What exactly is WordPress? WordPress, at its core, is the simplest and most popular way to create your own website or blog. WordPress, in fact, powers 43.0 percent of all websites on the Internet. Yes, WordPress is likely to power more than one out of every four websites you visit.
On a more technical level, WordPress is an open-source content management system licensed under the GPLv2 license, which means that anyone can use or modify the WordPress software for free. A content management system (CMS) is essentially a tool that allows you to manage important aspects of your website, such as content, without having to know anything about programming.
As a result, WordPress makes website creation accessible to anyone – even those who aren’t developers.
What Types of Websites Can WordPress Produce?
Many years ago, WordPress was primarily used to create blogs, as opposed to more traditional websites. That hasn’t been the case in a long time. You can now create any type of website with WordPress thanks to changes to the core code and WordPress’ massive ecosystem of plugins and themes.
WordPress, for example, not only powers a large number of business sites and blogs, but it is also the most popular way to create an eCommerce store! WordPress allows you to create:
Business websites
eCommerce stores
Blogs
Portfolios
Resumes
Forums
Social networks
Membership sites
…pretty much anything else you can dream up.
Here’s how to install a WordPress theme.
What’s The Difference Between WordPress.org and WordPress.com?
We’ve gone into great detail about the differences between WordPress.org and WordPress.com, but here’s the short version:
WordPress.org, also known as self-hosted WordPress, is the free, open-source WordPress software that you can install on your own web host to create a completely unique website.
WordPress.com is a for-profit, paid service that runs on WordPress.org software. It’s easy to use, but you lose a lot of the flexibility that comes with self-hosted WordPress.
When most people say “WordPress,” they are referring to the self-hosted WordPress available at WordPress.org. Self-hosted WordPress.org is almost always the best option if you want to truly own your website.
To get started with self-hosted WordPress, you simply need to purchase web hosting and a domain name.
Do you require lightning-fast, secure, and developer-friendly hosting for your client sites? Kinsta was designed with WordPress developers in mind, and it includes a plethora of tools as well as a powerful dashboard. Examine our plans.
Who Invented WordPress, and How Long Has It Been in Existence?
WordPress began as a stand-alone project in 2003, originating as an offshoot of a previous project called b2/catalog.
Because WordPress is open-source software, it is now created by a large community of contributors. However, tracing WordPress’ origins back to its beginnings reveals that it was created by a collaboration between Matt Mullenweg and Mike Little.
Matt Mullenweg has largely become the face of WordPress since then. He is also the founder of Automattic, the company that operates the for-profit WordPress.com service.
Between its inception as a blog platform in 2003 and today, WordPress has had a long history…
But, suffice to say, WordPress has progressed and, thanks to its contributors and large community, has become the most popular solution for creating any type of website.
