WordPress

Written by Rocío Rodríguez

WordPress is a free content management system (CMS) that can be used to create websites, blogs and even applications. When we talk about websites, we refer to corporate websites, online stores, company directories, etc. It is a tool that has been developed in PHP language and for it to work we need a MySQL database and a server to host it. Its ease of use and installation makes it one of the most widely used content managers to date. It has become so popular that most hosting services already have a one-step WordPress installation option, so no advanced knowledge is required.

We can say that WordPress is made up of two parts, one is public and the other is private. The public part is the one that every user can access by typing the domain in the navigation bar or by searching for the page in the search engine. The other part, the private part, is the one that can only be accessed by people who have a username and password to the site and is used for the construction and administration of the website or blog. When accessing this hidden part of the manager, we find the WordPress Administration Panel, which is the place from which we can create, edit, delete and many more options.

Each time a user inserts our domain in the browser, a request is made to the server where we have hosted our WordPress, which retrieves the page and displays the website to the user.

WordPress main features

Allows the creation of different users

WordPress has the ability to create different users for the same domain, so that each one can manage the content from their own account. These users can be granted different permissions depending on the role they are given.

Each of these users can modify their profile from the administration panel at any time.

It has a wide variety of plugins

Another advantage offered by this CMS is the large number of plugins available. These allow us to modify our page to our liking, that is, they serve as a complement to the wide range of possibilities that WordPress already offers us. All these applications, better known as plugins, are created by developers and designers and their purpose is to add new functionalities to the template being used. Undoubtedly, one of the plugins that should not be missing on our website is Yoast SEO, which will allow us to improve the optimization of our page. Although WordPress is already a platform that takes good care of SEO aspects, it never hurts to make use of this application to improve them.

We can find paid plugins, also known as premium, and other free ones. Many of them are free of charge and offer a wide range of possibilities. However, the payment ones can cover needs that cannot be met by the former.

This type of application allows adding new functionalities to the website and extending the existing ones. The typology of plugins that we can find is infinite, but the most relevant ones are related to:

• The appearance and design of the page.
• Site security.
• Web positioning.
• Social media.
• Image galleries.

Features a large selection of templates

This content manager offers a wide selection of templates, also known as themes, which we can modify to our liking. These allow you to modify the design and appearance of your site. The decision to install one or the other will depend on the needs we have to face. There are several that are already installed in our WordPress by default. These are free templates, but if we want to go further and have a more complete one, we can always opt for one that is not free but that will meet our needs and fulfill our expectations.

Allows you to sort the content

WordPress is an ideal content manager if you have or are managing a website in which content is generated periodically, because it orders these publications chronologically. In addition, this CMS allows you to create entries and sort them using tags and categories. These help to organize the content of our page and to better position the publications. Another relevant aspect is the possibility of including menus and widgets. These allow us to display additional information to the user. Widgets are placed in the side menu of the page, in the footer or in the header, depending on the chosen theme or template.

Possibility to include pages

Another feature of this content manager is that it offers the possibility of inserting pages. This is a more static part of the website that you can use to present more static content that will be permanently on the site. For example, in an online shoe store the pages will be the types of shoes we have (men’s shoes, women’s shoes, children’s shoes…) and we can have a blog where we can insert entries. Therefore, it is an ideal content manager for creating a website with basic or no programming knowledge or to have a blog.

Auto-saving of information

This functionality of the tool makes it possible for us not to lose the information we are working with. From time to time, and automatically, the changes that we have applied to our entry are saved in draft format.

This generates security for the user, since we can face some situations in which we can lose the content: power outages, server down, computer crash…

Allows you to schedule publications

Another of the options offered by this content manager is the possibility of scheduling publications. We may create an article but not want to publish it at the same time. In that case, we can schedule it for the day and time of our choice. This functionality makes WordPress a dynamic CMS open to many possibilities.

Undoubtedly, WordPress is one of the preferred options if we are not willing to disburse a large amount of resources in the execution of a custom web development project. In addition, it is a search engine friendly platform that offers great design possibilities and is easy to install and configure.