WordPress website structure
WordPress websites consist of 3 major structural elements.
- WordPress Core. It wouldn’t be a WP (WordPress) site without WP core. At the time of this writing, WP core 5.8 was just released.
- WordPress Theme. The site theme provides the visual presentation or appearance of the site. Only 1 theme can deliver the site presentation at any given time. However there is support for “Child Themes” which add features to a base theme or change the appearance of certain elements. Site developers are always encouraged to use child themes when working with a 3rd party base theme.
- WordPress Plugins. WP plugins provide functionality to your WordPress site. For example WooCommerce provide ecommerce functionality including a shopping cart, products and payments. There are WP plugins for nearly anything you can imagine, making WordPress the most “pluggable” and modular software ever made.