It is phenomenal how colors have a way of provoking such strong feelings. While blue is calming and tranquil, red is passionate and energetic! Just a hint of red in your WordPress theme can allude to the fiery, fun spirit of your business, portfolio, personal blog, or brand! Whether you’re searching for a pop of ... Read more40+ Fiery Red WordPress Themes 2018
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It is phenomenal how colors have a way of provoking such strong feelings. While blue is calming and tranquil, red is passionate and energetic! Just a hint of red in your WordPress theme can allude to the fiery, fun spirit of your business, portfolio, personal blog, or brand! Whether you’re searching for a pop of ... Read more40+ Fiery Red WordPress Themes 2018
The post 40+ Fiery Red WordPress Themes 2018 appeared first on Learn WordPress with WPLift.
It’s the United States’ birthday. And while I certainly know that the international nature of our audience means that not all of you will be out barbequing, drinking, and watching fireworks, that doesn’t mean there’s nothing for you to celebrate. See – apart from the aforementioned activities and Joey Chestnut scarfing down 70+ hot dogs in ... Read more4th of July Independence Day WordPress Deals & Coupon Codes
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It’s the United States’ birthday. And while I certainly know that the international nature of our audience means that not all of you will be out barbequing, drinking, and watching fireworks, that doesn’t mean there’s nothing for you to celebrate. Lots of great WordPress sales. Ok, it’s not quite Black Friday. But you can snag ... Read more4th of July Independence Day WordPress Deals & Coupon Codes
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Pizza delivery is big business. If you want to corner a piece of that market, you’ll need a robust online ordering system. That means setting up an e-commerce website for your restaurant, complete with a full pizza order form. After all, while some people are still content to eat in at a pizza place, most ... Read moreHow to Create a WooCommerce Pizza Delivery Website (In 6 Steps)
The post How to Create a WooCommerce Pizza Delivery Website (In 6 Steps) appeared first on Learn WordPress with WPLift.
Sports themes come in a variety of different shapes and sizes, but sports clubs require a few specific features. These include features that let you display matches, fixtures and results in most cases, but they also include features that let you create player profiles and overviews of entire teams.
The post Best Sports Themes – 50+ Best WordPress Themes for Sports Clubs appeared first on Learn WordPress with WPLift.
Big business news this week as WP Engine announced that they acquired Genesis Framework-maker, StudioPress. WP Engine plans to invest heavily in future development, as well as make StudioPress part of the WP Engine Digital Experience Platform. Also, the Yoast SEO snippet editor got a redesign, and Pixelgrade published another one of their great transparency ... Read moreWeekly WordPress News: WP Engine Acquires StudioPress
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You may have heard that WordPress is the most popular website builder platform, but maybe you aren’t sure if WordPress is the right choice for you. Unlike Wix, Weebly, or Squarespace, WordPress is actually 100% free. This is why if you searched for “WordPress review”, you would hardly find anything useful because bloggers often tend to write reviews for products that they earn a referral commission from. To help you make the right business decision, we have created the ultimate WordPress software review with pros and cons of using WordPress, so you can decide if WordPress is the right choice for your website.
Because our WordPress review is extremely detailed, we have added a table of contents, so you can jump between different sections.
WordPress is the world’s most popular website builder. It powers more than 31% of all websites on the internet, that’s millions of websites all over the world.
It’s important that you don’t confuse the WordPress.org content management software with the WordPress.com blog hosting service.
Our WordPress review is for the popular self-hosted WordPress software that everyone loves and use (not the WordPress.com hosting service). We recommend WordPress.org because it gives you full access to all WordPress features out of the box. For more details, see our side by side comparison of WordPress.com vs WordPress.org.
From now onwards, when we say WordPress, we are talking about the free WordPress.org software.
WordPress started as a simple blogging platform back in 2003. Since then it has evolved to become a content management system and an application development framework. In simple words, you can easily build any type of website using WordPress. To see how WordPress changed over the years, please see our article on the evolution of WordPress user interface.
WordPress is an open source software which means it is free for everyone and anyone can download and install it. Now you may be thinking, why is WordPress free? What’s the catch?
It is free as an in freedom. You can use it for any purpose, and no one can suspend your website due to censorship or a terms of service violation. You also have the freedom to customize WordPress to your needs without any restriction.
But like all websites, you will need to register a domain name and web hosting.
Based on your needs, you may have to purchase premium WordPress themes or extensions that will have additional costs. For a complete cost breakdown, see our article on the real cost of making a WordPress site.
That being said, now let’s take a look at what you can do with WordPress and how does it actually work.
WordPress is extremely flexible which is the main reason why it is a popular choice to build a website. You can use WordPress to build almost any kind of website imaginable!
You can use it to start a blog, make a small business website, create an online store, build a membership site, sell online courses, run a marketplace, and more.
No matter what kind of website you want to build, chances are that there is probably an existing WordPress plugin (extension) for that. In case, you don’t find a plugin, you can easily hire from thousands of developer to make it for you.
Here’s a list of the most popular types of websites people are making with WordPress.
