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Introducing WordPress

2:51 with Zac Gordon

In this introductory video we go over what WordPress is and what it can do. At the end of the video you should be prepared to continue with the other videos, which go into more depth in how WordPress works and what it can and can't do.

NOTE: WordPress.org versus WordPress.com

In this course we are working with the self-hosted version of WordPress found at WordPress.org. There is also a hosted version of WordPress offered at wordpress.com.

If you would like to learn more about the difference between the two, please see this video from our Course on WordPress.com: WordPress.org versus WordPress.com

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    [SOUND] WordPress is an open source content management

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    system that allows you to easily manage and build websites.

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    In this introductory course, we're going to go over what WordPress is,

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    why people love it, and when it's the right solution for your sites.

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    WordPress is a content management system.

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    That means, that you get a nicely designed admin area for

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    managing all of the content on your site, whether it's posts, pages or media.

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    WordPress also allows for

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    plugins to be able to extend the built in functionality of WordPress.

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    Thousands of plugins exist and you can find them, both for

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    free, and for a small price.

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    WordPress also powers a large portion of the web.

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    They say about 25% of all major sites on the Internet are powered by WordPress.

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    Because of this, we can find a lot of themes and

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    a lot of plugins that are available for WordPress.

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    WordPress themes determine what your site looks like and there are tons of

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    themes that are available, again, for either free or for a small price.

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    You should have no problem finding a ready made WordPress theme for

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    just about any type of site you're trying to build.

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    Because there's a large community around WordPress, it's easy to find support.

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    Whether that's just how to use WordPress, or

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    beginning to learn to develop for WordPress.

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    WordPress is an open source project, which means all of the code for

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    it is available for free online for anybody to use or to contribute to.

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    There are a lot of talented developers

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    around the world that contribute regularly to this open source project.

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    WordPress also comes with regular security and

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    new feature release updates throughout the year.

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    You'll often hear about the company Automattic, and

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    the name Matt Mullenweg, as the major contributors and influencers of WordPress.

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    Matt started WordPress back in 2003, and

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    then built the company Automattic, which has employees directly contributing

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    to WordPress as well as other WordPress related products.

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    So now that we know a little bit more about what WordPress is at a conceptual

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    level, let's get more technical with how content management systems,

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    like WordPress, work behind the scenes.

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    Seeing this will help us better understand in more detail

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    what WordPress is truly capable and not capable of doing.

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