This theme is a really great find for anyone seeking to build a portfolio without development hassle. It’s clean well built and minimalistic. What not to like.

Format: WordPress Theme
Author: Andreu Pifarre

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Why You Should Learn About WordPress File and Directory Structure?

Most users can run their WordPress site without ever learning about WordPress files or directories. However, understanding how WordPress stores files and directories can help you solve many common WordPress problems on your own.

This guide will help you:

• Learn which WordPress files and folders are core files.
• Understand how WordPress stores your images and media uploads.
• Where WordPress stores your themes and plugins.
• Where configuration files are stored on your WordPress install.

This information also helps you learn .

You will also be able to perform troubleshooting tasks like , switching to a default theme, or fix other .

Having said that, let’s take a look at WordPress file and directory structure.

Accessing WordPress Files and Directories

First, you will need a to connect to your WordPress server. See our guide on for detailed instructions.

An easier alternative to FTP is File Manager. It is a web based application that comes built into cPanel dashboard of your account.

Once you have connected to your WordPress site either using FTP or File Manager, you will see a file and directory structure that looks like this:

Files and folders in the red squares are the core WordPress files. These are the files and folders that run your WordPress site. You are not supposed to edit those files on your own.

Here is a list of core WordPress files and folders you would see in your WordPress site’s root directory.

• [dir] wp-admin
• [dir] wp-includes
• index.php
• license.txt
• readme.html
• wp-activate.php
• wp-blog-header.php
• wp-comments-post.php
• wp-config-sample.php
• wp-cron.php
• wp-links-opml.php
• wp-load.php
• wp-login.php
• wp-mail.php
• wp-settings.php
• wp-signup.php
• wp-trackback.php
• xmlrpc.php

WordPress Configuration Files

Your WordPress root directory contains some special configuration files. These files contain important settings specific to your WordPress site.

• – A server configuration file, WordPress uses it to manage and .
• – This file tells WordPress how to connect to your database. It also sets some global settings for your WordPress site.
• index.php – The index file basically loads and initializes all your WordPress files when a page is requested by a user.

You may need to edit wp-config.php or .htaccess file sometimes. Be extra careful when editing these two files. A slight mistake can make your site inaccessible. When editing these two files, always create backup copies on your computer before making any changes.

If you don’t see .htaccess file in your root directory, then checkout our guide on why you in your WordPress root directory.

Depending on how your WordPress site is setup, you may or may not have the following files in your root directory.

• robots.txt – Contains instructions for search engines crawlers
• Favicon.ico – A favicon file is sometimes generated by WordPress hosts.

Inside wp-content Folder

WordPress stores all uploads, plugins, and themes in wp-content folder.

It is generally assumed that you can edit files and folders inside wp-content folder. However, this is not entirely true.

Let’s take a look inside wp-content folder to understand how it works and what you can do here.

The contents of wp-content folder may differ from one WordPress site to another. But all WordPress sites usually have these:

• [dir] themes
• [dir] plugins
• [dir] uploads
• index.php

WordPress stores your theme files in /wp-content/themes/ folder. You can edit a theme file, but it is generally not recommended. As soon as you update your theme to a newer version, your changes will be overwritten during the update.

This is why it is recommended to for WordPress theme customization.

All WordPress plugins you download and install on your site are stored in /wp-content/plugins/ folder. You are not supposed to edit plugin files directly, unless you wrote the plugin just for your own WordPress site.

In many , you will see code snippets that you can add to your WordPress site. The best way to add custom code to your WordPress site is by adding it to file of your child theme or by creating a .

WordPress stores all your image and media uploads in the /wp-content/uploads/ folder. By default, uploads are organized in /year/month/ folders. Whenever you are creating a WordPress backup, you should include uploads folder.

You can download fresh copies of WordPress core, your theme, and installed plugins from their sources. But if you lose your uploads folder, then it would be very hard to restore it without a backup.

Some other default folders you may see in your wp-content directory.

• languages – WordPress stores language files for in this folder.
• upgrade – This is a temporary folder created by WordPress during upgrade to a

Many WordPress plugins may also create their own folders inside your wp-content folder. For example, in the screenshot above we have a gallery folder created by plugin.

Some of these folders may contain important files. Like the gallery folder may contain your gallery images. You should always backup such folders to avoid losing important data.

Other folders may contain files that you can safely delete. For example your caching plugins like or may store cached files in their own folders.

That’s all, we hope this article helped you understand WordPress file and directory structure. You may also want to see our beginner’s guide to .

If you liked this article, then please subscribe to our for WordPress video tutorials. You can also find us on and .

