Theoretically, WordPress is an online Open Source website creation tool written in PHP (HTML-embedded scripting language). But practically speaking, it is the easiest yet most effective blogging and website Content Management System in existence now.Kick-started in 2003 with a single bit of code to heighten the typography of everyday writing  and with as few users as you could probably count on your fingers, WordPress today has emerged as the largest self-hosted blogging tool that is used on millions of sites and seen by far more number of people.  Also, since it is an Open Source project, thousands of people stretched all over our lonely planet work on it. Moreover, one is free to use it for anything from a personal web page to a Fortune 500 web site without paying anyone any license fee.

Furthermore, WordPress.com helps you create your own blog where you can write about anything that is of interest to you. WordPress.com blogs are free in the sense that you can always add upgrades that include domain names, custom CSS, video storage, etc. Some well-known WordPress blogs include Mashable and Tech-crunch, while famous news outlets like The New York Time’s blogs and  CNN’s on-air personality blog use WordPress, too.

How Can I Use It?

First of all, WordPress is absolutely free for anyone and everyone. Secondly, WordPress can be downloaded for self-hosted installations from WordPress.org .  Alternatively, it can be used as a hosted service via WordPress.com. However, if you are new to WordPress, you must be pondering about how these two differ. Well, one major difference between WordPress.com and WordPress.org is about who is hosting your website. With WordPress.org, you host your own website (or blog). In fact, this is where you will get the free WordPress software that you may download and install on your web server. WordPress.com, on the other hand, does the hosting for you and so you do not have to download any software, bear the hosting charges or manage a web server.

WordPress.com vs. WordPress.org (Pros and cons)

Both WordPress.org and WordPress.com have pros and cons – depending upon circumstances that are described below.

In case you are not too eager to pay for your own hosting, manage your web server or pay anyone else to do those things for you, WordPress.com will suit your purpose fine. However, some of the cons related to WordPress.com hint that your domain will, by default, include “WordPress.com”. Also, you would not be able to upload any custom theme, plugin or alter the PHP code behind your site.Notwithstanding the fact that WordPress.com is free to set up, they are ready to offer several premium upgrades, including domain name registration (when you don’t want WordPress.com in your domain name), the ability to upload videos and if you want to use their premium themes.

Preferring the download version of WordPress from WordPress.org will open up better control and more flexibility for your WordPress site. However, it also means more responsibility. When you are utilizing a self-hosted version of WordPress, you are free to use your own domain name, upload and install themes and plugins, edit the code behind your site, while having full access to your site’s database or files. Many of the showcase sites that you view on the WordPress site showcase are actually self-hosted version of WordPress, as most of these have fascinating range of capabilities or a custom-made design.For more information about WordPress, please visit en.Wikipedia.org/wiki/WordPress.