What Is WordPress?

WordPress is a popular content management system (CMS) that allows users to build and manage websites without needing to code. It provides a user-friendly interface for creating pages, blog posts, and other content, using a range of pre-designed themes. WordPress is highly flexible, meaning you can create anything from a personal blog to a complex business website or an online store.

WordPress operates on a flexible architecture, which enables users to extend its functionality through plugins.

How WordPress Work

  • Themes: These are pre-designed templates that control the appearance of your website. You can choose from thousands of free and premium themes to suit your needs.
  • Plugins: Plugins are additional tools or features you can install to extend the functionality of your site, such as adding contact forms, SEO tools, or eCommerce capabilities.
  • Dashboard: The WordPress dashboard is the control center where you create and edit content, install themes or plugins, and manage all aspects of your site.
  • Pages and Posts: WordPress allows you to create static pages (like “About Us” or “Contact”) and dynamic blog posts. These are easy to manage and update via the dashboard.
  • Customizing: While WordPress is user-friendly, those with coding knowledge can further customize it by editing HTML, CSS, or PHP files directly within the platform.

Importance Of Understanding WordPress

Understanding WordPress is essential because it powers over 40% of all websites on the internet, making it one of the most widely used platforms for website creation. Knowing how to use WordPress equips you with a versatile skill, as it can be used for blogs, portfolios, business sites, and even full-fledged online stores.

Even if you’re using themes and plugins, understanding how WordPress operates allows you to better manage your site, troubleshoot common issues, and make customizations. It gives you a great balance of flexibility and ease, making it perfect for beginners and experienced developers alike.

Why We Choose WordPress

We use WordPress because it significantly speeds up the process of building websites while still allowing for high levels of customization. With the right combination of plugins, we can create professional and functional sites without reinventing the wheel. It also offers scalability, meaning I can start with a basic site and add features as the client’s needs grow.

WordPress also has an active community and a vast marketplace of themes and plugins, which means we don’t have to develop everything from scratch. This saves time, and we can still focus on creating unique, custom elements that add value to the website while relying on WordPress’ core features to handle most of the heavy lifting.

As a CMS, it allows us to transfer management of the website over to the client once the project is completed. Unlike with plain HTML, WordPress makes it easier for customer to update their own website.

Fresh WordPress Installation

WordPress Default Theme

Frequently Asked Questions

Yes, WordPress itself is open-source and free to use. However, you will need to pay for web hosting and a domain name if you want to set up a self-hosted WordPress site. Additionally, some premium themes and plugins may require a purchase.

Most web hosting providers offer one-click installation for WordPress. After purchasing a hosting plan, you can find an option in your hosting dashboard to install WordPress easily. There are many options, however we will focus on the easiest and best option which is the mentioned above.
Absolutely! WordPress offers a wide variety of themes that control the visual design of your site. In our tutorials and website in general, we will focus on using a visual builder instead of themes.

The WordPress community is very active and supportive. You can find help through forums, online tutorials, and documentation on the official WordPress website. There are also many blogs, YouTube channels, and courses dedicated to WordPress tutorials for beginners.

Tools & Resources

These are most of the tools and resources we continuously use to develop WordPress websites. For a comprehensive list, visit our resources and tools pages.

Domain Names

Buy all TLDs and save when you buy in bulk. Easy to manage DNS and overall settings.

Web Server

You will need a server for publishing your HTML website, and for working on remote files.

Avada Builder

An amazing tool for developing custom WordPress websites. This is a better alternative to themes.

softaculous

Wordpress Manager

This tool makes WordPress management a breeze. Comes included with your hosting account.

Google Chrome

There are many free browsers, but we love Google Chrome and its many developer tools.

WinSCP

FTP Client

This may be one of our most used tools. It allows us to connect remotely and update files.