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WordPress Development

Master WordPress development from basics to advanced plugin development.

Prerequisites

Before starting WordPress, complete:

Learning Path

1. WordPress Administration

Get comfortable with WordPress first:

  • Install WordPress locally using Laravel Herd
  • Explore the admin dashboard
  • Create pages, posts, and media
  • Install and activate themes
  • Install and activate plugins
  • Manage users and permissions
  • Understand WordPress settings

Resources:

2. WordPress Plugin Development

Official Documentation:

Core Concepts:

Hooks: Actions & Filters

WordPress hooks are the foundation of plugin development.

Actions - Do something at a specific point: 

// Add an action
add_action('wp_footer', 'my_custom_footer');

function my_custom_footer() {
    echo '<p>Custom footer text</p>';
}

Filters - Modify data: 

// Add a filter
add_filter('the_content', 'add_signature');

function add_signature($content) {
    return $content . '<p>Thanks for reading!</p>';
}

Resources:

WP-CLI (WordPress Command Line)

Essential tool for WordPress developers:

# Install WordPress
wp core download
wp core config --dbname=mydb --dbuser=root
wp core install --url=example.test --title="My Site"

# Plugin management
wp plugin list
wp plugin install query-monitor --activate
wp plugin update --all

# Theme management
wp theme list
wp theme activate twentytwentyfour

# Database
wp db export
wp db import backup.sql

# Search and replace
wp search-replace 'old-url.com' 'new-url.com'

# Generate content
wp post generate --count=10

3. WordPress Theme Development

Official Documentation:

Key Concepts:

  • Template hierarchy
  • Template tags
  • The Loop
  • Custom post types
  • Custom taxonomies
  • Theme functions.php
  • Child themes

Resources:

🏗️ Modern WordPress Development

4. ReactJS for WordPress

Modern JavaScript in WordPress:

Why React in WordPress? - Gutenberg editor is built with React - Modern block development uses React - Better user interfaces - Component-based architecture

5. Gutenberg Block Development

Building Custom Blocks:

Resources:

Quick Start:

# Install @wordpress/create-block
npm install -g @wordpress/create-block

# Create a new block plugin
npx @wordpress/create-block my-custom-block

# Start development
cd my-custom-block
npm start

Basic Block Structure:

import { registerBlockType } from '@wordpress/blocks';
import { useBlockProps } from '@wordpress/block-editor';

registerBlockType('myplugin/my-block', {
    edit: () => {
        const blockProps = useBlockProps();
        return <p {...blockProps}>Hello from the editor!</p>;
    },
    save: () => {
        const blockProps = useBlockProps.save();
        return <p {...blockProps}>Hello from the frontend!</p>;
    },
});

🛒 E-Commerce Development

6. WooCommerce

The most popular WordPress e-commerce solution:

Resources:

Key Topics:

  • Product types
  • Orders and checkout
  • Payment gateways
  • Shipping methods
  • WooCommerce hooks and filters
  • Custom product types
  • REST API

Common Hooks:

// Modify product price
add_filter('woocommerce_get_price_html', 'custom_price_html', 10, 2);

// After checkout
add_action('woocommerce_thankyou', 'custom_thankyou_page');

// Modify cart
add_action('woocommerce_before_calculate_totals', 'modify_cart_items');

7. Dokan Plugin (Multi-vendor Marketplace)

Build multi-vendor marketplaces:

Resources:

Key Features:

  • Vendor dashboard
  • Commission management
  • Vendor products
  • Vendor orders
  • Multi-vendor shipping
  • Custom integrations

Dokan Hooks:

// After vendor registration
add_action('dokan_new_seller_created', 'custom_vendor_setup');

// Modify vendor dashboard
add_filter('dokan_get_dashboard_nav', 'add_custom_vendor_menu');

Development Workflow

Project Structure

wp-content/
├── plugins/
│   └── my-plugin/
│       ├── my-plugin.php
│       ├── includes/
│       ├── admin/
│       ├── public/
│       └── assets/
│           ├── css/
│           └── js/
└── themes/
    └── my-theme/
        ├── style.css
        ├── functions.php
        ├── index.php
        └── template-parts/

