WordPress Basics for Beginners

Every day people make a lot of purchases online or find the contact details of the desired company in search engines, so even small companies need a website to be competitive. But to make a website from scratch on WordPress yourself (if you are not a professional developer), you need to spend a huge amount of time and dig through a lot of material to create at least something similar to a website. And after 2-3 attempts you will really succeed. But for beginners there is a much simpler way - creating a website using online builders.

uKit is perhaps the simplest website builder in the niche. With its help, you can literally put together a decent business card website for a company, a personal online portfolio, or even a small product showcase in just 2-3 hours.

The ease of use of uKit in no way diminishes its functionality. Out of the box, adaptive templates from more than 40 different business topics, useful business widgets, and the ability to fine-tune the site for desktop or mobile are available. There is no need for additional installation of plugins and scripts.

You can edit your website in uKit immediately after registration, without hassles with choosing a hosting provider and setting up the engine. In this case, the finished result of the work is visible immediately. Publishing and linking a domain takes place in a couple of clicks - and the site is available for viewing on the Internet.

Installing WordPress

We've decided on the name of the site, so it's time to move on to installing WordPress.

The easiest way, if you have chosen Sweb.ru, is in the control panel, go to the “Installing programs” section, and click “Install” next to the WordPress icon. Usually the same can be done on any other hosting.

The second method is manual installation.

We go to the site WordPress.org and download the latest current version of the program.

After downloading, you need to unzip the archive on your computer. In the picture below, the files that represent WordPress.

Now we need to upload these files to our hosting. To do this, it is better to use an FTP client, such as FileZilla (it's free). And with its help we upload files to the public_html folder or to the root directory of the domain, on any other hosting.

After successfully downloading the files, you need to create a database. In the control panel, go to the MySQL Databases section and click “Create a database”. In the window that opens, create a database name and password. You need to remember them, you will need them in the next step.

The next step will be to link the database with the files that we uploaded to the hosting. The database stores all site settings, articles, pages and other information.

To connect the storage location of our future publications with the skeleton of the site, you need to specify the database name, username and password in the wp-config.php file. The username is the same as the database name. See the picture below.

And now the last step, installing WordPress. In the address bar of your browser, write the address of your site, and you will be automatically redirected to the installation page my-site.ru/wp-admin/install.php, where you will need to specify the remaining settings, such as the site name, administrator login and password, as well as administrator's email.

Congratulations! WordPress installation is complete! We can move on.

Choosing a WordPress Theme

Now we have reached the decisive step in the fate of your site. No, of course, in the future the theme or template can be changed, but it is better to immediately approach this issue thoroughly, so as not to redo half of the site and waste precious time. When choosing a theme for WordPress, there are two options: a free theme and a paid (premium) theme. We will briefly discuss these two approaches.

Free themes

In the administrative panel, in the “Appearance” section, select the “Themes” tab and then click “Add a new theme”.

Next, go to the “Characteristics filter” and check the box next to the “Adaptive design” field. After this, we will be shown WordPress themes with ready-made responsive design, which will allow us not to create a separate mobile version of the site and will save you a lot of time and effort.

The same can be done on the WordPress.org website by going to the “Themes” section. Only in this case, you will first need to download the theme to your computer, unzip it, and then use the “Download theme” function in the same section of the control panel and, after installation, click activate.

Premium Templates

After years of experience working with WordPress websites, I can assure you that it is better to buy premium WordPress templates. They are more functional, most often have several design options, are easy to customize, and in the future you will see for yourself that this choice is correct.

For example, you can buy a theme on themeforest.net. Almost all premium WordPress templates have a responsive layout, but there are a number of characteristics that a theme must meet in order to be comfortable to work with:

1) Translation into Russian
2) Visual Composer or Page Builder (built-in designer)

Choose a theme that suits you and move on to customization.

WordPress Setup

At the next stage, we will need to concentrate on the basic WordPress settings, which are necessary for the correct display of the site and indexing in search engines. You will also need to configure the configuration of the selected theme.

Go to the “Settings” section and select the “General” tab. Then, as shown in the figure, we enter the data.

