What is WordPress?

WordPress is a free, open-source content management system (CMS) that lets you create and manage all kinds of websites—blogs, online stores, business websites, portfolios, and more—without needing to code.

What is a CMS?

CMS stands for Content Management System: software for creating and managing everything you see on a website. That “everything” is the content: text, images, videos, buttons, forms, and any other element you come across while browsing the internet.

WordPress needs two external components to work: a domain (the site’s address, such as misitio.com) and hosting (the server where its files are stored). You can read more in What is a domain? and What is hosting, and what is it for?.

How does WordPress work?

WordPress is written in PHP, a programming language designed for creating dynamic websites. Like WordPress, PHP is open source: anyone can download and review the code.

A static website displays its content exactly as it is stored, like a Word document that always shows the same thing when you open it. A dynamic website, on the other hand, gathers information from different files and builds the page when you need it. When you search for “cat” on YouTube, the platform brings together videos, titles, and descriptions related to your search right then and there: they didn’t exist as a single page before; they were assembled for your query. The same thing happens when you visit Facebook, where the feed, stories, and ads are generated when you access the site.

WordPress also lets you create static-style content, such as online catalogs, showrooms, and portfolios.

Themes: your site’s design

WordPress doesn’t work without a Theme (also called a template). The Theme is the site’s visual presentation: its color palette, structure, and personality. A restaurant, a supply store, and a rock band’s blog don’t look the same, and the Theme is what sets them apart.

WordPress comes with several free Themes, and changing your Theme takes just one click. If you don’t like the ones it includes, there are thousands of free Themes to download from WordPress.org and many more paid options at a wide range of prices. The Theme you choose depends on your needs, your preferences, and how much time you want to spend on it.

Plugins: features in one click

Plugins are small programs that add specific features to a WordPress site. There are plugins to speed up your site, filter aggressive comments or spam, track user statistics, create custom forms, set up forums for registered users, or display booking calendars.

Most are free (with 50,000 free plugins and counting), although many reserve premium features for an additional cost. A site runs better when it’s lightweight, so it’s best to install only the plugins your site really needs.

For online stores, the world’s most widely used plugin is WooCommerce. Once you’ve activated it, follow the guide Guide to creating products in WooCommerce.

Widgets: ready-to-use modules

Widgets are configurable modules that you place by dragging and dropping them into the area of the site where you want them to appear. They’re usually used in sidebars and footers, but depending on the Theme or plugin, they can be placed in other areas.

WordPress comes with built-in widgets such as Categories, Tag Cloud, Navigation Menu, Calendar, Search, and Recent Posts. Many Themes add their own, and plugins offer a wide variety, including weather, Google Maps, customer reviews, and event calendars. Widgets let you add useful features without touching a line of code.

User roles: who can do what

WordPress lets you create users with different permissions so that many people can work on the same site without getting in one another’s way. There is always at least one Administrator, who installs and manages the site. From there, you can create as many users as you need:

• Editor: creates and edits their own and other users’ content, as well as categories and tags. Editors don’t have access to Theme, plugin, or widget settings.

• Author: can create and publish their own Posts, but can’t edit content created by others.

• Contributor: writes content but can’t publish it; approval from a user with a higher-level role is required.

• Subscriber: signs in, edits only their own profile information, and accesses content reserved for registered users, but can’t make any other changes.

If one person is editing content and someone else tries to edit it too, WordPress alerts them so that no one’s work gets overwritten.

Pages and Posts: the two types of content

In WordPress, content is created in two ways: Posts and Pages. WordPress began as a “blog factory,” which is why Posts (articles) were its first content format.

• Post: an article with a visible creation date that belongs to a Category and is organized with Tags. When you publish it, WordPress adds it to the site’s RSS feed so subscribers are notified about new content. Ideal for news, launches, or current topics.

• Page: more permanent, business-style content, such as “About Us,” “Site Policies,” “Contact,” or the home page itself, which is a Page in WordPress. Pages don’t display a date, have no Tags, don’t belong to a Category, and don’t show sidebars.

WordPress.org and WordPress.com: two different sites

WordPress has two official sites with completely different purposes. On wordpress.com, you sign up for hosting from WordPress itself to build your site there: by default, your address is yoursite.wordpress.com, and using your own domain, plugins, or Themes requires payment. On wordpress.org, by contrast, you can download the platform for free with all its features.

The advantages of WordPress

• It’s free and open source.

• You don’t need to know how to code. Themes, plugins, and widgets let you build a sophisticated site without writing code.

• It works on phones and tablets. Most Themes are responsive: their design adapts to smaller screens.

• It includes a media library. You can upload photos, videos, and audio to use wherever you want, and simply pasting a YouTube link prompts WordPress to generate the player automatically.

• It has built-in comments. You decide which messages to publish, which to delete, and you can even edit them.

• It includes Gutenberg, its block editor, for designing and rearranging content by dragging and dropping elements.

• You can optimize it with plugins. For search engine optimization (SEO), there are free plugins such as Yoast SEO, Rank Math, and SEO PRESS. To speed up loading, there are caching plugins such as LiteSpeed Cache. You can find more tips in How to optimize your WordPress site for better performance.

• It has a huge community of users, forums, and free documentation, and Theme and plugin creators maintain their own help resources.

• It’s maintained by the WordPress Foundation, a nonprofit organization founded by Matt Mullenweg, the developer behind this CMS.

How to get started with WordPress

With a Duplika hosting plan, you don’t need to download or install anything: activate WordPress with one click and get started. Follow the guide How to easily install WordPress, or build your entire site from scratch with How to create a website step by step with WordPress.

If you’d rather install it yourself, download WordPress for free from WordPress.org, upload it to your server, and run the installer by following the official installation guide.