{"id":36649,"date":"2023-08-15T07:00:16","date_gmt":"2023-08-15T14:00:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dhblog.dream.press\/blog\/?p=36649"},"modified":"2025-05-26T05:27:10","modified_gmt":"2025-05-26T12:27:10","slug":"what-is-wordpress","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www-dev.dreamhost.com\/blog\/what-is-wordpress\/","title":{"rendered":"What Is WordPress? Beginner\u2019s Guide To The Most Popular CMS"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

From the blue dress\/white dress controversy<\/a> to the ongoing saga of the pizza rat(s)<\/a> \u2014 hundreds<\/i> of moments have purported to \u201cbreak the internet.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, there’s just one<\/i> platform upon which a huge percentage of the entire internet is built.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As of right now, in 2023, WordPress powers about 43% of all active websites around the world<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, if you want to create or have been tasked with managing a successful website and need to find the best solution on the market, WordPress<\/a> is your best bet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While there\u2019s no one perfect platform, WordPress comes pretty close. It\u2019s easily adaptable to all types of sites, from simple blogs to booming online stores. The benefits of using WordPress are numerous, and it\u2019s incredibly easy to get started with.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In this article, we\u2019re going to introduce you to WordPress and explain what it\u2019s all about. We\u2019ll discuss some of its history, the tech that makes it tick, the core elements you should know about, and even the basics of how to get a WordPress site up and running for the first time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Without further ado, let\u2019s get to know the<\/i> world\u2019s most popular CMS (And yeah, we\u2019ll cover what that means, too!).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

An Introduction To WordPress<\/h2>\n\n\n\n\n\n
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WordPress<\/h3>\n

WordPress is an open-source Content Management System (CMS). Since it is free and accessible, WordPress is used to power almost any type of website, from blogs to e-commerce businesses.<\/p>\n \n Read More <\/a>\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

WordPress is a content management system (CMS) that you can use to build and manage a website. The first version was created in 2003<\/a> by Matt Mullenweg and Mike Little as an alternate version of another program called b2\/cafelog.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From the very beginning, WordPress was designed as open-source software<\/a>. We\u2019ll talk about this concept in more depth later, but in a nutshell, it means that WordPress is maintained by a large community of primarily volunteer programmers and designers. As a result, WordPress has remained affordable while growing more powerful over time, even as new features and functionality are added with every new version.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This summer (2023), World Wide Web Technology Surveys looked at millions of websites and found that WordPress was the CMS for 63% of the websites<\/a> where they could discern what CMS was in play. It\u2019s safe to say that no matter what you want to build, you can likely do it on WordPress.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But before we dive into all the cool features and how to get a WordPress website off the ground, let\u2019s talk about one interesting caveat newcomers ought to know.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is a difference between WordPress.com<\/b> and WordPress.org<\/b><\/a>. The former (.com) is a hosting solution and site builder from Automattic that enables you to create a limited site online for free, with upgrades at higher pricing tiers. The latter (.org) is open-source software that you can download (totally free) and use to create a custom site, which requires a web hosting<\/a> service (not free).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Note: This is why you\u2019ll sometimes see WordPress.org referred to as \u201cself-hosted WordPress.\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since WordPress.org tends to be a more flexible and powerful platform, we\u2019ll be mostly focusing on it throughout the rest of this article. However, note that both platforms possess several of the same core features and can make many similar end products. Even if you find yourself more interested in the simplicity of a WordPress.com site at the end of the day, we promise that reading this guide won\u2019t be for naught.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Psst: If you\u2019re really interested in all the nitty, gritty details, don\u2019t miss our robust guide <\/i>The Difference Between WordPress.com & WordPress.org<\/i><\/a>. <\/i><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Deepen Your Knowledge: Getting To Know CMS<\/h3>\n\n\n\n\n\n
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Algorithm Update<\/h3>\n

An algorithm update refers to any changes or upgrades to a pre-existing search engine algorithm. These updates are made to improve the accuracy and relevance of search results and can often result in large ranking fluctuations.<\/p>\n \n Read More <\/a>\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Content management systems, as a concept, were developed to enable users without a lot of technical savvy to produce, publish, and manage, web content.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For businesses, CMS software grants non-technical people the freedom to execute their content marketing strategies<\/a> (on the front end) and web developers the freedom from getting mired in content work that takes them away from their technical tasks (on the back end). They also pretty much broke the world of dynamic website building wide open for the masses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today, most CMS software makes much of this possible by way of a WYSIWYG (pronounced \u201cwiz-ee-wig\u201d) editor \u2014 meaning “what you see is what you get.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n

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WYSIWYG Editor<\/h3>\n

WYSIWYG is an acronym that stands for \u2018what you see is what you get.\u2019 In web design, this typically refers to a web building interface that allows users to edit their website using an interface that instantly shows the end result.<\/p>\n \n Read More <\/a>\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s called this because it displays content much like it will look on the live website, even while it\u2019s still being built. This makes it easy for folks to create blog posts, web pages, and other content-rich elements without knowing coding languages.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

WordPress is one kind of CMS software, and there are a great many more out there. There are also different classes of CMS software, from the headless CMS<\/a> to the much simpler web CMS \u2014 which is where our friends over at WordPress.com fall.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While we don\u2019t have the space to go deep into all the nuances of CMS right now if you want to learn more, visit The Comprehensive Guide To Content Management Systems<\/i><\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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When To Use WordPress<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

While WordPress was originally designed for bloggers, because of its robust capabilities, today it can be used to build a whole host of digital entities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Not sure a WordPress site will work for you? It probably will if you\u2019re building anything like these various web properties:<\/p>\n\n\n\n