What is WordPress?
The first version of WordPress was released on May 27, 2003, by Matt Mullenweg and founding member Mike Little. It started as a blogging platform but has evolved into a powerful content management system (CMS). Today it is capable of creating almost any website you can think of. WordPress is built on the PHP programming language and primarily supports MySQL databases.
WordPress is a Content Management System (CMS), not a framework i.e you have a dashboard and you or the end-user can easily change the content of the blog or website. For example, if you want to change your phone number you do not need to change in hardcode, you just need to go to settings or the page.
A tool to help you build a website that a develop per should know.
- Static/client script HTML, CSS, JS.
- Server-side script: PHP Programming and MySQL database
Interesting Stats About WordPress
- 1074 WordCamps have taken place in 65 different countries.
- 150 Wordcamps took place in 2019 alone.
- It is currently the most popular CMS(#1)
- WordPress powers over 75 million websites on the web.
- Around 34% of the world’s websites
- According to W3techs, WordPress has 64.4 % of the CMS market shares
- WordPress 6.0 has been downloaded 97,844,367 times at the time of writing this post
- The latest version of WordPress (5.6) is written in 196 languages
- Fortune 500 companies including The Walt Disney Company powered by WordPress.
- In 2020, WordPress powers 43% of the internet
- WordPress has 4,969 commits by 70 contributors
- Over 409 million people view more than 20 billion pages each month.
- Entry-level positions start at $55,000 per year while most experienced workers make up to $107,500 per year.
Benefits
- Open Source:
Open-source software is software whose source code is available for anyone to view, modify, and enhance. Source code refers to computer instructions written in a programming language by a software developer to operate the software. It provides the ability to read and modify the code behind the software. - Ease of Use:
It comes with a simple dashboard with different menu options listed in the sidebar. You can easily create posts, pages and categories, customize your website design, add navigation menus, and more. WordPress makes it easy for absolute beginners to maintain their websites without any technical hiccups. - User Friendly:
It’s also built for non-technical people. The user interface is intuitive and friendly. To add a new design to your website, you can simply download a theme. If you need to add a new function, like a contact form, you just install a plugin. With the page builder(Elementor..) you can easily make UI/UX website.- User Interface (UI) — A specialization of web design that deals with the controls people use to interact with a website or app, including button displays and gesture controls.
- User Experience (UX) — Another specialization of web design, this one dealing with user behaviour and feeling when using the site or app.
- SEO Friendly
Making a website SEO-friendly means that Google and other search engines can crawl each page on the website efficiently, interpret the content effectively, and index it in their database. Once indexed, they can then serve the most relevant and valuable web pages to their users based on the topics they search for. For this SEO, WordPress has a very popular plugin that helps you to be SEO friendly. - Very Large Community Support:
WordPress community-based Support Forums are a great place to learn, share, and troubleshoot. If you encounter any problems with WordPress you can ask or post to any community you will get a very fast response and you will get the exact answer to your question. - The Design of Your Website is 100% Customizable
Disadvantages of A WordPress Website
- You Need Lots of Plugins For Additional Features
- Frequent Theme and Plugin Updates
- Slow Page Speed
- Website Vulnerability
WordPress.org Vs WordPress.com
For beginners confuse WordPress.com and WordPress.org, which leads them to choose the wrong blogging platform for their needs. Even those who know that they are two different platforms are not aware of the differences between them.
A common question from users is which platform is better, WordPress.com or WordPress.org. To help answer that, we have created the most comprehensive comparison of free WordPress.com vs WordPress.org (self-hosted version). Both same company but have different goals.
WordPress.org, Create a place for your business, your interests, or anything else—with the open source platform that powers the web. Design anything you imagine. Start with a blank canvas or choose from a wide variety of themes and patterns. Customize every detail, from colour and fonts to layouts and functionality. Known primarily as free and open source, it allows you to create websites and blogs however you like. Everything you can change. You can use any theme and plugin from wordpress.org.
WordPress.com is a popular website builder where you can Build a site. Sell your stuff. Start a blog. free with hosting and subdomain like .wordpress.com
And letter on you can upgrade hosting(plan price) and custom domain customization. We don’t have headaches about the hosting and server, or configuration issue WordPress.com do all things only we have to do is post with beautiful themes.
Theme
A WordPress theme is a folder of files that work together to create the design of your site. A theme includes template files, stylesheets, images, and possibly JavaScript files. All of these files change the way blog posts and pages are displayed. It includes frontend technology like HTML, CSS, Bootstrap, and Javascript and for making themes WordPress uses PHP programing language. You can do it by making frontend of the website and letter converting it into the theme in PHP with standard follow from here https://developer.wordpress.org/
Changing your WordPress theme won’t necessarily change your blog content, pages, users, or other information stored in your database. Your theme only changes how all that information is displayed to your website visitors. i.e theme is the layout of the website.
The best and most popular WordPress themes available for download are:
- Divi: A multi-purpose theme by Elegant Themes that’s customizable with a drag-and-drop builder
- Astra: A customizable theme that comes with pre-designed demos so you can get started in minutes
- OceanWP: A lightweight and customizable theme that’s 100% free and great for beginners
Plugin
A WordPress plugin is a piece of software that “plugs into” your WordPress site. Plugins can add new functionality or extend existing functionality on your site, allowing you to create virtually any kind of website, from eCommerce stores to portfolios to directory sites.
Plugins can make small tweaks on your site or massive changes, depending on their features. For example, you could use a plugin to add a WhatsApp share button to your site or to create a fully multilingual site. Or, if you run an eCommerce business, you might install a plugin to assist with payment gateways or allow visitors to book appointments online.
Must-Have WordPress Plugins
- Yoast SEO
- WP Rocket
- Wordfence Security
- Elementor
- WooCommerce
- Contact Form 7
Freelancing websites
- Themeforest :
We can sell or buy themes in ThemeForest. Themeforest is the most popular platform for the marketplace of WordPress where you can best beautiful website design themes, templates and plugins. If you are a developer and make a theme and sell it there. - Flippa.com:
#1 marketplace to buy and sell, Blogs, eCommerce store, Affiliate sites, SaaS businesses, Apps, Digital services, Shopify stores, Amazon FBA stores, Domains, Online Businesses, Blogs, Buy an online business, become an acquisition entrepreneur, and invest in digital real estate. - Freelancer:
Freelancer.com is a freelancing website from Australia, which allows potential employers to advertise work, which can then be bid on by freelancers. Freelancer.com charges 10%, or 5% of the entire cost, on your subscription basis immediately. Since most startups are free, you should charge 10% of the total cost of Freelancer.com. As a rookie, you are unlikely to be hired by an experienced employer. - Upwork:
Upwork is the most notable work in the world that brings together millions of companies with independent talent worldwide. They provide a robust and confidential platform to everybody allowing corporations and freelancers to collaborate in innovative ways to realize their potential. - Fiverr
Fiverr is one of the best platforms for freelancers from Israel. For small one-stop projects or gigs, Fiverr allows listing and application online. Fiverr offers some of the most incredible freelancing bargains in various sectors, from content to logo design, some for only $5.
Conclusion
Why do we take the headache of learning different languages and code if WordPress easily makes a website without coding also?
Yes, these all things depend on your project requirements. If you want to make a website with fast, general website and easy way then choose WordPress otherwise if you are making some web application and integrating, changing site then you can choose other platforms.
Clearly, with WordPress, you can create great websites, as it has many advantages, that triggered its massive popularity. However, any choice regarding a website should be made after looking at and comparing all options, pros and cons.
