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One of the greatest challenges WordPress newbies face is the many terms and technical words used in WordPress. As a newbie, most of these words will be strange to you and that is why we have taken time to explain some of these terms to ensure your WordPress journey will be a smooth one.

The list contains basic and advanced WordPress terms. The List has been broken down to Categories to make searching easy. The categories include-

The General WordPress Terms, WordPress Administrative Terms, Content Related Terms, WordPress Themes and Plugins, WordPress Technical Terms, WordPress Programming Terms, WordPress Domain and Hosting Terms, WordPress Security Terms, WordPress Data Terms, and WordPress Coding Terms…

General WordPress Terms

Alt-Text:

The Alt Text is also known as alternate text. It is an image attribute that provides a text-only description of an image. The alt text is metadata that can be added to an image to provide extra information about the image to search engines.

Adding alt text is a way of optimizing your images for search engines. The image alt text is a way of providing search engines with information about the image that was uploaded on a site. Adding alt text to an image can be done in a few simple steps. Once your image is uploaded to Media in WordPress, on the right-hand side lies the alt image field where you can insert the text-based description of the image.

To add alt text to images on WordPress, click Media >> Library >> Search for the image, click on it and add the alt text in the alternate text field of the image.

Another way to insert an alt text is whenever you upload an image, click the image and some additional fields will be provided, look out for the alt text field and enter the best description for the image. Apart from search engines, alt text is also used to provide more information about the image to users who are visually impaired. Such that when they use a screen reader, they will have an idea of what the image is all about.

Author:

In WordPress, an Authur is a predefined user role that can carry out some limited predefined functionality on a WordPress site. The author role allows you to write, edit, publish, delete and upload your posts or contents alone. It is one of the six user roles in WordPress. The author role allows users to manage their content only.

They can delete, edit, modify, update their posts only. To add a new user as an author click Users >> Add New. Fill the author’s information and remember to switch the role to Author.

Caution should be taken when making a user an Authur as a disgruntled staff may decide to delete their posts if there is a disagreement between the two of you. Ensure the role is only given to trusted users.

Autosave:

This is a WordPress feature that automatically saves changes made to either a post, a page or any custom post type on WordPress editor. This feature ensures you don’t lose your work in the case of power failure, internet disruption or other interruptions. It saves your posts or page as a draft at different intervals such that in the case of loss of internet connection or power outage, you do not lose your work. To see your saved posts or page, for Posts, Click Posts >> All Posts >> Draft. To see your saved draft for pages, Click Page >> All Pages >> Draft.

WordPress Administrative Terms

Admin Tools

Admin Area:

The admin area of a WordPress site represents the administrative panel of the site. It is the control panel of WordPress where all the major changes to WordPress can be made. It is the technical area that is only accessible to the users with administrative privilege to the site. It can be accessed by visiting the admin panel which is usually accessed by adding /wp-admin extension at the back of your WordPress website link. Eg www.yourwordpresssite.com/wp-admin.

The admin area is made up of three sections which include the navigation, toolbar, and work area. Other areas and features of WordPress such as the Dashboard, Themes, Plugins, Settings, Tools, pages, Posts, Comments, Work area, Media files, etc are all under the three sections.

The WordPress admin area is often referred to as the backend. Since the admin area serves as the control panel for your WordPress site, however, all administrative tasks are handled here. The admin area is not available to users of the site except the users that have been granted administrative user roles by the administrators.

Admin Area is the part of the website that provides administrative functionalities for your WordPress site where you can log in to create, modify, edit, delete and manage content. It is also the area that allows you to make a change to your WordPress website settings. Other administrative users may have limited access to the WordPress admin area.

The admin area provides other administrative functions such as navigation, content management tools, and the work area. All WordPress admin users such as the Administrator, editor, contributor, author have access to the admin area. Some admin roles have limited access to the admin panel.

Managing Your WordPress Admin Area

To manage your WordPress admin area, you first need to sign in using your login credentials, which can either be your username or email and password. Once you successfully sign in, the first page you see is the admin area.

Depending on your user roles, some functionalities may not be available. The functionality that is available for each user role will vary from user to user, if you are an Administrator, author, contributor, or editor there will be a slight difference in the functionality that will be available to you.

With the admin area, you can change the theme, install a new theme, manage your WordPress site, install a plugin, create a post or page, etc

Here are some of the available functionality under each section of the admin area:

1. Navigation

• Dashboard
• Posts
• Media
• Pages
• Comments
• Appearance
• Plugins
• Users
• Tools
• Settings

2. Toolbar: The toolbar has the following options

• Visit Your Site: A button you can click to take you to the front page of your website
• Plugin Update: This gives an overview of plugins that needed to be updated
• View Comments: This shows the number of comments that have been made and yet to be approved on the site.
• New: This is a shortcut that can be used to quickly create new pages, posts, users and media.
• User Profile: This takes you to your WordPress profile
• Edit My profile: it allows you to edit your WordPress profile
• Logout: Let’s you sign out from the admin area

3. Work Area: It gives a shortcut to some of the features on your WordPress site and makes it easy to access them.

Admin Bar:

The admin bar is the administrative toolbar which is usually on top of the admin area of the WordPress site. The admin bar provides the admin bar quick access to some important functionalities of the site making it easier to navigate the WordPress site.

Administrator:

The administrator is the highest level of user roles in WordPress. The administrator is the super admin of a WordPress site, the role gives the user the capability to perform all actions like adding and removing users, upgrading of WordPress site, themes, and plugins. The administrator can also modify the core WordPress files, manage the themes and plugins, and several other administrative tasks. This super admin role is usually created by default when you install WordPress.

The administrator user role is so powerful that it can delete other administrators, install and uninstall themes and plugins, delete all posts and pages, etc. It is the only role that can upgrade a WordPress site. The administrator can also change WordPress themes, add other user roles therefore, caution has to be taken before granting a user the administrator role.

Unless the need arises you should not make anyone the Administrator In other words, it should rarely be used for admin roles except the user needs more technical role or support. This is because the administrator role has unrestricted access to all the functionalities on WordPress.

Here are some of the capabilities of an Administrator:

1- Content

The administrator can add, delete, edit, modify and publish posts, pages

2- Themes and Plugins

the administrator can add, remove, activate and update themes and plugins.

3- Assign User Roles

The Administrator can assign user roles, delete and upgrade a user.

4- Media

The administrator can also upload, delete and edit media files

5- Comment

The administrator can add, delete, edit and moderate that is, approve or disallow comments on the site

6- Settings

The administrator can also make general and technical changes to the site. The admin can Settings: General, Reading, Writing, Discussion, Permalinks, etc

Attachment:

The word attachment is used in WordPress when you upload an item to WordPress using the “add media” button, any file you add to WordPress is an attachment and it is stored in the media library. Supported files include images, graphics, videos, animation, PDF, word processing documents, etc

Avatar:

This is the image that shows on your WordPress profile and on every WordPress site you visit when you are trying to comment. WordPress allows you to create a custom avatar which is attached to your profile and username when you comment on your page or other WordPress websites.

Backend:

If you are a WordPress site owner or administrator, there is a huge chance that you will spend most of your time working here. The backend of a WordPress site is that part of the site that is only available to register and authenticated users of the site which allows them to update and make changes to the site.

The backend of a WordPress site is the administrative part of the website that is used by the Administrators of the site to create, edit, delete and modify the contents on the site. On the backend, each user is provided with functionalities based on their admin level or user role. The backend is only available to registered users of the site. The WordPress backend is made up of the WordPress core files, Pages, Posts, Media Library, Plugins, Tools, Themes etc.