Unlike other website builders, WordPress keeps design, content, and functionality separated from each other. This allows for data portability.
In other words, you can add content regardless of the design you are using, modify the design without changing your content, and add new features without affecting the other areas.
Let’s dig deeper into that.
1. Adding Content in WordPress
WordPress stores content in a database and media files like images in a separate folder. Mainly you will be adding content to your website using the post editor.
Post editor is a simple WYSIWYG editor with some basic formatting features. It comes in two forms.
First, you have the Visual editor, which is a WYSIWYG style editor, and then you have the Text editor which is a plain text editor where you can add formatting by writing HTML in your content.
By default, WordPress content editor does not have any fancy drag and drop features to customize your content design as you write it. However you can use one of the popular WordPress drag and drop page builders should you need it.
2. Managing Design and Appearance in WordPress
WordPress uses a powerful templating engine to manage the appearance of a website. This templating engine allows developers to create a set of templates called ‘Themes‘. There are thousands of pre-made WordPress themes available in the market.
Each WordPress theme comes with a stylesheet and basic template files to display different sections of a typical WordPress website.
Depending on which theme you are using, it will come with its own settings which you can use to customize the appearance of a website. Some themes may have a lot more options than others.
There are thousands of free and paid WordPress themes available that you can use to build a website. These themes allow you to use your own colors, layout combinations, and logos.
You can also hire someone to create a custom WordPress theme from scratch, but it would cost significantly higher than using a free or premium WordPress theme.
Alternatively, you can use a drag and drop page builder like BeaverBuilder or Divi to create a custom theme without hiring a developer.
3. Extending WordPress with Add-ons
WordPress has become a platform for many developers to write their own add-ons for WordPress. These add-ons are called Plugins.
Plugins are like apps for your WordPress site. Just like apps on your mobile phone, you can install WordPress plugins to add new features to your website.
At the time of writing this article, there are more than 55,000 plugins available in WordPress.org plugins directory alone. This means if you can think of a feature for your website, then there is a very good chance that there is already a plugin for that.
Some WordPress plugins are simple and only add a specific feature. Other plugins add a large set of features and functionalities. There are even WordPress plugins like WooCommerce, the most popular eCommerce solution, which have their own ecosystem of WooCommerce plugins and themes. Such plugins are like a platform built on top of the WordPress platform itself.
To learn more see our article on WordPress plugins and how do they work.
Some of the best WordPress plugins that we recommend for every website are:
Just like everything else in the world, WordPress has its own advantages and disadvantages which you may want to consider before making your website.
Pros of Using WordPress
The advantages of using WordPress to build your website deserve an entirely new article (See why you should use WordPress). Here is a summary of pros of using WordPress for your website.
Cons of Using WordPress
WordPress is not perfect. It has some disadvantages that you may want to keep in mind when choosing your platform.
The beautiful part about WordPress is that it adapts to your needs. It can be as easy and simple as you want, or as complex and sophisticated as you need it to be.
Since you are completely in charge and in full ownership, you can make things simple, control the cost, and efficiently run your website.
Over the years, we have helped thousands of beginners learn WordPress, and we have seen them quickly graduate to the intermediate or even advanced level.
Here is a simple checklist to see if WordPress is right for you:
If you agree with any of the above statements, then WordPress is the perfect platform for you to build a website.
Who should not use WordPress?
While we sincerely believe that WordPress is the best platform for anyone who wants to make a website, we understand that some users may not actually need WordPress, and would be fine with another solution.
Here is a simple checklist to see if you don’t need WordPress:
If you agree with any of these statements, then you can use another platform. See our list of best blogging platforms and website builders to find a platform that may suit your needs.
We also have a quick comparison guide of WordPress vs other popular platforms:
To start a self-hosted WordPress.org website, you will need to register a domain name and purchase website hosting.
We recommend using Bluehost. They are offering our readers a FREE domain name + free SSL + 60% discount on WordPress hosting. Which means you can start your website for as low as $2.75 per month.
← Click Here to Claim This Exclusive Bluehost offer →
Bluehost is one of the largest hosting companies in the world, and they are an officially recommended WordPress hosting provider.
Once you have purchased hosting, head over to our guide on how to make a website for step by step instructions.
While WordPress is easy to use, you may want to ask a question or need some help every now and again. The good news is that there are plenty of free resources to help you with that.
WPBeginner itself is the largest free WordPress resource site for beginners. Here are our resources that you can use to learn WordPress (all of them are completely free).
If you have a WordPress specific question, then you can also reach out to us using our contact form.
We hope this WordPress review helped you understand the pros and cons of using WordPress. You may also want to see these actionable tips to bring more traffic to your new website.
If you liked this article, then please subscribe to our YouTube Channel for WordPress video tutorials. You can also find us on Twitter and Facebook.
The post The Ultimate WordPress Review – Is It the Best Choice For Your Website? appeared first on WPBeginner.
Do you want to exclude specific pages, authors, and more from WordPress search? By default, WordPress search includes all posts and pages in the search results. In this article, we will show you how to easily exclude specific pages, posts, authors, categories, and more from WordPress search results.
