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I’m going to start off by telling you what you probably already know: WordPress is an awesome platform for websites. If you didn’t already know that, prepare to see the light. WordPress is more than just a set of scripts that you put on your web server – it’s a powerful CMS that can become something as simple as a personal blog to a full-blown, content rich, socially interactive website.
WordPress Basics
In the most basic form, WordPress.com allows you to set up a website and start publishing content in minutes. At Skyhook we use the open-source, self-hosted version of WordPress found at WordPress.org. Once set up, you can log in to the WordPress administration area of your site and start posting content, adding media, and customizing all of the options. Aside from some high-level settings, WordPress customization breaks down to two different areas: Themes and Plugins.
Themes
A WordPress Theme can drastically change the way your website looks. In fact, if you look at Skyhook’s portfolio, most of those sites were built using WordPress and custom Themes. Creating a custom theme requires a lot of work (but we love doing it). However WordPress offers a lot of themes for free that are created by the WordPress community. Plus, you can easily install any of them from the WordPress administration area.
When applying a different WordPress theme, the content of your site stays intact. It is really like playing dress-up with your website. You can see how your website looks with different colors, layouts, and typography. Since WordPress is open-source, you can even take a theme you like and make changes to really customize it to your liking.
Plugins
WordPress plugins can extend the functionality of your website. At Skyhook, we frequently wonder about the limitations of WordPress and if it will meet the needs of our clients. We always find a plugin (or come up with ways to write our own) that solve any roadblock in a project we face. From adding e-commerce abilities, to social and community based functionalities, to integration with other services – the sky really is the limit with WordPress plugins.
In the last few releases of WordPress, the functionality of custom content has grown to be really powerful. Beyond the usual Blog Posts and Pages that WordPress offers, custom content types can be created that can fit the needs of most types of websites. This feature alone has helped WordPress shed the skin of being just a blogging platform to a more robust website platform.
Skyhook Has Mastered WordPress
At Skyhook, we have spent a lot of time with WordPress. Actually, we have been using WordPress since version 1.5, and we have become masters of it. Our designers know how to make a WordPress site shine, our programmers can work magic with the codebase, and our marketers know the best optimization tools out there. Give us a call and let us build an awesome website for you!