The backend is everything that happens behind the scene of your WordPress site. These are the basic terminologies associated with the backend. To access the backend of a WordPress site, add the /wp-admin extension at the back of the domain name. Eg if your domain is www.yoursite.com, to access the backend, you will need to visit www.yoursite.com/wp-admin. However, the URL may vary from different WordPress installations.

Once you visit the URL, you will be required to input your username or email and your password to verify that you are an authenticated user. Once you enter the correct information, you will have access to the backend of your WordPress site where you can make administrative changes to the site.

These are the following parts of a WordPress backend–

1. Page: These are posts like featured that are used to add more information on the WordPress site.
2. Post: These are used to create content for your WordPress site.
3. Themes: These are the template files on which a WordPress site is built on. They determine how a WordPress site looks.
4. Plugins: These are a piece of WordPress files that are used to increase or enhance the functionality of a WordPress site.
5. Comment: WordPress allows both registered and non-registered members to drop a note or feedback on posts made on a WordPress site.
6. Tools: WordPress has resources that allow you to make changes to your Site

Bin:

This is a term used to for deleting posts and pages. It is used to describe the temporary location where all deleted posts and pages are saved when they are deleted on WordPress.

Breadcrumb:

Breadcrumb is a navigation path that describes the trail of links. It is a hierarchical navigation menu that tells users the page they are currently at on a site.

Contributor:

The contributor is another level of user role in WordPress that allows users to create and edit their own posts only. A user with the contributor page role cannot delete his/her post or other people’s posts. A contributor can not edit their published posts.

Custom Background:

Custom background on WordPress is a feature of WordPress that allows you to add a custom background color and images to your WordPress site. With custom background enabled, users can upload background images and also add background colors to a WordPress site.

Custom Fields:

This is a feature that allows you to add additional information that is not readily available by default to specific pages on your WordPress site.

Custom Headers:

This feature allows you to customize the header of your WordPress site by adding a header image or other header related information.

Customizer:

The customizer allows you to make custom changes on your WordPress site. These changes include site title, tagline, favicon, and site icon. It also lets you manage your menu, choose the website color, etc. In other words, the WordPress Customizer lets you edit and make changes to your site and also edit features that are not available on your settings page or widgets.

Dashboard:

this refers to a GUI (Graphical User Interface) in which the WordPress dashboard is built, It refers to the administrative page that summarizes all the information about the WordPress site. The concept of the dashboard was to give an interface where you can monitor the whole activities of your website at a glance.

The dashboard also gives visual statistics of the WordPress insights and analytics. It is the first screen you see when you log in to your WordPress admin. The dashboard is made up of a collection of widgets that gives an overview or shortcuts to activities on your WordPress site.

The WordPress dashboard is best for a quick view analysis of your site and also to access other important parts of your website admin. You can customize the WordPress admin to your taste by either adding or removing some items. The dashboard can be accessed by adding /wp-admin at the end of your WordPress website URL.

The dashboard is divided into the following

At a Glance: This gives a birds-eye view statistics of the site such as posts, pages, comments etc At a glance also provides information about the number of content on the site like the number of posts, pages, comments etc. It also provides the current number of content on your WordPress and the current version of your WordPress.

Dashboard Menu: The dashboard menu contains links to several administrative tools on your WordPress site such as Home, Updates, Post, Media, Comment, users, tools, settings.

Screen Options: This is a list of checkboxes that you can use to add or remove a widget item from displaying on a page. This is usually used to customize your page.
Welcome

Quick Draft: This is a quick draft editor that allows you to quickly create, edit, and save a post as a draft.

WordPress News: WordPress News is a widget that displays news from the official WordPress blog. It gives notifications about the latest software updates, events, alerts and other news relating to WordPress.

Activities: It is another widget that shows recent events on your WordPress site. It shows recent published posts, comments etc

Default Theme: The WordPress default theme is the sets of theme, a template that defines the layout of a WordPress site. It usually comes with WordPress on the first installation. The default theme comes automatically installed on any WordPress site upon installation and can be replaced with another theme.

The default WordPress theme gives the site a design architecture when you newly install WordPress and it also serves as a rollback option incase your new theme develops an issue, gets corrupted, deleted or something goes wrong. A new default WordPress theme is usually released yearly for a new year and it is named after the current year. WordPress has been introducing a new default theme since 2010. Once you install a theme, the first page you see when you visit the site is the default theme.

Editor: The editor is another user role in WordPress that allows you to create, edit, delete and publish posts and pages. The editor role can delete and edit posts and pages created by others. The editor is lower in rank than the administrator, the Editor role cannot carry out core WordPress technical roles.

Excerpt: An excerpt can be described as an abstracted description of your blog post. It is sometimes used in displaying the Archives and Category views of your posts, used to describe your post in RSS feeds and it is more often than not used in displaying search results and refers to the summary entered in the Excerpt field of the Administration > Posts > Add New SubPanel.

Featured Image: this is a specific image that the website user can upload which afterwards is ascribed to a specified post or web page. It is the default images that show up on posts when you navigate a post page of any blog. It is usually that image that is displayed when you are browsing through a WordPress blog.

Footer: this is the horizontal portion beneath the main texts of a blog post or a page that is used to display information that is not part of the main post or page of a website. It is usually the bottom part of a webpage that is consistent throughout the page. The footer usually provide more information such as the copyright, contact information, social media links, services etc

Front design End: the Front end can simply be described as the user interface. It is the part of the website that visitors who visit a website see and interact with.

Gutenberg:

Gutenberg is a revolutionary visual editor that was created as a core part of WordPress to change the way content are produced in WordPress. Gutenberg was created as a standalone plugin until it was pre-installed into WordPress 5.0 update, in older versions of WordPress, It can be installed as a standalone plugin but in newer versions of WordPress, it comes inbuilt and pre-installed. It became a core part of WordPress when WordPress 5.0 update was released.

In WordPress Gutenberg, a block is the smallest building block of the WordPress editor through which a page or post is built. Gutenberg is the latest WordPress editor. It is a WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) block-oriented editor that uses blocks to create all types of content. It replaces the old default WordPress Classic editor which was a text-based editor with an interface similar to a word processor. The classic editor has a Microsoft Word-like interface, unlike Gutenberg which has a sophisticated design interface. It is a much more efficient system that incorporates modern coding standards making it easy to create awesome content using drag and drop functionality.

The Gutenberg features a combination of an editor and a website builder. Unlike the classic editor, the Gutenberg is a visual editor that was introduced in WordPress 5.0 updates to replace the old default classic editor which has been the official WordPress editor since its inception. Gutenberg uses blocks to create different content types, layouts, and designs and there are different blocks for different purposes. After the introduction of WordPress 5.0, Gutenberg became the official WordPress editor. With Gutenberg, you can create stunning and beautiful web pages at the click of a button.

With the introduction of Gutenberg, creating content and web pages has never been easy. Gutenberg offers fast, easy and effective ways to create website content. Since WordPress comes automatically with WordPress 5.0 there is no need to install extra plugins to format your text. One of the uniqueness of Gutenberg is that every block has its unique layout and settings which can be used to further customize the page. It also allows you to make custom blocks which you can later reuse. The Gutenberg has some basic elements which make up the building blocks of the editor: Listed below are the basic building block elements of Gutenberg. To use WordPress Gutenberg, you don’t need to install Gutenberg as it is already a core part of WordPress. It is pre-installed on WordPress and activated for use when you visit WordPress pages and posts. To get started using Gutenberg, click on the plus sign at the top left part of the page or post. To add a new block, click the plus sign every time you need to add a new element. You can either search or select from the list.
Gutenberg has a block for each content element such as:

1. images: To add or upload images, pictures, and graphics.
2. Paragraph: This is used to add text and start a new paragraph for text.
3. Videos: This element is used to add videos to your WordPress site.
4. Galleries: This allows you to create a gallery-like functionality on your site.
5. Audio: The audio elements allow you to add sound and music to your WordPress site
6. Heading: The heading allows you to add different kinds of headings to your WordPress site.
7. Table: The table allows you to add a table to your WordPress site
8. Lists: The list allows you to create a list that could be ordered and unordered lists:
9. Shortcodes: The shortcode element allows you to add shortcodes to your site.

