Learn How To Code a WordPress Website

Learning how to Code can be an interesting journey. Where do you begin? What tools do you need? Is there any help out there for Code Newbies? What's the best way to learn?

Those are just a few questions that might run through your head when considering learning how to code.

Fortunately we live in a day and age where information is in abundance. There is no shortage of How To Guides, Training Courses, Bootcamps, YouTube Videos, Documentation Sites, books and free tools that even professional coders use. Yes, I use a lot of free tools to help me make a living, coding from home.

Is it easy? Of course not. Learning to code is one of the most difficult tasks you'll ever take.

Can you learn how to code in a week? Maybe you can learn the absolute basics and syntax, but the toughest part of coding, is actually thinking like a coder.

Think of it like this. You know how to talk, read and write. That doesn't make you an awesome orator, speed reader with 100% retention or a best selling author.

It can take years to learn how to solve complex problems with code. But that's the best part. Many will attempt to learn how to code, few will make it to become truly amazing coders.

What are the main coding languages used for creating highly functional and visually appealing websites?

• html - is the skeleton of the web
• css - adds style to a website
• javascript - adds dynamic features to a website like drop down menus, sliders, photo galleries, scrolling and more, way more.
• php - is a server side coding language used to create highly functional websites. It's the dominant language used for server side programming.
• mysql - is a relational database management system. What's that? Think of Excel but significantly more powerful.

Where Should You Start?

So should you start with html and work your way down the list? If you have the time you can go that route and that's what I did.

Crazy Idea

But if you're the type who's a quick learner, good at finding patterns and have a true desire to learn how to code, then why not learn them all at once?

Now that's a crazy idea and I'm sure most people will definitely disagree with me, but it's possible to learn by reverse engineering existing code that's freely available.

This way of learning isn't for the faint of heart. It's a massive undertaking.

Enter WordPress

WordPress is the most popular Content Management System used to power websites from everyday bloggers to Fortune 500 companies.

I use WordPress to power my website which is my main source of income. I Design & Develop WordPress Powered Websites for Realtors, Bloggers, Small Business Owners and others.

WordPress uses all the coding languages I mentioned above to power nearly 30% of the modern web.

WordPress is free to use and learn from. This is what makes it one of the best tools to use in order to learn how to code a modern day website.

WordPress is made up of the core files and folders and the front end presentation is handled by WordPress Themes while advanced functionality is typically the whelm of WordPress Plugins.

You can download WordPress and analyze the code. You can view any of the thousands of free themes and plugins to see how it is they do what they do.

This is reverse engineering and learning to code by studying how others are doing things.

Tools of the Web Trade

To get started all you need, you likely already have or can get in minutes for free.

• laptop
• local web server like MAMP or WAMP or XAMPP
• text editor for code like Atom or Visual Studio Code
• WordPress software, themes and plugins
• a good web browser like Chrome or Firefox which are the best for developing.
• a search engine aka Google so you can Google terms you're not familiar with

Helpful Websites and Playlists

Of course you will need to research what the heck the code is. Fortunately you can google it or just use this list of online resources to learn.

• W3Schools - good for every part of the web stack
• PHP.net - good for php
• Mozilla Developer Network - good for front end development
• WordPress Developer - everything you need for WordPress development
• PixemWeb on YouTube - good for all things WordPress
• DevWP - WordPress Developer training theme

Watch this video

Takeaway

Can you become a coder overnight? No. But you can dive in and immerse yourself in code that you can easily get from any of the resources I mentioned in this article. Within a year, you will have the skills you need to code your very own website with WordPress.

Who knows, it might be a career change for you.

Happy Coding.