WordPress Jargon Busting

WordPress can be daunting. Yes it is wonderful and powerful, but goodness does it have to use such unfamiliar words?

The following table should help, boiling most of the terms that we could think of right down into plain English (we hope – do say if we’ve missed any or if we’re not clear enough, please):

Jargon:	In English:
Archives	A record of your blog posts, by category or date - often included as an option in your sidebar.
Blog	or your "web log" - a form of online commentary - like a diary or journal.
Blogroll	The Blogroll is the pre-set default category for links. The name can be changed, and other link categories can be added.
Categories	Each blog post is filed under one or more categories, making it easier for your readers to find related content.
CMS	Content Management System - not what WordPress was created as but it works a treat anyway - a great way to manage our content.
Comments	Allowing your readers to respond to your blog posts. You can set these to need your approval before showing on your site.
Custom Fields	Within posts a custom field enables additional information - this can be quite powerful and worth looking into if you find you want more on your blog posts.
Dashboard	Your WordPress dashboard is the first thing you see after you've logged in. It offers you quick access to the most often used areas of your WordPress administration.
Domain	The address of your WordPress site
Favicon	(short for "favourites icon" - ok it's probably for "favorites" but most of us are in the UK here ;-)) is that little image in your browser's tab or in the URL bar, next to the site or page name.
Gravatar	An icon or some representation of a person that can be added to their posts and/or comments
Hosting	Where your WordPress site lives.
HTML Editor	For those familiar with HTML coding, you can use the HTML editor area when editing and adding posts and pages.
Links	There are (usually) external links to other websites that you might like to offer your readers.
Menus	To make it nice and simple to build your navigation and can include pages, categories, external links and more.
MySQL	Essential for WordPress, this is your database - where all your information lives - in very basic terms - posts, comments, pages, etc.
Pages	Very simply, these are your web pages, those more static pages, such as About, Services, Contact, etc.
Permalinks	These are the permanent web page addresses - the URLs for each page and post.
PHP	The programming language used and essential for WordPress.
Pingbacks	Simpler than a trackback, this lets you know when someone has linked to your post or page.
Plugins	Tools that add functionality to your WordPress - just about anything you can think of is possible (often from half a dozen wonderful geeks who have slaved away in their basements to please us)
Posts	Your blog is made up of posts (not pages), and each entry is a post.
RSS	Really Simple Syndication - or in other words - a way that people can stay updated with your latest content (blog posts, for instance) by email or into a reader of some sort.
Sidebar	Your sidebar is the narrow column to the side (either or both) of your WordPress site and can include a variety of information, usually added through Widgets.
Spam	Blog post spam will come in the form of comments - you'll soon be shocked by what people try to add to your site and will need an effective spam filter in place.
Tags	Tags are similar to categories in that they offer a way to group related posts - perhaps best considered as a form of sub-category.
Themes	Your WordPress theme is the design, a template, if you prefer, or a "skin".
Trackbacks	notify you of your page or post having been shared with others usually within an excerpt.
Visual Editor	Within your post or page you can edit and add content in the Visual Editor area (in which you see pretty much how your content will look).
Widgets	An easy way to add useful things to your sidebar - such as latest posts, a search bar, links, etc
URL	A web page address