16 Steps to Learn WordPress Development Like a Pro

WordPress is a very popular CMS (content management system) which powers almost 30% of internet websites. You can create any website ranging from a simple static landing page to a blog or e-Commerce store or an event management system or a learning management system using WordPress. So you unleash a wide range of opportunities once you learn WordPress development.

Who is a WordPress Developer?

Anyone who has access to basic Internet Connection and can browse the internet can install WordPress, change themes and install plugins. WordPress always keeps on trying to simplify the interface in such a manner that an amateur kid should also be able to use it and create a website or blog over there. The people who use WordPress platform, change and customize the options, install themes and plugins to achieve certain design and functionality are called WordPress Users.

There is a huge difference between a WordPress User and a WordPress Developer. A WordPress Developer needs to know how to code for WordPress. So WordPress Development involves writing new plugins, creating new themes, customizing the code of existing or non-working plugins and implementing them for a certain need. A good WordPress developer can harness the power of inbuilt WordPress functions and classes, and use them in his/her plugins and code.

Overall, a WordPress Developer is a person who knows all the languages based on Which WordPress is developed and knows WordPress core, standards and flow in and out.

A WordPress user is definitely not a WordPress Developer. A Digital Marketer can be a WordPress user or a bakery shop owner or a school manager can be a WordPress user, but the person who know how to code on WordPress, plugins and themes and now Apps based on WordPress is a WordPress Developer.

Languages involved in WordPress Development

The basic languages and libraries used by WordPress are HTML, CSS, Javascript, jQuery, React, PHP, MySQL

You should be very good at these languages if you want to be a good WordPress Developer.

A WordPress Developer needs to know PHP, but not all PHP developers are familiar with WordPress architecture. WordPress has a well documented guides on WordPress Codex which can be referred by PHP developers to learn what all libraries, classes and functions WordPress offers to ease and standardize their development efforts. The standards make sure that the plugins or the themes developed by the developers do not conflict with other standard themes and plugins.

Learn WordPress Development Step By Step

Learn WordPress Basics

WordPress Dashboard, Posts and Pages, Media Images, Install Themes and Plugins, Customize theme options, Change plugin settings, Widgets and Menus, General Settings, other settings, What are permalinks and how to change them

Also, you should learn the Database tables created when WordPress is installed, what kind of data does each of the table would contain.

Code a basic HTML page

Start with HTML. Learn basic tags and how to create a simple HTML page with images and links and tables. Create a page layout with header, sidebar, content and footer.

Change the layout and styling of the elements of the page using CSS

Change the color and fonts of the heading, width and height of the images, background of the page and correct the layout of the page using CSS. The sidebar should appear on the right and the content area should be on the left. Learn basic CSS properties.

Add interactions to the page using Javascript

Add “Scroll to Top” kind of interactions to the page using Javascript. Learn the basics of Javascript.

Use a jQuery slider or form plugin on that page

Learn how to use a jQuery plugin along with the basics of jQuery. Embed a jQuery Slider on the page as well as add a HTML registration form to the page using jForm or similar kind of jQuery plugin.

Create a webpage using Bootstrap

Create a basic Website of 3-4 pages using Bootstrap UI framework.

Submit a registration form to MySQL DB using PHP

Learn basics of PHP and MySQL. Create bootstrap registration form and save the content it to the DB table using PHP and MySQL

Create a Posts Table and Add Posts to it using PHP

Create a panel to add Post Title and Post Content. On pressing “Publish” button, the post should be added to the Database. Display the list of the posts on the “Blog” page of the website you just created using Bootstrap.

Create a basic WordPress theme

Understand the files and folder structure of standard WordPress theme. Create a child theme for TwentySeventeen or any of your favourite WordPress theme. Change the CSS values in style.css

WordPress Template Hierarchy

Understand WordPress Template Hierarchy. You would learn here to find out which template is used to load which page on the front. Add new templates to your theme and change their layout to test the changes.

Understand and write loops in theme templates

What is basic WordPress loop? How to create custom loops.

Create widgetized areas and menu areas in the theme

Add new sidebars or widgetized areas to your theme and see if you can place the default widgets into them. Style the sidebars so that they will incorporate all the default widgets nicely.

WordPress Hooks – Actions and Filters

Learn what are hooks in WordPress and how they can be used to insert features and functionalities after a certain event or add content at a particular location in WordPress.  

Create a WordPress plugin to send a congratulation email to the Author and Editor once a post is published

Create a basic WordPress plugin to add a line to footer of the website. After that create a plugin which will send an email once the post is published. This way you will learn how to hook a functionality when a certain event occurs.

Learn to customize the Admin Area

Change the Admin Color Scheme, login screen and admin navigation.

Upload plugins and themes to WordPress.org

You can upload your newly created plugin or theme to WordPress.org. If it follows all the standards, it will get approved shortly.

Contribute to the WordPress core

WordPress is a very popular CMS which means every time an update for WordPress is released, they need a lot of developers to help them find the pre-release bugs and fix them. As WordPress is a community driven software, good and active WordPress developers should definitely contribute to WordPress core.

So these were the steps you could follow to start learning WordPress Development. Though it involves learning a couple of languages, I am sure once you learn to develop and release your own plugins, it will definitely pay-off.

If you want to learn WordPress Development in more depth, join our WordPress Development Intensive Course in Nashik today and become Expert WordPress Developer in a couple of weeks.