WordPress

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WordPress is a free and open-source content management system (CMS) based on PHP and MySQL.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> WordPress is installed on a web server, which either is part of an Internet hosting service or is a network host itself; the first case may be on a service like WordPress.com, for example, and the second case is a computer running the software package WordPress.org.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> An example of the second case is a local computer configured to act as its own web server hosting Wordpress for single-user testing or learning purposes.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Features include a plugin architecture and a template system. WordPress was used by more than 23.3% of the top 10 million websites Template:As of.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> WordPress is the most popular blogging system in use on the Web,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> at more than 60 million websites.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

It was released on May 27, 2003, by its founders, Matt Mullenweg<ref name=release>Template:Cite web</ref> and Mike Little,<ref name=release_commit>Template:Cite web</ref> as a fork of b2/cafelog. The license under which WordPress software is released is the GPLv2 (or later) from the Free Software Foundation.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Overview

WordPress has a web template system using a template processor.

Themes

WordPress users may install and switch between themes. Themes allow users to change the look and functionality of a WordPress website and they can be installed without altering the content or health of the site. Every WordPress website requires at least one theme to be present and every theme should be designed using WordPress standards with structured PHP, valid HTML and Cascading Style Sheets (CSS). Themes may be directly installed using the WordPress "Appearance" administration tool in the dashboard or theme folders may be uploaded via FTP.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The PHP, HTML (HyperText Markup Language) and CSS code found in themes can be added to or edited for providing advanced features. WordPress themes are in general classified into two categories, free themes and premium themes. All the free themes are listed in the WordPress theme directory and premium themes should be purchased from marketplaces and individual WordPress developers. WordPress users may also create and develop their own custom themes if they have the knowledge and skill to do so. If WordPress users do not have themes development knowledge then they may download and use free WordPress themes from wordpress.org.

Plugins

WordPress's plugin architecture allows users to extend the features and functionality of a website or blog. WordPress has over 40,501 plugins available,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> each of which offers custom functions and features enabling users to tailor their sites to their specific needs. These customizations range from search engine optimization, to client portals used to display private information to logged in users, to content management systems,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> to content displaying features, such as the addition of widgets and navigation bars. But not all available plugins are always abreast with the upgrades and as a result they may not function properly or may not function at all.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Plugins transform WordPress into a powerful CMS and can be used for any kind of websites, not only blogs. WordPress encourages developers to submit a plugin, either free or paid, to the depository subject to a manual review.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Mobiles

Native applications exist for WebOS,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Android,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> iOS (iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad),<ref name="altafsayani">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name=post>*****o</ref> Windows Phone, and BlackBerry.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> These applications, designed by Automattic, allow a limited set of options, which include adding new blog posts and pages, commenting, moderating comments, replying to comments in addition to the ability to view the stats.<ref name="altafsayani" /><ref name="post" />

Other features

WordPress also features integrated link management; a search engine–friendly, clean permalink structure; the ability to assign multiple categories to articles; and support for tagging of posts and articles. Automatic filters are also included, providing standardized formatting and styling of text in articles (for example, converting regular quotes to smart quotes). WordPress also supports the Trackback and Pingback standards for displaying links to other sites that have themselves linked to a post or an article. WordPress blog posts can be edited in HTML, using the visual editor, or using one of a number of plugins that allow for a variety of customized editing features.

Multi-user and multi-blogging

Prior to version 3, WordPress supported one blog per installation, although multiple concurrent copies may be run from different directories if configured to use separate database tables. WordPress Multisites<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> (previously referred to as WordPress Multi-User, WordPress MU, or WPMU) was a fork of WordPress created to allow multiple blogs to exist within one installation but is able to be administered by a centralized maintainer. WordPress MU makes it possible for those with websites to host their own blogging communities, as well as control and moderate all the blogs from a single dashboard. WordPress MS adds eight new data tables for each blog.

As of the release of WordPress 3, WordPress MU has merged with WordPress.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Migration/wp-config.php

WordPress makes migration from one server to another relatively simple due to its use of a configuration file (wp-config.php, usually located in your root). This file controls the base settings for a WordPress website including (but not limited to) your database connection settings.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Due to the use of a configuration file, migrating from one server to another can be accomplished by the following basic steps:<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

• Download a copy of the WordPress files/folders (e.g. via FTP).
• Download a copy of the associated database (view the 'DB_NAME' row in the wp-config.php for the associated database to back up).
• Upload the files/folders to the new server.
• Create a new database on the new server and import the sql backup.
• Update the wp-config.php database fields to reflect.

History

b2/cafelog, more commonly known as b2 or cafelog, was the precursor to WordPress.<ref>Template:Cite video</ref> b2/cafelog was estimated to have been installed on approximately 2,000 blogs as of May 2003.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> It was written in PHP for use with MySQL by Michel Valdrighi, who is now a contributing developer to WordPress. Although WordPress is the official successor, another project, b2evolution, is also in active development.

WordPress first appeared in 2003 as a joint effort between Matt Mullenweg and Mike Little to create a fork of b2.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Christine Selleck Tremoulet, a friend of Mullenweg, suggested the name WordPress.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

In 2004 the licensing terms for the competing Movable Type package were changed by Six Apart, resulting in many of its most influential users migrating to WordPress.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> By October 2009 the Open Source CMS MarketShare Report concluded that WordPress enjoyed the greatest brand strength of any open-source content management system.