Below, indicate the time zone, which day in the site calendar will be the first, date format and language. The selected site name will be displayed on the main page in the TITLE tag, and on other pages after a straight line. At the initial stage, we close registration on the site so that hordes of bots do not knock down registration on it.

Writing settings

In this section, you need to indicate only the main category for your publications. By default, this is the Uncategorized category. In the future, it can be renamed or replaced with another one.

Reading Settings

In this settings item, we choose what will be displayed on the main page: the latest blog posts or any other page. The first option is suitable for blogs or news sites, but for commercial and other sites, it is better to create the main page separately and make it the main page in this section. For the latest posts, you can create a separate News or Blog page.

Here we set how many records will be displayed on the records page, and whether the record will be displayed in full or will it be just an announcement. In addition, at the development stage, it is better to check the box next to “Ask search engines not to index the site”, and then remember to remove it accordingly.

Discussion Settings

The “Discussion Settings” section allows you to choose how comments will be published on your site, where notifications of new comments will be sent, which comments will be marked as spam and which will go to moderation, whether you can respond to comments from other users (tree comments ) And so on. If the traffic volume is more than 300 uniques per day, bots will systematically enter your site and leave spam comments. To protect yourself from them, use the Akismet plugin, it is free and automatically detects bot comments.

In principle, you can leave the default settings.

Media files

Permalinks

Here you need to choose how the URL of your pages and posts will be formed. Will it be a conventional language or will the link contain a date and name or only the name, will it be generated automatically or set manually.

Below you can set prefixes for categories and tags.

When creating a website on WordPress, the theme or template you choose is of great importance. Themes have a different set of settings and functionality. Go to “Appearance” - “Discussion Settings”.

Let's look at customizing the theme using the default Twenty Fifteen theme as an example.

Here you need to indicate the name of the site and a short description of what the site is about. Upload a logo that will be displayed at the top of the site, and also add a site icon (favicon), which will be shown to the left of the site name in the browser tab.

If you want, you can set a background image for the top of the site; to do this, add an image in this settings item that is at least 954 pixels in height and 1300 in length.

Or you can leave the background white and add nothing.

Background image

The background of the entire site can be customized here. But it’s better to leave it in a neutral white color so that neither the pictures nor the bright background color distract attention from the main content of the site. A bright color or picture, of course, can be the background of the site, but this should be a thoughtful decision that organically complements the site design.

Widgets

Widgets are additional WordPress modules that are displayed in the sidebar or footer of the site. This could be the most recent or popular articles on the site, the latest comments, site search, etc.

Click “Add widget” and select the one you need from the list to install an additional module on your site.

Statistical Home Page

By default, all WordPress sites have a home page that displays the 10 most recent posts.

But you can create a home page separately and in this settings item select it as the main page, and also designate the page where the latest posts from the blog will be displayed.

Now I have my own website?

Yes, you can say that. But this is only the first step on a long path. Everything we have listed is just basic settings, which are the foundation for future actions.

We will definitely continue publishing on the topic of website creation and WordPress, following which you can bring your website to perfection!

From the author: everything begins someday. Perhaps now you know nothing at all about WordPress, except that it is a website management system. But at the same time, you want to learn how to work with this system as quickly and efficiently as possible. How to learn WordPress for beginners? Lessons from our team will help you, today I will tell you what problems we can solve in your training in this engine.

Problems a beginner faces when learning WordPress

Actually I want to tell you that wordpress is an absolutely perfect choice for a beginner. But this does not mean that this is some kind of toy for children. When some developer laughs at the fact that you are using wordpress, which is as simple as 2 fingers, tell him that the website of the New York Times newspaper runs on this engine. I think the jokes should stop after this.

Indeed, WordPress is very easy to learn, but under one condition - you need to study it with the right approach. You can take a very simple route in learning the engine. Just launch Yandex or Google and fill in the questions that interest you. For example: How to install wordpress? How to create a menu? How to change the template?

And hundreds of other “How?” that you will have. This is a good approach, but it has one small problem: you will be reading information on different sites that was written by completely different people. Someone really understands it themselves and wants to help others, someone simply edited material that they themselves don’t understand anything about, someone actually bought super cheap content somewhere on the exchange and posted it on their website.

