Website Design - WordPress

WordPress is a free and open-source blogging tool that is also suitable for website design. It is a content management system (CMS) based on PHP and MySQL. WordPress is easy-to-use, feature-rich, and includes both a plugin architecture and template processor system. There are hundreds of freely available plug-ins and templates to empower and enhance website design.

Managing over 22% of all new websites, WordPress is currently the most popular CMS on the internet. WordPress is available as both a hosted (WordPress.com) and self-hosted (WordPress.org) platform. Both share the same core software built and maintained by hundreds of community volunteers.

WordPress.org

WordPress.org is a self-hosted platform requiring you to download, install, and configure the PHP and MySQL components on your server(s). Set-up requires some technical knowledge and you are responsible for all ongoing maintenance including upgrades, spam control, data backups, and security.

WordPress.org enjoys several advantages including the ability to view and upload over 1,400 website themes (a theme includes both the template and stylesheet) and over 18,000 plug-ins (a plugin adds additional website functionality).

Importantly, WordPress.org provides full control over your website allowing you to tailor any of the PHP and CSS code to your exact requirements. There is a large and responsive online community to provide you with technical support.

WordPress.com

With WordPress.com, the platform hosting and software management is provided by Automatic. WordPress.com offers several advantages - it's very easy to set-up and you needn't worry about ongoing maintenance. Website platform performance, uptime, security, software upgrades, and data backups are all managed on your behalf.

WordPress.com provides a limited but growing number (160+) of themes and doesn't support plugin uploads. It imposes control restrictions such as no FTP file access and doesn't allow you to change any of the PHP code.

WordPress.com is a free service but also provides several premium services including:

• Site addresses using the domain ".wordpress.com" are free. Site addresses can be upgraded to use the ".com" ($17/yr), ".me" ($24/yr), ".net" ($17/yr), or ".org" ($17/yr).
• User-defined domain name ($12 - $24 per year). To avoid using the WordPress defined URL (e.g., yourname.wordpress.com), you can either map your existing domain name to the WordPress URL or you can use this premium feature to either transfer an existing domain name to WordPress or register a new domain name.
• Acquire additional storage ($20 - $290 per year).
• Custom design ($30 per year) allows you to customize the website CSS.

The WordPress content management system empowers the client giving them full control over their website content.

Have a look at the Divintus WordPress site designed using Artisteer 3.1.

Divintus will design, configure and provide training for your WordPress website starting at $250.

Divinitus has over 2,500 free themes that we can tailor to your business requirements. Give Divinitus a call if you require technical support to set-up and customize a self-hosted WordPress Platform (WordPress.org) or you require assistance with website design and management using the hosted WordPress services (WordPress.com).