If you’re looking to start a blog or website, and are faced with the decision of what platform to use, well, there are many great solutions out there having their own pros and cons but there is one platform that millions of professionals choose for their websites all over the globe. WordPress! In this blog, we will discuss what WordPress is and its related components to developing a website.
What is WordPress?
WordPress is free software that you use to build your very own website or blog and publish it on the internet. It is also referred to as a Content Management system or CMS which means it is an open-source platform for anyone without the knowledge of programming or coding to easily build on and manage the different elements in a website. It was created back in 2003 and since then it has become one of the most popular website publishing programs in the world with more than 30% of the websites and blogs being powered by WordPress.
What is Local Server?
A server is basically a dedicated computer that provides services on behalf of clients, such as ordinary desktop computer or workstation. It is a centralised machine where multiple clients connect to, either over the internet or in a local area network, to retrieve a website. A local server is very much essential for developing WordPress core as it allows to install/ operate WordPress on a computer. This program has AMP and it stands for Apache, MySQL (or MariaDB), and PHP.
A local server is similar to the web host’s server. The 6 well-known local servers can be selected depending upon the type of operating system that runs on the computer.
- MAMP (Mac & Windows)
- XAMPP (Windows, Mac, Linux)
- Varying Vagrant Vagrants (VVV – WordPress specific Vagrant configuration for Windows, Mac, Linux)
- Bitnami WordPress Stack
- WampServer (Windows)
- Docker (Mac, Windows, Linux)
Downloading WordPress
Once the local server is installed, download the WordPress software from www.wordpress.org. WordPress can be easily installed on your computer with a simple process without much time. Before downloading WordPress, it’s important to see that the web hosting provider meets the required software conditions.
Themes in WordPress
A theme handles the way your WordPress website looks. It serves as a visual representation for WordPress content and data, like pages and posts. In simple words, a theme is what a person will see when visiting your website. WordPress comes with a set of pre-installed themes to choose from. If you’re not happy with the pre-installed themes, WordPress offers tons of third-party themes, both paid and free to choose from which can be easily installed. Establishing the purpose of your website can really help you in choosing a theme, i.e., is your website a blog, for business, or eCommerce platform. The most popular theme in WordPress is Astra. This theme is widely used as it is fast, lightweight, and highly customizable.
Plugins in WordPress
Plugins are extra pieces of software that you install to add extra features and functionality to your WordPress site. They allow you to go a little beyond what a WordPress Theme installation has to offer. A default WordPress installation is like a smartphone on factory settings. It has a number of things pre-installed which are very valuable and cover the core of what a phone needs to do. But often, you want more. You want things that are specifically useful to you. To do that, you install the apps you like and need. With WordPress, plugins are just like those extra apps that you install to be able to do all kinds of different things. Plugins allow you to use WordPress to its full and most customized potential. The plugins are written in the PHP programming language and integrated within WordPress website. And just like there are apps for anything and everything, there are thousands of WordPress plugins that all do different things. Some of the examples of plugins in WordPress are woo-commerce, Yoast SEO, Elementor etc.
Pages in WordPress
Pages in WordPress are meant to be static content such as your ‘About Us’ page, ‘Privacy Policy’ page, ‘Contact Us’ page, ‘Homepage’, and so on. Pages are timeless entities i.e., they do not have time and date tied to it, but you can always go back to update a page and are not categorized or tagged as in the case of WordPress posts. You are also not able to place any comments on a Page. You can have subpages within a page, this feature allows you to organize your pages accordingly. Pages are usually present in the main menu of the website.
Posts in WordPress
If you’re using WordPress to create a blog, then you will end up using posts for a majority of your site’s content. It is the section on the website where the information or content is updated. Posts are content entries listed in reverse chronological order on your blog’s homepage. Due to their reverse order, posts are meant to be timely older. Posts are Archived based on month and year. Posts encourage conversation among readers as they have built-in commenting feature that allows users to comment on a particular post.
Categories in WordPress
Categories are referred to as groups of similar contents in WordPress websites that are connected. Posts work with categories and tags whereas pages don’t. Categorizing blog posts helps the user and Google make sense of every single post you write. Posts can be assigned with categories but it’s important to add the categories to the posts, otherwise, by default it will be uncategorised making no sense to the readers. Hence, categories are all about keeping things clear for your visitors and the search engine enabling easy access to all the contents of the website. Every category must have a name, URL, and description.