In general, you will not always receive answers to all questions. For example, there is a ton of information on the Internet about different plugins, templates, installing the engine, some minor edits, optimization, etc. There is just a lot of information on WordPress. Of course, you will look for all this for a very long time, but it is there.

But there is one BUT. No one will ever teach you more advanced topics for free. For example, how can you create a full-fledged WordPress template yourself, how to create your own plugins, widgets, etc. That is, the knowledge that turns a simple webmaster into, in fact, a WordPress developer who can do much more than just change the color of the header or configure 1 popular plugin.

Again, I don't know what your goals and plans are for wordpress. Now I suggest you decide what you need: like most webmasters, should you superficially understand the basics or become a professional?

By superficial knowledge I mean basic skills in working with the engine. That is, this is the ability to add new posts and pages, use editors, install plugins and templates, but at a minimum be able to change the design, install widgets, etc. All this is quite easy to master on an intuitive level.

A more advanced user of the engine can do much more. For example, he can create his own template, significantly edit an existing one, add areas for widgets, create a plugin, etc. For example, most paid WordPress templates have their own separate admin panel, which allows you to easily change the theme to suit your needs in visual mode. WordPress allows you to do all this. There is only one problem - where to get such knowledge?

But if you are reading this article, then know that this is not a problem with us. We have all the information you need. For example, in the premium section there are currently 4 courses on this engine. One of them shows how to create your own unique theme, the second - how to work with the engine as a whole, how to implement various features on the site with its help. I especially want to draw attention to.

There are also 2 full-fledged large courses on this engine. One will allow you to create your own templates, and the second will teach you how to make plugins and widgets and master the engine at a completely professional level.

Thus, we have everything for you to bring you to the maximum level, even if now you absolutely do not know how to work with the engine. This will not hinder your learning in any way, because WordPress is very simple. Basic things like adding new posts, moderating comments, and setting a template are very easy to do. Literally ten minutes will be enough for you to learn how to do such simple actions.

Another thing is that if you already want to study cms from the inside, then you won’t be able to do it entirely using free materials. Well, personally, I have not yet seen free lessons online on how to create a WordPress plugin or how to create a sensible template (precisely a sensible one).

The thing is that this is very valuable information. You yourself must understand that with such knowledge, you can make good money. After all, many people now come to the Internet. Accordingly, more and more RuNet needs new sites.

In general, knowledge of the WordPress engine opens up great opportunities for you, because it is the most popular cms, so you will always have interesting work. Not on other people's projects, but on our own. In any case, as long as the Internet exists, there will be no such thing that a WordPress specialist will be left without bread.

Problem solving

As I already said, a beginner can face a lot of problems when starting to work with cms. How to solve them? Here is a list of possible problems and their solutions:

I so badly want to create my own WordPress template, or at least learn how to easily remake ready-made ones! But how should I do this? This question closes our course.

I would like to create my own plugin (extension). I want to reach a new level and study the engine from the inside. Solution to the issue: a full course.

I just need a bunch of useful WordPress tutorials. Then you should visit our.

Time will pass, and WordPress will be extremely clear to you, so you will be limited only by the functionality of the engine itself, but nothing else.

WordPress tutorials for beginners will help you understand the installations and settings. Together we will analyze the WordPress administrative panel and the necessary implementations for any website or blog. We will also learn how to secure our website, study some of the intricacies of WordPress and the formation of website content in general.

The “” manuals are divided into several blocks, the first 4 are mandatory for those who want to create a high-quality and reliable website (so to speak, for the newest ones). The remaining chapters will teach you how to customize your website, how to fill it, change the design and much more.

Some important lessons have been supplemented with videos that you can watch directly in the article. I will be glad to help you in your endeavors, I will answer all your questions absolutely free of charge. You can write to me on the contact page.

You probably can’t even imagine how many sites use WordPress; according to various sources, this is from 20 to 35 percent of all sites located on the Internet. I will give an example of 4 brands that are well known to everyone - Microsoft, PlayStation, Faceboock. These global companies use WordPress to run their blogs and news sites. There are thousands of such examples, but I won’t dwell on this now; you can look at screenshots of these sites (the pictures will open in full size after clicking).

