As a new WordPress user, there can be a lot of things that will confuse you at the start. If you are about to create a new website using WordPress, you need to first understand the platform. If you are not aware of the platform and its working, then it will become difficult to handle a lot of operations. You should have complete knowledge of WordPress and that’s why we are sharing this complete guide to WordPress basics.
More than 40% of the websites are using WordPress on the internet. If you are thinking you are selecting the wrong CMS, then think again. With the help of WordPress, it will become a lot easier for you to manage your business or a blog.
At first WordPress started as a blogging network. However, after a certain period of time, it has become one of the best CMS for creating business sites. Let’s have a look at how you can improve your WordPress knowledge with guide to WordPress basics.
What is WordPress
WordPress is a Content Management System that helps you manage your website content with a powerful backend dashboard. It’s an open source & free CMS and is written in PHP and communicates with multiple programming languages.
With WordPress, creating a website is extremely easy and you can build a website in a few hours courtesy of plugin and template system offered by WordPress.
What is WordPress used for
WordPress is used for creating websites. With WordPress, you can create a blog, a service-based business site, an eCommerce site or a portfolio site. If you are looking for a CMS that can help you build a website within a few hours, then WordPress has all the features to do it.
How to download WordPress
WordPress is an open source platform and it is free to use. You can easily download it by visiting WordPress.org. All you have to do is to visit the site and download the zip files for WordPress.
After that, you will have to upload these files to your server and install the CMS to start building your WordPress site. It helps you build a website within a couple of hours.
What is WordPress Theme
A WordPress theme is written in PHP and communicate with different programming languages and work as a tool to alter the appearance of a website. WordPress themes enhance feature availability and usability along with specific design options.
It includes multiple scripts for layouts, typography, design elements, and color. WordPress themes are created by WordPress developers and there are thousands of themes available out there and you can select one of them that match your requirements.
What is WordPress Plugin
WordPress plugins are also written in PHP programming language that helps you improve functionality of your WordPress site. You can use these plugins to your self-hosted WordPress site to add any functionality to your website.
What is tagline in WordPress
A tagline in WordPress is a short description of your website. It tells people and search engine what the website is about. It sends a short message that let people understand the content available on your website. You can set the tagline in WordPress by visiting WordPress Dashboard > Settings > General.
What is a widget in WordPress
WordPress widgets are used to add content to the sidebars of your website. You can insert these blocks of content to the footer, sidebars, and in any area of your website. You can create and manage WordPress widgets by navigating to WordPress Dashboard > Appearance > Widgets.
What are Menus in WordPress
Menus in WordPress are complete navigational structure of your website. It tells users to navigate when they are visiting your website. Menus can be created by using WordPress pages, posts, categories, and custom links. You can create and remove WordPress menus by visiting Dashboard > Appearance > Menus.
What is a WordPress Post?
WordPress posts are the blog articles that you will publish on your website. It helps you create content and by default, WordPress offers an excellent Gutenberg editor to manage your content.
You can use different content blogs to create a complete WordPress post. These content blocks include images, headings, paragraphs, lists, quotes, and much more. You can set the title of your post, add content to your post, set a featured image and publish it live.
What is a WordPress Page?
WordPress pages are also a built-in post type that helps you publish content. WordPress posts are timely content and a part of a series. However, WordPress pages are hierarchical. You can set parent pages and subpages as well.
You can use these pages to create content for your website and design landing pages for displaying specific content for your products and services.
What is WordPress Slug?
WordPress slug is the URL friendly version of the name. Whether you are creating a post, page or a category, WordPress will create a slug for it and include ‘dashes’ instead of spaces. WordPress slugs are important for SEO purposes and you can optimize WordPress slugs properly.
What are WordPress Updates?
WordPress is an open-source content management system and you will receive constant updates for it. WordPress updates have various changes in form of security enhancement user-experience. Currently, WordPress version 5.6 is the latest and every update comes with various feature changes and enhanced security protocols.
Whenever there is a WordPress update, you will receive a notification for it in the WordPress Dashboard. It is important to update your WordPress version for various reasons.
Final Words
WordPress is an excellent platform for building websites. Whether you need to create a business website or a personal blog, you should consider using WordPress for it. However, you should have complete basic knowledge and this guide to WordPress basics will help you understand all the basic terms. We will keep bringing you multiple resources that will help you improve your WordPress knowledge. Stay tuned for lots of free WordPress guides and tutorials.
