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What are the main features of a WordPress site?

CubeCart to WordPress ConversionsMost of the content on this page is blatantly copied from WordPress.org.  We figure they know their system better than anyone, so are in the best position to describe it.

When you build a WordPress site, this is what you get.  WordPress is free to download, free to install on your hosting, and free to set up.  So why, you are probably thinking, should I pay someone to do it for me?

Well, do you have time to do it?  Is learning how to set up web sites a good use of your time, or would you be better off doing things in your business that actually make you money?  Also, do you know how to take the extra steps, like making it secure against hackers, speeding it up, customising and tweaking?

That’s what we do at Gecko Gully.  We KNOW WordPress, and can set up your web site exactly how you need it, so you can get on with making more money in your business.

If you want to set up your own web site, great!  Go to WordPress.org and get started – and good luck!  But if you prefer to have it done professionally for you, get in touch.

Here’s what you get with a standard WordPress web site.  With a Gecko Gully WordPress web site you get MUCH more – click here for those details.

WordPress Standard Features

WordPress powers more than 17% of the web — a figure that rises every day. Everything from simple websites, to blogs, to complex portals and enterprise websites, and even applications, are built with WordPress.

WordPress combines simplicity for users and publishers with under-the-hood complexity for developers. This makes it flexible while still being easy-to-use.

The following is a list of some of the features that come as standard with WordPress; however, there are literally thousands of plugins that extend what WordPress does, so the actual functionality is nearly limitless. You are also free to do whatever you like with the WordPress code, extend it or modify in any way or use it for commercial projects without any licensing fees. That is the beauty of free software, free refers not only to price but also the freedom to have complete control over it.

Here are some of the features that we think that you’ll love.

  • Simplicity Simplicity makes it possible for you to get online and get publishing, quickly. Nothing should get in the way of you getting your website up and your content out there. WordPress is built to make that happen.
  • Flexibility With WordPress, you can create any type of website you want: a personal blog or website, a photoblog, a business website, a professional portfolio, a government website, a magazine or news website, an online community, even a network of websites. You can make your website beautiful with themes, and extend it with plugins. You can even build your very own application.
  • Publish with Ease If you’ve ever created a document, you’re already a whizz at creating content with WordPress. You can create Posts and Pages, format them easily, insert media, and with the click of a button your content is live and on the web.
  • Publishing Tools WordPress makes it easy for you to manage your content. Create drafts, schedule publication, and look at your post revisions. Make your content public or private, and secure posts and pages with a password.
  • User Management Not everyone requires the same access to your website. Administrators manage the site, editors work with content, authors and contributors write that content, and subscribers have a profile that they can manage. This lets you have a variety of contributors to your website, and let others simply be part of your community.
  • Media Management They say a picture says a thousand words, which is why it’s important for you to be able to quickly and easily upload images and media to WordPress. Drag and drop your media into the uploader to add it to your website. Add alt text, captions, and titles, and insert images and galleries into your content. We’ve even added a few image editing tools you can have fun with.
  • Full Standards Compliance Every piece of WordPress generated code is in full compliance with the standards set by the W3C. This means that your website will work in today’s browser, while maintaining forward compatibility with the next generation of browser. Your website is a beautiful thing, now and in the future.
  • Easy Theme System WordPress comes bundled with two default themes, but if they aren’t for you there’s a theme directory with thousands of themes for you to create a beautiful website. None of those to your taste? Upload your own theme with the click of a button. It only takes a few seconds for you to give your website a complete makeover.
  • Extend with Plugins WordPress comes packed full of features for every user, for every other feature there’s a plugin directory with thousands of plugins. Add complex galleries, social networking, forums, social media widgets, spam protection, calendars, fine-tune controls for search engine optimization, and forms.
  • Built-in Comments Your blog is your home, and comments provide a space for your friends and followers to engage with your content. WordPress’s comment tools give you everything you need to be a forum for discussion and to moderate that discussion.
  • Search Engine Optimized When the head of Google’s web spam team says that WordPress is a great choice, taking care of 80–90% of the mechanics of search engine optimization for you, you know you’re on to a good thing. For more fine-grained SEO control, there are plenty of SEO plugins to take care of that for you.
  • Multilingual WordPress is available in more than 70 languages. If you or the person you’re building the website for would prefer to use WordPress in a language other than English, that’s easy to do.
  • Easy Installation and Upgrades WordPress has always been easy to install and upgrade. If you’re happy using an FTP program, you can create a database, upload WordPress using FTP, and run the installer. Not familiar with FTP? Plenty of web hosts offer one-click WordPress installers that let you install WordPress with, well, just one click!
  • Importers Using blog or website software that you aren’t happy with? Running your blog on a hosted service that’s about to shut down? WordPress comes with importers for blogger, LiveJournal, Movable Type, TypePad, Tumblr, and WordPress. If you’re ready to make the move, we’ve made it easy for you.
  • Own Your Data Hosted services come and go. If you’ve ever used a service that disappeared, you know how traumatic that can be. If you’ve ever seen adverts appear on your website, you’ve probably been pretty annoyed. Using WordPress means no one has access to your content. Own your data, all of it — your website, your content, your data.
  • Freedom WordPress is licensed under the GPL which was created to protect your freedoms. You are free to use WordPress in any way you choose: install it, use it, modify it, distribute it. Software freedom is the foundation that WordPress is built on.
  • Community As the most popular open source CMS on the web, WordPress has a vibrant and supportive community. Ask a question on the support forums and get help from a volunteer, attend a WordCamp or Meetup to learn more about WordPress, read blogs posts and tutorials about WordPress. Community is at the heart of WordPress, making it what it is today.
  • Contribute You can be WordPress too! Help to build WordPress, answer questions on the support forums, write documentation, translate WordPress into your language, speak at a WordCamp, write about WordPress on your blog. Whatever your skill, we’d love to have you!

Developer Features

For developers, we’ve got lots of goodies packed under the hood that you can use to extend WordPress in whatever direction takes your fancy.

  • Plugin System The WordPress APIs make it possible for you to create plugins to extend WordPress. WordPress’s extensibility lies in the thousands of hooks at your disposal. Once you’ve created your plugin, we’ve even got a plugin repository for you to host it on.
  • Theme System Create WordPress themes for clients, customers, and for WordPress users. The WordPress API provides the extensibility to create themes as simple or as complex as you wish. If you want to give your theme away for free you can give it to users in the Theme Repository
  • Application Framework If you want to build an application, WordPress can help with that too. Under the hood WordPress provides a lot of the features that your app will need, things like translations, user management, HTTP requests, databases, URL routing and much, much more.
  • Custom Content Types WordPress comes with default content types, but for more flexibility you can add a few lines of code to create your own custom post types, taxonomies, and metadata. Take WordPress in whatever direction you wish.
  • The Latest Libraries WordPress comes with the latest script libraries for you to make use of. These include jQuery, Plupload, Underscore.js and Backbone.js. We’re always on the lookout for new tools that developers can use to make a better experience for our users.
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