What is WordPress?

WordPress is an open-source content management system (CMS) that allows users to develop and maintain their own websites without the need for extensive programming knowledge. WordPress is the simplest and most popular way to create websites and blogs, accounting for approximately 42.7% of all websites on the internet.WordPress provides limitless creative possibilities and can let you create practically any type of website, including portfolios, blogs, membership sites, e-commerce sites, and more.

WordPress introducing Studio

WordPress Studio offers the quickest and easiest local WordPress website-building experience, providing a smooth way to run WordPress sites locally and share work-in-progress sites with clients, teams, and colleagues via temporary demo sites hosted on WordPress.com. 

Once your local site is up and running, you won’t need to log into your WordPress websites to use WP Admin, the Site Editor, global styles, and patterns. Accessing settings, viewing styling, and putting changes into practice on your local sites is made simple with Studio. With the Studio app, you can easily switch between sites, make demo sites, and modify the names of your sites.

Integrating Studio into your current development process is even simpler because you can access your local sites from within your preferred development tools, such as Finder, PhpStorm, Terminal, and VS Code.

Some of the best features offered by Studio are:

1. Demo sites:
   You can build up to five demo sites at once per WordPress.com account, and show clients or colleagues dynamic screenshots of your local sites.
2. Fast WordPress installation:
   Studio allows you to build an infinite number of local sites, no matter how many sites you’re working on.
3. Building without Dependencies:
   Create dependable and lightweight local WordPress websites with WordPress Playground, all without having to deal with Docker, NGINX, Apache, or MySQL.
4. One-click admin:
   Open WordPress Admin for every site with a single click and save time managing passwords. Publish your website anywhere and customise it to your liking.

Steps to Download and Use Studio by WordPress

Here’s how you can set up your first local WordPress site:

Step 1:
Download the installer from WordPress.com – download link, once installed the starter screen should appear as shown below:

Here you can start by adding your first local website, give your site a name and the path to where all its files will be stored.

Step 2:
Connect to WordPress.com.

Click the WordPress.com button in Studio’s sidebar. A new browser window will open with an authorization screen, click “Approve” to connect Studio to your account or log in to WordPress.com. If you don’t already have a WordPress.com account, you could create one for free.

Once approved, a popup will appear prompting you to open the Studio app. Click on the “Open Studio” option to finalize the process. If the “Share” settings do not change from “Log in to WordPress.com” to “Add demo site” after logging into WordPress.com, you might need to restart the desktop app.

You could also construct your demo site and view it without completing this step. However, sharing your creations will be impossible because they will be stored locally on your system. As a result, this step is necessary to make it accessible to others.

Step 3:
Add your local website.

At the bottom of the sidebar, click on the Add Site button. A popup will appear, allowing you to name your site and specify its path (or accept the default) after which you can click on “Add site”.

Any new site is started by default, which is represented by a green dot in the sidebar.

Step 4:
View your local site.

Choose the site you would wish to view from the sidebar then click on the “WP admin” or “Open site” links located below the site’s name to access your site or its wp-admin without the requirement of entering a username or password.

Now you can work on your WordPress site locally just like you would on the web.

Your site’s Overview, Share and Settings

Overview:

This tab allows you to quickly customize your website while it is running. You can pick between the site editor, styles, patterns, navigation, templates, and pages to alter single elements of your website as a whole using the WordPress block editor or installing any other plugins to customize your site.
You can also select to open your site via the device’s Finder or terminal.

Share:

You can use the Studios demo site option to share your local website under this tab. These websites are hosted by WordPress.com and run on a temporary domain (wp.build), allowing you to publicly publish snapshots of your locally produced sites for up to 7 days (or 7 days after their last update).

Settings:

The Settings tab displays information about your site, including its name, local domain, path, WP version, and WP Admin access details. You can also delete your website here.

In conclusion, Studio offers a seamless and efficient solution for building WordPress websites locally. With its user-friendly interface and integration with popular development tools, developers can quickly set up and manage multiple local sites without the hassle of dealing with dependencies like Docker or MySQL. The ability to create demo sites and easily showcase work-in-progress to clients adds an extra layer of convenience. Moreover, being backed by one of the largest contributors to the WordPress core ensures reliability and expertise. Whether you’re a beginner or an experienced developer, Studio provides the tools and features needed to streamline the website development process, ultimately saving time and enhancing productivity.

For any further assistance regarding WordPress, feel free to reach out to us at info@simplileap.com.

Kashish Chandani

Fueled by a passion for constant learning, I’m diving into the worlds of technology and web development. Despite being new to these fields, I thrive on challenges and love learning and experimenting with various programming languages. Working at Simplileap, I eagerly seize every chance to grow under their guidance. With my determination and enthusiasm, I’m committed to excelling in my career and becoming a valuable asset in the tech industry.