With these blocks, you can create stunning web pages, posts, custom post types during your web development. The Blocks are divided into subcategories
a. Common blocks:
Paragraph, Gallery, Image, Heading, Quote, List, Cover Image, Video, Audio.

b. Formatting blocks:
Pullquote, Preformatted, Code, Table, Custom HTML, Classic Text, Verse.

c. Layout blocks:
Separator, More, Text Columns, Button.

d. Widgets:
Latest Posts, Shortcode, Categories.

Header: This is the foremost part of a website typically displayed at the top of the web page and provides information about the contents of the web page. It usually contains the navigational menu and other information. In programming and website development, the header can also be used to store metadata which are needed by search engines for improving SEO.

Header Image: This is an image that appears at the top of a WordPress web page which in most cases represents what the website is about.

Headings: These are texts that give a brief highlight of the theme or topic of a blog post within a web page. Headers are used for differentiating heading and subheadings in WordPress. There are six different types of headings h1, h2, h3, h4, h5, h6.

Home Page: The homepage is also known as the index page. It refers to the first page of a website that loads when you visit the websites URL. It is the main page of the website through which you can navigate to other areas of the website. To make a page a homepage on WordPress, you can do so by creating a new page or using an existing one.

To create a new page, click on pages, Add New, give it a name and design your page to your specification. Once you design the page to specifications. Navigate to Appearance >> Customize >> Home Page settings, choose static page then select the page you would like to make as your homepage. Once you select the page, click publish.

Another way to create a WordPress Homepage is through the settings. Once you have created your page, navigate to Settings >> Readings, then under your homepage display select the page that you will like to make the homepage of the site and save changes.

To add the homepage to the menu, create a new menu and add the Homepage to the menu or add the homepage to an existing menu. Then click the save menu. In summary, the homepage is also known as the front page or index page.

Main Menu: This refers to the main navigational items on the headers of a website. It is a list of links directing users to various alternative labels or pages within or outside the website. The menu makes navigation and redirection possible on a WordPress site. The main menu is also known as the primary menu.

Media: The media is the storage area for any non-text content on the web page in WordPress circles. Media consists of images, videos, or sound files with other appropriate file extensions. The media is used to manage uploads such as images, audio, videos, and other document attachments. The media has two sections the Library and the add new

Library: The library displays all the collections of files in the media library. The media library provides you with functionality to search, view, edit, upload and delete media files on the site. The media library allows you to view images in two forms, the list view, and the grid view.

The ListView: The list view displays all the media files in a list-style format. It displays the items in a tabulated list with the name of the file, the file type, and a thumbnail of the image. For other file types, the file icon will be displayed and for audio and video file type, the audio and the video icon will be shown in the listView.

The Grid View: The grid view provides thumbnails of images, Audio icons for music and sound and Movie icons for movies and videos systematically arranged in a grid.

To upload a new file to WordPress, Click Media >> Add New

Add New: It allows users to upload files into the media library

Files stored on the media library are stored based on the date in which they are uploaded. They are often organised by month and year in the /wp-content/uploads/. Media files consist of mostly images that are inserted or uploaded on your site during content creation.

The media file provides users with the option to filter items by date and file type. You can view images posted within a specific period and you can also filter by the file types which includes images, audios, videos, documents etc

The media library also provide a search box to search images that have been uploaded by searching for keywords and any image with the file name that matches or closely match your keyword will be displayed.

Media Settings: these are the configurations specified for each media file to make them work or display the way you want them to.

Menus: these are lists of clickable links to pages and posts that are available on WordPress websites for users to select the operation they wish to perform. They are mainly used for navigation

Multisite (MU): This is a feature available on WordPress 3.0 and later versions which when activated, allows WordPress site to support a network of multiple virtual sites to share a single WordPress installation. With multisite, you can control multiple websites from one dashboard. Multisite is a WordPress feature that allows Website administrators to create several networks of WordPress sites within a single installation.

To convert your site to a multisite, add the following line of code to your wp-config.php file through FTP
/* Multisite */
define(‘WP_ALLOW_MULTISITE’, true);
To locate the wp-config.php

Before you edit your WordPress wp-config, make sure you backup your site and the wp-config file. Login to your server using the FTP login credentials. Once you login the wp-config.php is usually in the root folder of your website. Locate the wp-config.php file and use the necessary text editor to edit it. Then click Save.

Once you have saved your file. Log in to your WordPress using your login credentials. In your dashboard, Go to Tools » Network Setup. Under your network setup, you can configure your WordPress Multisite Network. It gives you the option to choose whether you want the network sites to be on hosted on subdomains or sub-directories. This action cannot be reversed once the options have been selected. Once you are done, it automatically upgrades your user role to the Super Admin where you can control and add multiple sites to the WordPress multisite network.

Navigation Menu: This is a menu located in the website’s header that helps web users visiting your website to move from one page to another or within the same page by clicking a hyperlink. Menu items are a post type in WordPress, and you add them via the menus admin screen or the Customizer.

Options: Options are features on the WordPress website that can be modified, that is they can be added, changed, removed, and retrieved from the wp_options table. They are neither part of a post, web page, or media contents of your blog site but simply standardized APIs (Application Programming Interfaces), settings, plugins, or themes for storing data in your website’s database system.

Page: A page is a post type in WordPress which is used to create static pages or static content that you don’t want to display on your blog pages. Pages were introduced to WordPress in 2005 to create static pages that were not part of your blog post. Usually, pages are used when you need to give instructions or create information that is not a Blog post. The page is a content type that is used to create special content on your site. it can take images, texts, videos, etc. Pages are often used to create contents such as Homepage, about us, Contact, Legal information, privacy policy page, etc. Pages are similar to the posts content type because they both have title and content area. The difference is pages are mostly static and they are often used to convey information that is not time-bound while posts may change from time to time.

To create a new page, visit the page option on your Dashboard, click on Pages >> Add New, enter the name of the page and the required content. Click Save and you have just created a new page

Parent Theme: refers to the primary theme with files and/or functionality from which other themes commonly known as child theme can be derived.

Permalink

Permalink refers to a static single web address that is explicitly assigned to a specific web resource such as a web page, blog post, or file that will continue to point to that same resource over time. Permalinks are permanent links or URLs. The advantages of permalink cannot be overemphasized, without permalink, it will be impossible to link to other websites or contents. Permalink enables users to share posts, link to posts, and make the user experience easy. For permalink, the URL has to be permanent and must not change.

Types of permalink

The permalink settings enable users to make specific changes and to create a custom permalink structure. By default, WordPress uses the plain permalink structure, however, you can make custom changes to the permalink structure of your posts or pages. Permalinks are mostly used to improve the usability, aesthetics and forward-compatibility of your WordPress site links.

Permalinks come in the following formats:

1. Plain – This is the default WordPress permalink structure and it is usually represented by http://www.yoursite.com/?p=123
2. Day and name – This is the type of permalink that reflects the date (Year, Month and Day) It is an example of the day and name-based structure is http://www.yoursite.com/2019/09/11/sample-post/
3. Month and name – This type of permalink reflects the year, month, and name Eg http://www.syoursite.com/2019/09/sample-post/
4. Numeric – The permalink has a numeric structure in its URL http://www.yoursite.com/archives/123
5. Post name – This permalink has the post name or title in the structure and http://www.yoursite.com/sample-post
6. Custom structure – the custom type permalink allows you to create a custom-based permalink by creating a custom permalink structure. An example of a custom permalink is http://www.yoursite.comblog/%year%/%monthnum%/%day%/%postname%/. For the custom structure, other tags available are %hours%, %minutes%, %seconds%, %post_id%, %category%, %author%.

