After years of building my own websites from scratch, I thought WordPress limited my ability to design freely. But after a couple of years of working with WordPress, I now prefer WordPress to any other platform.
WordPress is an open sourced software available to use for free. And the truth is with WordPress, you site can still become anything you can imagine. And with thousands of plugins and themes available from the community, you will find you can practically do MORE than you ever imagined with your site.
The core software was built by hundreds of volunteers and has a huge collection of plugins, widgets, and customized themes available for any user. And the best part is that the software is free and is loaded on the server itself so that you can modify your website from any internet connected device. You don’t need to have any software loaded on your device.
To get started, you simply install the software on your server and install a pre-built theme you purchased or downloaded free, or a completely custom theme which may be one you created or designed yourself.
Advantages to Using WordPress
WordPress remains the most popular blogging software. Advantages to using it over other blogging platforms include but are not limited to:
- A huge developer community to offer support or contributions.
- Probably the biggest list of plugins available for a website software package.
- Completely Customizable.
- Support for Multiple Sites within one installation using WordPress Multisite.
- Offers one of the most complete documentations available (WordPress Codex).
- Expandable to be a social platform (BuddyPress) or an eCommerce CMS.
- Comment functionality built inside software.
- Allowance for Multiple Users with different roles.
The Dashboard
Once you log in, you will be taken the WordPress admin dashboard where you can create, edit, and delete content that goes onto your website.
WordPress 3.9.1 Dashboard
Within the WordPress dashboard you can:
- Create posts
- Create pages
- Edit, approve or remove comments depending on your settings
- Adjust site-wide settings
- Install plugins
- Install widgets
- Customize code
- Add, edit, or delete menus
- Maintain a gallery of media items include photos, audio, video, and even common file types.
- Export and import settings
- Change or apply a new theme
- Update plugins and even WordPress itself
- Even more…
Updating text on a page is as easy as using a basic Text Editor like Microsoft Word.
Having all of these features makes updating or changing your WordPress website a breeze. WordPress allows you to tailor fit it to your specific needs. You can see some of the sites we have built using WordPress on our portfolio at MontereyPremier.com
Learning the Ropes
The best way to get familiar with WordPress is to jump right in and start adding new posts, pages, or plugins and experiment with them. If you become interested in developing your own themes, you can start the same way by dissecting the code after you download it. Look at the files that make WordPress function and change code around until it fits your needs. Don’t be afraid to break things. That is how you learn.
Useful WordPress Resources
- Download WordPress
- WordPress Plugins
- WordPress Themes
- WordPress Support
We would love to help you get started on your next Divi project. Visit us at Monterey Premier to find out more.
I hope you find this article useful.
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