What is Wordpress:

What is WordPress?

Successful website creation is possible even without deep knowledge in the field of programming and administration. They are replaced by CMS, content management systems, platforms that allow you to assemble a network resource according to the constructor principle, establish successful management, regularly update, change the content. One of the most popular CMS at the moment is WordPress. What are its features? What tasks is it suitable for? What are the main positive and negative aspects?

A little history

The appearance of the WordPress platform dates back to 2003. Its creators are Matt Mullenweg and Mike Little. The development turned out to be very successful, universal, functional, easy to manage and configure, quickly gained popularity.

Of course, the authors did not stop at the achieved results. Year after year, the platform was improved, its functionality expanded. One of the most significant innovations appeared in 2005, when the system began to support plugins and extensions.

The initial specification of WordPress was blogging, however, now the scope of use has been significantly expanded, it is suitable for completely different sites, from small private blogs and business cards to large-scale online stores offering thousands of product names.

The popularity of WordPress can now be compared with Joomla, Drupal and other similar platforms. It is known that it is used by the world's largest publishers and organizations representing completely different industries, including Forbes, Kaspersky.

The platform is being improved both through official support and by third-party developers and enthusiasts. The openness of the source code allows you to make all the necessary changes, develop plugins and extensions to expand the basic functionality, automate the execution of certain tasks.

Basic functions

The set of basic functional capabilities available in WordPress is as follows:

• Creating pages with various content, from contact to informational.
• Interacting with comments, editing, deleting, disabling. There is an option to automatically count the comments left to analyze user activity.
• Adding new content, changing and deleting it.
• Placing tags, introducing categories.
• Processing graphic content, photographs.
• Expanding basic functionality by adding plugins.
• Creating a website based on a suitable template solution.

Of course, WordPress' capabilities are not limited to the listed functions. Open source code implies constant improvements, modifications, and development, which is why even experienced users often do not know the full functionality of the platform.

Advantages

The strengths of WordPress, which ensure its high popularity, are as follows:

• Free. You can use the platform free of charge, you only have to pay for the domain name and hosting, to which the information necessary for the correct functioning of the network resource is loaded. Auxiliary software and plugins, in most cases, are also free.
• Ease of management. The installation process is automated, interaction with the interface is not difficult even for a user who is very far from programming, all functions are intuitive, in addition, tooltips are provided. When the next update is released, a notification appears, which allows you to always use the latest version.
• Variety of ready-made themes. You can choose a template for any site, regardless of its focus, be it a personal portfolio of a photographer, a city news portal, a site of a dental clinic or a car repair shop. Exclusive paid options from third-party developers are also available.
• Flexibility of customization. WordPress allows you to use many plugins to solve certain technical issues, make the site more functional and convenient.
• Adaptability. WordPress automatically adjusts the site to all user devices. It does not matter what exactly you are viewing from - a laptop, smartphone, tablet or desktop computer, the pages look harmonious in any case, there are no problems with the layout, all the necessary functions remain available.
• SEO adaptation. Tools are provided for effective SEO promotion, increasing traffic and conversion, improving the site's position in search results.
• Universality. WordPress effectively interacts with all organizations providing network access services, hosting. Customization will not be associated with additional time costs and difficulties.
• Developed online community. Not only the developer company, but also third-party users work on improving the platform. New messages, topics with useful plugins and add-ons regularly appear on the forum. Here you can always ask a question, get a detailed answer, solve a problem.

Disadvantages

However, there are some negative aspects. First of all, the following disadvantages of WordPress should be noted:

• Plugins with errors. The authors of extensions are, in most cases, third-party users, not all of whom have the necessary qualifications, knowledge and experience. This leads to low quality plugins, they become the cause of failures, or even complete inoperability of WordPress. It is better to use add-ons only from trusted users, and check in advance whether the programs are compatible with each other.
• Slow loading speed. When installing many plugins, the site begins to “slow down” quite a lot. One of the solutions to the problem is a special plugin for caching data, eliminating the need for their constant re-download.
• Lack of official technical support. If problems arise, you can count solely on the help of the community. However, given its development, high traffic of the forum, this disadvantage seems quite conditional - the user will not be left without help.
• Vulnerability to network attacks. Open source code is both a positive and a negative fact. Sites created using WordPress are vulnerable to hackers, security issues have to be addressed with increased attention, use special plugins, and do not forget about updates.
• Lack of synchronization with 1C. In some cases, this is extremely important. The problem can be solved, however, this will require the involvement of highly qualified programmers.
• Clear distribution of rights. The administrator, the creator of the site, has the broadest rights. New visitors who register receive the status of “readers”, which allows them to leave comments, there are also “authors”, who have the opportunity to publish articles, “editors” – who publish articles, check and, if necessary, change, delete content from other users.

What is the platform suitable for?

The basic purpose of WordPress is blogging, however, in its modern version it allows you to work with many other sites. Practice shows that the most effective is interaction with the following network resources:

• Blogs. Posting text materials, informational, thematic articles is extremely simple and takes a minimum of time. Blogs do not need an abundance of third-party functions, which eliminates difficulties in selecting plugins. The vast majority of free templates are focused on such sites.
• News portals. WordPress allows you to quickly add relevant, fresh summaries. The reader will be able to conveniently view the news from any device, be it a desktop computer or a smartphone, which will have a positive effect on traffic.
• Portfolio. WordPress is popular among photographers, graphic and interior designers, and other creative professionals who want to demonstrate their skills and examples of their work. Images can be displayed in various modes, from classic galleries to carousels.
• Online store. Such sites are characterized by an abundance of pages and files, a large scale, which initially does not correspond to the specifics of WordPress. However, the problem can be solved without unnecessary problems using special commercial plugins and templates.
• Landing pages and business cards. WordPress is ideal for single-page websites that contain the minimum set of information required by visitors and potential clients, such as contacts, specifics of the company's work, and the products and services it offers.

Working with WordPress: a brief instruction

The algorithm for interacting with WordPress is as follows:

• Registration on the platform's website. Both Russian and English versions are available. The username is an email address, and you also need to come up with a secure password.
• Installation of software, which can be downloaded from the official website. Of course, the installation is carried out on a previously purchased hosting.
• Configuring the site. All manipulations are carried out through the admin panel. Initially, it may seem complicated, but in fact, even an inexperienced user can easily cope with the work, all the functions are intuitive, you can customize the design, implement the required functions, extensions.
• Filling with content. Of course, for successful website promotion, the content must be unique and interesting, attracting the attention of readers, helping to expand the target audience.
• Website promotion. For this, you can use all available tools, from SEO to contextual advertising, SMM.

Summing up

WordPress is a powerful, functional, convenient platform for creating websites, content management. Many advantages ensure the highest popularity, according to statistics, about a third of all websites are created using this system. Even basic functions are quite enough to develop a stable, informative, beautifully designed website.

Using auxiliary tools, of which there are a huge number in WordPress, helps in developing portals with a complex structure, up to regional news sites that require regular updating, online stores that present dozens of product categories and thousands of items.

Author of the article:

Editor-in-Chief

Danaev Almaz