As of January 2015, more than 23.3% of the top 10 million websites now use WordPress.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

As of February 2016, WordPress is used by 59.1% of all the websites whose content management system we know. This is 25.8% of all websites.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Release history

Main releases of WordPress are codenamed after well-known jazz musicians, starting after version 1.0.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Template:Version

Future

Matt Mullenweg has stated that the future of WordPress is in social, mobile, and as an application platform.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Vulnerabilities

Many security issues<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> have been uncovered in the software, particularly in 2007 and 2008. According to Secunia, WordPress in April 2009 had 7 unpatched security advisories (out of 32 total), with a maximum rating of "Less Critical".<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>Template:Irrelevant citation Secunia maintains an up-to-date list of WordPress vulnerabilities.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>Template:Irrelevant citation<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>Template:Irrelevant citation

In January 2007, many high profile search engine optimization (SEO) blogs, as well as many low-profile commercial blogs featuring AdSense, were targeted and attacked with a WordPress exploit.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> A separate vulnerability on one of the project site's web servers allowed an attacker to introduce exploitable code in the form of a back door to some downloads of WordPress 2.1.1. The 2.1.2 release addressed this issue; an advisory released at the time advised all users to upgrade immediately.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

In May 2007, a study revealed that 98% of WordPress blogs being run were exploitable because they were running outdated and unsupported versions of the software.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In part to mitigate this problem, WordPress made updating the software a much easier, "one click" automated process in version 2.7 (released in December 2008).<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> However, the filesystem security settings required to enable the update process can be an additional risk.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

In a June 2007 interview, Stefan Esser, the founder of the PHP Security Response Team, spoke critically of WordPress's security track record, citing problems with the application's architecture that made it unnecessarily difficult to write code that is secure from SQL injection vulnerabilities, as well as some other problems.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

In June 2013, it was found that some of the 50 most downloaded WordPress plugins were vulnerable to common Web attacks such as SQL injection and XSS. A separate inspection of the top-10 e-commerce plugins showed that 7 of them were vulnerable.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

In an effort to promote better security, and to streamline the update experience overall, automatic background updates were introduced in WordPress 3.7.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Individual installations of WordPress can be protected with security plugins that prevent user enumeration, hide resources and thwart probes. Users can also protect their WordPress installations by taking steps such as keeping all WordPress installation, themes, and plugins updated, using only trusted themes and plugins,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> editing the site's .htaccess file to prevent many types of SQL injection attacks and block unauthorized access to sensitive files. It is especially important to keep WordPress plugins updated because would-be hackers can easily list all the plugins a site uses, and then run scans searching for any vulnerabilities against those plugins. If vulnerabilities are found, they may be exploited to allow hackers to upload their own files (such as a PHP Shell script) that collect sensitive information.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Developers can also use tools to analyze potential vulnerabilities, including wpscan, Wordpress Auditor and Wordpress Sploit Framework developed by 0pc0deFR. These types of tools research known vulnerabilities, such as a CSRF, LFI, RFI, XSS, SQL injection and user enumeration. However, not all vulnerabilities can be detected by tools, so it is advisable to check the code of plugins, themes and other add-ins from other developers.

In March 2015, it was reported by many security experts and SEOs including Search Engine Land that a SEO plugin for Wordpress called Wordpress SEO by Yoast which is used by more than 14 million users worldwide has a vulnerability which can lead to an exploit where hackers can do a Blind SQL injection.

To fix that issue they immediately introduced a newer version 1.7.4 of the same plugin to avoid any disturbance on web because of the security laps that the plugin had.<ref>Barry Schwartz "Yoast WordPress SEO Plugin Vulnerable To Hackers", Retrieved on February 13, 2016.</ref>

WordPress's minimum PHP version requirement is PHP 5.2,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> which was released on January 6, 2006,<ref name="eol">Template:Cite web</ref> Template:Days ago, and which has been unsupported by the PHP Group and not received any security patches since January 6, 2011, Template:Days ago.<ref name="eol" />

Development and support

Key developers

Matt Mullenweg and Mike Little were cofounders of the project. The core lead developers include Helen Hou-Sandí, Dion Hulse, Mark Jaquith, Matt Mullenweg, Andrew Ozz, and Andrew Nacin.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

WordPress is also developed by its community, including WP testers, a group of volunteers who test each release.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> They have early access to nightly builds, beta versions and release candidates. Errors are documented in a special mailing list, or the project's Trac tool.

Though largely developed by the community surrounding it, WordPress is closely associated with Automattic, the company founded by Matt Mullenweg. On September 9, 2010, Automattic handed the WordPress trademark to the newly created WordPress Foundation, which is an umbrella organization supporting WordPress.org (including the software and archives for plugins and themes), bbPress and BuddyPress.

WordCamp developer and user conferences

WordCamps are casual, locally organized conferences covering everything related to WordPress.<ref name="WordCamp Central About">Template:Cite web</ref> The first such event was WordCamp 2006 in August 2006 in San Francisco, which lasted one day and had over 500 attendees.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The first WordCamp outside San Francisco was held in Beijing in September 2007.<ref name="wordcamp schedule">Template:Cite web</ref> Since then, there have been over 507 WordCamps in over 207 cities in 48 different countries around the world.<ref name="WordCamp Central About"/> WordCamp San Francisco 2014 was the last official annual conference of WordPress developers and users taking place in San Francisco, having now been replaced with WordCamp US.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Support

WordPress's primary support website is WordPress.org. This support website hosts both WordPress Codex, the online manual for WordPress and a living repository for WordPress information and documentation,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and WordPress Forums, an active online community of WordPress users.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

See also

• List of content management systems
• Weblog software
• WordPress.com

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References

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External links

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