WordPress For Dummies. Sabin-Wilson Lisa

      WordPress® For Dummies®, 7th Edition

      Published by: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030-5774, www.wiley.com

      Copyright © 2015 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey

      Published simultaneously in Canada

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      Library of Congress Control Number: 2015944209

      ISBN 978-1-119-08857-8 (pbk); ISBN 978-1-119-08873-8 (ebk); ISBN 978-1-119-08855-4 (ebk)

      Foreword

      There used to be a program from Microsoft called FrontPage that was the first visual interface for creating websites that I saw. It worked like Word or Publisher, so with very little knowledge, I was able to hack together the world's worst website in just a few hours without worrying about what was going on under the hood.

      Years later when I look back at that website, I cringe, but at the time it was incredibly empowering. The software, though crude, helped me publish something anybody in the entire world could see. It opened up a world I had never imagined before.

      Now, using software like WordPress, you can have a blog or website light years beyond my first one in both functionality and aesthetics. However, just as my first web experience whetted my appetite for more, I hope that your experience entices you to explore the thousands of free plugins, themes, and customizations possible with WordPress, many of which are explained in this book.

      WordPress is more than just software; it is a community, a rapidly evolving ecosystem, and a set of philosophies and opinions about how to create the best web experience. When you embrace it, you'll be in good company. WordPress users include old media organizations such as CNN, The New York Times, and The Wall Street Journal, along with millions of personal bloggers like myself for whom a WordPress blog is a means of expression.

      Introduction

      It was 2003 when I discovered the WordPress blogging software. Way back then (and in Internet years, that’s actually quite a lot of time) I used Movable Type as my blogging platform. My friend Chelle introduced me to the WordPress software. “Try it,” she said. “You’ll really like it.”

      As a creature of habit, I felt reluctant to make the change. But I haven’t looked back. I’ve been with WordPress ever since.

      WordPress started out a tool for blogging. Authors, students, parents, business owners, academics, journalists, hobbyists – you name it – use blogs as a matter of course. Over the past decade, WordPress has emerged as the premier content management system available on the Internet today. WordPress software currently powers 25 percent of the websites you see on the World Wide Web – that means 1 in every 4 websites you run across are powered by WordPress.

      Today, WordPress is so much more than a blogging tool. Individuals, organizations, and corporations are using WordPress to build their entire web presence. WordPress has grown into a valuable solution for everything from selling products on the Internet to membership sites, blogging, media – pretty much anything you think you can do with your website can be accomplished with WordPress.

      To a brand-new user, some aspects of WordPress can seem a little bit intimidating. After you take a look under the hood, however, you begin to realize how intuitive, friendly, and extensible the software is.

      This book presents an insightful look at WordPress and covers managing and maintaining your WordPress-powered website through the use of plugins, themes, and using the intuitive WordPress Dashboard to manage your content. If you’re interested in taking a detailed look at the website-building tool provided by WordPress, you happen to have just the right book in your hands.

      About This Book

      This book covers all the important aspects of WordPress that new users need to know to begin using the software for their own website. In this book, I cover the software package available at https://wordpress.org by highlighting all the important topics, such as these: