How WordPress Works
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WordPress is a content management system that allows users to create and manage websites. It uses a database to store website content and files that are queried to display pages. When installed, WordPress creates a database, copies files to the server, and modifies configuration files to connect to the database. Themes determine the look of the site, while plugins add functionality. Content, themes, and plugins are stored in the wp-content folder.
How WordPress Works
- 1. How WordPress Works Content Management System Basics
- 2. Copyright 2016 Angela Bowman Nutshell of a Content Management System Database-driven software application Lives on the web (or a local computer running web software) Website content is stored in the database The software queries the database for the content to present on a web page Beauty is complete separation of content from design
- 3. Copyright 2016 Angela Bowman Hosting WordPress To be on the Internet, your WordPress site will be “hosted” on a website server for a monthly fee. You can install web software on your computer that allows you to run WordPress on your computer, but only you will be able to see it.
- 4. Copyright 2016 Angela Bowman There is no place called WordPress! People are often confused by the words “logging into WordPress” as if it is a singular place. (With the exception of WordPress.com - which is a singular place.) WordPress is NOT a computer application, though you can install an instance of it on your local computer’s web server. You do not login to WordPress. You login to the WordPress Dashboard for YOUR specific site via http://yoursitename.com/wp-admin Every time you create a website, you will install WordPress on that hosting account for that domain. Each website will have it’s own unique login and Dashboard and it’s own instance of WordPress files. Creating a new WordPress website somewhere will not effect the WordPress website created somewhere else. They are completely independent of each other.
- 5. Copyright 2016 Angela Bowman What happens when you install WordPress When you install WordPress, the following things happen either automatically via the “one-click installer” script or manually via the “famous 5-minute install process”: A MySQL database is created WordPress files are copied to the web hosting server directory The wp-config.php file is modified to contain the login credentials for the database The WordPress install.php script is run to allow you to give the new website a title, username, and password The install script creates a bunch of tables in the database, and you can the login to your site via http://yoursitename.com/wp-admin
- 6. Copyright 2016 Angela Bowman MySQL Database All of the text content of your posts and pages and WordPress settings are stored in a database which is like a large spreadsheet. The database is stored in a special place on your web host’s server. Viewable ONLY via your hosting control panel via phpMyAdmin or shell access (SSH). You can’t copy or move your database. However, you can export contents of the database and import it into a new, blank database. Database
- 7. Copyright 2016 Angela Bowman WordPress Application Files WordPress is a PHP application that communicates with the MySQL database to retrieve and display your content in a web browser Can be downloaded at http://wordpress.org WordPress core files PHP originally stood for Personal Home Page, but it now stands for the recursive backronym PHP: Hypertext Preprocessor.
- 8. Copyright 2016 Angela Bowman Understanding WordPress App wp-admin contains everything needed to display the WordPress “Dashboard” - we sometimes refer to this as the “backend” wp-includes contains essentially the core functionality of WordPress that allows WordPress to function on the “frontend" of the site and more wp-content contains YOUR uploaded content, including themes, plugins, and media wp-config.php connects WordPress to the MySQL database
- 9. Copyright 2016 Angela Bowman wp-config.php The wp-config.php file is the magical file that allows the WordPress application to communicate with the MySQL database. Without this file set correctly, you will see a 500 server error in your browser window.
- 10. Copyright 2016 Angela Bowman wp-content folder This folder is all about YOU! You want to back it up, because it contains stuff you’ve uploaded. Themes: consists of PHP files with HTML, CSS, and Javascript to display your site in a unique way. Plugins: can be installed to extend the functionality of WordPress, such as add e-commerce, calendar, galleries, and more. Any files you upload: images, documents, audio, video Other folders placed there by various plugins
- 11. Copyright 2016 Angela Bowman Themes The theme you choose determines the look of your site. The theme consists of PHP files with HTML, CSS, and Javascript. You can change your theme without necessarily effecting the content of your site. Typical theme files
- 12. Copyright 2016 Angela Bowman Bringing it all together Data Layer Database Application Layer WordPress Presentation Layer HTML, CSS, JS Browser Database Management System