Paragraphs are the building blocks that allow you to add content to web pages in Magnolia. They do this by generating HTML based on their configuration.
The simplest paragraph is one that can be configured with raw HTML which is then placed directly onto the page. If raw HTML is considered too cumbersome then a more advanced paragraph can be configured with wiki markup which is then used to render the HTML for you.
As wiki markup only allows very basic content to be shown (e.g. headers, bold, italics, ruler lines, and images) additional paragraphs allow things like RSS feeds, navigation bars, and announcement banners to be displayed. In this way it's possible to quickly add paragraphs onto a page to create rich content that goes beyond what wiki markup can provide on its own.
The following pages go through all of the paragraphs you can use explaining what they are for and how they can be configured. The more you understand about how they work then the better equiped you are to create useful and attractive pages.