WordPress is software that allows you to create and manage websites without having to code every page from scratch. For example, you can use it to run a business website, a blog, a club website, a portfolio, or, with the appropriate extensions, an online store.
WordPress belongs to the group of Content Management Systems (CMS). A CMS largely separates your website's content from its technical presentation. You manage texts, images, and pages via a graphical user interface, while WordPress ensures in the background that this creates the website your visitors see in their browser.
Briefly explained: With WordPress you manage your website via a protected administration area. There you can create pages, publish texts and images, change the design and install additional functions via plugins. Programming skills are not required for many everyday tasks.
What exactly is WordPress? #
WordPress is a free, open-source content management system. Open source means that the software's source code is publicly accessible and WordPress is continuously developed by a worldwide community.
The first version of WordPress was released in 2003. Originally software heavily focused on blogs, it has since become a full-fledged CMS with which very different types of websites can be created.
It is important to distinguish between WordPress.org and WordPress.com. When we at CURIAWEB talk about WordPress, we usually mean the freely available WordPress software from WordPress.org, which is installed on your own web hosting. This gives you significantly more control over your website, plugins, themes, and technical settings.
What do you need for a WordPress website? #
For your WordPress website to be accessible on the internet, you fundamentally need three components:
- Domain the address of your website, for example yourcompany.ch.
- Web hosting the storage space and server resources where WordPress, your images, files, and database are hosted.
- WordPress the content management system you use to manage the website.
A simple way to imagine the interaction: The Domain is the address, the Hosting is the land and building and WordPress is the system you use to design and manage the rooms and their contents..
Technically, WordPress requires, among other things, PHP, a database such as MariaDB or MySQL, and HTTPS. On hosting suitable for WordPress, these technical prerequisites are already in place.
How does WordPress work? #
Simply put, WordPress consists of files and a database. The WordPress files contain the actual software as well as installed themes and plugins. The database stores, among other things, content and numerous settings for your website.
When a visitor accesses a page on your website, the web server processes the request. WordPress retrieves the required content and settings and generates the page from them, which is then displayed in the browser.
As a website owner, you normally do not have to deal with these technical processes in your daily routine. Management is done via the WordPress dashboard.
What is the WordPress dashboard? #
The WordPress Dashboard is the protected administration area of your website. By default, you can access it via an address in the following format:
After logging in, you can manage almost the entire website there, depending on your user permissions.
The most important areas include:
- Posts: for blog posts and other time-sensitive published content
- Pages: for permanently created content such as homepage, about us, or contact
- Media: for images, PDFs and other files
- Design for themes and, depending on the theme used, further design options
- Plugins: for additional features
- User: for user accounts and permissions
- Settings: for basic settings of your WordPress website
What individual menu items look like depends, among other things, on the theme being used, the installed plugins, and the permissions of your user account.
What is the difference between pages and posts? #
WordPress mainly distinguishes between Pages and Posts.
Pages are typically used for content that is a permanent part of the website structure. Examples include:
- Home
- About us
- Services
- Contact
- Imprint
Posts, on the other hand, are intended for continuously published content, such as blog articles, news, or guidebooks. They can additionally be organized with categories and tags.
We explain in detail how to use both content types correctly in our article Pages and Posts in WordPress: What is the difference?.
What are WordPress themes? #
A Theme determines an essential part of the design and presentation of your WordPress website. This can include, for example, fonts, colors, layouts, spacing, and the design of the header, footer, and various page types.
Depending on the type of theme, editing is done differently. Modern block themes can be edited using the WordPress Site Editor. There, blocks can be used to design not only page content, but also global areas such as headers and footers as well as templates.
Other themes bring their own settings or additional design options. Therefore, the operation of the design area can differ significantly between two WordPress websites.
You can find more about this later in our guide What is a WordPress theme and what is it used for?.
What are WordPress plugins? #
Plugins expand WordPress with functions that are not included in the basic system or not in the desired form.
You can think of plugins similarly to apps on a smartphone: WordPress provides the basic system, and plugins add specific features.