Original atricle on 

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Site Logo

For experienced developers or power users, this feature might not seem like a big deal, but for a lot of users, the simple process of adding a logo hasn’t always been an option.

You can now find the logo setting in Site Identity > Logo.

Responsive Preview Display

As of WordPress 4.5, you’ll have the ability to preview your website on different device screen sizes via the Customizer in your dashboard.

Previously, you may have used an extension, your browser developer tools, or even just resizing your window – but now this handy feature is in easy reach in the customizer.

Inline Link Editing

The linking process within the Visual Editor for your pages and posts has been streamlined further. Now when you click the standard link button within the WYSIWYG editor, a field will now automatically appear below the text to allow you to either paste the link or search for the link on your site.

If you wanted to bring up the old link screen functionality that used to appear when you clicked this button, simply hit the cog icon.

New Shortcuts

If you write a lot of content inside of WordPress, there are a few new handy shortcuts will help further streamline your writing:

` a backtick before and after the content to display code

— for a horizontal rule

Here’s what using the backtick to insert code looks like:

Comment Moderation Improvement

WordPress 4.5 features a refreshed comment moderation screen styling to make it easier to manage comments. Comments can also now be viewed in an editor.

Image Optimization Improvements

Image optimisation has been enhanced even further to create up to 50% smaller files while retaining the image quality.

Login as Username and Email

As of 4.5, you can now login by username and email. You could always use your email address as a username, but now the login accepts your account email address and username. It will come in handy, users are much less likely to forget their email address!

Developer Features WordPress 4.5

There are also a few new features for developers:

• JavaScript Library Updates (jQuery 1.12.3, jQuery Migrate 1.4.0, Backbone 1.2.3, and Underscore 1.8.3)
• Embedded Templates
• Term Edit Page Changes (the addition of wp-admin/term.php)
• Selective Refresh

The has a detailed list of all of the recent changes relevant for developers, as well as some lively discussions.

More wordpress updates:

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Today Slider Revolution team introduced Content Blocks. This module can be used to build a complete website. Everything. Even a navigation menu. Don’t take our words .

You can download this slider template pack for FREE if you have a Slider Revolution license.

The post Content Blocks for Slider Revolution appeared first on Strange House Themes.

There aren’t many that could contain this level of versatility.

Listed here are a few things that make WordPress a better CMS than the competition:

1. Gives Control to Non-Developers

For those of us who would rather not dip their feet in code, WordPress is a godsend.

The platform is as comprehensive (for sake of better management and control) as it is easy to work with, especially for non-coding populace. The WYSIWYG editors, countless premium themes that come pre-packed with Visual Composer page builders, the default WordPress Customizer, et al make sure that users can make changes as they see fit, regardless of their programming expertise.

The platform is truly user-friendly, and continues to make even more progress in that department with every upgrade: RICG plugin, the newly-launched Calypso admin interface, and more.

2. There’s more to Choose From

Themes, plugins, widgets; or we can say website’s look, functionalities, and interface. There are thousands of them available anywhere you look. It’s one of the huge positives on WordPress.

Check any marketplace and official repositories for any given CMS, but you won’t find anywhere with variety that could even manage to come close to WordPress’ in sheer insurmountable numbers. Anyone can pick their choice of themes and plugins and start a decent website in minutes. Literally.

This helps users become even more self-reliant and gain confidence in their abilities of customizing and running a website on their own without relying on a developer.

3. SEO-friendly, out-of-the-box

WordPress may not come optimized, but it is SEO-friendly thanks to its structure and the entire army of tools available for users. You just have to know how to take it further, everything you need will be provided.

WordPress out-of-the-box comes with themes made with clean, comprehensible, semantic coding, along with features that let you customize URL structures, easy post formatting abilities, tags and categories, and more. Combine that with some super-powered like All-in-One SEO pack or Yoast SEO capable of making users of other platforms jealous and you have all the features you could need to tinker your website into a high online visibility.

4. Developer-Friendly

With countless resources and practically-commonplace programming languages that the platform works in (PHP and MySQL, along with HTML, CSS, and JavaScript: the languages every web developer is familiar with) it’s no surprise that developing for the platform is easy as dream.

Your team of coders will be able to create better things in less time with WordPress compared to other platforms. If you don’t have a team yet, you can hire WordPress development services from freelancers or companies across the world.

5. Scalable up to the Sky

“It’s just a blogging platform.” I have a hard time keeping myself from rolling my eyes every time I hear this argument.

