What Is Wordpress

By: BWalter

Break Studios Contributing Writer

What is Wordpress? Well, asking what Wordpress is is like asking what a basketball player is. In basketball, you have five different positions and a boat load of hybrid positions as well. In the world of blogging, you have a million and one different sites for blogging and Wordpress is one of those sites. But, like basketball, there are certain players, so to speak, that stand out. Wordpress would be one of those standout players. Wordpress is for the blogger that cares about their blog. With all the options that Wordpress has to offer, with a little practice, anyone can be a master blogger. Now, learning how to write is another issue entirely.

Wordpress started out in 2003 as a basic writing tool. It has since then become the biggest "self hosted blogging tool in the world." When you see the words "self hosted," what does that mean? Well, in essence, Wordpress isn't confined like say Facebook (which isn't a blogging site anyway), where you can really only communicate and build numbers through friends of friends. Wordpress is completely open ended, anyone can join, and anyone can read what you write, just as long as you make your stuff visible to the public.

Wordpress is more than just a place to drop your ideas online. You can completely customize everything from your home page to the individual blogs you post via the page. They have thousands of plug ins, themes, and widgets you can utilize while creating your blogging paradise. You can attach videos, pictures, and a whole host of other things in various formats to your blog entries. There are, of course, certain guidelines you'll need to become familiar with when posting a blog. But, for the most part, what everything you want goes.

Wordpress also offers something similar to a community setting that say, certain social networking sites offer. You can build your own little community of bloggers. You can connect through mailing lists, active forums on various topics and even workshops that teach you to be more proficient at utilizing the nuances of the Wordpress site. All you have to do is go to the site and create an account. Play around with the options and get going. If you have any trouble, Wordpress even offers easy to follow tutorials. You can choose to dive right in, or take your time and try to learn everything.

Because Wordpress is one of those living breathing blogging sites, you can expect to see more and more options as it continues to grow and expand. So, if you're in to blogging and you want to create a blog that looks professional and very snazzy, you should try Wordpress. You'll enjoy it.

Posted on: Mar. 21, 2011