People have always been creative and full of ideas. The internet and creating websites being available to the public was a game-changer. It meant larger audiences and more opportunities. People wanted to share thoughts and products in the form of blogs and ecommerce sites. This increased demand for web developers, but web programming was still new and hiring someone might have been out of the budget. So a new platform was created to meet market demand and simplify building websites. Similar products have come out, but the most popular has been WordPress.

Building websites delves into many technologies and concepts. For example, WordPress is both a content-management system (CMS) and a hosting site. It can be a bit confusing because it is all called WordPress. Wordpress.com is a paid service. (A free plan is also available on the site.) It acts as a hosting service for those who do not want to be too technically involved with building their website. Wordpress.org is the site for the open-source WordPress software. This software allows users to modify and publish web content without HTML or other technical aspects. Wordpress.com services are provided using wordpress.org technology. Wordpress.org software requires the user to purchase a web host, domain, and install it for it to be of use. Self-hosting (wordpress.org) can seem complicated in comparison to using worpress.com, but there is a large WordPress community with tutorials, third-party themes, and plugins. Self-hosting WordPress provides more flexibility and possibilities.

Using either is a good option if you have an idea for a simple website and you want to see it live. It is possible that web development as a whole is overwhelming and too abstract without a tangible project. Maybe using WordPress as a web host aligns more with your goals and it will be all you ever need. You can learn the structure and see how some concepts play out, and call it a day. Maybe self-hosting WordPress is how you want to start learning about creating and maintaining websites. You can try developing WordPress tools, learn about different elements to host your own website, and use WordPress as a starting point. Everyone has different needs and it is helpful to know there are many options.