WordPress Terms
Admin Area
The Admin Area is the administrative area of a WordPress website. Usually it can be accessed by visiting the wp-admin directory in your web browser. Example: http://www.example.com/wp-admin/
The WordPress admin area is the administration center of a WordPress powered website.
An administrator has full access to all the sections within the WordPress Admin Area.
Users with other roles such as editor, contributor, or author have limited access to the admin area. Some users such as users with the subscriber role only have access to their profile page inside the admin area.
Child Theme
WordPress is a sub theme that inherits all the functionality, features, and style of its parent theme.
Child themes are a safe way to modify a WordPress theme without actually making any changes to the parent theme’s files.
Editor or Editor User Role
In WordPress the term Editor may refer to a pre-defined user role in the WordPress user management system.
Users with the editor role have the capability to write, edit, publish, and delete posts. This includes posts written by other users. They can also moderate, approve, and delete comments.
Their privileges extend beyond just adding and removing content. They can also manage categories, tags, custom taxonomies, and even upload files.
A user with Editor privileges also has the ability to read private posts and pages.
Footer (Website Footer)
The term Footer usually refers to the bottom section of a web page in the web design terminology. It usually contains information like copyright notices, links to privacy policy, credits, etc.
It may also contain code and scripts that a WordPress theme developer would want to include in the page but after loading the rest of the page content.
Featured Image (Blog Featured Image)
The Featured Image (also known as post thumbnail) is a WordPress theme feature which allows theme developers to add support for using a representative image for posts, pages, or custom post types.
Even though Featured Image is the official term of this WordPress feature, some functions and template tags still use the term post thumbnail.
Managed WordPress hosting
Website hosting is a concierge service where all technical aspects of running WordPress is managed by the host.
This includes security, speed, WordPress updates, daily backups, website uptime, and scalability.
One of the best parts about Managed WordPress hosting is the premium support.
Note: I used WPEngine for my client’s because they are the best Best Managed WordPress Hosting Provider
- Why do I use WPEngine?
WPEngine is V.I.P. Managed WordPress hosting. Their website hosting is fast and robust that can handle small or larger websites. Your website will be Malware and Hacker proof. - They offer automatic security updates, daily backups, one-click restore points, automatic caching, top-tier security, one-click staging area, and more. WPEngine is like having an army of WordPress experts on your side for assistance.
- More importantly for me is their customer service is the best in the business and can help me when your site is down or having issues.
Media or Media Library
WordPress admin sidebar which is used to manage user uploads (images, audio, video, and other files).
Under the Media menu, there are two screens. The first screen Library lists all the files in the media library. These files can be edited and deleted from the library.
The second screen is Add New, which allows users to upload files.
Subscriber
A subscriber may refer to a user role in WordPress. Usually the subscriber user role has very limited capabilities.
Unless the default capabilities are changed, the subscriber user role is the most limited out of all the WordPress user roles.
Theme (WordPress Theme)
In WordPress, a theme is a collection of templates and stylesheets used to define the appearance and display of a WordPress powered website.
They can be changed, managed, and added from the WordPress admin area under Appearance » Themes. There are several free and paid WordPress Themes available.
- WordPress.org has a large collection of free ones in their Themes Directory.
Responsive Theme
Follow the responsive web design approach which aims to create websites that offer optimal user experience across various devices and screen resolutions including desktop computers, tablets such as iPad, smartphones and other mobile devices.
A responsive WordPress theme smoothly adjusts its layout based on the screen size and resolution.
Theme Options
Custom admin page which comes with some WordPress themes. It allows users to change theme settings without modifying theme files or touching any code.
These theme option pages can be very simple with a handful options or it can have tons of customization options split into either tabs or multiple pages.
Updates
WordPress automatically checks for updates on the WordPress core as well as installed plugins and themes. WordPress highlights available updates in the Dashboard » Updates menu.
User Role
A user role defines permissions for users to perform a group of tasks. In a default WordPress installation there are some predefined roles with a predefined set of permissions.
These roles are Super Admin, Administrator, Editor, Author, Contributor, and Subscriber. Each roles has a certain number of set tasks it is allowed to perform that are known as “capabilities”.
Visual Editor
Also called Rich text editor in the WordPress post edit screen. The WordPress post edit screen has two editors, Visual and Text.
The visual editor is a WYSIWG editor. WYSIWIG stands for “what you see is what you get” which means that however the content shows up on your display is exactly the way it will be when it is published.
Editors like Microsoft Word and Pages fall into this category as well.
WordPress comes with a modified version of TinyMCE, which is an open source WYSIWYG HTML editor.
It mimics the behavior of desktop publishing tools such as Microsoft Word and even has many of their features such as a toolbar along the top allowing you to format your content.
Widgets
A WordPress Widget is a small block that performs a specific function. You can add these widgets in sidebars also known as widget-ready areas on your web page.
WordPress widgets were originally created to provide a simple and easy-to-use way of giving design and structure control of the WordPress theme to the user.
WooCommerce
Open source e-commerce plugin for WordPress. It is designed for small to large-sized online merchants using WordPress. Build your store on the worlds most customizable eCommerce platform.
WordPress.com
A propriety blog hosting service provider. WordPress.com is not directly related to WordPress.org which is home of the most popular open source CMS software.
WordPress.org
A open source software you can use to create a beautiful website, blog, or app. Beautiful designs, powerful features, and the freedom to build anything you want.
Need WordPress Help, Design or Development?
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Managed WordPress Hosting
Read my other blog post about why Managed WordPress hosting is right for you.