For example, plugins can be used to add the following functions:
- Contact forms
- Online stores
- SEO features
- Backups
- Safety features
- Newsletter
- Multilingualism
- Cache and performance features
However, you should not install plugins indiscriminately. Every additional extension consists of program code and can impact the security, compatibility, and speed of your website.
Recommendation: Only install plugins that you actually need and that come from a trusted source. Keep WordPress, themes, and plugins regularly updated.
We show you how to select and install plugins in the guide What is a WordPress plugin and how do you install plugins?.
How do you edit content in WordPress? #
WordPress uses by default for content editing the Block Editor, often also called Gutenberg. Content is built within it from individual blocks.
A paragraph is, for example, a block. Similarly, there are dedicated blocks for headings, images, lists, buttons, columns, galleries, and numerous other content elements.
This allows you to build a page step by step and move or edit individual elements without having to edit the HTML code of the entire page.
With modern block themes, this concept goes even further: areas like navigation, header, footer, and templates can also be designed using blocks via the Site Editor.
Can you create a website with WordPress without programming knowledge? #
Yes. For a normal WordPress website, programming skills are not strictly required. Installation, page creation, images, menus, plugins, and many design adjustments can be done via the graphical user interface.
HTML, CSS, PHP, and JavaScript only become more important when you want to develop custom features or get more involved in the technical structure of a website.
That is one of the advantages of WordPress: you can start without programming skills and expand the website almost indefinitely later on if needed.
What kinds of websites can be created with WordPress? #
WordPress is not limited to blogs. Depending on the theme, plugins, and technical setup, you can use it to implement the following projects, for example:
- Corporate websites
- websites for the self-employed
- Club websites
- Blogs and magazines
- Portfolios
- Landing pages
- Online stores
- multilingual websites
- Member areas
- Information and knowledge portals
How complex a WordPress website can become depends less on WordPress itself than on the chosen technical implementation, the extensions, and the available hosting resources.
Is WordPress free? #
The WordPress software itself is free and open source. However, for a self-hosted website, there are usually costs for the domain and web hosting.
Additionally, costs may arise if you use paid themes, premium plugins, or external services. These are optional and not fundamentally required to run a WordPress website.
Who takes care of updates and security? #
With a self-hosted WordPress website, you are also responsible for maintaining the WordPress installation. This includes, in particular, keeping WordPress itself as well as installed plugins and themes up to date.
Updates not only fix bugs or bring new features. They can also close known security vulnerabilities. Therefore, available updates should not be ignored for a long time.
Secure management of a WordPress website also includes regular backups, strong passwords, appropriately assigned user permissions, and careful handling of plugins and themes.
Important: WordPress is not „ready“ after installation. A website requires ongoing maintenance. This particularly includes updates, backups, and monitoring of the extensions used.
WordPress.org or WordPress.com – what is the difference? #
The similar names often lead to confusion among beginners.
WordPress.org provides the free WordPress software. You can install this with a web hosting provider and operate it yourself. You have extensive control over themes, plugins, files, and the technical configuration.
WordPress.com is by contrast a hosted service that offers WordPress as a platform. Depending on the chosen plan, different features and limitations apply there.
With classic CURIAWEB WordPress hosting, we use the self-hosted WordPress variant.
How do you start your first WordPress website? #
Once the domain and hosting are in place, the next step is to install WordPress. Afterwards, you log in to the dashboard, make the basic settings, and can begin building your website.
A sensible sequence for beginners is:
- Install WordPress
- Getting to know the WordPress dashboard
- Configure basic settings
- Select theme and determine design
- Plan site structure
- Create pages and content
- install required plugins
- Set up navigation
- Check website before publication
- Keep a permanent eye on updates and backups
In the next article, we will show you step by step how you Install WordPress with Softaculous.
Good to know: If you run WordPress with CURIAWEB and get stuck on a technical setting, you can contact our support. For questions about operation, you will find step-by-step guides on installation, setup, plugins, themes, content, security, and typical WordPress problems in this knowledge base.