Plugin Header

<?php
/**
 * Plugin Name: My Awesome Plugin
 * Plugin URI: https://example.com/my-plugin
 * Description: A brief description of the plugin.
 * Version: 1.0.0
 * Author: Your Name
 * Author URI: https://example.com
 * License: GPL-2.0+
 * License URI: http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-2.0.txt
 * Text Domain: my-plugin
 * Domain Path: /languages
 */

// If this file is called directly, abort.
if (!defined('WPINC')) {
    die;
}

// Plugin code starts here...

Best Practices

Security:

// Sanitize input
$user_input = sanitize_text_field($_POST['field']);

// Validate and sanitize
$email = sanitize_email($_POST['email']);

// Escape output
echo esc_html($user_input);
echo esc_url($url);
echo esc_attr($attribute);

// Nonce verification
wp_verify_nonce($_POST['nonce'], 'action_name');

Database Queries:

global $wpdb;

// Prepared statements (secure)
$results = $wpdb->get_results(
    $wpdb->prepare(
        "SELECT * FROM {$wpdb->prefix}posts WHERE post_type = %s",
        'post'
    )
);

// Never use direct queries!
// BAD: $wpdb->query("SELECT * FROM wp_posts WHERE id = " . $_GET['id']);

WordPress Coding Standards:

// Use WordPress functions
wp_enqueue_script('my-script', plugin_dir_url(__FILE__) . 'js/script.js');
wp_enqueue_style('my-style', plugin_dir_url(__FILE__) . 'css/style.css');

// Use WordPress HTTP API
$response = wp_remote_get('https://api.example.com/data');

// Use WordPress filesystem
require_once(ABSPATH . 'wp-admin/includes/file.php');
WP_Filesystem();
global $wp_filesystem;
$wp_filesystem->put_contents($file, $content);

🔧 Essential WordPress Functions

Common Functions

// Get and set options
get_option('option_name', 'default');
update_option('option_name', 'value');
delete_option('option_name');

// Post functions
get_post(123);
wp_insert_post($post_data);
wp_update_post($post_data);
wp_delete_post(123);

// User functions
get_current_user_id();
wp_get_current_user();
is_user_logged_in();

// URL functions
home_url('/path');
site_url('/path');
admin_url('admin.php?page=my-plugin');
plugins_url('assets/js/script.js', __FILE__);

// Localization
__('Text to translate', 'textdomain');
_e('Text to echo', 'textdomain');

Install these from WordPress.org:

  • Query Monitor - Debugging and profiling
  • User Switching - Switch between user accounts
  • WP Crontrol - Manage WordPress cron jobs
  • WP Console - In-dashboard PHP console
  • WP Mail Logging - Log all emails sent by WordPress

🎓 Learning Projects

Beginner Projects

  1. Simple contact form plugin
  2. Custom post type plugin
  3. Widget plugin
  4. Shortcode plugin

Intermediate Projects

  1. Custom admin page with settings
  2. REST API endpoint plugin
  3. Custom Gutenberg block
  4. WooCommerce extension

Advanced Projects

  1. Multi-vendor marketplace feature
  2. Custom payment gateway
  3. Complex booking system
  4. Integration with external APIs

Certification & Courses

Free Resources:

Paid Courses:

WordPress Developer Checklist

  • Understand WordPress architecture
  • Master hooks (actions & filters)
  • Learn WP-CLI
  • Build custom plugins
  • Develop custom themes
  • Create Gutenberg blocks
  • Understand WooCommerce basics
  • Learn Dokan multi-vendor concepts
  • Follow WordPress coding standards
  • Implement security best practices
  • Use debugging tools effectively

Additional Resources

Next Steps:

  1. Set up WordPress locally with Laravel Herd
  2. Explore the admin dashboard
  3. Build your first simple plugin
  4. Learn WP-CLI commands
  5. Study WordPress hooks
  6. Create a Gutenberg block

Time to Master: 3-6 months of consistent practice

See also: