What is WordPress? An Intro to the World’s Most Popular Website Builder
WordPress is the world’s most popular tool to help you launch and manage a website.
WordPress powers over one-third of all the websites on the Internet, and it provides a flexible way to create and customize a website without the need for any special technical knowledge.
You can use WordPress to create any type of website, including blogs, eCommerce stores, portfolio websites, and lots, lots more.
In this post, we’ll dig deeper into the question of “what is WordPress” to help you get familiar with the most popular way to make a website. In total, you’ll learn:
What WordPress is in more detail
The features that make WordPress so popular
What WordPress is used for
The difference between WordPress.org and WordPress.com
What you need to create a WordPress website
What is WordPress? Explained in More Detail
WordPress helps you make a website that is 100% your own.
It does this without requiring you to have any special technical knowledge.
Instead, you can install the WordPress software on your own web hosting via a simple setup wizard and then manage and extend your site using an easy-to-use, non-technical interface.
Getting a little more technical, WordPress is an open-source content management system (CMS). Let’s unpack those two statements…
Open-source – the WordPress software is 100% free and anyone can freely edit its code. The software is maintained by a global community of volunteers – it’s not “owned” by a single company.
Content management system – a CMS helps you manage the content of your website and display it to your visitors. Rather than needing to interact directly with “code” to make your website, the CMS gives you a simple interface to upload your content. Then, the CMS will automatically turn that content into a well-designed website for you.
For example, if you want to publish a blog post on WordPress, you can write your content using a simple editor. You can also create basic layouts and include other elements like images, buttons, and videos:
Then, WordPress will take that content and automatically create the “front-end” page that people who visit your website will see:
Beyond managing content, WordPress also makes it easy to extend your site without writing any custom code using two types of add-ons:
Themes – a theme lets you control your site’s design and style. There are tens of thousands of themes that can help you instantly create everything from a travel blog to a restaurant website to a portfolio site and more.
Plugins – a plugin helps you add new functionality to your site. That functionality can be small, like a simple contact form, or big, like turning WordPress into a fully-functioning eCommerce platform.
What is WordPress Used For?
The short answer is that you can use the modern WordPress software to create literally any type of website.
WordPress initially started as a tool to help you create a blog. But WordPress has long since expanded to become a general-purpose content management system.
For example, what do you think is the most popular tool to create an eCommerce store? Shopify, maybe? Wix?
Nope! You can see where this is going – WordPress is actually the most popular eCommerce platform in the world, thanks to a plugin called WooCommerce (more on what a “plugin” is later).
You can use WordPress to create a…
Blog
Business website
eCommerce store
Portfolio or resume website
Forum
Social network
Membership site
Online course
…you get the idea – pretty much anything!
You can also mix-and-match these use cases. For example, you can create a blog that also has a forum. Or, you can create an online course that also has social network functionality to help course-takers interact.
And because there are tens of thousands of WordPress themes and plugins, you can do pretty much all of this without needing to write any code from scratch.
Examples of Sites Built With WordPress
To drive home the point that you can use WordPress for pretty much anything, let’s look at a few specific examples from the 35% of websites using WordPress.
First, you have Design Bombs – the very site you’re reading! We use WordPress to power the Design Bombs blog. WordPress did start as a blogging tool, and it still does an excellent job of helping you create a blog.
Next, we have the official New Zealand All Blacks online shop, which uses WordPress and WooCommerce to create an online store:
Another good example is Weddingbee, which uses WordPress to power a massively popular forum:
Finally, there’s WP101, which uses WordPress to power an online course that teaches people how to use WordPress (that’s meta)! It also incorporates a forum:
Why is WordPress so Popular?
Once again, WordPress powers 35% of all the websites on the Internet. Let that number sink in – because it’s pretty wild to think about just how popular that makes WordPress.
You know those website builders like Squarespace and Wix that you see ads for all the time? They only power 1.6% and 1.3% of websites, respectively. Combined, they power less than a tenth of the sites that WordPress does.
So why is WordPress so massively popular?
There are a few big factors that contribute to the success of WordPress:
Beginner-friendliness – you don’t need any special technical knowledge to build a website with WordPress. Even if you have no idea what HTML and CSS are, you can build an awesome website with WordPress.
Flexibility – as you learned above, you can use WordPress to build pretty much any type of website. What’s more, you can do this with tens of thousands of free themes and plugins – you don’t need to “custom code” anything.
Cost – the core WordPress software is 100% free. While there are some other associated costs with running a WordPress site, WordPress is still one of the cheapest ways to build a website.
Ownership – with WordPress, you 100% own your site. There are no rules and no one can delete your account.
Community – because WordPress is so popular, there’s a massive global community of people who use WordPress. This makes it super easy to find help and resources if you ever need it.
What is the Difference Between WordPress.org and WordPress.com
Up until now, we’ve been talking about “WordPress” as if it’s one single thing. But there’s this confusing little quirk about WordPress that you might have already run into.
