A Beginner’s Guide to How WordPress Works

The digital world can often seem like a desperate technical maze to those that prefer life’s simplicity and tangibility. But there is something truly stirring about creating and collaborating online, one only has to have a taste to get the itch for it.

The truth is that the early tenets of the internet were almost exclusively egalitarian and idealistic. Everyone was always meant to join in and help to create the web, not just tech-heads and billionaires!

Now for those who are comfortable using a computer but not particularly web-savvy, the idea of building and managing a website might sound daunting. But fear not! In this blog, we’ll demystify some web terms and introduce you to WordPress, a powerful tool that has made website creation accessible to millions worldwide.

A Brief History of WordPress

WordPress was born in 2003 as a simple, but very well liked community blogging platform. Over the years, it has evolved into one of the most popular Content Management Systems (CMS) on the planet, powering around 40% of all websites on the internet. But what exactly is a CMS? And how does it differ from the way traditional websites are built?

What is a CMS?

A Content Management System (CMS) is essentially software that helps you create, manage, and modify content on a website without needing to write code.

If you imagine a website is like the cross section of a layered sponge cake, the icing and decorations are what you see, but underneath that are the layers that give it substance; there’s the CMS, which helps you choose all your ingredients, and there is the actual code that tells the CMS and your Web Browser how to actually bake and decorate your cake.

Unlike traditional website development, where you need to understand HTML, CSS, and JavaScript (the primary coding languages used to build websites), a CMS allows you to manage everything through a user-friendly interface.

WYSIWYG: What You See Is (Not Always) What You Get

When you start using WordPress, one of the first things you’ll encounter is the WYSIWYG editor. WYSIWYG stands for “What You See Is What You Get.”

It’s just a way of editing your website where the content on your screen looks similar to how it will appear on the live website. If you’ve ever used a word processor like Microsoft Word, you’ll recognise this kind of interface; there are buttons for bold, italics, inserting images, titles and so on.

However, this is where some newcomers to web design tend to get a bit frustrated.

Because unlike desktop design apps like Adobe XD or Photoshop, where you have precise control over where you place every element and a layer based design workflow, WYSIWYG editors in WordPress will seem to have a mind of their own.

You may wonder, ‘How do I make my image go to the right a bit more?’ or ‘Why is my text blue when I made it black?’ It turns out this mysterious behaviour is not so mysterious when you realise, ‘…at the end of the day, it’s all just code!’

Since everything you do in a CMS ultimately becomes code that a Web Browser can read and understand, there is no such thing as precision. Browsers simply get given the ingredients and a method to your ‘website cake’, and they have to assemble it as best as they can.

This is part of what makes professional web development so tricky. To build a website is to create a recipe for browsers to interpret differently, whether it’s on a mobile phone or a giant TV screen, the rules of web design are inherently malleable.

The Challenge of Responsive Design

One of the biggest hurdles for beginners is understanding that websites need to be responsive. Responsive design means that a website automatically adjusts its layout and content to look good on any device, whether it’s a large desktop monitor, a tablet, or a small smartphone screen.

Because of this, a WYSIWYG editor might show you one thing on your computer, but the reality is that your website could look very different on a mobile phone.

But enough doom and gloom!

The good news is, CMS’s like WordPress make it a lot easier to develop websites, since the developers have mostly handled these issues for you. WordPress Themes are designed to handle the responsiveness of the design, allowing you to create your own content.

When MOG design websites, we often build templates our clients can use to create their own pages. So long as you make sure to check your work on different sized screens, anyone from the age of 3 to 103 and beyond is very capable of making their own online content.

This way, you can get on with the important work of sharing your story, marketing your brand or fostering online communities.

So what should you attempt and what should you avoid until you know more?

WordPress is Endlessly Useful (But Needs Caution Too)

The beauty of WordPress is that it gives anyone the power to create a website, even with minimal technical knowledge. With thousands of free themes and plugins available, you can customise your site to look exactly how you want it and add functionality with just a few clicks. For small businesses, bloggers, and hobbyists, this is powerful and liberating.

However, the fact WordPress is so easy to use can lead to a false sense of security. Many beginners make mistakes that inadvertently affect their website’s performance, security, or usability. For instance, installing too many plugins can slow down your site, or using an outdated theme could make it vulnerable to hacking.

Diving into the world of WordPress, WYSIWYG, and CMS might seem overwhelming at first, but with a bit of patience and practice, you’ll find that creating your own website is a thoroughly rewarding experience.

WordPress empowers you to build and express your ideas online.

No matter what you have in mind, everyone here at MOG Media encourages you to have a go! Learn the basics, experiment, and most importantly, don’t be afraid to ask or search for help if you get stuck.

Thanks for reading, we hope this MOG Blog has been helpful to you in some way!