{"id":46138,"date":"2021-12-29T13:09:55","date_gmt":"2021-12-29T13:09:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.glassmountains.co.uk\/?p=46138"},"modified":"2021-12-29T16:41:12","modified_gmt":"2021-12-29T16:41:12","slug":"what-is-a-static-wordpress-website","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.glassmountains.co.uk\/campfire\/what-is-a-static-wordpress-website\/","title":{"rendered":"What is a static WordPress website?"},"content":{"rendered":"

At its heart, WordPress is a highly popular, highly extensible, content management system that powers over 455 million websites.<\/p>\n

\u2026.yes, isn’t that a big number?<\/em><\/p>\n

The problem with big numbers<\/h2>\n

Because WordPress powers so many websites, it makes sense for hackers to focus on finding exploits in WordPress because it affords a big target.<\/p>\n

That’s not to say that WordPress is itself is inherently insecure, no. A well looked after, sensibly hosted & maintained WordPress site is very secure. However, the stark reality is this: the Internet is a hostile environment – and if you cannot handle the remote possibility that your website might be hacked, perhaps being online is not for you.<\/p>\n

Executable Code<\/h3>\n

WordPress is an application created in a programming language called PHP<\/a>. All the clever logic that makes WordPress work (including any plugins you install) is written in PHP code, which then talks to a SQL server. Now I’m not trying to turn you into a programmer, but there is something important you need to focus on here, let’s drill into that\u2026<\/p>\n

When you visit the (current*) Glass Mountains website (powered by WordPress), this is what happens:<\/p>\n

The webserver receives a request from the client (i.e. you and your web browser). It passes the request to WordPress which then executes lots of PHP code trying to work out what to do with the query, and how to respond to you.<\/em><\/p>\n

So let’s say you are visiting the Glass Mountains homepage. Lots of PHP and SQL code is triggered because of your visit (including code relating to any WordPress plugins we have installed). The executable code churns away, assembling what it needs to respond to your request.<\/p>\n

The response to the request typically takes the form of one or more of the following:<\/p>\n