You’ve probably heard of, perhaps even used, WordPress, a state-of-the-art publishing platform with a focus on aesthetics, web standards and usability (if you’re drawing a blank, read on). A self-hosting blogging tool written in PHP, Wordpress made its debut in 2003 and has seen steady growth and acceptance ever since.
WordPress is packed with very cool, very FREE features. Visit wordpress.org to download the latest version using their famous 5-minute installation. If you don’t have a web host, you can get a free blog at wordpress.com using the WordPress tool.
While there are loads of features that make WordPress appealing to developers, designers and everyone in between, the main plus is the huge amount of support it gets. You don’t need to be a creative genius to have a nice site: there are free WordPress themes everywhere (try Free WordPress Themes directory and SmashingMagazine for starters). You can even find free plug-ins to do things like increase SEO per page, add security to your content or convert WordPress to a full blown CMS tool.
Other notable WordPress features include:
- Built-in spam protection
- Support for multiple authors
- Comments section
- Full user registration
- Workflow
- Full standards compliance
- Search capability
- and on, and on, and on…
Many hosting providers are setup and ready to install WordPress. It just couldn’t be easier.