Anyone who says that WordPress isn’t good enough for eCommerce because Shopify and Magento are specifically built for eCommerce has clearly never seen the super-stunning online stores of a tiny-company called Bata. Those who say WordPress can’t handle rich media content should check out BBC America. Live communities? See the official Star Wars Blog, which runs on WordPress. Freakin’ Fortune 500 websites work with WordPress.

I can go on and on, but I’m sure you get the point.

WordPress is whatever you want, whatever you need it to be.

EndNote

There are valid reasons (beyond “Everyone’s on WordPress now, bro”) for the platform’s continuous growth, and the incredible amount of clients just who come our way for HTML or Joomla or .

Don’t believe me.

Try it for yourself.

The post 5 Reasons That Make WordPress Better Than Other CMSs appeared first on Strange House Themes.

If you look at the stats and previous security disasters in WordPress history, you will see a pattern. By 2013 WordPress websites had been hacked through one or a combination of the following:

• weak passwords
• server level breach
• dodgy plugins/themes and their vulnerabilities
• or simply running a vastly outdated version of WordPress (which, by the way, is heavily discouraged by every sane techie in the community).

Image credit: www.wptemplate.com

Three years later we are still seeing the same patterns.

Have You Been Hacked? Look For Tell-tale Signs…

Your website may be compromised with you being none the wiser about it.

“50% site owners admitted they only discovered the hack when they attempted to visit their own site and received a browser or search engine warning.”

“Over 90 percent didn’t notice any strange activity, despite the fact that their sites were being abused to send spam, host phishing pages, or distribute malware.”

– Zero Day Security Blog

So apart from losing everything you’ve worked for, you now have to contend with the fact that your website is probably being used for nefarious purposes: hosting (and spreading) malware and spam, automatic redirects, phishing, displaying vulgar content, etc… some of these will be obvious, but others (like injected links or spam) will continue to fester without drawing your attention and will get your website banned (by Google) if left unattended.

To prevent this, keep an eye out for unusual activity on your site like:

• Modal (popups) that you didn’t add
• Unknown links or text in your content, footer or source
• Immediate redirect to an unknown URL when you try to visit your website
• Sudden spikes in traffic or server bandwidth usage

You can also use simple, everyday tools to look out for any security breaches. For instance,  will send you (the site owner) an email alert to notify you of bad activity. Similarly, tools like  or scanner will search your website for infection.

Use them to confirm that your site is compromised and then recover your hacked WordPress website using one of the steps below:

1. Restore From Backup

This is the time when a ‘constant vigilance’ pays off. If you’ve maintained your WordPress website properly and stuck by a consistent backup schedule, you’ll have a backup file which you can use to restore your website. Make sure to use a backup copy before the hack took hold of your website.

Bonus tip: remember to make separate backups for database, core files, and wp-content directory.

2. Re-install WordPress

It’s the simplest, shortest route to replace the core files, which might have been the point of breach, especially if you were running an outdated version of WordPress.

Go to  and download the latest stable version available.

It is also a good idea to delete all plugins, widgets, and themes (except the default ones of course) before re-installing WordPress. Once that’s done, check your installation directory (especially wp-content) for any leftover files. Make sure it’s empty before re-installing plugins and themes.

Bonus tip: update your plugins and themes at the first opportunity, and get them from your trusted sources only!

3. Change All Login Credentials… ALL of Them

This isn’t just about your wp-admin login anymore. If the breach originated in the server, you need to change those passwords too.

This time, do it right. Create new passwords for every login/access point you can think of: server management, SSH, FTP/cPanel wp-admin users, etc.

Now go to , copy-paste the random sequences you see there. These are called salts or security keys. They are for encryption. Open wp-config.php and paste these as directed .

Bonus tip: create good, strong usernames and passwords AND DON’T WORRY ABOUT NOT REMEMBERING THEM. Use a password manager tool and relax.

4. Enforce SSL Security

That little ‘s’ after ‘http’ you may have noticed in some websites’ URLs stands for ‘secure’. SSL protects data during a transmission (to-and-from) between a user and server.

You can go online, buy an SSL certificate, and ask your hosting provider to implement it. You will also have to enforce this via WordPress as directed .

Bonus tip: if you are not on a secure server already, consider .

Conclusion

That’s it. You’ve recovered your website. Now all you have to do is keep it safe!

Switch to a good quality, reputed web host, install a powerful WordPress security plugin (WordFence premium or Sucuri are really good ones) and commit yourself to maintaining your website and hardening your WordPress security on a regular basis. Stay on the latest WordPress core, themes and plugins’ versions and spend as much time as you can learning as much as possible about the platform.

The post was originally published at .

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