What is WordPress?

WordPress is used by more than 60 million websites, including 33.6% of the top 10 million websites as of April 2019, WordPress is one of the most popular content management system solutions in use. Features include a plugin architecture and a template system, referred to within WordPress as Themes. A local computer may be used for single-user testing and learning purposes. WordPress (WP, WordPress.org) is a free and open-source content management system (CMS) written in PHP and paired with a MySQL or MariaDB database. WordPress has also been used for other application domains such as pervasive display systems (PDS).

WordPress was released on May 27, 2003, by its founders, American developer Matt Mullenweg and English developer Mike Little, as a fork of b2/cafelog. WordPress was originally created as a blog-publishing system but has evolved to support other types of web content including more traditional mailing lists and forums, media galleries, membership sites, learning management systems (LMS), and online stores. The software is released under the GPLv2 (or later) license.

To function, WordPress has to be installed on a web server, either part of an Internet hosting services like WordPress.com or a computer running the software package WordPress.org in order to serve as a network host in its own right.
Yes – more than one in four websites that you visit are likely powered by WordPress.

On a slightly more technical level, WordPress is an open-source content management system licensed under GPLv2, which means that anyone can use or modify the WordPress software for free. In fact, WordPress powers over 37.6% of all the websites on the Internet. What is WordPress? At its core, WordPress is the simplest, most popular way to create your own website or blog. A content management system is basically a tool that makes it easy to manage important aspects of your website – like content – without needing to know anything about programming.

The end result is that WordPress makes building a website accessible to anyone – even people who aren’t developers.

What Kinds Of Websites Can WordPress Make?

Nowadays, thanks to changes to the core code, as well as WordPress’s massive ecosystem of plugins and themes, you can create any type of website with WordPress.
For example, not only does WordPress power a huge number of business sites and blogs, but it’s also the most popular way to create an eCommerce store as well! With WordPress, you can create:

  • Social networks
  • Blogs
  • Business websites
  • Forums
  • eCommerce stores
  • Portfolios
That hasn’t been true for a long time, though. Many years ago, WordPress was primarily a tool to create a blog, rather than more traditional websites.

Themes

WordPress themes are generally classified into two categories: free and premium. The PHP, HTML, and CSS found in themes can be directly modified to alter theme behavior, or a theme can be a "child" theme that inherits settings from another theme and selectively overrides features. Every WordPress website requires at least one theme to be present and every theme should be designed using WordPress standards with structured PHP, valid HTML (HyperText Markup Language), and Cascading Style Sheets (CSS). Themes may be directly installed using the WordPress "Appearance" administration tool in the dashboard, or theme folders may be copied directly into the themes directory, for example via FTP. The free theme Underscores created by the WordPress developers has become a popular basis for new themes. WordPress users may also create and develop their own custom themes. Themes allow users to change the look and functionality of a WordPress website without altering the core code or site content. WordPress users may install and switch among different themes. Many free themes are listed in the WordPress theme directory (also known as the repository), and premium themes are available for purchase from marketplaces and individual WordPress developers.

Plugins

However, this does not include the premium plugins that are available (approximately 1,500+), which may not be listed in the WordPress.org repository. This customization ranges from search engine optimization (SEO) to client portals used to display private information to logged-in users, to content management systems, to content displaying features, such as the addition of widgets and navigation bars. Not all available plugins are always abreast of the upgrades and as a result, they may not function properly or may not function at all. As of January 2020, WordPress.org has 55,487 plugins available, each of which offers custom functions and features enabling users to tailor their sites to their specific needs. However, many third parties offer plugins through their own websites, many of which are paid packages.

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