Wordpress is one of the most widely used platform to reate websites! blogs! omple" portals! enterprise websites and e#en appli ations. $%& of the web today is powered by wordpress and this figure is growing day by day. Wordpress pro#ides all oding fa ilities to the de#eloper yet its simpli ity makes it easy for the a#erage users and publishers. 't has speed and gi#es a great user e"perien e. Wordpress is a powerful semanti publishing platform and omes with a great set of features that intend to make its usage as easy as possible. (here is a list of features that ome handy with wordpress. With more than thousand plugins a#ailable in the market! the fun tionality of wordpress is limitless. 'n this arti le you would find some interesting plugins that are must for a website and #arious features and tools that make wordpress so easy for publishers as well as de#elopers. Due to e"tending with plugins! the features that wordpress an pro#ide to a website are limitless. )et here is a list of few features that are important and ome by default with wordpress. Freedom: )es! you are right. )ou an use wordpress whi he#er way you want. (he li ensing of wordpress is under *P+ whi h prote ts your freedom. )ou are free to download it! install it! hange it! or e#en distribute it and make as many website and appli ations as you please.
Multilingual Facility: 't does not matter whi h language you speak! you an use wordpress in more than ,- different languages. )our website an be reated in any of those languages and an e#en be translated as well. Management of users: E#ery user may ha#e different ontribution to a website. .eeping this in mind! wordpress pro#ides a fa ility of user management where the users ould be di#ided into administrators! editors! authors and ontributors and get the a ess to the website a ordingly.
Use of Themes: (here are two default themes that ome with wordpress but if you don/t
like it ! there is a dire tory of free as well as paid themes that an totally transform your website as per your re0uirement. Wordpress pro#ides this feature in a #ery easy way with 1ust few li ks.
Easy to publish: 2reating ontent using wordpress is as easy as using notepad. You can
create Posts and Pages, format them easily, insert media, and within few minutes your content is published on the web.
Search Engine Optimised: One of the most important feature for any website to ha#e
today is to be sear h engine optimised. Wordpress o#ers this feature 3-&45-& on its own whi h an be further in reased by using #arious a#ailable plugins.
No access to others: 'f you are using wordpress! all the ontent on the site will be yours.
6o ad#erts or any intrusion from a se ond party an be seen ! hen e making it your own spa e.
Community: 7eing the biggest open sour e 28S has helped wordpress to make a strong
ommunity from all o#er the world who share their knowledge and e"perien e. )ou e#en get answers about any issue that you are fa ing with wordpress.
Plugins
irectory: Plugins are short set of odes that an be easily integrated with
wordpress to perform a spe ifi fun tion. (he online dire tory ontains more than a thousand plugin to hoose from whi h almost o#ers all the fun tionalities that you ould think of. 9part from the few features mentioned about wordpress! it also has lot of s ope for de#elopers. Some of the features that make it de#eloper friendly are:
Create your o!n Theme: Wordpress pro#ides fa ility to the de#elopers to reate their
own themes. 't ould be a simple one or an be as omple" as the de#eloper wishes . De#eloper an e#en gi#e away his website theme for free or an sell it to make money.
Create your o!n app: 6ot known to many but wordpress has features su h as ;((P
re0uests! <R+ routing! databases and many more features that an be used in reating an appli ation of your own hoi e. De#eloper an use his reati#ity and make as many apps he wishes.
Create your o!n Plugin: With wordpress 9P'/s ! it is possible for the de#eloper to reate
any plugin as per his re0uirement . (here is a wordpress repository where you an hote your plugin and help users e"tend wordpress.
Ma"e use of the #atest #ibraries: Wordpress gi#es you all the latest libraries su h as
jQuery, Plupload, Underscore.js and Backbone.js which can be used by the developers to enhance the user e perience of the website.
9ny arti le about wordpress would be in omplete without writing about some of the free plugins that are must in a new website. Ea h plugin mentioned below has a uni0ue feature=fun tionality of its own whi h e"tends wordpress and pro#ides support to your website.
9kismet >Free?
(his wordpress plugin for website is used to ombat spam. 't helps the website to ha#e only rele#ant and is #ery easy to install.