WordPress also allows you to set a permalink for individual pages and posts on your WordPress site when creating or editing a post. This can be done in the permalink field of the content page of your WordPress dashboard.

Ping: this is a term peculiar to TCP/IP (Transmission Control Protocol/ Internet Protocol) that is used to describe the process of calling or referencing a Uniform Resource Locator (URL) to diagnose a network problem and determine if a given IP Address exists or if it is presently reachable.

Pingback: When Pingback is enabled, it allows notifications to be sent to WordPress when other blogs link to articles on their website. Although there are some minor technical differences, a trackback is the same thing as a pingback.

Plugin

In WordPress, a plugin is a piece of software that is designed to perform a set of functionality. It is also a WordPress PHP file that can be uploaded to WordPress for specific functionality. Plugins allow you to extend the functions of WordPress by installing third-party applications on your existing WordPress site. There is virtually a plugin for everything on WordPress. WordPress has thousands of plugins that are designed for different purposes and needs. The administrator can install, activate and uninstall a plugin.

To install a plugin. Go to your Dashboard, Click Plugins >> Add New. Search the required plugin and click install. It takes less than 10 seconds for most plugins to be installed. Once it installs, click activate. On activation, the plugin is now active and can perform the function it was built for. Different plugins are built for different purposes.

There are over fifty thousand (50,000) plugins on WordPress.

Plugin Editor: The Plugin editor is a text-based editor which can be found at Plugins » Editor. It allows users to edit plugins files and “make changes on the functionality of a plugin.

Primary Menu: The primary menu is the main menu that shows up at the header of a WordPress site. They are the clickable categories or terms listed on top of every website.

Profile: The WordPress profiles allow individual WordPress users to make specific changes to their WordPress outlook. Users can set colour schemes, keyboard shortcuts, passwords etc. The profile also refers to a user’s admin page which bears personal information about the user when they signed up on the WordPress site. It captures information such as the bio, link to their website and their gravatar. It provides information such as Name, nickname, email, links to social media and a field where you can set and change your password. WordPress users can access their profiles by visiting Users >> Your Profiles.

Role: A Role is a defines a set of functionality a user assigned the role is allowed to perform. This is also known as user roles, it is a specification for the level of access granted to a particular WordPress user. It allows a site owner to manage the accessibility or control access which other users have on the site. The user role allows the Administrator to assign different admin levels to other users of the site. There are six predefined roles in WordPress which includes Super Admin, Administrator, Editor, Author, Contributor and Subscriber. Each role is unique and can perform specific functions upon login and authentication. The permission and access for roles are dependent on the user role assigned.

The Super Admin is the highest form of administrative role on WordPress which is used in Multisite installations, while for regular installations, the highest admin-level role is the Administrator. The Super admin is not activated by default, it is activated only when multisite has been activated on WordPress. The administrative role is created by default upon installation of WordPress.

Settings

These refer to the default or custom configurations that can be made to a WordPress website or plugins to have them work the way you want them to. Settings allow you to make changes on your site and to control how your site is displayed. The settings offer changes to the website’s title, tagline, language, and visibility. The setting is divided into the following part:

a. General: This setting allows you to make basic changes to your site configurations such as the page title, it also lets you set your tagline and also customise your site address and lastly lets you also set your location. The General settings also let you set the default User Role when a new user registers. You can also change the language settings, customize the time zones, change the dates and time format. Lastly, It also allows you to switch on or off registration on your site.

b. Writing: This option allows you to set the default post category for your blog, your default post format, you can also set the option of posting via email.

c. Reading: This setting lets you customize whats is displayed on the front page. This is the settings that allow you to set the front page to show either the latest blog post or a static page. It also allows you to set the homepage and the posts page and the number of posts you want to be displayed on the front page or the post pages and categories.

d. Discussion: The discussions provide options mostly for comments on the site. It allows you to set whether you want comments on the site or not. You can also set parameters for comments and comment moderation.

e. Media: This is where you can set default settings to your media files mostly images. You set the width and height for your thumbnail size, medium size and large size. It also allows you to organise your new uploads into month and year.

f. Permalink: The permalink provides the ability to create a custom URL structure for your site permalink and archives. It allows you to create custom structures such as plain, day and name, month and name, Numeric, Post name and custom structure.,

g. Privacy: This provides the option to create or set your privacy policy page.

Sidebar: This refers to a part of the web page usually located on the home page that bears relevant information.
Sidebars play an important role in website design. They are usually the vertical column widgets that can be placed on the left or right of a WordPress site that you can you to give more information on your site.

Slug: This is a term used to describe the part of the URL that contains the title of the post or an edited caption. A slug is a user-friendly URL that is usually automatically generated from a post title. It is usually activated when custom permalink is used. Slugs are available both on pages and Posts on the screen editor.

Smileys: they are also known as emojis or emoticons and are simply schematic representations of conventional expressions on the human face. Smiley are often used in WordPress and are automatically converted to graphic images by default in a WordPress website. Smileys are used to display or convey human emotions or actions. They add life to your posts and make them more engaging and interactive. They are usually made by the addition of two or more punctuation marks or signs.

Static Front Page: The Static front page is the functionality that lets you set the page which you can use as the front page to your website. It is also known as the “custom home page”. The static front page sets the pages which load as the index page when the main website is visited.

Structure tags: These refer to the tags used in customizing permalinks in WordPress so that each permalink points to an individual post. They are usually enclosed in a percentage (%) sign.

Subscriber: This refers to a user who has signed up or subscribed to a blog site to receive updates and newsletters of publication or other services from the site.

Tag: this is a unique type of WordPress taxonomy which’s function has been previously defined to be used as an alternative means of organizing and grouping WordPress posts in the place of the default WordPress categories which is the conventional grouping tool.

Tagline: This refers to a catchy phrase that serves the purpose of a slogan and is used to describe the character or the attributes of the blog or website in a brief, concise manner.

Taxonomy: This is a technique used to classify WordPress posts. WordPress allows the website administrator to create custom taxonomies. However, by default, WordPress provides two built-in taxonomies which are categories and tags.

Terms: These refer to the classification, groupings or subcategories of items in taxonomies. Terms consist of a title, a slug and a description by default.

Thumbnail: This refers to a compact-sized image that is used to represent a larger image file.

Thumbnail Sizes: This refers to the size of a compact image in contrast to the large image file. It is usually a smaller representation of a larger image.

Title: This is usually the term used to describe the heading. The part of a blog post often located on the first line and consists of a few words of usually just one line that gives a concise description of the entire post or page. The site title is simply the name of your site and it is the first thing people see when they search for a page or post on your site or when they search for a topic or a keyword that relates to your site on search engines. or the heading that is displayed on your browser’s title bar when you visit a site.

Toolbar: This is a part of the screen most often placed just above the website that lists useful customizable administration screen links such as add a new post or edit your profile.

Tools: This refers to a built-in piece of software used to modify, configure and perform certain operations on a WordPress website.

Trackback: this is a term ascribed to the notifications sent via ping (network signals) to the website authors or administrators to prompt them when somebody else links to their content to facilitate easy communication between linked blogs.

Trash: This is the name given to a temporary storage location in which deleted files are kept for recovery when situations necessitate their retrieval. The trash can was also used to describe the action taken when you delete a post or page.

