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Do you like magic? Have you ever wondered how your WordPress website displays content publicly, and how you can manage that content in a control panel completely independent of your front-end?
Today we take many things for granted, which for many people seem like magic, and not only in complicated or complex situations.
For example, have you ever stopped to think how magical it is that when you move a lever on the tap, water comes out? (well, magic magic is not for people from developed countries, but you get my point).
The problem comes if ever, turning that little lever, suddenly no water comes out. That is when you would have liked to know how said mechanism works (to know what “what is behind it”), in order to save yourself a call to the plumber, in the event that the problem is not very important.
Precisely this we are going to see and know in this article: the importance of the folder wp-content in WordPress.
By the end of the article you will know:
- Access to view the WordPress “files” on a server.
- Differentiate the different folders that make up your WordPress installation.
- Understand what is inside the wp-content folder and why it is so important.
How to access to see the guts of WordPress
The first step to be able to deal with the folder wp-content in your WordPress installation is to know how to access it (since this is not possible from “your website”).
There are two easy ways to do it, and everyone chooses which one they like best. I personally prefer the…
Connect via FTP
It is the most traditional way, but the slowest when it comes to moving files.
I personally like it because, using a good FTP program (for example) you will be able to quickly connect to the accounts you need, and it is ideal if you manage more than one client at the same time (as in my case).
If you have never configured a program like FileZilla, don’t worry, makes it easy for you, being able to download the configuration file from your control panel, as shown in this screenshot:
And once you have the configuration file, you import it into FileZilla:
Use the WePanel file explorer
The other way, also very good, and much faster When managing files, it is to access the file explorer that you find in your contracted WePanel from :
And once inside, your WordPress installation is usually found in the root (root) of the folder called public_html:
Once you have accessed by either of the two ways, you are ready to see in real time what I am going to comment on in this article.
A little review of WordPress folders
For your WordPress website to be visible, there are two elements that make it possible (for your website and for any WordPress website):
- The MySQL database (where the configurations and the text content of your website go) managed in .
- The records downloaded from WordPress.org (either manually or automatically via a WordPress installer on WePanel).
In this article we concentrate on the second of the elements, and more specifically on the folder wp-content.
However, here I leave you certain nuances for each of the folders that you find in a “virgin” WordPress installation.
Binder wp-admin
Folder wp-admin it is directly related (my face is now “obvious”) with what you see in the WordPress dashboard.
Hence, to access that independent dashboard, you have to write the address: www.yourdomain.com/wp-admin.
With this you are telling the Internet explorer on duty, to “look” at what is in the root of that domain, and more specifically inside the folder called wp-admin.
Obviously, WordPress already takes care of add a layer of security to access that folder (hence it asks you for a username and password to enter).
The files in this folder are not modified. All the options that you change in any plugin, WordPress preferences, or similar, are registered in the corresponding table in the database (never in the folder files).
It’s curious right? For years I had never considered these things, until I began to know WordPress very thoroughly.
Binder wp-includes
Folder wp-includes It is something more unknown to all, but just as important.
We could simply say that this folder is like “the nervous system” of WordPress, and that thanks to it everything you see on your website works as it should work.
That is to say, it is a folder that takes care that all that “code” layer that you do not see, makes what you do see, work well.
In 10 years of experience with WordPress, I personally have never had to see it, or explore it, or anything. (Which I like, because it means that WordPress is very well done.)
Records root
They are all the files that are in the root (either root in English) of your website (what is seen when typing www.yourdomain.com).
Here are several files that will sound like a lot to you:
- wp-config.php
- .htaccess
- favicon.ico
- index.php
- wp-login.php
They are files that fulfill a very specific function on your website, and that you often have to change yourself, or replace them with others.
That is to say, here we are already seeing a light layer of customization for your websitedifferent from other websites with those same files.
Binder wp-content
It is the central folder of this article, and the central folder of your website, since it is where they are going to be stored. all those files that are not text itself (the text is stored in the database).
Examples of files are, for the most part, photos or images, but also pdfs, audios, videos, gifs, compressed files, and any other type of file that you decide to use in the content of your website (in an article, on a page , or in any other custom post type).
We will detail this very important folder below.
WP-Content folder: the great underrated.
At last we fully enter the folder that most interests us as owners of a website.
This folder is so important, because it contains everything that differentiates your WordPress installation from the rest.
That is there are not two folders wp-content same (except the one that comes by default in a virgin WordPress installation).
You will see it more clearly knowing…
Why is it important for you to know wp-content in deep?
- Folder wp-content is the only folder it will grow as you add content to your websitein the form of files, plugins, themes, etc.
- wp-content represents from the beginning, at least, a 50% of your entire WordPress installation. (the more content you add, the higher that percentage will be).
- Being the only folder that “changes” due to user action or the plugins or themes you use, it means that it is the single folder what you need to safeguard (make a backup or backup) to be able to “clone” your website on another server or folder on your same server.
- Knowing this folder will also will allow solving many of the main typically produced. (blank screen, errors with plugins, incompatibilities, etc).
Structure of wp-content default
As we have already mentioned, the contents of the folder wp-content varies from one WordPress installation to anotherbut it will always be the same when we initially install WordPress:
Themes folder
All the templates that you install on your website, as well as their child-themes (“child templates”), they will end up in this folder.
This folder is important, because if you want to make good use of it, you have to keep in mind that:
- A good template (theme) for WordPress, he has to come with a child template (or child-theme).
- If said template does not come with a , create one.
- The “parent” template, you should never touch or edit it, since its files will be replaced by newevery time you update said template from the WordPress control panel.
- in said child-themeyou will find a file called functions.php. This file is the most important of everything related to the aesthetics of your website, and it is where are you going to add different functions, when some plugins or tutorials that you do on your own, ask you for it.
Plugin folder
is one of the folders most loved and most hated at the same time.
In theory, in a WordPress installation, there should be the minimum possible number of pluginsamong other things, to avoid incompatibilities between them.
What happens in “real life” is that to make the website of our dreams, many times we have to “pull plugins”, and install a few more than the desired amount.
As long as these plugins are from quality, and everything is optimized and monitoredIn theory everything will be fine.
Yes, it is true that, as soon as there is still a problem on your website, almost 99% will be directly related to one of the plugins you have active.
That is why it is the first place where you have to go, to be able to manually “deactivate” all the plugins on the web, and activate one by oneto see which one caused that error.
Remember that you will have much more information about any error that appears on your website.
upload folder
It is the most greedy folder of the entire WordPress installation.
It is the one that most it will be “fattening” as your website grows in content, since, as its name suggests, it is in where are they going to go up (upload in English) all the multimedia files that you use in your custom post types (posts, pages, etc).
The way files are stored, by default, is by “year and month” (year/month), but there are many users (including myself) who prefer that this is not so, so you can find files more easily later.
Many people don’t know this, but this can be easily configured from the WordPress preferences in the admin dashboard:
Other folders you might have:
Depending on the hosting in which you install WordPress, or the language in which you do it, you may find other default folders in your installation.
- Languages (if the site is not installed in English by default).
- Upgrade (It is the folder that WordPress itself uses every time it is updated to a higher version).
- Some plugins have own folders, which they install in this section. These folders are usually recommended when creating a backup for your website, since they usually contain important information.
- If you use any cache pluginat this level you may also find folders with “cache” files stored in them.
Conclusions
Sometimes it is fascinating to delve into the guts of WordPress, and know and know what each file and folder is for.
It’s great that you took a few minutes to read about the portfolio. wp-contentbecause I already know that this type of information is difficult to assimilate.
But think that time…
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