System

WordPress is an open source web authoring system that allows site owners to edit and control the content of their site via a browser based admin interface. It is commonly thought of as a blogging platform, but it can be configured so that it looks and behaves much like a standard website. Content is stored in a MySQL databse, and PHP code is used to extract that content and translate it into presentable HTML.

There is a large and vibrant community that supports and uses this sytem which means that many people are devoting countless hours to authoring improvements, developing dynamic plugins, and keeping the system stable and secure. The code is open, and much effort has been put into keeping it that way. This means that working on a WordPress platform insures that a site owner is never tied to a particular developer …. myself included.

Most standard WordPress users will work in the WYSIWYG (“what you see is what you get”) interface to generate content and manage their site. This interface looks and acts very much like a stripped down version of MS WORD with some extra tools specific to the web added to the mix.  This interface also offers the ability to see the “real” HTML code that is being generated which offers most of the benefits of hand coding a page.

I have put together this site to serve as a kind of cheat sheet for those clients for whom I have configured a WordPress site … a cook book of basic recipes if you will.

Since WordPress is an ever-evolving system, this site could never be a comprehensive resource. For that the main WordPress community website comes closer to hitting the mark. If you want to go deeper take a look by clicking here.