Example
If you are reviewing movies in your blog posts; you could create a category for each genre of movie that you’re reviewing as a result keeping your posts well organized and easy for readers to navigate through different posts.
Tags in WordPress
Tags are specific keywords that are used to describe the contents of a post. Unlike categories, Tags don’t have hierarchy. Tags denote a certain property to a particular article that might be interesting for a reader. Readers can then use tags to find articles that mention something they’re looking for. Tags are really useful for your visitors, as they enable them to read more about the same topic. However, it is not always necessary to add tags to the post.
Example
Consider the previous example of reviewing movies in your blog posts, well, tags might be the name of actors starring in the movie you’re reviewing or the topic of the movie, i.e., a sports movie or a movie on World War II and so on. It’s very common to have 4-5 tags inside a single post.
Widgets in WordPress
A widget in WordPress is a simple pre-built block that can be added to your site which serves a specific function. A “search bar” widget that you add to your sidebar, will help the visitors search the pages on your site. Without technical and coding knowledge, one can still add lots of functionalities and features to a website, simply by adding widgets. And it’s really simple to add a widget. But widgets can only be added into “widget areas” that are defined by the theme you have chosen and are usually located in the sidebar and footer bar. WordPress offers tons of widgets that do all kinds of different things that may be convenient for your site. Some of the commonly added widgets include menus, a sign-up newsletter, social media icons, a popular post list, calendars and much more. Using these widgets, one can design a website with the look and feel they prefer. Widgets allow the users to easily navigate through various elements in the website.
Archives in WordPress
Archives in WordPress refer to a collection of posts grouped by category, author, date, tag, etc. Archive pages are generated to organize a list of posts under a specific post type, category or tag, making it easier for users to access all posts that have something in common. Almost every WordPress theme has an integrated file called archive.php used to display and define the archive-type page look. Even though the file is integrated one can still customize the appearance and style it using coding. For those who lack coding skills, plugins are a solution for archive page template creation. The plugin is a user-friendly and code-free way to create an archive page.
Sidebar in WordPress
A sidebar is a column placed to the right or left of web pages commonly used to display various types of supplementary information for users. Most of the popular websites use sidebars in some shape or form. The primary advantage of incorporating a sidebar into your website’s design is it remains visible as users navigate throughout your site. This enables you to make key information and features readily available at all times. You can include a sidebar on just about any type of website, however, they’re especially useful in a couple different situations in which users may benefit from extra guidance like in case of content-heavy websites and online stores. When your website is loaded with various kinds of content and information, it becomes more complicated for the users to navigate your website. In such situations, a sidebar is used to include links to social media, related posts and pages, a search bar for finding information easily and showing signup forms that you don’t want the users to miss out. WordPress themes have a built-in sidebar to work with but one can also create a custom sidebar with the help of plugins which add important features and functionality to your site that can’t be achieved in the standard WordPress theme sidebar.
What is ‘Header’ in a website?
You never get a second chance to make a first impression, that’s why your website header is very important. It’s the first thing people see when they land on your website as it is meant to be present at the top of the webpage. The header establishes the identity of a brand or company from the start and it will be consistent across every single page of your site. Since visitors are going to see the header on every web page that they visit on your site, it is a great place to reinforce your brand by repeating the relevant information like contact information which you want them to see again and again. Another important thing to include in a header would be an exceptional logo and other branding elements that communicates the brand clearly and professionally to the visitors. Besides, the logo, a header also comprises a main menu section and a search bar to help visitors easily navigate on your website.
What is ‘Footer’ in a website?
The footer, or bottom section of your site, is the final message your visitors see when they visit a page. Basically, a footer is a planned summary of all the important aspects of the business like the important links to the relevant pages, privacy policy, terms and conditions, copyright notices, etc. Contact information along with address is again mentioned since visitors sometimes look for it at the bottom of a webpage. Footer is also comprised of links to connect to social media and sign-up for newsletters. It’s a section that relays a message “If you have to leave, keep in touch” to the visitors.
