What is wordpress? I get this question a lot, mainly from people who are new to blogging and are curious how to get started or others that need a designer and don’t know where to start and need help. In today’s post I thought I would go over some of the basics of word pres, so if you find this post and are curious about the subject of word press and what themes are read on!
To start at the beginning, most people associate word press with blogging, but it can be so much more than just a blog, it is a very extensive platform that any designer or developer can build from. You do not have to use word press to build a blog, with it’s powerful content management system, CMS, you can use wordpress to construct a traditional website as well.I am sure you are all now wondering, “what is a content management system”, also known as CMS. Well, CMS is a computer programthat allows publishing, editing and modifying content as well as maintenance from a central interface, which is exactly what you do with word press. Some people don’t want a blog or a site where you have to regularly update the content, like you would with a traditional blog, they want static web pages, like what you would get on a traditional website. Both a blog and a regular website are both definately possible with word press, that’s why it is becoming so widely popular, it’s good, clean, code that you can build from.
When using word press there are two different ways you can go, if you are a newbie, listen up. There are wordpress sites/blogs that are free, by signing up at wordpress.com you can be up and running in minutes. There are also wordpress blogs/sites that are self hosted. What’s the difference right? I get that question all the time, when you sign up for a word press.com account you are getting a basic word press blog, not a lot of bells and whistels, but will get you started.
Another question I get ALL the time is someone emailing me a link to another person’s blog/site and asking me how they can get their site to look like that and can I design it for them, for a designer that is a loaded question, ha. The majority of the word press sites/blogs that you see out there are self-hosted. Meaning the owner has purchased a domain name, like me, I own www.delightfuldesignideas.com and have the word press files uploaded onto my server, I am not relying on word press to host my set, therefore I have full control over the code and what my site looks like.
Most people are more interested in the theme that is used along with wordpress more so than the technical HTML aspect of word press, the theme is essentially the dress up for the website. An easy way to understand this is to think of the core word press files as the skeletal part of the structure and the theme is the stylish clothing on top. So the theme is what controls the look and the feel of your blog or website. Your theme is then made up of a bunch of PHP files that render HTML in your browser and the entire thing is controlled by CSS, Cascading style sheet.
So if you are wanting to start blogging and start small, then wordpress.com is the way to go, if you want a stylish blog/site that you can control the look and feel of, then a self-hosted wordpress blog is the way to go! I hope this was helpful and you have a better understanding of what wordpress is, and how it works.
In January we will be offering free video wordpress tutorials on the topics of: understanding the areas of a wordpress site, how to change your wordpress header, how to change your wordpress background, etc………..
This is a really intlelginet way to answer the question.