Now let's proceed directly to studying the engine, the first two blocks, so to speak, for dummies, they are broken down as follows:

Offtopic articles that will help you determine some important points before starting to develop a website.
First steps in learning WordPress.

Options to Learn WordPress

As you know, people study materials in different ways, some are given step-by-step lessons, others like to skip and read between the lines, while others find it easier to learn in block groupings of topics. From this page you can choose the path you will take to learn WordPress; there are 3 options on this site.

Follow along with video and graphic material.
Take advantage of free ones and study everything in a specific order.
Scroll down the page and choose your own topics to study.

If you chose the 3rd option, then read on and fill yourself with knowledge by studying WordPress lessons.

First steps in learning WordPress

In this small but very important series of lessons, we will install WordPress on our computer, choose a suitable hosting, and also transfer our “home developments” to the Internet. An overview of the entire administrative panel can be seen in the following video tutorial:

Let's get acquainted with all the little things related to the administrative panel, install your first theme, get acquainted with plugins, widgets and much more.

Required knowledge and settings

The following lessons will help you make WordPress better and more convenient, and will complement our “engine” with the necessary plugins and widgets.

We’ll set up a site search and contact page, and add a few extras to improve the appearance. We will also begin to build friendly relations with search robots and create the appropriate files for this.

Security settings and site optimization

The latest basic set of instructions for beginner WordPress website developers. Although it is the last, it is the basis of our further work in the field of safety and security of our works.

Its further development depends on site optimization in order to avoid mistakes for which you will later have to pay. Let’s move a little away from the “beginner” status and dig deeper into the site settings.

Review of popular plugins

A selection of lessons and descriptions of the most popular and functional plugins that allow you to improve your WordPress engine and achieve the desired results with the least loss of performance.

Working with search engines

First steps to interact a WordPress site with search engines. The guides presented below will help you solve a number of problems in developing and promoting your website.

1 vote

Good day, dear readers of my blog. So I tell you everything about creating websites, ways to sell them or otherwise make money on blogs. And yet we still haven't discussed the most important thing. I realized that I never told you about the key point that makes all the work easier, simpler and more accessible for every beginner.

Today we will talk about the WordPress CMS. You will learn everything about this engine, we will identify the advantages and disadvantages of the program, I will spend a little time on what else is needed to create a website and give some tips to help you master the engine.

Information for beginners

In the article about that, I talked about how the work on creating a website occurs. Ideally, a designer, layout designer and programmer work on it. The first draws a picture, the second turns it into code, the third creates a control panel so that anyone can use the portal, even people who don’t know the code.

Large companies also employ web editors, marketers, promotion specialists, content managers, a team of copywriters, a proofreader, a system administrator and a whole bunch of other people.

WordPress is a control panel and one of its main advantages is that it allows anyone to create a website themselves. Without the participation of any additional human resources.

If you want, the program will not hinder your creativity. You can do whatever your heart desires, but it will require knowledge. The great news is that even if they are not there at all or are at a minimal level, you will always find a way out of the situation.

What makes WordPress different from other platforms? Popularity. You will always find the answer on the Internet; someone will definitely help you cope with the situation for money or for free.

Advantages and disadvantages of the program

WordPress is the most popular CMS in the world. Hundreds of successful and popular blogs, online stores, video galleries and other types of sites were created on it. The program is absolutely free. You can use it for commercial purposes and not be afraid of legal prosecution.

Its use will not hinder your popularity, as is done with the unique specifics of the code.

The engine is ideal for dummies. You are not limited in your desires. It's like photoshop. If desired, even a beginner can cope with the task, but specialists will also find it interesting. You can easily develop your skills, as they say, without leaving the production process. Earn money and improve in the area that interests you.

I'm tempted to learn layout - improve your code knowledge and create your own scripts. If you like web design, experiment and post it, maybe there will be a layout designer who will be interested in making real electronic resources out of it. Writing is attractive - see how much the public likes the fruits of your labor and attract customers.