User: this is a term that is used to refer to a person who signs up to use the services of a blog site or access resources on the WordPress website.

User Role

This is a phrase used to specify the activities or operations a particular user is permitted to carry out on a WordPress blog or website site. User roles are predefined WordPress roles that can be assigned to WordPress users to give them privileges on the site. The user role of each user determines the kind of actions the users can carry out on WordPress. Some user roles can perform some technical functions while others have limited functionality. Here are the default user roles in WordPress:

1. Super Admin: The Super admin is only available in a WordPress multisite network. The super admin can manage a network of several sites installed in a WordPress Multisite installation. The Super Admin is not activated by default unless you activate the multisite function on your WordPress site.
2. Administrator: The administrator is automatically created when you install WordPress. The administrator can manage a single site in a standard WordPress installation or a single site within a Multisite network. The administrator has all the privileges. the administrator can add new user, new posts, new pages to a WordPress site and can as well delete a user, a post and pages on WordPress. This user role gives the Administrator the power to control everything on the site. The administrator can also add and remove a plugin and can also edit the WordPress core files.
3. Editor: The editor is another WordPress user role with the capability to edit, create, delete, publish and manage any post on the WordPress site including the ones created by others. However, the editor does not have access to the website settings and cannot modify the website themes, plugins or core files. Also, an editor can moderate, edit, reply and delete comments.
4. Author: An author can only write, edit, publish and manage their posts only. Authors can see comments made by others but can not moderate user comments. Also, authors do not have administrative rights to the settings, plugins or themes on the site.
5. Contributor: A contributor can only write and manage their posts but cannot publish. A contributor is a fairly limited role as it cannot upload media files, all posts are submitted for approval. They can view comments but cannot edit, accept or reject comments on the site. The contributor user role does not also have access to the core files, settings, themes and plugins on your WordPress site.
6. Subscriber: This is a user role that is best for users that are visiting your websites. They do not need administrative access to your site, they can not add content but can view content and make comments only and they do not have access to the administrative backend. They only have access to their profiles and can make changes to their profiles.

To add a user role is pretty easy, on your Dashboard, go to Users >> Add New, select your preferred user role, enter the username, email, name, password and other information that is needed and save changes. The new role is automatically created and the new user can sign in by entering the information provided during registration.

Widgets: These are mini software applications contained in the GUI (Graphical User Interface) that often gather information from websites or other applications and display them. They are used in WordPress to add content and features such as tag clouds and searches to sidebars.

WordCamp: this is a term ascribed to the name of all official WordPress-related conferences or forums in which people come together with the sole purpose of learning more about WordPress and associating with other bloggers of like-mind.

WordPress.com: this is the commercial WordPress site where blog sites hosted on a WordPress server. It also allows users to access and purchase premium features. WordPress.com is more like a hosting service that allows WordPress users to pay to host their website with WordPress.com. Unlike WordPress.org, WordPress.com allows you to buy and install your WordPress site without any technical knowledge of WordPress.

It allows you to choose from a different theme to install on your site without knowing the technicalities. WordPress.com was created by Automatic a company founded by one of the co-founders of WordPress. The version of WordPress.com is less complicated compared to that of WordPress.org.

WordPress.org: this is the free WordPress site where free features can be accessed and used. WordPress.org is an open-source web development software that can be used to create stunning websites, blogs, and apps. It is a self-hosted WordPress platform that allows you to create a website for free. All you need is a domain name and a web host. It gives full control and customization of your WordPress site. It is easy to use and it gives you full control of your website. With WordPress.org you can build all forms of site ranging from Classifieds, blogs, online stores, corporate websites, etc..

wordPress.org requires some technical knowledge and give the user the power and flexibility to make lots of changes. You can install both paid and free themes, plugins and also customize to your taste. You will need to download the software on www.wordpress.org to install it on your WordPress site. However, some hosting companies provide a one-click installation of WordPress on your Cpanel or web server.

Here’s a head to head comparison between WordPress.com vs WordPress.org

wp-config.php: It is a core WordPress file, it is a configuration file used to make changes to the core WordPress settings.

Content Terms

Blog: A blog can simply be put as an information site or an online journal. It is like a personal website where you can share something you are passionate about. However, over the years the use of blogs has been extended to corporate and business use. Therefore, a blog is a website that provides information about a subject matter. WordPress started as a Blog building platform it was until a few years after that it became a full-fledged content management system.

Blogging: Blogging is the whole process of writing, adding, editing, updating and managing a blog. Blogging is the whole concept of creating, developing and managing a blog.

Category: Category is used to organize a group of related content into sections. It helps in organizing posts that are related to groups and ensuring similar contents are grouped under a section which makes it easier for users to navigate.

Comments: Comments is the feature on your WordPress site that allows communication between the website and readers. It allows people to reply to your posts or make inputs, observations, ask questions or provide feedback on posts. Comments allow discussion through the website. Once comments are activated on a blog, it allows interaction between the users and the website owner such that whenever a post is made on the site, users can place a comment on the site. Comments are usually displayed below the post. WordPress also gives the website the flexibility to switch on and off comments and also determine what happens when comments are made on the site. You can either set comments to be automatically posted on your site or to go to moderation. That way you can control what comment shows on your site. By default, comments usually contain four fields namely comment, name, email and website.

To enable comments on posts or pages, kindly visit the Dashboard, Go to Settings >> Discussion >> Then you will come across a list of options on how you want your WordPress site to process the data. You can either set the comments to go on moderation or to appear live on the site once they are posted. Comments on moderation can then be manually approved by the Administrator or Editor.

Content: In WordPress content can be anything from text, video, graphics, images, audio, etc. Content can be used interchangeably to describe a post that is a combination of text, audio, video or any of the individually content type.

Draft: The draft post status refers to WordPress posts which are composed and saved, but are yet to be published. Draft posts can only be edited via the Administration Panel, under the All Post >> Draft.

Post Format: this refers to the specifications of the format in which various posts (text only, images, videos) are displayed on the web page. These specifications can be set by creating templates or theme files for each of the different file or media format displayed on WordPress.

Post Meta: this is also known as post metadata and it refers to the data or information such as the author’s name and portfolio, the date an article was posted and last update all of which is linked with each post on your website.

Post: A post is a type of Post Type that allows users to publish text, image, video, animation on a WordPress site. It also can mean all the published blog content or articles on a site.

To write a new post, login to your WordPress dashboard

• Go to the Posts menu
• Click Add New
• Enter the title, description, add the necessary media files
• choose the right categories
• Then click publish.

Here are the fields and options that are available on WordPress posts. Title, permalink, Save Draft, Undo, Redo, Revisions, Categories, tags, excerpt, Add block, Status and Visibility, Settings, Publish, Featured image, Discussion, Content Structure, Block Navigation etc

a. Title: This is the field that is used for the title of the posts or the headline of what you are writing about.

b. Permalink: This is also known as the permanent link, it is the website URL that is automatically generated by WordPress.
It often uses the user-readable words from the title to form the permalink and it avoids stop words and punctuations on the URL. The type of permalink displayed is based on what you set in your permalink settings.

c. Text Block: The content block is used to input contents such as text, images and other types of content.

d. Preview Button: This button is used to view a post to have an idea of how the post will look before it is posted. With the preview button, you can view the post before publishing it.

e. Publish Button: This button is used to posts the content online and also make the blog posts available to the public.

f. Save Draft: This button allows you to save your post without publishing it. This is often used in the case where you are not done editing your post and you need to save it for a later date.

g. Revisions: This feature allows you to see the changes you have made to a post over a particular time and makes it easy for you to switch to a previous version should the need arise. The revision tracks and keeps records of changes made on your site making it easier to switch to changes made within a specific time range.

