WordPress is a globally recognized Content Management System (CMS) that has more than 76 million users, and this count is growing every passing minute.
Therefore, the demand for a good WordPress developer has increased dramatically as people always look for WP developer who can modify their site according to their businesses’ requirements and enhance the overall performance of their website.
To modify WordPress functionality, you need to write standalone code that directly interfaces with the WordPress core code.
If you want to become a WordPress developer, stick to this tutorial till the end. Throughout the tutorial, we will outline the things you need to learn to become a WordPress developer.
So let’s begin it:
The Software You Need
- First of all, you need a text editor, it can be: Notepad ++, NetBeans, Sublime Text, etc.
- A local development server to install WordPress and finally a working WordPress installation.
What changes you can make in WordPress?
There a lot of things you can change or develop in WordPress. From look to feel to the core behaviour, you can make various changes in a WP site.
However, for the same you require an advanced web coding knowledge. All in all, what you can do is only limited by your own knowledge and willingness to learn.
In WordPress, you can create the followings:
- Themes – Associated with the look and feel of the site.
- Plugins – change and enlarge the behaviour of WP.
- Widgets – To appear in sidebars.
- Entire WordPress Websites- It may require combining themes, plugins and custom code in order to fulfill the requirement of a client for a fresh and unique WP site.
Creating Themes
Themes not only define the styling and layout of a WP site but they are also crucial for various WordPress core functions. Most modern WP sites are made using HTML5, CSS3 and responsive design principles. Therefore, to become WordPress developer, you must have a basic understanding of PHP.
Read the complete tutorial to create a responsive WordPress theme using HTML5 here.
Creating Plugins
Plugins are used to modify the behaviour of a WP site without making changes in core code. WP plugin is a standalone set of code that extends and improves the functionality of a WordPress site. By using the combination of web programming languages i.e. PHP, HTML, CSS, JavaScript, etc a plugin can add new features to any part of your website.
PHP is majorly used. Therefore, understanding of this language is the must.
You can make various changes to your client’s WordPress site. Adding new function, removing default functions and changing the content of information can be achieved by creating a plugin.
Note: Read the tutorial on a how to create a WordPress plugin here.
What programming languages you need to learn to become a WordPress developer?
The most common web coding languages used to create WordPress’ core are: PHP and SQL. The front-end presentation is created with the combination of languages like CSS, HTML, JavaScript, jQuery, and AJAX.
You may need any of these languages when customizing WP site.
Let’s know more about these languages in a brief
HTML ( In preference HTML5)
First of all, you need to use a valid HTML so that your pages can look the same in every browser. In case your code is not valid, browsers may interpret your code in an incorrect manner and display page inefficiently.
Valid HTML means the correct HTML codes with proper syntax. Make sure your HTML document is structured in the correct order. It must be started with a DOCTYPE statement, opening (<html>) tags, then a head section and a closing tag (</html) at the end.
HTML elements are generally parted into:
- Flow elements (Blocks)
- Phrasing Content (inline)
Each element has set of rules for what is allowed inside of it. For instance, paragraph tags are permitted to have phrasing tags inside them such as for bold <b>, for italics <i>, for links, <a>, etc. Paragraph tags do not allow block elements such as <ul>,<div>, etc.
Get the HTML cheat sheet here.
CSS3 & Responsive design
To become a WordPress developer, you must have a sound knowledge CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) as well. It helps you to take control over various parts of your WP site; from the color to the font of text to the color of the background.
Using CSS3, you can make quick changes in the entire style of your website. Make sure, your client’s website looks perfect on all types of devices.
Users should not find any difficulty, no matter on which device they are accessing your client’s site.
PHP
It is a scripting language, which helps you to lend website a dynamic look. WordPress is also built using PHP and MySQL.
PHP is responsible to run background task efficiently, including finding a post in the database whereas HTML is responsible to show the result of the PHP script, once it has completed its task.
MySQ
MySQL database stores various information of a WP site and this information is dynamically retrieved using PHP. The content of every page and post is stored in this database.
AJAX
Although AJAX is not a programming language yet it involves set of web development techniques that help you to send or receive data without fully reloading page.
In short, you can change the content of the page without reloading it.
Conclusion
This tutorial outlined all sorts of technical requirements you must have to become a WordPress developer.
So take a proper training for the same, once you have learned how WordPress uses the theme and plugins, modifying WordPress will be quite easy for you.
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