If you search for “WordPress” in Google, you’ll see two websites:
WordPress.org
WordPress.com
So – what’s the difference?
Well, if you want the long answer, you can check out this entire post on the difference between WordPress.org and WordPress.com.
But here’s the short answer:
WordPress.org is the free, non-profit, open-source WordPress software that you can install and use to build any type of website. It’s also called self-hosted WordPress.
Whenever we talk about “WordPress” on this site, we’re really referring to the open-source WordPress software at WordPress.org.
Then, WordPress.com is one specific implementation of the WordPress.org software. WordPress.com is a for-profit service created by the same guy who co-founded the open-source WordPress software.
WordPress.com kind of helps you build a WordPress site, but you don’t get access to the same level of flexibility that you get when you use the self-hosted WordPress.org software.
Overall, we always recommend the self-hosted software at WordPress.org over the for-profit, limited implementation at WordPress.com.
What You Need to Launch a WordPress Website
At this point, you should have a pretty good idea of what WordPress is.
Now, let’s talk about what you need to do to create your own website with WordPress. Again, we’re referring to the self-hosted WordPress.org software here – not WordPress.com.
To create your own WordPress website, there are really only two things you absolutely need beyond the free WordPress software:
Web hosting – web hosting is the engine that powers the WordPress software and makes it available to visitors from around the world. When you purchase web hosting, you’re basically renting space on a computer that will be dedicated to running the WordPress software.
Domain name – your domain name is your WordPress site’s permanent address on the Internet. For example, ours is designbombs.com. When someone visits your domain name, your web hosting will then serve up your website to that person’s browser.
Because WordPress is so popular, there are tons of web hosting providers with WordPress-specific offerings.
These hosts provide a number of features to make it easier to create and manage a WordPress site, like user-friendly setup wizards to help you install the WordPress software.
Do you have any questions about what WordPress is or how you can use it to create your own customizable website? Leave a comment and we’ll do our best to help!
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That again was no use: he but got another smile and a friendly look of the sort he no longer wanted. I said I thought I could gallop if Harry could, and in a few minutes we were up with the ambulance. It had stopped. There were several men about it, including Sergeant Jim and Kendall, which two had come from Quinn, and having just been in the ambulance, at Ferry's side, were now remounting, both of them openly in tears. "Hello, Kendall." We have this great advantage in dealing with Plato—that his philosophical writings have come down to us entire, while the thinkers who preceded him are known only through fragments and second-hand reports. Nor is the difference merely accidental. Plato was the creator of speculative literature, properly so called: he was the first and also the greatest artist that ever clothed abstract thought in language of appropriate majesty and splendour; and it is probably to their beauty of form that we owe the preservation of his writings. Rather unfortunately, however, along with the genuine works of the master, a certain number of pieces have been handed down to us under his name, of which some are almost universally admitted to be spurious, while the authenticity of others is a question on which the best scholars are still divided. In the absence of any very cogent external evidence, an immense amount of industry and learning has been expended on this subject, and the arguments employed on both sides sometimes make us doubt whether the reasoning powers of philologists are better developed than, according to Plato, were those of mathematicians in his time. The176 two extreme positions are occupied by Grote, who accepts the whole Alexandrian canon, and Krohn, who admits nothing but the Republic;115 while much more serious critics, such as Schaarschmidt, reject along with a mass of worthless compositions several Dialogues almost equal in interest and importance to those whose authenticity has never been doubted. The great historian of Greece seems to have been rather undiscriminating both in his scepticism and in his belief; and the exclusive importance which he attributed to contemporary testimony, or to what passed for such with him, may have unduly biassed his judgment in both directions. As it happens, the authority of the canon is much weaker than Grote imagined; but even granting his extreme contention, our view of Plato’s philosophy would not be seriously affected by it, for the pieces which are rejected by all other critics have no speculative importance whatever. The case would be far different were we to agree with those who impugn the genuineness of the Parmenides, the Sophist, the Statesman, the Philêbus, and the Laws; for these compositions mark a new departure in Platonism amounting to a complete transformation of its fundamental principles, which indeed is one of the reasons why their authenticity has been denied. Apart, however, from the numerous evidences of Platonic authorship furnished by the Dialogues themselves, as well as by the indirect references to them in Aristotle’s writings, it seems utterly incredible that a thinker scarcely, if at all, inferior to the master himself—as the supposed imitator must assuredly have been—should have consented to let his reasonings pass current under a false name, and that, too, the name of one whose teaching he in some respects controverted; while there is a further difficulty in assuming that his existence could pass unnoticed at a period marked by intense literary and philosophical activity. Readers who177 wish for fuller information on the subject will find in Zeller’s pages a careful and lucid digest of the whole controversy leading to a moderately conservative conclusion. Others will doubtless be content to accept Prof. Jowett’s verdict, that ‘on the whole not a sixteenth part of