WordPress CMS
The #1 content management system (CMS) in the world
WordPress® gives you the ability to create any kind of website you want. It’s open source and easy to use—no wonder it’s the world’s most popular CMS! Unlock your creativity.1
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WordPress CMS basics
Why is WordPress the most popular CMS?
An introduction to the WordPress CMS
Creating and running a website requires a lot of different tasks. For example, you have to write and publish content, manage the design of your site, administer to your users, and so on.
A content management system (CMS) is the perfect solution. As the name suggests, the primary job of a CMS is to make content management easier. A CMS can help you with this work, since it provides a fully-featured platform for creating content, publishing it online, and managing it. All of this can be done through an interface that doesn’t require you to have much technical know-how.
At the same time, you’ll find that many CMSs provide a developer-friendly structure under the hood. This means that if you do have coding experience, you can easily mold them to meet your exact needs.
How does WordPress work?
WordPress works by using a combination of PHP and MySQL to store and retrieve data. When users visit a WordPress site, the browser sends a request to the web server hosting site. The web server then sends this request to the WordPress software, which retrieves the necessary data from the MySQL database and uses PHP to generate the HTML code sent back to the user’s browser.
Now, let’s dive into what makes WordPress so beginner-friendly and intuitive. See below for some of the tools you’ll use to build a website with WordPress.
What does it mean to be open source?
When software is open source, it means the source code of that software program or application is available for anyone to access, modify, and distribute. Developers (and other users) can view and customize the underlying code and contribute improvements, bug fixes, and new features to the project.
Open source software is licensed, granting users the right to use, modify, and distribute the software for any purpose as long as they comply with the license terms. Open source software is generally free to use and distribute and can be modified and customized to suit specific needs and requirements.
A primary advantage of open source software is that it promotes collaboration and innovation, as developers and users can contribute to the project and build upon each others’ work.
WordPress is an excellent example of open source software, and its source code is freely available to anyone who wants to access and modify it. The effect is a vibrant ecosystem of developers and users who have contributed to the development of WordPress and built a wide range of plugins, themes, and other tools around the platform.
WordPress is licensed under the GPL v2 (or later), which provides four core freedoms:
- The 1st Freedom: To run the program for any purpose.
- The 2nd Freedom: To study how the program works and change it to make it do what you wish.
- The 3rd Freedom: To redistribute.
- The 4th Freedom: To distribute copies of your modified versions to others.
What does that mean for you? It means you can use WordPress to power your website however you wish.
What is website hosting?
Website hosting or web hosting is a service that enables you to put your content on the internet. It provides space on a server that stores your website’s files and makes them available online.
Servers are the structures powering the world wide web—made up of both hardware and software. Their job is to process online user requests and deliver content via browsers.
Through a series of web protocols, servers can access a website by following a web address that’s typed into your browser. The type of server and optimization tools you choose will significantly affect your site’s performance.
Servers require lots of resources, maintenance, and management, so web hosting is provided by private companies. These are typically referred to as “web hosts” or “hosting providers” (or just “hosts”). Each web host will usually offer multiple hosting plans that vary based on server configurations and added features.
See how WP Engine empowers
Brands
Red Door Interactive helps luxury kitchen appliance retailer Thermador achieve dramatic performance improvements by migrating its WordPress site to WP Engine’s fully managed platform.
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Businesses
WP Engine agency partner Frank Digital helps Gregory Jewellers reimagine eCommerce on WordPress and increases time on site engagement by nearly 70%.
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Agencies
Creative tech agency whiteGREY leverages WP Engine Headless Platform to quickly deliver a competitive pricing tool for Volvo Car Australia.
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Developers
Leading travel blog rebuilds site leveraging Gutenberg block editor and WP Engine, reducing plugin bloat by 3X and improves page load speed by 6X!
“WordPress affords businesses of all sizes greater freedom and control over their digital experiences, allowing them to adopt new technologies and experiment with new campaigns and business models at the pace and level of commitment that suits their needs and the needs of their audiences, all while positively impacting the bottom-line of their business.“
“WP Engine gives me peace of mind in knowing I won’t ever have to miss another of my daughter’s birthdays because on their platform, I know I’m in good hands.”
“WP Engine’s platform provides us with significant performance gains, but more importantly, our WP Engine team has been an amazing partner for Microsoft. This allows our teams to focus more on our core functions, without the worry of scale, security, or performance.”
“WP Engine has such great staff and help with onboarding is the most important phase. This was the easiest site migration I’ve ever had to do.”
“We chose to build on WP Engine’s platform because it goes well beyond hosting and allows our team to focus on site design and storytelling, knowing that site performance and security are already taken care of.”
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WordPress CMS
FAQ
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