WordPress Review: The Perfect Blogging Content Management System?

Written by:  • Edited by: Linda Richter
Published Feb 3, 2009
• Related Guides: Wordpress | Google | HTML
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WordPress is a free application which is easy to install and provides a versatile and easy to use solution for bloggers who have no interest in web development and want to get on with writing. It is the ideal blog application with a range of great features and many optional themes and plug-ins.

What is WordPress?

WordPress is a content management system which is ideally suited to publishing blogs. It is an open source development which is available completely free and while the basic package allows you to set a visual theme, create pages for your blog and add pictures there are various optional widgets and add-ons which make WordPress extremely versatile. It first appeared in 2003 and has fast become the application of choice for bloggers because it is so easy to use and writers require no knowledge of HTML or PHP in order to create blogs.

Installation
Rating Excellent

You can host your blog directly on WordPress.com or host it on your own domain by downloading the blogging platform from WordPress.org. Once you have some web space and a domain name it is incredibly easy to get started with WordPress. You can download the package from the WordPress website for free, the latest version is 2.7. The installation is a breeze and shouldn’t take longer than five minutes and there is plenty of documentation to get you started. There are also thousands of additional plug-ins and themes that you can download for use with your blog. WordPress is updated fairly frequently but installing new versions is generally very easy and further development continues to improve the application.

WordPress Look
Rating Excellent

The WordPress layout is a classic blog style with a header for the website name and image banner, then there’s a central column for the body of articles with columns on the left or right or both depending on your preferences. WordPress features a number of widgets you can turn on or off and they can be ordered as you see fit. For example you can easily add a list of website links to your side column, show recent articles or popular tags, or divide your articles into categories. The layout is extremely customisable and in addition to dictating how many posts will appear on the front page and how big the header will be you can select from a wide range of template themes. The basic package comes with a limited choice but you’ll find thousands of user created themes online so you’re bound to be able to find something that suits you. Some themes offer a basic palette change and others transform the visual look of the blog entirely, it can be fun to experiment and there is no lack of choice.

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