What is WordPress?
If you are a newbie in blogging or contemplating being a blogger, you will most probably have heard of WordPress. You must have read that it is one of the free blogging platforms along the line of Blogger. It is also a platform that can be used in self-hosted blogs that make use of customized domain name. Still you might be asking ñ ìWhat is WordPress?î
By definition, WordPress is a blogging tool and publishing platform in one. It is open source, meaning nobody technically owns the code written by programmers to build it. WordPress first appeared in 2003, courtesy of Matt Mullenweg, an open-source programming enthusiast in his late teens. WordPress has since been enhanced several times over the years, and it is now on its 15th version, 3.2.1, released last July.
WordPress is made available to bloggers like you as a content management system (CMS). You can download the latest version from www.wordpress.org and manually upload it to a web server using FTP. However, almost all the time, you would use Simple Scripts from your hosting account’s cPanel screen. Simple Scripts enables the setting up of WordPress blogs with associated MySQL databases in a matter of one minute. All you have to do is to select the domain name that you’d like to use and Simple Scripts will do the rest. Your blog is setup once you get a confirmation along with the password to the user id admin.
Once the blog has been setup, you can then change the theme, which basically controls the layout and appearance of your blog’s contents. You can experiment until you find the theme that suits your preference. This is one of WordPress strengths. With such a large inventory of available themes, both free and paid (premium), you are spoiled for choice when it comes to improving the appearance of your blog. WordPress allows you to include themes in your blog via two methods. First, you can download the theme as a zip file and upload it to the themes folder via FTP. Secondly, you can select the theme’s zip file in your hard drive and let WordPress extract the contents after the theme has been uploaded.
Another strength of WordPress is the use of plugins. These are extensions of the blogging platform that allow you to include additional content to your blog without having to know any programming. There are thousands of plugins available, a great majority of which are free. These plugins can be used to insert pictures, videos, text, and even advertisements in your blog. There are also plugins that can let your blog interact with social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter. Some of the most popular plugins are those that enable search engine optimization on your blog, making it more visible to search engines like Google and Yahoo.
As mentioned in the first paragraph, WordPress is also a free blogging platform available at www.wordpress.com. This platform runs on the open-source WordPress engine and is a valid if you are a starter blogger and you want to hone your skills first before you go into hosted blogs.
The above is a very brief description of what WordPress is. Whatever level you are in your blogging journey, WordPress can be of use to you and it can be your most fundamental blogging tool.
Visit our training center at: http://www.wordpresstrainingcenter.com
Tags: blogging, WordPress, WordPress Blog