The default WordPress search feature shows results from all WordPress posts, pages, and custom post types. This is acceptable for most websites and does not affect WordPress SEO or performance.
However if you are running an online store, then there are some pages that you may not want to appear in search results. For example, the checkout page, my account page, or a thank you page after successful downloads.
Similarly, if you are running a WordPress membership website, or a LMS plugin, then there would be pages and custom post types on your website that you may want to exclude from search results.
Some website owners may want to hide a category or taxonomy, while others may want to hide posts from specific authors. Optimizing your site-search by excluding unnecessary items offers a better user experience and improves your website’s usability.
That being said, let’s take a look at how to easily exclude items from WordPress search.
The first thing you need to do is install and activate the Search Exclude plugin. For more details, see our step by step guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.
Upon activation, edit the post, page, or custom post type that you want to exclude from the search result. On the edit screen, you will see a search exclude box.
Simply check ‘Exclude from Search Results’ checkbox and don’t forget to save your post/page. This particular post/page will not appear in WordPress search results anymore.
To view all the items that you have excluded from search, go to Settings » Search Exclude page. Here you will see a list of items you have excluded from WordPress search results.
If you want to remove the restriction, simply uncheck the box next to the item you want to add back and click on the save changes button.
This method requires you to add code to your WordPress website. If you haven’t done this before, then check out our guide on how to copy and paste code snippets in WordPress.
First, you need to find the category ID that you want to exclude.
Next, you need to add the following code to your theme’s functions.php file or a site-specific plugin.
function wpb_search_filter( $query ) {
if ( $query->is_search && !is_admin() )
$query->set( 'cat','-7' );
return $query;
}
add_filter( 'pre_get_posts', 'wpb_search_filter' );
Don’t forget to replace 7 with the ID of category you want to exclude.
Now, let’s suppose you want to exclude more than one category. This is how you will modify the code to exclude multiple categories.
function wpb_search_filter( $query ) {
if ( $query->is_search && !is_admin() )
$query->set( 'cat','-7, -10, -21' );
return $query;
}
add_filter( 'pre_get_posts', 'wpb_search_filter' );
We have simply added the category IDs that we want to exclude separated by commas.
Exclude Specific Tags from WordPress Search
If you want to exclude posts filed under specific tag, then you can use the following code.
if ( $query->is_search && !is_admin() ) $query->set( 'tag','-19' ); return $query; } add_filter( 'pre_get_posts', 'wpb_search_filter' );
Don’t forget to replace 19 with the ID of tag you want to exclude.
Similarly, you can modify the code to exclude multiple tags as well.
if ( $query->is_search && !is_admin() ) $query->set( 'tag','-19, -27, -56' ); return $query; } add_filter( 'pre_get_posts', 'wpb_search_filter' );
Excluding Specific Terms in a Custom Taxonomy From WordPress Search
If you want to exclude a term in a custom taxonomy from WordPress search results, then you will need to add the following code.
function wpb_modify_search_query( $query ) {
global $wp_the_query;
if( $query === $wp_the_query && $query->is_search() ) {
$tax_query = array(
array(
'taxonomy' => 'genre',
'field' => 'slug',
'terms' => 'action',
'operator' => 'NOT IN',
)
);
$query->set( 'tax_query', $tax_query );
}
}
add_action( 'pre_get_posts', 'wpb_modify_search_query' );
Don’t forget to replace ‘genre’ with the custom taxonomy and ‘action’ with the term you want to exclude.
If you want to exclude posts created by a specific author from WordPress search result, then there are two ways to do that.
If the author has just a few posts, and you are sure they will not be adding any more posts, then you can just use the first method in this article to exclude their posts from WordPress search.
However if there are a lot of posts written by an author, then you can use the following code to exclude all of them from WordPress search results.
function wpb_search_filter( $query ) {
if ( $query->is_search && !is_admin() )
$query->set( 'author','-24' );
return $query;
}
add_filter( 'pre_get_posts', 'wpb_search_filter' );
Don’t forget to replace 24 with the user ID of the author you want to exclude.
You can also use the same code to exclude multiple authors by adding their user IDs separated by comma.
function wpb_search_filter( $query ) {
if ( $query->is_search && !is_admin() )
$query->set( 'author','-24, -12, -19' );
return $query;
}
add_filter( 'pre_get_posts', 'wpb_search_filter' );
We hope this article helped you learn how to explude specific pages, authors, and more from WordPress search. You may also want to see our list of the best WordPress search plugins to improve your site search.
If you liked this article, then please subscribe to our YouTube Channel for WordPress video tutorials. You can also find us on Twitter and Facebook.
The post How to Exclude Specific Pages, Authors, and More from WordPress Search appeared first on WPBeginner.
Personal resume themes are WordPress themes that act as an extension of your business card as well as an online version of the traditional resume you’d typically hand over to potential employers. They feature all of the typical sections you’re used to seeing on a resume, including your skills, your education, your work experience, projects ... Read moreThe Best 50+ WordPress Themes for Personal Resumes
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