Are you a WordPress developer? Being a WordPress developer comes with its own sets of responsibilities. With WordPress, you are not only mastering a new interface, but you are also mastering a new form of language for website development. Whether you wish to upgrade your glossary or enlighten the curious minds of your clients, we aim at sharing some of the important WordPress terms that you should know about.
Here are some:
- API –Standing for Application Programming Interface, APIs help in connecting one interface in WordPress to another for ensuring the seamless connection of one application to another for hassle-free moving.
- Admin Bar –It is referred to as the sticky toolbar located in the top-end section of the WordPress dashboard. The Admin bat at WordPress is known to provide easier access to other important parts including new comments, available updates, live website, along with providing a quick-add capability for posts, media, pages, and so more.
- Autosave: When you are creating a new post or page, WordPress automatically saves the progress of the particular user every two minutes. At the end of the WordPress session, only the last version of the page that has been autosaved remains.
- Back End: Anything that is present behind the scenes of using WordPress is referred to as the “back end.” As a WordPress developer, the back end might refer to the database and control panel of the interface.
- Block: The all-new version of WordPress is known to make use of blocks for building smaller components of some pages –right from paragraphs, including texts to video players, and everything that comes in between.
- Block Editor: Gutenberg –the former name for WordPress Editor, is a block-based builder tool for WordPress pages. A dedicated block is added to every component of the page. Every block type is known to come with a unique toolbar for customizing the styling element of the given page.
- Blog: It is referred to as the section of the WordPress page wherein website content is written as well as published to a particular feed on the website. Businesses are known to make use of blogs for sharing ideas, case studies, tutorials, and various other kinds of content. In WordPress, the users can create content for the respective blogs through the Posts interface.
- Breadcrumbs: It is a form of secondary navigation that is available on the top-left corner of the post or webpage in WordPress. The main role of breadcrumbs is to reveal the trails that have been followed by the users on the given website. It allows them to backtrack easily. Breadcrumbs can also be utilized for displaying the level of progress made by a user in completing the given form.
- Category: It is a taxonomy that is usually applied to WordPress posts. Categories are usually high-level topics that allow users to organize the content in a better manner.
- Child Theme: WordPress developers are known to regularly update the theme files. Therefore, it might become difficult for WordPress users to customize something more than the basic WordPress settings. For WordPress users who are looking forward to updating or altering the theme beyond basic functionality, they can consider making use of a child theme. A child theme would allow the users to customize and apply the changes outside the source code.
- Classic Editor: It was the default post along with the post editor for WordPress users before 2019. The classic editor is known to include the options of a code editor along with a visual editor. The users can revert to the first-hand classic editor with the help of a plugin.
- Code Editor: It is referred to as the editing interface in WordPress that allows the users to write as well as edit content with the help of HTML.
- Comment: It is referred to as a feature that can be easily turned on as well as off for the WordPress blog. Using this features, the users are enabled to submit comments to come towards the end of the posts.
- CMS –Content Management System is the specialized platform that allows all users across different levels to create as well as publish content on their own. WordPress is a leading example of CMS.
- Control Panel: It is a leading administrative tool for domain management and web hosting. In WordPress, cPanel is one of the most popular Control Panels.
- CSS: Referred to as Cascading Style Sheets, it is a programming language that most WordPress developers make use of for creating the overall structure as well as the layout of the website.
- Dashboard: In WordPress, the first screen that appears in front of the users upon logging into WordPress. The users can customize the dashboard to ensure the display of the widgets while creating their own plugins.
- Database: It is the area in WordPress wherein data, as well as the content of the website, are stored on the given server. MariaDB and MySQL are the most common types of databases.
- DNS: Referred to as the Domain Name System, it is the process that helps in translating a website from the IP address that is used by the browser into the URL entered by the visitors.
- Domain Name: It is the actual address or name of the website.
- Excerpt: It is a specialized feature in WordPress available for the posts. The excerpt is known to appear at the top area of the blog post in the form of an RSS feed, a summary, or in search results in case no other metadata is available.
- Featured Image: It is a singular image that is attached to a web page or a blog post. The featured display is displayed alongside the short snippet or the title of the post in the major blog feed. It is also known to appear in the RSS feeds, along with when being shared on social media.
- FTP: Standing for File Transfers Protocol, it is referred to as a way of exchanging data between computer systems. There are multiple FTP clients like FileZilla that serve as tools for enabling the WordPress users to upload the respective files on the given servers.
- Gutenberg: It was the name that was given to the new WordPress editor during the beta phase in the form of a plugin.
