WordPress terms

A backup is a saved copy of your entire website — files, content, and database — that can restore everything if your site is hacked, broken by an update, or lost. It's the safety net that turns a disaster into an inconvenience.

A brute force attack is when an automated bot tries thousands of username and password combinations on your login page, hoping to guess its way in. It's one of the most common ways WordPress sites get hacked.

A cache is a stored, ready-made copy of your web pages that loads much faster than building each page from scratch every time. Caching is one of the biggest reasons a website feels fast — or doesn't.

A child theme is a safe layer on top of your main WordPress theme where customizations live. It lets you change how your site looks without those changes getting wiped out the next time the main theme updates.

Gutenberg is WordPress's built-in editor for building pages out of 'blocks' — drag-and-drop chunks like a paragraph, image, button, or gallery. It's how you add and arrange content on a modern WordPress site.

Maintenance mode is a temporary 'we'll be right back' page WordPress shows visitors while updates or work happen behind the scenes — so people see a tidy notice instead of a half-broken site.

Malware is malicious code that sneaks onto your website to do harm — redirecting visitors to spam, stealing data, or hijacking your site to attack others. On WordPress, it usually gets in through outdated software.

A page builder is a plugin that lets you design WordPress pages visually — dragging and dropping elements to build custom layouts without code. Elementor, Divi, and Beaver Builder are common examples.

A permalink is the permanent web address of a single page or post — like yoursite.com/about. Good permalinks are short, readable, and stay put, which helps both visitors and Google.

A plugin is a small add-on that bolts extra features onto your WordPress site — a contact form, an online store, a booking system, backups — without anyone having to build them from scratch.

A plugin conflict is when two WordPress add-ons — or an add-on and your theme — don't get along, and something on your site breaks: a page won't load, a feature stops working, or the whole site goes down.

A staging site is a private copy of your website where changes can be tested safely before they go live. If an update or new feature breaks something, it breaks on the copy — not in front of your customers.

A theme is the design layer of your WordPress site — the part that controls how everything looks: your layout, colors, fonts, and overall style. Switching themes changes the look without changing your actual content.

The 'white screen of death' is when your WordPress site shows a completely blank white page — no content, no error message — usually after an update or a plugin problem. It means something stopped the site from loading at all.

WooCommerce is a free plugin that turns a WordPress site into a full online store — products, a shopping cart, checkout, and payments. It's the most popular way to sell online with WordPress.

The database is where WordPress stores all your site's content and settings — every page, post, comment, and option. Your theme controls how things look; the database holds the actual stuff your site is made of.

A WordPress migration is the process of moving your website from one home to another — a new host, a new domain, or from a staging copy to live — without breaking anything or losing content along the way.

A WordPress update is a new version of your site's software — the WordPress core, a theme, or a plugin. Updates add features and, importantly, patch security holes, which is why keeping them current matters so much.

wp-admin is the control panel behind your WordPress site — the password-protected area where you edit pages, write posts, and manage settings. You reach it by adding /wp-admin to your web address.