What is WordPress and How it Works?

This page will give you an orientation and a simple way to think about how everything fits together.
If you prefer a video, here is WordPress's Getting to know the WordPress dashboard tutorial 

What You’re Looking At 

When you log in, you’ll land on the Dashboard. The most important area to pay attention to is the menu on the left side. 

Here are a few key sections you’ll use often: 

• Pages – where you create and edit static content (like Home, About, Contact) 
• Posts – used for blog-style or time-based content 
• Appearance – where you control your site’s design (themes, layout, menus) 
• Plugins – where you add extra features to your site 
• There are other options, but these are the core areas we’ll focus on. 

 

How WordPress Works  

Before you start, it helps to understand how WordPress is organized. Think of your site in four parts: 

1) Content (what’s on the page) 

Pages and Posts 

2) Design (how everything looks) 

Themes, Templates, Customizer 

These are the frames that display your content

3) Structure (how people move around your site) 

Menus and Navigation 

4) Features (what your site can do) 

Plugins and Widgets 

 

Important Note 

There’s one concept that will save you confusion, and prevent mistakes: 

Editing a page is not the same as editing your site. 

When you click “Edit Page”, you are only changing that one page 

When you use the “Customizer” or “Site Editor”, you may be changing your entire site 

If something suddenly looks different everywhere, you were likely editing a site-wide setting. 

 

Next Step 

It might be tempting to jump into design right away, but it’s much easier to work in order: 

• Create your content (Pages) 
• Set up your homepage 
• Then customize how your site looks