Scheduling: This feature allows you to publish a post to a future date. You schedule your posts and get it published on a later date.

Page: A page is almost similar to a post. A page is a post type that is used for static content on WordPress like the Homepage, About us page etc.

Post Slug: A post slug is a user-friendly and human-readable URL that is a combination of words in lowercase and separated by dashes that are automatically extracted from the post title or can be typed as a permalink for the post.

Post Status: This refers to the status of a post set in the admin panel to specify whether the post is published or a draft. When the post status shows published, it means it is now visible on the site and is viewable by anyone visiting the webpage. The draft status is associated with a post that is not yet published and can only be viewed by specific user-level authorization. The Private post status is set for posts that can be viewed by the website administrators only.

Post Types: this is a phrase that is used to describe the various types of content available in WordPress. They can be defined with register_post_type() format and exist in two variations; either custom post types, which allow users and developers to easily create and manage features such as portfolios, projects, video libraries, podcasts, quotes, chats, and other associated post items. Or native post types which are built-in registered post types such as articles, page, attachments, revision, and navigation menu item

Publish: this is a term that generally refers to the release of a post to be accessible on the web and read by anyone remotely. Publish is the feature on WordPress that lets you posts content online. Any published content can be viewed by anyone online.

QuickPress:

QuickPress is a feature that allows users to quickly create posts or pages without opening the main post screen. It provides all the functionality needed to quickly publish a post. It is more like a shortcut to creating posts and pages on WordPress.

Revisions: Revisions is a WordPress feature that automatically saves changes to your posts, pages, or custom post types such that in a situation where you need to refer back to a previous revised post, you can do so at a click.

RSS: It is the acronym for Really Simple Syndication it is a format for organizing various types of content specifically publish content in a structured XML file for third party websites or applications.

RSS Feed: An RSS feed is an automated feed usually requested by a subscriber most times contain a summary of content or the complete text that makes it easier for the subscriber to keep up to date with their websites of interest. The feeds are sent either via electronic mail to the email address provided at sign up or are sent as notification prompts directly to the subscriber’s device.

SEO: This is a term for Search Engine Optimization it is a term that is used to describe the process of making sure your website more visible in search engines. It is the process of optimizing your site organically (without necessarily running paid ads) when a keyword relating to your site is searched on search engines. This can be done through strategic post creation with the use of relevant tags, categories and keywords in the posts and headlines that suit search items. Search engine optimization helps increase the searchability of your websites in search engines. When a keyword relating to your website is searched online, SEO helps increase the chance of your Website appearing on the first pages of search engines. SEO is often adopted by website owners to increase the chances of their websites being visible on top pages of search engines. Search engine optimisation will help you increase the traffic and website visitors to your blog or website. To achieve this, you must obey the WordPress standard SEO practices. The main goal of every SEO practices is to increase the traffic to your site and to make sure your site rank higher when keywords relating to your website are searched online. To make a WordPress website SEO compliant here are some practices to adopt

1. Ensure your website is secured with SSL certificate
2. Use SEO friendly Permalink or URL
3. Make sure your content is SEO compliant that is the title, the content, images etc
4. Install SEO plugin
5. Optimize your pages and posts for SEO
6. Ensure your website is optimized for speed
7. Optimize the images on your WordPress site

WordPress Themes and Plugins Terms

bbPress: bbPress is an open-source WordPress plugin that can be used to create a forum. bbPress makes it possible to install and activate a forum on a WordPress site.

Child Theme: A child theme in WordPress is a subsection of the parent theme that inherits all the qualities, features and functionalities of the parent theme, and they allow you to make changes or modify a theme without affecting the parent theme such that when the site is updated you do not lose your changes.

Autoresponder: It is an email extension that automatically sends a notification email when someone sends you an email or subscribes to your site. It provides an automated customized message anytime someone sends you a message or signs up for a newsletter on your site.

Responsive Theme: This is the term that is used to define the ability of a WordPress theme to display or loads well on Mobile, desktop and tablets. No matter the device in which it is viewed, it adapts to fit the screen. depending on where the site is loaded, the theme will load to fit the size of the screen.

Template: this refers to a file that serves as a building block for the web page and defines an area of the web pages generated by a theme.

Template Tag: This is a term used to describe the kind of function designed to be used in fetching and displaying data, such as the site name or description in the WordPress theme template files.

Text Editor: This refers to the application software that can be used to create and edit files in plain text format and most times still retain the code lines as though a conventional compiler is used.

Theme: In WordPress, a theme is a template that determines the appearance of a website or blog. A theme is a collection of website templates files and stylesheets used to define the styling and appearance of the WordPress website. A theme contains the website’s colour scheme, fonts, content layouts and many other features. WordPress offers free themes which have limited functionalities and premium themes which are paid for and offer more diverse functions and customizations. To install and activate a new theme, Visit your dashboard, Navigate the Appearance >> Themes >> Add New Theme. You can either search for the theme from the WordPress theme directory or upload one from a third party theme site. Once your theme has been installed, click activate to activate your theme. The changes are automatically reflected on the website. . A theme manages the way all the contents posted on your websites are displayed to the users.

Themes hold data stored on WordPress and displays on browsers to the users.

Theme Editor: The Theme Editor is a simple text editor used in WordPress that is used to edit the WordPress theme. It can be found at the Appearance » Editor. It allows you to modify WordPress theme files from the admin area. You can see the preview of the theme editor in the screenshot below.

Theme Framework:
Theme Options:

Technical Terms

Absolute/ Full Path: Refers to the complete location of a file or directory within a file system. Beginning at the root directory, the absolute path runs up the directory hierarchy and stops when the particular file or directory is fetched.

Action: This is a PHP embedded function that is executed at specified points within the WordPress system site.

Apache: This is one of the most popular web server software. It is an open-source web server software. It is used by most WordPress hosting providers as their preferred web server software solution.

Backlink: Backlinks are websites links that you get from other websites linking to your websites. In simple form, a backlink is a link you get from other third party websites targeting your site. It is a major factor for SEO (Search Engine Optimization).

Config File: The config file is more often referred to as wp-config.php. It can be used to activate Multisite or to switch debugging on or off and it defines how your WordPress installation is configured. It’s sometimes edited automatically by WordPress when you make changes in the admin screens, however, it can be manually created or edited by users.

Content Management System (CMS): A content management system is a program that enables creating, modifying, editing, organizing, managing and publishing content on the internet. WordPress is the most popular content management systems in the world. One of the advantages of WordPress is that it allows you to create and manage content without the knowledge of coding or programming. You can create beautiful and complex websites with a WordPress content management system.

Cookies: Cookie is a data stored on users browsers when they visit a website to allow the site to differentiate between new and returning visitors. One of the common use of cookies is to remember your login credentials even when you navigate out of the page or close your browser. WordPress generates mainly two types of cookies by default namely:

• The comment cookie
• The Session Cookie

a. Session cookies are activated when a user logs in to a WordPress site. The server saves some of the credentials to the recipient’s browser which ensure the users is automatically logged in even when they shut down the system or close the browser.
b. The Comment Cookie automatically sets a cookie when a user places a comment on a WordPress site. The cookie remembers the user’s information and automatically fills the user’s name, email and website URL the next time the user visits the website to make another comment.

In summary, cookies are created when a user visits a site and they store information to give the user a personalised experience.

DDoS: DDoS stands for Distributed Denial of Service. It is the type of attack on a system where hackers send multiple bots in the form of traffic to a particular website to exhaust the servers’ resources. This is often done to disrupt service or extort money from the owner of the site etc

Embed: is a term that refers to the activity of enclosing an object or file within another one. it is often used to insert videos, maps or other websites on a WordPress site.

