Glossary

.htaccess is an server configuration file for Apache based servers.  More experienced users can editor their webserver .htaccess file for more advanced configurations and modes.

cPanel is often the configuration dashboard for your space on your web server.  Typically, this area is where you can add a new domain to your server, configure a new MYSQL Database and set the MX Records.  Refer to your hosting account for further information.

A domain name is the web address for website. For example, the domain name for this website is http://chicagowphelp.com. Domain names are registered, or leased, for a annual fee with an average cost about $10 a year. Popular domain registrars include GoDaddy and Network Solutions.

A favicon is the tiny icon that is read by internet browsers to display in the address bar or bookmark bar of the site. It help the user identify the website.

FTP is the acronym for File Transfer Protocol.  FTP is the vehicle, or connection, that transports files and data from your local computer to your web host's server. If you're self installing WordPress to your host, FTP is a must.  Additionally, you might use FTP to upload images or video files in bulk to your host.  A popular free ftp program for both the PC and MAC is Filezilla.

Media, in the eyes of WordPress, refers to all audio/visual mediums a user might want to add to a blog post. This includes photos, videos, audio and images.

Permalinks is the way to configure your WordPress sites extended address.  For example, the default WordPress configuration is domain.com/?p=144   with permalinks configured the user can assign a simple, more logical path.  domain.com/blog/title-of-post.  Plus, correct permalink structure can provide value to SEO.

WordPress plugins are often contributed to the rapid growth of this open source content management system.  Plugins, or extra "plugable" components of code, are often written by third-party developers to create additional functionality to a self-hosted core WordPress install. The majority of plugins can be found in the WordPress plugin repository at no cost. Popular plugins manage your site's SEO, comment spam, create widgets or add shopping carts, contact forms and other cool stuff.   While the WP Plugin Repisitory offers tons of free plugins supported by the greater WordPress community, there are several premium plugins that offer extended functionally and user support.

Post categories are part of WordPress' built in filing system, or "Taxonomy" for blog posts and are typically used in conjunction with post tags but hold a higher position in the hierarchy.  For example, if you were writing a blog about Chicago's music scene, your categories would be the different genres of music - Blues, Jazz, Rock, Pop, Country, Reggie - while your post tags might be the artists or the are clubs that play that particular type of music: Schubas, Joe's Bar, Tim McGraw, Katy Perry, etc.

Post tags are part of WordPress' built in filing system, or "Taxonomy", for blog posts and are typically used in conjunction with post categories but hold a lower position in the hierarchy.  For example, if you were writing a blog about Chicago's music scene, your categories would be the different genres of music - Rock, Pop, Country, Reggie - while your post tags might be the artists or the are clubs that play that particular type of music: Schubas, Joe's Bar, Tim McGraw, Katy Perry, etc.

A WordPress post is what drives the site's blog.  Typically a post is dated content, much like a news article, and includes a post author and a timestamp.   A page is typically reserved for static content that doesn't change frequently.  For example, an "About Us" or a "Contact Us" would be good examples of pages but "Top 1o WordPress Tips of 2010" would be fit for a post.

SEO is the acronym for Search Engine Optimization.  Strategic SEO is the practice of getting your site ranked better in popular search engines like Google, Yahoo and Bing.  WordPress is conductive to good SEO because of the built in blog component and its tagging and category system, among others.

A sidebar is a component of a theme and typically is reserved for widget.  Most themes come in two or three column with one column reserved for post content, the other for a sidebar of widgets.

There are actually two types of site maps one can implement into a website.  A XML sitemap is one that's created in the backend of the site and submitted to Google and other search engines to help search bots crawl and index the site.  A public sitemap is a page that contains the majority of the sites pages and posts to allow users to browse through the sites page links in almost a catalog, or a menu, like format.

A SQL database is the cloud database that hold your self-hosted WordPress site's post and page data and other data driven code.

Stable Release is another term for the most recently released public version of the core WordPress software.  Typically, WordPress is operated on by a team of core contributors and they often release alpha and beta releases prior to releasing a stable version for the public to use.

The public facing side of a WordPress site is typically controlled by a theme. With the exception of the default theme, Twenty Eleven, the WordPress theme repository features a host of free themes typically created by a community of world-wide independent theme developers.  In addition to the free theme, there are several premium theme and theme frameworks that provide additional functionality and support.   Also see Widget.

WordPress includes many types of user settings to allow multiple people to manage a site.  Access privileges can be set to allow or restrict certain users from certain functions.  For example, an Administrator has full read-write access to a site while a contributor might only have certain writing access to posts only.

A web host, or server, is a leased space you can purchase to host your site on the web.  Popular web hosts include GoDaddy, Bluehost, MediaTemple and Rackspace.  Pricing varies but quality of service, in terms of speed and power, are typically reflected the price. Shared hosting, when you share a host with several other websites, is much like an apartment complex for website.  Where dedicated hosting is more like a single-family home for your web development.  Typically, when you're just getting started with WordPress self-hosted site, shared hosting is where most people start with because it's easier to understand as there's very little server management with low startup costs where dedicated hosting requires some knowledge of server management and can be cost prohibitive for new site startups.

A widget, is an extended piece of code nested within a sidebar of a theme and typically provides additional user experienced related features to the public facing side of the site/blog.  For example, a widget might provide icons to your social media profiles, a email subscribe form or a list of related posts. See theme.

WordPress.org is where individual users can download the opensource code to create their own WordPress driven site on their own web server and domain.  This is where the WordPress theme and plugin repositories are found.  WordPress.com is a free blog service where users can register for a blog hosted on WordPress' servers.  For example, a WordPress.com blog address is typically something like username.wordpress.com whereas ChicagoWPhelp.com is a self-hosted "WordPress.org" blog.

WYSIWYG is the acronym for What You See Is What You Get.  The WordPress post and page editor, where you type a new blog post or page, is a WYSIWYG editor.

Zen Writing mode is a component of the WYSIWYG editor for writing posts and pages.  It allows writers to expand the writing editor into a full-screen mode for "distraction free" writing and blogging.  This feature was released with WordPress 3.2.