What is WordPress?
WordPress is a free and open-source content management system (CMS) written in PHP and is paired with a MySQL or MariaDB database. WordPress Development features include themes which are used as the overall look and feel of the website and plugins which allows you to add numerous levels of functionality to your website.
WordPress is used to power almost 40% of the internet and is on a 5% rise year to year. There are more than 64 million WordPress websites on the internet and over 600+ go live each and every day.
What are WordPress Themes?
WordPress users may install themes or code one themselves. Themes allow users to change the look and functionality of a WordPress website without altering any code. You must have at least one theme to be present and designed to WordPress standards with structured PHP, valid HTML and CSS.
There are thousands of themes out there and it is important to choose a theme that has a high rating and has been along for a while. You do not want to use a theme and in a month or so find out the developer is no longer updating it and then you have to find a new theme. A few themes I use frequently are Astra, Essentials and Themify. All can be used in connection with a drag and drop builder like Eliminator. I will talk about Elementor which is a plugin next.
What are WordPress Plugins?
A WordPress plugin allows users to extend the features and functionality of a website. WordPress.org has almost 60K plugins available, each one offers different custom features enabling users to customize their sites without altering the sites code. There are also premium plugin which are paid plugins with a yearly fee that offer even more customization. These can all range from plugins that allow you to add catalog or brochure downloads to customizing a site to specific users.
There are some things you have to look out for with having a lot of plugins on a website. Too many plugins can cause your site to be really slow and it can also cause compatibility issues if one plugin does not play well with another.
Capo Web Design and WordPress Development
Capo Web Design inc. has over 12 years experience with WordPress. If you need a custom theme for your site, we can code that. If you need a custom plugin we can code that as well. We have designed and built over 50 WordPress websites for happy customers. Whether it is a blog, website or an ecommerce store, we can do it all for you. Contact us today and find out more.