An Introduction to Wordpress

What is a Wordpress?

WordPress is a Free OpenSource Software that works exceptionally well as a content management system.
It is the best blogging tool available, but you can also use it to build a lightning fast website.

First off, since WordPress is open source, it’s free.
Since its open source it also has a thriving community of developers constantly improving the software and creating plugins to expand its functionality.
WordPress lets you create pages (stand alone content) and posts (time-driven content) to flesh out the content of your site.
The site’s look and feel can be changed instantly using thousands of Wordpress themes available on the Internet. Wordpress themes are custom designs for your website that control how everything is laid out and organized.
Since Wordpress is written in PHP it is highly customizable, so you can use it for just about anything

What is a blog?

A blog is a collection of commentary posted on the internet. There are different types of blogs such as personal, corporate, political, podcasts (i.e. audio blogging), video, and more. Blog posts are typically displayed in reverse chronological order with the latest posts right at the top.

What is a Dashboard?

The Dashboard is where to manage your blog. You can change settings, select themes, write or manage content, add or remove users, add images, buy upgrades, install plugin’s, and a ton more through the Dashboard.

How to start a WordPress blog?

All you need to do is open a hosting account, where you can have the Wordpress application installed.

Where to log in?

Once you have your Wordpress blog installed, you need to login to the WordPress administration area from where you can write posts and articles, manage comments, change your theme, and so on.

To log in the WP admin panel, navigate to its login page, by typing the URL in your browser:
http://www.your_domain_name.whatever/wp-admin/

What is a CMS?

A Content Management System (CMS) is software that makes it easy for nontechies to organize and manage web display content on the Internet. That’s big, because it makes maintaining and updating a website simple and affordable.

It is an enormous boost to the small business or organization that doesn’t have a massive tech budget.
It simplifies the process and puts the website back into the hands of content creators, allowing you to spend more time on what really matters—your content.

Benefits of Using WordPress as a CMS

Modestly priced or Free

Using WordPress for your website means it’s cheap or free.

It’s That Easy

WordPress is easy to use. If you can send an e-mail, use Microsoft Word or set up a Facebook account, then you can use WordPress. It’s website creation for non-techies.

Do It Yourself

With WordPress you enter the Do-It-Yourself world. No more waiting for and paying a programmer to fix a tiny error, saving you time and money.

Many Users, Many Places

WordPress is online and offers multiple users, which means you’re not the only one who can fix something in a pinch and you can access it from anywhere. That also means your important site is backed up on a secure server with multiple redundancies.

Climb the Search Results

WordPress also makes it easier to optimize your content for search engines. That means your site is more likely to land on the first page of Google results, which means people are more likely to find you.

Disadvantages of Wordpress

Wordpress theme templates are not very simple to modify and change around without tech skills

The functions system is complicated and you need to understand some php

You cannot easily control where specific widgets and other elements can be placed without coding and/or tag knowledge

There is still limitations to running any kind of user/member based site

WordPress is not modular in layout ability

WordPress is not usable as a fully functional CMS for large websites or portal based sites unless you are highly skilled with HTML and PHP along with a lot of time.