If you’ve ever built or managed a website before, there’s a really good chance you’ve come across WordPress before. WordPress is by far and away one of the most popular content management systems, or CMS, for building websites, blogs, mailing lists, internet forums, membership sites, and more! But how much do you know about this incredible software? Here are some fun facts about WordPress that might just impress you.
1. The software launched all the way back in 2003.
As ubiquitous as it is nowadays, it’s hard to believe that WordPress is just over two decades old! WordPress was first released to the public on May 27, 2003. It was launched by founders Matt Mullenweg and Mike Little.
2. It is an open-source platform – meaning it’s extremely versatile.
One of the major selling points of WordPress is, ironically, that it is completely free! It is an open-source platform, which means it’s free to use, modify, and distribute. However, when you have built your website, you typically have to pay for a domain, plugins, hosting, and certain premium themes if you need them.
3. A huge variety of websites exist thanks to WordPress.
WordPress is responsible for a significant portion of the web. In fact, 43.1% of all websites use a content management system running on WordPress!
4. Big brands trust WordPress to manage web content.
While many people started using the service to manage blogs and post occasional content, WordPress is popular for more than just supporting the odd posts. Some of the biggest companies and brands that use WordPress include Microsoft, TED, Sony Music, Time Magazine… and even legendary rapper Snoop Dogg!
5. It’s one of the most customizable platforms for publishing content online.
One of the best things about WordPress is that it has a large library of colourful themes and styles, both free to download and premium to pay for. These various themes help users to customize the appearance of their websites to their liking. In fact, some of the more web-savvy site owners can customize stylesheets to create unique looks!
6. It’s big on plugins!
If you’ve ever used WordPress before, you probably know all about plugins, which are little widgets you can use to customize and fortify your website. Some of the most popular plugins help you add shopping functionality and improve your listings in search results.
7. It’s famous for being user-friendly.
One of the reasons WordPress is so popular is because it is very user-friendly! It’s highly praised for offering a complete web management solution that people with little design and programming experience can easily control.
8. It’s available in multiple languages.
WordPress is available in numerous languages. It also supports multilingual websites through plugins like WPML and Polylang. So, wherever you are, you should be able to use the system for your website – WPML in particular supports more than 40 languages and lets you create your own, too!
9. The system uses Gutenberg editing.
WordPress introduced the Gutenberg block editor in WordPress 5.0. This new editor, which replaced the classic look, provides a more flexible and content-focused way to create and edit pages and posts. Simply edit your content block by block instead of getting lost in a melee of words and images!
10. You can schedule content for when you’d like to publish it.
WordPress changed the game as far as content scheduling is concerned. You don’t have to publish your content the moment you create it. If you prefer, WP will let you delay publishing dates and times for blog content so you can completely automate when your website updates, and how frequently.
FAQs about WordPress
Why is WordPress better than Wix?
Some people prefer WordPress to Wix generally because WordPress tends to be more customizable than Wix. However, some prefer the Wix templates, so it depends entirely on what you’re looking for – we couldn’t possibly give you a firm answer!
What’s better, Squarespace or WordPress?
Again, as to which platform is better, it depends on what you are looking for. However, WordPress remains the most customizable of these two options – but many people prefer Squarespace thanks to its unique features and professional approach.
Do professional websites use WordPress?
Yes, in fact, many professional websites use WordPress. It remains the most popular content manager online, in large part thanks to professional websites!
Further reading:
https://factcity.com/tag/Internet
https://kinsta.com/knowledgebase/what-is-wordpress/
https://blog.hubspot.com/website/what-is-wordpress
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Do you know any interesting facts about WordPress? Share them in the comments below!