the writings which pass under the name of Plato, if we exclude the works rejected by the ancients themselves, can be fairly doubted by those who are willing to allow that a considerable change and growth may have taken place in his philosophy.’116 To which we may add that the Platonic dialogues, whether the work of one or more hands, and however widely differing among themselves, together represent a single phase of thought, and are appropriately studied as a connected series. Before entering on our task, one more difficulty remains to be noticed. Plato, although the greatest master of prose composition that ever lived, and for his time a remarkably voluminous author, cherished a strong dislike for books, and even affected to regret that the art of writing had ever been invented. A man, he said, might amuse himself by putting down his ideas on paper, and might even find written178 memoranda useful for private reference, but the only instruction worth speaking of was conveyed by oral communication, which made it possible for objections unforeseen by the teacher to be freely urged and answered.117 Such had been the method of Socrates, and such was doubtless the practice of Plato himself whenever it was possible for him to set forth his philosophy by word of mouth. It has been supposed, for this reason, that the great writer did not take his own books in earnest, and wished them to be regarded as no more than the elegant recreations of a leisure hour, while his deeper and more serious thoughts were reserved for lectures and conversations, of which, beyond a few allusions in Aristotle, every record has perished. That such, however, was not the case, may be easily shown. In the first place it is evident, from the extreme pains taken by Plato to throw his philosophical expositions into conversational form, that he did not despair of providing a literary substitute for spoken dialogue. Secondly, it is a strong confirmation of this theory that Aristotle, a personal friend and pupil of Plato during many years, should so frequently refer to the Dialogues as authoritative evidences of his master’s opinions on the most important topics. And, lastly, if it can be shown that the documents in question do actually embody a comprehensive and connected view of life and of the world, we shall feel satisfied that the oral teaching of Plato, had it been preserved, would not modify in any material degree the impression conveyed by his written compositions. breakfast in the kitchen by candle-light, and then drove the five The bargaining was interminable, something in this manner:— Then follows a long discussion in Hindi with the bystanders, who always escort a foreigner in a mob, ending in the question— There was a bright I. D. blanket spread on the ground a little way back from the fire, and she threw herself down upon it. All that was picturesque in his memories of history flashed back to Cairness, as he took his place beside Landor on the log and looked at her. Boadicea might have sat so in the depths of the Icenean forests, in the light of the torches of the Druids. So the Babylonian queen might have rested in the midst of her victorious armies, or she of Palmyra, after the lion hunt in the deserts of Syria. Her eyes, red lighted beneath the shadowing lashes, met his. Then she glanced away into the blackness of the pine forest, and calling her dog to lie down beside her, stroked its silky red head. The retreat was made, and the men found themselves again in the morning on the bleak, black heath of Drummossie, hungry and worn out, yet in expectation of a battle. There was yet time to do the only wise thing—retreat into the mountains, and depend upon a guerilla warfare, in which they would have the decided advantage. Lord George Murray now earnestly proposed this, but in vain. Sir Thomas Sheridan and other officers from France grew outrageous at that proposal, contending that they could easily beat the English, as they had done at Prestonpans and Falkirk—forgetting that the Highlanders then were full of vigour and spirit. Unfortunately, Charles listened to this foolish reasoning, and the fatal die was cast. "They said they were going for our breakfast," said Harry. "And I hope it's true, for I'm hungrier'n a rip-saw. But I could put off breakfast for awhile, if they'd only bring us our guns. I hope they'll be nice Springfield rifles that'll kill a man at a mile." "Dod durn it," blubbered Pete, "I ain't cryin' bekase Pm skeered. I'm cryin' bekase I'm afeared you'll lose me. I know durned well you'll lose me yit, with all this foolin' around." He came nearly every night. If she was not at the gate he would whistle a few bars of "Rio Bay," and she would steal out as soon as she could do so without rousing suspicion. Boarzell became theirs, their accomplice in some subtle, beautiful way. There was a little hollow on the western slope where they would crouch together and sniff the apricot scent of the gorse, which was ever afterwards to be the remembrancer of their love, and watch the farmhouse lights at Castweasel gleam and gutter beside Ramstile woods. "Yes, De Boteler," continued the lady, "I will write to him, and try to soothe his humour. You think it a humiliation—I would humble myself to the meanest serf that tills your land, could I learn the fate of my child. The abbot may have power to draw from this monk what he would conceal from us; I will at least make the experiment." The lady then, though much against De Boteler's wish, penned an epistle to the abbot, in which concession and apologies were made, and a strong invitation conveyed, that he would honour Sudley castle by his presence. The parchment was then folded, and dispatched to the abbot. "A very pretty method, truly! You know not the miners and forgers of Dean Forest!—why I would stake a noble to a silver-penny, that if you had discovered he was hidden there, and legally demanded him, he would be popped down in a bucket, to the bottom of some mine, where, even the art of Master Calverley could not have dragged him to the light of day until the Forest was clear of the pack:—but, however, to speak to the point," perceiving that the steward's patience was well nigh exhausted—"I saw Stephen Holgrave yesterday, in the Forest." HoME欧美一级 片a高清
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