Export: is a term used to describe the process by which the format of computer data is converted from a computer program into a form that is suitable for a different program or environment to use. Export allows you to download WordPress posts, page and even the database

Favicon: The favicon is a 16×16 pixel icon that represents or symbolizes a particular website on a Browser. The WordPress favicon is represented by the encircled ‘W’ that is displayed in the address bar of the web browser.

Filters: These are API (Application Programming Interface) consisting of pre-existing or custom made functions that are used to pass data and they allow developers to modify the behaviour of a function.

Free Software: this refers to open-source software that can be edited, copied, modified and redistributed by anyone. It is available for free and at no cost to the users.

Gallery: this refers to a collection of media files specifically an exposition of images attached to a blog or web post. The image gallery is great for displaying a group of images on a WordPress site.

GPL (General Public License): as the name implies, the General Public License is a type of software license that gives general end-users including individuals and organizations the liberty to use, study, share and modify the software on the WordPress website.

GUI (Graphical User Interface): It is an interface that allows users to interact with the system by providing a platform on which the user can point the mouse or cursor to graphical icons on the system portal.

Hyperlink: this refers to a web address, link or a URL (Uniform Resource Locator) that is embedded in a web page and redirects to another different web page within the website or takes the user to another website to which the hyperlink points when it is clicked.
To insert a hyperlink, highlight the text you would love to hyperlink and enter the URL starting with https:// followed by the link.

Import: this is the act or process of loading a file from a different platform version or system into another software, location or system application.

IP Address: this is also known as Internet Protocol Address. It is a unique numerical identifier assigned to electronic gadgets such as computers, printers and mobile devices that are capable of connecting to the internet through an active network interface that communicates via means of Internet Protocol.

Landing page: this refers to the page whose address is specified in the URL (Uniform Resource Locator) of an ad. It is the default page an ads link takes you to when you click on a banner or links.

Link: this can simply be described as a web address. It refers to a set of characters forming a URL (Uniform Resource Locator) that points to a web page or website. When it is clicked or typed on the search engine, it directs the user to the specific URL for which the link is created.

JPEG (Joint Photographic Experts Group): This is a standard file format for compression of images. It is the format used for compressing image files and it takes the .jpeg or jpg file extension.

Login: This refers to every necessary detail required to log in to a portal and access information on the platform. Login usually includes user names, the email address used to register on the platform together with access code, passphrase or password to gain access to a network.

Metadata: This refers to data that gives descriptive information about the structure, organization and location of other data and serve as a label to specific data.

Open Source: This is a term that is used to describe a program or resources that are available remotely to anyone for free to study, use, edit, access and work and make an improvement. Open source is common to software, it is a practice in which software or application is made available to users to use for free and in which they can change, modify distribute and claim copyrights of such application without any form of written permission.

Relative Path: this is a phrase that is commonly used to refer to the address or location of a file in relation to the current working directory.

Screen Option: This is functionality on WordPress located on the top right corner of some pages in your WordPress admin area. When clicked, the Screen Options menu shows options to configure the view of that particular page in your admin area.

Shortcodes: these refer to a set of codes designed to automatically execute tasks such as adding media files to your blog post, create forms and buttons, or format texts to save resources.

Site: this is an alternative name for a website. It is a collection of HTML and other subsidiary web documents which are accessible on the world wide web through a URL.

Sitemap: This refers to a web page listing the contents of a website and also showing the website structure to make navigation around the website easy.

Slider: This refers to a Graphical User Interface (GUI) or a slideshow added to WordPress that allows users to create a sliding animation on the website.

Spam: This is a term used to refer to unsolicited messages sent mostly via electronic mails or newsgroups. They are mostly sent in bulk and with malicious intentions for the spammer’s commercial gains. Unsolicited comments can be marked as spam on WordPress.

Unicode: This refers to a series of character encryption standards used to support character strings in the form of bytes that can be read and executed in machine language.

Update: This refers to a modification to the components or contents of a website, web page or blog post. It can also refer to improving the quality of a theme or plugin by ensuring it is up to date.

URL: This is an acronym that stands for Uniform Resource Locator. It is used to refer to the address of a specific website, web page, media file or other resources on the Internet. URL is the web address of a website or blog that leads to a specific page or posts. It is made up of a combination of the domain name and a slug.

Visual Editor: this is an editor used in creating new contents within WordPress website it uses the WYSIWYG. This is the type of editor used in WordPress that can be used to create, edit and publish websites without writing a single line of code. The WordPress visual editor has a word processing interface like the Microsoft word that can be used to create, edit, modify and build web pages.

Programming Terms

Array: Array is a term used in a programming language which represents a variable that can hold more than one value. In WordPress, arrays are used arrays to create functions in PHP which is the programming language in which WordPress is built.

Atom: Atom is used to distribute content in XML which can be used by Feed readers or aggregators to distribute content to third party applications.

Class: This refers to a group of CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) formats that can be used along with any HTML element.

Developer: a person who is primarily responsible for the design, implementation and modification of computer software.

Framework: A framework can be called the skeleton of a website that aid in the development of new themes and update of existing ones. It also provides the support structure between the WordPress core files and the main WordPress files.

GitHub: this is a community of web developers of all levels; beginners, intermediate and professionals. Where they can work and upload their codes or related articles for others to learn and make contributions remotely.

.htaccess: this is a hidden file that is usually not visible through standard File Transfer Protocol client settings. It is used mostly to configure certain Apache webserver software for its resident directory. It is a configuration file on the server that is used to redirect the non-www and www site.

Hack: this refers to a small set of instructions with the characteristics of Plugin API extensions that are written to redefine and or broaden the functionalities of the software.

Hooks: Hooks are events that are peculiar to Actions and Filters. Hooks are functions that can be applied to actions or filters. They are specified by the web developer as Action Hooks and Filter Hooks and invoked by either the do_action() or the apply_filters() function call which sets off all the action or filter functions that were previously hooked to that event using add_action() or add_filter(), respectively.

Nonce: This is an acronym that stands for (Number used ONCE). As the phrase describes, it is a number that can only be used once within a Uniform Resource Locator (URL). So, for example, if someone attempts to reset their password in WordPress they will be sent a link that includes a nonce. Once they’ve clicked on that link they can’t use it again. This means that someone else can’t use the same link to change their password again

Domain and Hosting Terminologies

CDN: CDN stands for Content Delivery Network. It is a content distribution network that is, a dedicated network of proxy servers that delivers contents of web pages to users based on their geographical location.

cPanel: cPanel is also known as Control panel. cPanel is an open-source program built on Linux and provided by web hosting providers to website owners to manage their hosting accounts, website and other applications. one of the greatest advantages of Cpanel is non-technical users can manage cpanel due to its easy user experience and the simple graphic user interface. Cpanel provides the platform to host your website from a web-based interface. Cpanel can be accessed, using https on port 2083 or by adding “/cpanel” to the end of your domain name. Cpanel provides robust functionality to effectively manage your files on WordPress.

Most of the web hosting provider provides a quick installer that lets you install WordPress at the click of a button. Cpanel provides a simple web interface that makes installation and management of WordPress seamless for non-technical users. The Cpanel also serves as a local host for all your WordPress files. It is that web-based interface through which you can effectively manage or store your WordPress files. Cpanel is used to manage the custom mail accounts, create and manage databases, create FTP users, set up domain names, host set up and the backup of the entire site. the Cpanel is simple like the brain that manages all the activities that happen on a server. When it comes to web-based server set up, Cpanel is the most popular and the standard for all website design and data management. To manage your Cpanel, follow these steps.