In terms of profit, the scale is also large. Whatever your heart desires is available to you. You can create templates with designs for sale, make websites for clients, use contextual advertising, participate in affiliate programs and any other methods of making money from your blog. There are no boundaries, and there will always be clients.

As I said, you can do without human resources to create your website. For example, if you don’t know how and don’t want to deal with design, you can use . Many complex problems associated with changing code are solved using simple plugins.

What it is? Let's say you want to add a beautiful slider or publish on the main page. You don't need to contact a person who knows html and css. You don't even need to know what these acronyms mean. Just download the plugin and activate it.

If you wish, you can have your own blog in an hour.

Flaws

Of course, there is no product without flaws. Even the best hotel on the shores of the Dead Sea can be covered in shit by someone. This is very often done by professionals with WordPress.

I perfectly understand good developers who have spent a lot of time on their own development. Just imagine, you probably consider yourself the best at something, right?

Suppose you cook barbecue perfectly: you come up with a unique sauce, spend a lot of time on the marinade, use certain firewood. At one of the picnics you find yourself a little later than the others, and some young man is already at the barbecue. He simply cooks good meat in 15 minutes and spends the entire evening claiming that he is a master and a super-cook.

It’s clear that someone will have complaints about your kebab, but the public likes his work. Whether you like it or not, it will piss you off. You spent a lot of time and all the “glory” goes to someone else.

There are no adequate problems with WordPress, especially if you are a beginner. Of course, it’s cool to know something perfectly, to be able to write websites from scratch, to have a team that will help you with the project. Undoubtedly, a carefully designed website will be many times better than what you create yourself using this engine, but this platform gives everyone a chance to try their hand and even achieve success.

What is needed to create a website

In addition to the engine itself, you will need hosting and a domain. I recommend you TimeWeb . There is a free text period and automatic installation of the CMS we need in Russian. If you want, in an hour you can. It will have a ready-made design template. He's not very attractive, but who cares?

I strongly recommend that you try the engine in action. Look at the inside of the process, at the portal from the inside. I assure you you will like it. You can read about what to do next on my blog. Simply go to the All Articles section and select a publication. Any of them will be useful to you.

Ways to study

If you want to understand the program and all the basics of building a website step by step as quickly as possible, I can offer you a free course “ Create a blog in an hour " You'll discover all the possibilities and understand the basics you need to take your first step online.

I wish you success. See you again and good luck in your new business.

A person who has just begun to study what website content management systems (SCMS) are is interested in many questions. What is Wordpress, Joomla, phpBB and many other technical developments are of interest to the novice webmaster. Of course, all of them taken together is a complex, multifaceted and voluminous topic. Therefore, we will focus only on Wordpress. Within the framework of the article, we will go over how this SUSS developed, what advantages it has, what opportunities it offers - in general, this will be a brief overview.

What is Wordpress

And how does it work? Why do so many people like it? According to some surveys, Wordpress can be found in almost half of webmasters. Its important advantage is that its user can quickly and without problems, literally in a matter of minutes, create his own website, even if he has no idea what MySQL, PHP or GNU GPL is. You don't even need to have an idea of what web programming is. When using this constructor, a person is already waiting for ready-made templates, which are options for the future site. If you wish and have a little knowledge of PHP, you can radically change the existing template to your own taste. Also, without knowledge of programming, it becomes possible to manage categories, create the necessary pages and posts, add pictures, tables, videos, as well as various widgets. Surely few people have come across the last word, so let’s move away from finding out what Wordpress is and what it is needed for, and pay attention to this useful element.

Widget

In Wordpress, this is the name of a small program that has software functionality (and maybe also a graphical interface). The peculiarity of the widget is that it does not expand the capabilities of the platform, but works separately (albeit in the design environment). Thanks to it, you can make significant changes to the design and Of course, widgets cannot fully replace HTML, CSS, PHP and MySQL, but what they offer is more than enough. In addition, if you study these languages of programming, data structuring and markup, then you need to immerse yourself in reading books that are quite tedious for many. And it takes time. And with widgets, such a setup in the worst case takes hours. Moreover, the level of performance will be such that everyone will consider the result to be professional work.

