor changes.

Version 3.8 came in December 2013 with an MP6 admin interface.

This new interface was responsive and better user experience.

Version 3.9 came on 16th April 2014, and they focused on improving the visual editor.

We can do drag and drop images.

Audio playlist and more useful features were coming in this version.

Live widget previews were also coming in this version.

It next versions 4.0 and 4.1 came in 2014 and 4.2, 4.3, and 4.4 versions came in 2015.

These versions focused on improved localization, emoji support, theme customizer, REST API, etc.

The Automatic company acquired a WordPress e-commerce plugin WOO-COMMERCE. This e-commerce plugin is viral.

Versions 4.5, 4.6, and 4.7 came in 2016. It came with improvements and new features.

The next versions 4.8 and 4.9 came in 2017. These versions can add new default widgets to add audio, video, images, gallery, rich text, and HTML.

The next version 5.0 came in 2018 with a new brand editing experience and also introduced Gutenberg.

The next version 5.2.1 and onward versions all came with security, maintenance, and speed.

The latest version is 5.5. 

Note: Whenever a new version is released, do not update immediately. Wait for a month at least. Some times a new version does not support the plugins and the theme. So it will create a problem for your website or blog.

Is WordPress right for me?

• Simple – Develop a website in WordPress is easy. It allows you to publish and build the content quickly. 
• Open Source Software – It is open-source software licensed under GNU General Publish License (GPL). It means a single company or entity doesn’t own it.
• Free of cost – This software is free available and you can download free from WordPress.org. You need to pay for Domain and Web hosting to live for your website.
• Easy to use – You also can develop and manage a website efficiently if you are a beginner. 
• Flexibility – It allows us to create and manage many types of different type of websites. For example – Blog, E-commerce website, business, personal websites, and many more type of websites.
• Extendable with WordPress Plugins  – You can install many plugins as per your requirements. WordPress websites can extend with WordPress Plugins. We can you thousand of features through the plugins on our websites, such as WOO-COMMERCE, SEO, WEBSITE SECURITY, CONTACT FORM, and the SOCIAL MEDIA FEEDS, and many more.
• Customizable with WordPress themes – You can customize the Themes as per your requirements. The theme provides you designs and layouts. With a click of a button, you can customize your theme. Many page builders like Elementor, Divi, and many more so you can easily design the layout as per your requirements. 
• Do not need to know code – Not necessary to know the programming. It removes the requirement of needing to know how to code.
• Secuirty of Website – It has many plugins for the security of your website. Website secuirty continues to improve with a vigilant security team of core developers and users. No website platform is 100% secure. 
• Create a scratch Themes and Plugins – Anyone knows PHP, CSS, JAVASCRIPT, and MYSQL, then you can create your theme and plugin from scratch. 
• Premium Themes and Plugins – There are many Premium themes and plugins in the market. You can buy the premium themes and plugins, and then you have customized that minimal according to your requirements. They provide you with the support of how the theme and plugin works. 
• SEO – For SEO, many plugins are there like Rankmath, Yoast SEO, All in one SEO pack, SEOPress, Broken LinkChecker. You don’t need this manually. You can use one of these plugins to enter your keywords. 
• Speed – Slow downloading website creating the problem for you. If your website is slow, then no user stay on your website or spend their time on your website. You can check website speed on GTmetrix. 
• Mobile-friendly – Most of the themes are responsive and mobile-friendly, so you do not worry about this.
• Easy user interface – It is easy to use with no complicated settings.

Difference between WordPress.com and WordPress.org?

WordPress.com is free as well as paid services. It is effortless to use, but there is not more flexibility. You have to sacrifice flexibility in this platform. 

 WordPress.org is the free, open-source, and you can install WordPress on your web hosting and develop the website with your style. It is an often self-hosted WordPress.

You need to buy Domain and Web-hosting for your own. You are the owner of everything. 

You can use or select from a wide range of themes and whatever plugin you need for your website you can use.

WordPress.org is always the best option if you want to earn money from your website, and it is self-hosted.

Who uses WordPress websites?

Many big companies have their websites on WordPress –

1. Global News

Global News is a news portal and current affairs. It is the division of Global Television Network in Canada. 

Website – https://globalnews.ca/

2. The White House

Website – https://www.whitehouse.gov/

3. Capgemini

Website – https://www.capgemini.com/

4. Rolling Stone

Website – https://www.rollingstone.com/

5. Hodge Bank

Website – https://hodgebank.co.uk/

Conclusion – We can develop any website using WordPress as per your requirements. Easy to use, flexible, high performance, mobile-friendly, SEO, and many features in WordPress. You can create and manage the website without knowing the coding with the help of themes and plugins.