Logging in to cpanel is simple, provided you are authorised or have the login credentials to the web-server.

Visit your cpanel link either using https on port 2083 or by adding “/cpanel” at the end of the domain name URL eg www.yourdomainname.com/cpanel, it will prompt you to sign in with your login credentials, usually username and password
Enter the username and password then click the to log in option

Once it logs you in then you have access to the different functionality of a Cpanel

The Cpanel is divided into the following sections which include:

• Email
• File
• Domain
• Security
• Database
• Software
• Advanced Tools

Email Management: Cpanel makes the creating, edit and managing email accounts easy. It also allows you to configure your email with outlook, set email quota, and configure your email redirection to other email services.

File management: The cpanel also provides an efficient file management system where you can easily manage your files. It allows you to create FTP accounts to upload, create, organise, modify and manage files effectively. With the file manager, you cal also back up and restore files.

Domain Management: The domain management allows you to effectively manage your domains, you can configure sub-domains, alias domains and addon domains. It also provides the feature to manage your DNS zone settings.

Security: The cpanel also provides the option to set up or install a SSL certificate on your server.
Databases: The cpanel provides an efficient database management system using PHPMyAdmin and configured using MySQL. You can create, delete, edit and configure a database.

Other Software: Cpanel also provides users with pre-installed tools to make for effecti9ve website or app building.

Advanced Tools: This option provides other useful tools for automation.

Dedicated Hosting: This is a type of hosting service in which a user is assigned a dedicated server with dedicated resources to manage a single client. This is typically ideal for sites with a large number of files and visitors. Dedicated provides a huge bandwidth to accommodate all the numerous resources on the server.

DNS: DNS is an acronym for Domain Name System it is a system that allows you to point a domain name to its IP address using a readable text address rather than its IP address. The purpose of the DNS is to create human-readable web address as opposed to the numeric long IP address.

Domain Name: A domain name is simply the web address of your website. it is the name that is used to differentiate and identify a website on the internet. It is the address that people type when they need to visit a website. Eg www.yourdomain.com. It is a combination of words and sometimes numbers which represents your web server address which users can type on web browsers to access your website.

FTP (File Transfer Protocol): It is a standard network protocol used to transfer (upload and download) files over the internet between a computer and a server. FTB allows users to upload files to the server.

Hosting: this is the provision of website management services which include running and maintenance of a web server or domain by a web hosting company over some technology-based platforms so that the site can be accessible on the web.

Localhost: this is a virtual web server that is not internet-based but can be used to test a website designed to be used remotely before it is hosted on the internet. A localhost server displays web pages, forms and other constituent elements of the web page exactly as they would appear over the internet. Examples include WAMP server, XAMP server, etc.

Memory Usage: This is a report on the Control Panel that tells users the amount of memory the website has consumed on the server.

Server: This refers to a computer that is connected to the internet to host single or multiple websites and allows users to share resources over the web using regulated internet protocols.

Shared Hosting: This refers to a standard and comparatively affordable web hosting service whereby a user’s website is placed on the same server as those of several other users and they all share the hosting services for economic gains and ease of access to resources.

Sub-domain: A subdomain is an extra part of the main domain which is created in addition to the domain. You can create multiple subdomains or child domains on your main domain.
This refers to a domain name that is divided into two or more parts each separated by a dot and prefaced to another domain name.

VPS Hosting: this is a web hosting service in which each user is allocated his or her partition on a server with predefined memory space and computational power reserved specifically for him or her.

WAMP: this is an acronym that stands for (Windows Apache MySQL & PHP). It is a combinational localhost server that is made up of Apache web server, MySQL and PHP codes and supported on the Windows operating system platform. It allows you to run a local server on your system without the internet.

Web Server: this is computer software that uses the HTTP (HyperText Transfer Protocol) for connecting infrastructure to host websites.

Security Terms

Chmod: Chmod is a command in either Linux or Unix operating systems that are used to change the access or permission of files. chmod is the short form of change mode. chmod is a Linux/Unix shell query which can be used to change or modify permissions of files and directories on WordPress.

Permission: this refers to security definitions on a system resource that specifies restrictions or access control about what operations like read, write, execute, update, insert, delete or select depending on the platform, that users can perform on certain functions.

Security keys: this refers to a WordPress security device located within the website’s wp-config.php file.

SSH: this is an acronym that stands for ‘Secure Shell’. It is a communication protocol involving a variety of authentication methods which can be used for connecting computers remotely over a specified Transmission Control Protocol or Internet Protocol.

SSL: this is an acronym that stands for ‘Secure Sockets Layer’ is an encryption protocol that is used to secure communications across networks

Data Terms

Database: A database is a collection of related data that are systematically arranged or stored. WordPress uses MYSQL as its database management system which is used to create, edit, delete and to store information.

Database Table: This refers to a table contained in the database of a particular website.

Feed: This provides a way for users to keep up to date with the latest information posted on any blogging site they subscribe to. Feeds integrate the function of special software that allows “Feed Readers” to access a website automatically and search for new content and then post the information about new content and updates to the subscriber’s specified website.

Loop: A loop is a programmed set of instructions in the WordPress theme that queries the database based on specified conditions to fetch and output the current post. The loop goes over a single post or a page only once and retrieves the required output while on an archive page it will run repeatedly until all the required posts have been retrieved and output.

MySQL: This is the database used in WordPress. It is an open-source web-based Structured Query Language that is used to store all blog information including posts, comments, data, metadata, media, etc and used to query relational database management systems on the WordPress platform.

phpMyAdmin: this is one of the most popular and widely used open-source web-based interface used for the administration of web-based relational database systems via a web browser or localhost.

Query: this refers to a set of instructions passed to a database (usually a relational database management system) behind the scenes to retrieve desired data stored in the database system.

WP_Query: this stands for WordPress Query and it is a functional tool used to retrieve information.

Coding Terms

AJAX: AJAX stands for “Asynchronous JavaScript and XML” it is the client-side scripts that allow the exchange of data with the server without having to reload the site. Asynchronous means there can be an exchange of information independently without interference from other activities on the page.

CSS: CSS stands for Cascading Style Sheets. It is the programming language that is used to style HTML documents. It is often applied to style the pages of a website.

HTML (Hypertext Markup Language): HTML is the acronym for HyperText Markup Language. It is the programming language that is used to create web pages. It utilizes hypertext (linked text) to set up dynamic links to other documents saved in the same computer or remote server.

JavaScript: This is a high-level programming language used to input interactive features that allow the website user to process certain actions such as writing comments into a form on the web pages.

jQuery: This is a JavaScript library which consists of predefined functions that can be used to manipulate CSS selectors to query HTML elements and simplify codes written in javaScript to make them compatible with any web browser they are executed or run on.

Port: this refers to a set of program codes of different software platform/language that has been re-written so that it is compatible with files and features within the context of the WordPress community.

Stylesheet: this is a theme file which consists all of the CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) modes and some essential information on the theme such as its name, author and version for the theme file.

XHTML: XHTML (Extensible HyperText Markup Language) is essentially a stricter subset of HTML, originally developed to add more features that make HTML more extensible and increase its ability to interact and function efficiently with other data.

XML: this is an acronym that stands for Extensible Markup Language. It is written in Standard Generalized Markup Language (SGML) and works collaboratively with HTML to essentially allow users to define their custom markup language.

We have carefully researched and come up with a list of popular WordPress terms to serve as a guide to help WordPress beginners familiarize themselves with the basic terms of WordPress.

Did We Miss Anything?

WordPress is a dynamic system and the core developers and contributors work hard daily to modify and upgrade the system. Since WordPress is dynamic new features are often added. In case there is a new word there is an old term we missed, please comment below and we will add it to the list.