Who is this SUSS intended for?

If the thought has crept into your head that only amateurs use this site content management system, then know that it is also popular among professional web designers and programmers. Thanks to Wordpress, the site is filled with many necessary scripts and new styles. And professionals often simply need to tweak individual elements to ensure they meet the desired result.

Could there be domestic localization? After all, we are exclusively discussing what Wordpress is. Whether the site will be in Russian or not - this largely depends on the theme used. But even if it is in English, it will not be difficult to make it understandable to our compatriots. SUSS settings and various plugins will help with this. You need to understand that this is a full-fledged program system that can be customized for specific purposes. She constantly works on the site without any problems. Its functionality is continuously supported from start to finish. Because of this, it is called a website content management system.

Platform development

How did it begin? The first version was created back in 2003. Wordpress was originally a spin-off of another project that Matt Mullenwang was working on. Initially, this technology was focused on creating personal blogs. So, a person writes to himself whatever he wants, readers comment - that’s all. But later the system acquired contacts, which was greatly facilitated by its free status. As a result, you can now create a catalog, an online store, and a blog. Moreover, free does not mean the provision of a domain name and the provision of hosting, but themes, plugins, scripts and other software. Although, in truth, the first two can also be obtained free of charge. True, as a reward, hosters place their advertisements on your site. There may also be service restrictions and many other things that we will not touch on.

Facilities

Now let's talk about what Wordpress Multisite is. Initially it was a separate project, but now it is part of the core of the system. Multisite is a mode of operation where existing files and an existing database are used to create networks and sites on Wordpress. At the same time, each resource has its own settings, although themes, users and plugins become common. This provides a number of advantages:

No need to create multiple accounts.
The plugin is installed only once, and can be used by all resources.
You only need to update the software once, and not separately for each site.
If desired, plugins can be activated forcibly for everyone.
You can use one theme or create child developments for each resource separately.
The exchange of data between various sites on the Internet is optimized. It becomes much faster and lighter.

To be fair, it should be said that such a regime also has its drawbacks. First of all, this refers to the significant volume of the database, which grows with each site. But proper architecture allows us to solve many emerging problems.

Possibilities

So now we know a lot about the system. Let's talk about what we can do. Tens of thousands of themes with different designs will help us choose a website design. Their installation, as well as plugins, is simple - just download the selected option to the server, and SUSS will sort everything out. She'll unpack it, install it, and get it working. The presence of ready-made scripts and widgets will significantly expand the possibilities, almost on autopilot. It's hard not to take advantage of this. But this can be seen in many other developments? That's right, so to understand all the features, let's go through the advantages of SUSS. And we will find out what we need to pay attention to.

Advantages

In addition to the above information about simplicity and convenience, we suggest that you familiarize yourself with the following strengths:

Free. For beginning webmasters who want to create their own projects, this will allow them to start working and reduce their expenses, which is important in the beginning.
Ease of use. It takes no more than 5 minutes to install the site content management system itself. And the program codes are in such a clear format that it will not be difficult to understand the technical intricacies. Moreover, the most important files are signed, and many of them are also commented. The developers did a great job and made the system so friendly that anyone can understand it.
Cross-platform. SUSS itself runs on the server; there is no need to install anything additional on your computer (except the browser). Thanks to this, control can be carried out from any specific technical means - computer, laptop, smartphone or tablet. Moreover, there is no connection to the operating system, the main thing is that it supports the browser, and there is an Internet connection.
There are visual and text editors. Due to the fact that they have an intuitive interface, using their services will not be difficult. If you have experience working with Microsoft Word, then Wordpress tools will seem like a child's toy. Despite the simplicity, work with text and pictures can be carried out in the desired direction to obtain the planned result.
Popularity of SUSS. If we talk about numbers, then there are at least 60 million websites, which are visited by 350 million people every month, and they view 3 billion pages during the same period. And it's all on Wordpress!

Conclusion

So we looked at what Wordpress is. For dummies, it will not be difficult to understand the system; it’s enough just to sit on it for a few hours, and then we will already have a real expert in using SUSS.