Using WordPress as a Content Management System

You hear it a lot if you browse different Web sites that publish posts about WordPress: “WordPress is more than a blogging platform; it's a full content management system.” What does that mean?

A content management system (CMS) is a platform that lets you run a full Web site on your domain. This means that WordPress, in addition to a blog, allows you to create pages and build additional features into your Web site that have nothing to do with the content on your blog.

A Web site and a blog are two different things. Although a Web site can contain a blog, a blog cannot contain a full Web site. We know it sounds confusing, but after you read this section and explore the differences between the two, you'll have a better understanding.

A blog is a chronological display of content — most often, written by the blog author. The posts are published and, usually, categorized into topics and archived by date. Blog posts can have comments activated so readers can leave their feedback and the author can respond, creating a dialogue about the blog post.

A Web site is a collection of published pages and different sections that offer the visitor a different experience. A Web site can incorporate a blog but usually contains other sections and features. These other features include

• Photo galleries: Albums of photos uploaded and collected in a specific area so that visitors can browse through and comment on them.
• E-commerce stores: Fully integrated shopping area into which you can upload products for sale and from which your visitors can purchase them.
• Discussion forums: Where visitors can join, create discussion threads, and respond to one another in specific threads of conversation.
• Social communities: Where visitors can become members, create profiles, become friends with other members, create groups, and aggregate community activity.
• Portfolios: Photographers, artists, or Web designers can devote sections of their sites to displaying their work.
• Feedback forms: Contact forms that your visitors fill out with information that then gets e-mailed to you directly.
• Static pages (such as a Bio, FAQ, or Services page): Pages that don't change as often as a blog page. Blog pages change each time you publish a new post.

The preceding list isn't exhaustive; it's just a listing of some of the most often seen Web site sections.

For example, Figure 1-4 shows the front page of Lisa's blog at http://lisasabin-wilson.com. Notice that the site displays a chronological listing of her most recent blog posts. Primarily, this blog uses WordPress as a blogging tool.

Figure 1-4: Lisa's blog uses WordPress as a blogging tool.

Comparatively, Lisa's business Web site at http://ewebscapes.com uses WordPress as a CMS to publish a full Web site. This full site includes a static front page of information that acts as a portal to the rest of the site, on which you can find a blog, a portfolio of work, a contact form, an order form, and various other static pages, including Services, FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions), Terms of Service, Privacy Policy and more. Check out Figure 1-5 for a look at the front page of Lisa's E.Webscapes site; it's quite a bit different from her personal blog site.

Figure 1-5: Lisa's business Web site uses WordPress as a content manage-ment system.

Using WordPress as a CMS means that you're creating more than just a blog; you're creating an entire Web site full of sections and features that offer a different experience for your visitors.