- Hosting Provider: The websites on WordPress.org are self-hosted. This implies that the owners are required to purchase web hosting from some external source. A reliable hosting serviced provider is then expected to lease the available space on the servers to the respective WordPress users requiring some space to store the websites along with its relevant data.
- HTML: Referred to as Hypertext Markup Language, it is the basic markup that lets the web browser know how to display the content on the given web page. It is typically different from any programming language and helps in creating specialized functionalities. HTML is simply known to arrange as well as format the images along with texts on the page –just like Microsoft Word.
- IDE: Standing for Integrated Development Environment, it is referred to like the piece of software that allows the WordPress developers to write as well as edit the code along with debugging common website issues while testing the new features and functionalities.
- IP Address: It is a numerical identifier for both the web servers and computers online. Web browsers make use of this ID while retrieving a website for the subsequent users. While each computer system tends to have a unique IP address, this might not be the case for the web server hosting multiple websites from some shared locale.
- JavaScript: It is a programming language that allows the web portal to become highly interactive while responding to visitor engagement.
- Media: It is used to refer to the folder wherein files get uploaded to WordPress. Some of the accepted file formats are PDF documents, JPG images, MP4 videos, and MP3 audio clips.
- MySQL: It is a famous DMBS (Database Management System) that is utilized by most of the hosting service providers out there. It features a highly organized structure making all data from the web portals easy to be searched as well as managed by the end users.
- Navigation: It can be sometimes be confused with the menu. However, navigation is known to encompass all the terms including a specific link on a web portal that helps in directing the visitors from one page to another.
- Open Source: It is a type of software solution that is open to the public for the purpose of viewing, modifying, and editing at the same time.
- Pages: The Pages section of the WordPress site is known to contain all subsequent pages of the website. In the given section, you can create a new page or even edit the existing pages.
- Page Builder: It is a plugin that serves as a vital tool for masking the WordPress editor while allowing the users to create as well as manage the respective websites in the visual interface. Using this tool, the users are given the ability to drag & drop the essential elements while controlling various other features of the dashboard.
- Permalink: It is referred to as the combination of the slug and the URL for indicating where a particular page can be found. WordPress is known to give the users the option of simplifying the overall structure of permalinks for easier recall of the visitors.
- PHP: It is defined as the server-side programming and scripting language. The WordPress developers are known to make use of PHP codes for building WordPress themes, plugins, and core.
- Plugin: It is a specialized add-on feature for WordPress that allows the users to include new, advanced features or modify the existing functionality without using a single line of code.
- Post: WordPress users can create as well as manage the existing content for news or blog section of the WordPress websites with the help of Posts.
- RSS: Standing for Really Simple Syndication, RSS is known to generate a summary of the blog while serving as a feed with links to the individual WordPress posts. RSS for every website can be found by including “/feed/” to the given URL. RSS followers, as well as aggregators, can use the given URL for remaining updated as new content gets published.
- Shortcode: It is a special type of embed. As far as the difference is concerned, a shortcode is a series of PHP that allows the WordPress users to embed some interactive elements into a proper web page.
- Tag: It is a form of taxonomy that is applied to the posts in WordPress. Tags are known to work as keywords. Multiple tags can be assigned to a single WordPress post.
- Theme: It is a WordPress add-on that enables its users to alter the interface of the respective websites without using the code for doing the same. WordPress is known to provide a free theme by default. However, the users of WordPress can choose to have thousands of free as well as premium themes. However, at a time, only a single theme can be used.
- Update: In WordPress, the update is known to refer to a specific code that gets patched or changed by the WordPress developers of WordPress core, a theme, or a plugin. When updates are available, WordPress is known to alert the users with a specific notification while giving permission for a single-click update such that there is no requirement of coding or installation.
- URL: Standing for Uniform Resource Locator, it is the full address of a given web portal.
- Visual Editor: In WordPress, it is referred to as the editing interface allowing the users to create content that appears similar to how it will look on the front end.
- Web Server: It is the infrastructure owned and maintained by a hosting provider while leasing out the same to the respective website owners.
- Widget: These are small-sized, self-contained blocks that the users are known to place on the respective websites.
- wp-config.php: This file is the one that is generated once you install WordPress.
- wp-content folder: It is the folder that is known to contain website content, media, themes, and plugins of the WordPress website.
With every WordPress term in your mind, make the most of the same for your website development!
Radu Balas founded wpelo.com in 2018, he is a #1 Best-selling Author and runs several successful online businesses. Featured in Forbes, Entrepreneur, and most major publications.
