Summary: Understanding WordPress interface and its features.
What Is WordPress?
WordPress is a free and open-source content management system that lets anyone create and manage websites easily. Starting as a blogging platform, the WordPress software has evolved to help users build various sites, from blogs and portfolios to eCommerce stores.
WordPress Interface
Toolbar
The Toolbar contains links to information About WordPress, as well as quick-links to create new posts, pages and links, add new plugins and users, review comments, and alerts to available updates to plugins and themes on your site.
Dashboard
Dashboard is the home for WordPress admin. which contains following information and options.
Welcome – Shows links for some of the most common tasks when setting up a new site.
At A Glance – Displays a summary of the content on your site and identifies which theme and version of WordPress you are using.
Activity – Shows the upcoming scheduled posts, recently published posts, and the most recent comments on your posts and allows you to moderate them.
Quick Draft – Allows you to create a new post and save it as a draft. Also displays links to the 5 most recent draft posts you’ve started.
WordPress Events and News — Latest local events and news from the official WordPress project.
PHP Info — Shows the current PHP version your WordPress website is running on and whether the update is needed.
Site Health Status — Overview of current state of your website and if any parts of it needs improvements.
Main Navigation
This contains the all the required navigation menus used to interact with WordPress.
Posts – Posts are the principal element (or content) of a blog. The Posts are the writings, compositions or discussions.
Media – Media is the images, video, recordings, and files, you upload and use in your blog. Media is typically uploaded and inserted into the content when writing a Post or Page.
Pages – A Page is another tool to add content to a WordPress site and is often used to present “static” information about the site; Pages are typically “timeless” in nature. A good example of a Page is the information contained in “About” or “Contact” Pages. A Page should not be confused with the time-oriented objects called Posts, nor should a WordPress Page be confused with the word “page” referring to any web page or HTML document on the Web.
Comments – In the Comments Screen you can edit and delete as well as mark comments as spam. Comments that are awaiting moderation can be marked as approved or previously approved comments can be unapproved. Multiple comments can be selected and approved, marked as spam, unapproved, or deleted. A section at the top of the Comments Screen displays the number of comments awaiting moderation and the number of approved comments. A search box allows you to find specific comments
Appearance – From Theme Customizer launched by Appearance > Customize, you can customize all other options such as Theme, Widgets, Menus and Header. Also, modern theme has other settings or options.
Plugins – Plugins allow you to add new features to your WordPress blog that don’t come standard with the default installation. There are a rich variety of Available Plugins for WordPress, and with the following Screens, plugin installation and management is a snap.
Users – Every blog probably has at least two users: admin, the account initially set up by WordPress, and the user account you, as the author/owner of the blog, use to write posts. If you want a person to be able to post to your blog, that person must have access to a user account; typically, every person will have her or his own user account.
Tools – WordPress Tools provide you the ability to speed up WordPress for your local machine, import content from other sources, export your content, or to upgrade your WordPress software to a new release.
Settings – In the Settings Administration Screen are all of the settings that define your blog as a whole: settings which determine how your site behaves, how you interact with your site, and how the rest of the world interacts with your site. The Settings Administration Screen and controls some of the most basic configuration settings for your site: your site’s title and location, who may register an account at your blog, and how dates and times are calculated and displayed.
