Viva Questions

20 most-asked WordPress viva questions with one-line answers — perfect for last-minute revision.

Common WordPress Viva Questions and Answers

What is WordPress? Free, open-source CMS built in PHP + MySQL — powers ~43% of all websites.
Who created WordPress? Matt Mullenweg + Mike Little, first released 27 May 2003.
What does CMS stand for? Content Management System.
What language is WordPress written in? PHP (back-end) + JavaScript + HTML/CSS (front-end).
What database does WordPress use? MySQL or MariaDB.
What's the difference between WordPress.com and .org? .com is hosted by Automattic (limited); .org is the self-hosted open-source software (full control).
What is the default admin URL? /wp-admin/.
What are the 6 default user roles? Subscriber, Contributor, Author, Editor, Administrator, Super Admin (multisite only).
Posts vs Pages? Posts = time-based blog content with categories/tags. Pages = static, hierarchical, no taxonomies.
What is a theme? A bundle of PHP/CSS/JS files controlling how the site looks.
What is a plugin? A package that extends WordPress with new features (forms, e-commerce, SEO).
What is functions.php? Theme file where you register menus, widgets, hooks, and custom functions.
What is wp-config.php? The site's master config — DB credentials, salts, debug settings.
What is a permalink? The URL structure of posts (e.g. /blog/post-name/).
What is the recommended permalink setting? "Post name" (/sample-post/).
What is WooCommerce? A free WordPress plugin that adds full e-commerce functionality.
What is Elementor? The most popular drag-drop page builder plugin for WordPress.
What is a child theme? A theme that inherits from a parent and lets you safely override files without losing edits on update.
What is the GPL license? General Public License — free to use, modify, redistribute. WordPress is GPLv2.
What is the WordPress REST API? A built-in REST endpoint set (/wp-json/) for headless front-ends and external integrations.

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