I used WordPress to create this Blog. I wanted something easy to setup and use as a Blog as I learned the steps to become a Full Stack Web Developer. After about a year of learning various technologies used to develop web applications, I realized something about WordPress. WordPress is a Website!
I have done countless searches on what is WordPress. The common answers are listed below:
- WordPress is a Content Management System (CMS)
- WordPress is a complex tool to build websites
- WordPress is a set of files and a database
- etc.
When you select a hosting plan and select WordPress as your site platform, you are actually creating a fully enabled website. Initially, I thought I was using WordPress to create a website. I assumed that WordPress was a type of IDE (Integrated Development Environment) that was used to construct and maintain the website being published. This is not the case.
When I was learning how to create a web application, I learned that a lot of extra files/pages were needed. These extra files/pages were used to help develop and test the web site or used as temporary files to setup some feature of the web site. For my first project, I created a login feature. One aspect of that login feature was to give special privileges to an “admin” user. This user would get access to all the files/pages/database from the codebase to perform testing and maintenance. I took note of this and planned to create this option for all of the web sites that I create in my standard workflow. After this experience, I noticed the similarities to how WordPress works.
Recently, my sister asked me to create a login option to set up subscribers to her WordPress website. I set out to complete this project from the viewpoint of developing a non-Wordpress site. As I was developing this option for her website I realized that the login process for her subscribers would be the same login process that was being used as a WordPress administrator. It was at this moment, I realized that WordPress was the actual website, not just an IDE to create the website. All the features that are available as an “admin” user are just additional files/pages/databases specialized to manage the content of your website.
From the definition that WordPress is a CMS, I turns out that all websites are based on managing content, whether it is fixed or changing. The benefit of WordPress is that it supplies the “Back End” admin interface in the form of a web page to manage your content, so that you do not have to create it yourself. What an amazing concept! Using your own website to help maintain your website.
It turns out that WordPress automatically built-in the feature of user login right from the start (6 privilege levels to be exact). All you have to do is decide what interface you want to provide to subscribers to login (probably a simple login menu button) and what privilege you will allow them after login. At this point I truly learned the power of WordPress as an option for building your web site. With this understanding, the entire system of WordPress become easier to accept and work with. This does not remove the tremendous learning curve needed to master WordPress, but it helps as a web applications developer to use this powerful system effectively.