WordPress Features
- Simplicity
Simplicity makes it possible for you to get online and get publishing, quickly. Nothing should get in the way of you getting your website up and your content out there. WordPress is built to make that happen. - Flexibility
With WordPress, you can create any type of website you want: a personal blog or website, a photoblog, a business website, a professional portfolio, a government website, a magazine or news website, an online community, even a network of websites. You can make your website beautiful with themes, and extend it with plugins. You can even build your very own application. - Publish with Ease
If you’ve ever created a document, you’re already a whizz at creating content with WordPress. You can create Posts and Pages, format them easily, insert media, and with the click of a button your content is live and on the web. - Publishing Tools
WordPress makes it easy for you to manage your content. Create drafts, schedule publication, and look at your post revisions. Make your content public or private, and secure posts and pages with a password. - User Management
Not everyone requires the same access to your website. Administrators manage the site, editors work with content, authors and contributors write that content, and subscribers have a profile that they can manage. This lets you have a variety of contributors to your website, and let others simply be part of your community. - Media Management
They say a picture says a thousand words, which is why it’s important for you to be able to quickly and easily upload images and media to WordPress. Drag and drop your media into the uploader to add it to your website. Add alt text and captions, and insert images and galleries into your content. We’ve even added a few image editing tools you can have fun with. - Full Standards Compliance
Every piece of WordPress generated code is in full compliance with the standards set by the W3C. This means that your website will work in today’s browser, while maintaining forward compatibility with the next generation of browser. Your website is a beautiful thing, now and in the future. - Easy Theme System
WordPress comes bundled with three default themes, but if they aren’t for you there’s a theme directory with thousands of themes for you to create a beautiful website. None of those to your taste? Upload your own theme with the click of a button. It only takes a few seconds for you to give your website a complete makeover. - Extend with Plugins
WordPress comes packed with a lot of features for every user. For every feature that’s not in WordPress core, there’s a plugin directory with thousands of plugins. Add complex galleries, social networking, forums, social media widgets, spam protection, calendars, fine-tune controls for search engine optimization, and forms. - Built-in Comments
Your blog is your home, and comments provide a space for your friends and followers to engage with your content. WordPress’s comment tools give you everything you need to be a forum for discussion and to moderate that discussion. - Search Engine Optimized
WordPress is optimized for search engines right out of the box. For more fine-grained SEO control, there are plenty of SEO plugins to take care of that for you. - Use WordPress in Your Language
WordPress is available in more than 70 languages. If you or the person you’re building the website for would prefer to use WordPress in a language other than English, that’s easy to do. - Easy Installation and Upgrades
WordPress has always been easy to install and upgrade. Plenty of web hosts offer one-click WordPress installers that let you install WordPress with, well, just one click! Or, if you’re happy using an FTP program, you can create a database, upload WordPress using FTP, and run the installer. - Importers
Using blog or website software that you aren’t happy with? Running your blog on a hosted service that’s about to shut down? WordPress comes with importers for Blogger, LiveJournal, Movable Type, TypePad, Tumblr, and WordPress. If you’re ready to make the move, we’ve made it easy for you. - Own Your Data
Hosted services come and go. If you’ve ever used a service that disappeared, you know how traumatic that can be. If you’ve ever seen adverts appear on your website, you’ve probably been pretty annoyed. Using WordPress means no one has access to your content. Own your data, all of it — your website, your content, your data. - Freedom
WordPress is licensed under the GPL which was created to protect your freedoms. You are free to use WordPress in any way you choose: install it, use it, modify it, distribute it. Software freedom is the foundation that WordPress is built on. - Community
As the most popular open source CMS on the web, WordPress has a vibrant and supportive community. Ask a question on the support forums and get help from a volunteer, attend a WordCamp or Meetup to learn more about WordPress, read blogs posts and tutorials about WordPress. Community is at the heart of WordPress, making it what it is today. - Contribute
You can be WordPress too! Help to build WordPress, answer questions on the support forums, write documentation, translate WordPress into your language, speak at a WordCamp, write about WordPress on your blog. Whatever your skill, we’d love to have you!
Subdirectories vs Subdomains vs WordPress Multisite
It’s essential to draw a clear distinction between installing WordPress in a subdirectory, installing it on a subdomain, and installing a WordPress multisite network. Each has their own strengths, weaknesses, and applications.
Subdirectories
A subdirectory is a directory within the main domain, such as yourdomain.com/blog. They’re still part of that single website, which can make them easier to manage and optimize. In particular, a subdirectory install can be beneficial for SEO, as it inherits the authority of the main domain.
Subdomains
A subdomain is a separate website within the same root domain, such as blog.yourdomain.com. Subdomains are independent entities, which can affect their SEO performance and ranking.
They also require more setup and management than subdirectories do, as each subdomain can be considered a unique site. Subdomain installs are often used to partition certain types of content or serve a particular subset of users, such as a dedicated support site, or versions of the site in other languages. One benefit of this approach is that it can help prevent your keywords from being diluted, as search engines treat them as separate sites.
WordPress Multisites
WordPress multisite allows you to run multiple WordPress websites from one single codebase, sharing the same WordPress core, plugins, and themes across the network. All sites within the network share the same WordPress core files and are stored in the same WordPress directory.
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