Chapter 1. Introducing WordPress

Have you ever wanted to have a website at low cost, without the need to hire a team of developers and designers, without learning advanced PHP, and with almost unlimited extension possibilities? Or maybe you're more about getting into the world of website creation and becoming the next expert? If that's a yes to any of the above questions, WordPress is likely the platform you should look into.

These days, everyone has a good reason to have a website. It's not just large companies anymore. Individuals, families, and small or independent businesses all need to have one. Some individuals and small businesses don't have the financial resources to hire a website development company or a freelance web developer to create a website for them. In short, WordPress is an open source web software application that you can use to create and maintain an online website, even if you have the minimum of technical expertise.

Since it is a web application, WordPress does not need to be installed on your home computer, or any other machine under your control. It can live on the server (a kind of computer) that belongs to your website hosting company. It is also free, easy to use, and packed with excellent features. Originally, WordPress was an application meant to run a blog website, but it has now evolved into a fully-featured Content Management System (CMS).

Actually, at the time of writing, WordPress powers over 60 million websites in total, or in other words, one of every six websites on the internet. And if that's not enough, the newest version of the platform has been downloaded over 14 million times. It seems that joining the team is, indeed, a wise thing to do.

In this chapter, we'll explore: