Because copy/pasting content is boring.

Lots of resources for learning.

Open source.

Large collaborative community.

Builds & sells commercial software products.

Works in-house on a single WP website.

Builds/modifies WP websites for clients.

Combination of coding from scratch, modifying someone else's code, and clicking buttons in a CMS.

Check out the "core" files - know what's there...

but don't change it!

With every WordPress update, most of these files get overwritten.

When WordPress updates, your safe zone is:

• .htaccess
• wp-config
• wp-content directory contents
• any non-WP files you have in the root

WP devs build themes and plugins.

Themes

Control style only (best practice; not always reality)

Plugins

Control functionality and (to some degree) style

"posts" = blog posts - content related to one another by category/tags (taxonomies) and by date

"pages" = stand-alone content that may have a hierarchical relationship to one another or none at all - more static

Actually it's all the same

...they are all stored in the same table: wp_posts

Extra details about content is stored in wp_postmeta & is linked by the post id

Custom Post Types

Create your own as a way of better organizing content...

• staff
• portfolio items
• products
• recipes
• and more...

Learn More

Mini programs/tools that can be added to repeatable areas of the site - header, footer, sidebars, etc.

• Found under Appearance > Widgets
• "Widget Areas" are created by the theme
• "Widgets" can come from core, plugins, and/or theme

Learn more...

• About Widgets
• Widgets API

A way of adding macros - code fragments - in the body of a post or page

Learn more...

• About Shortcodes
• Shortcode API

Themes live in /wp-content/themes

More than a skin - the front of the website will literally not function without a theme.

Themes control the look of the website and also pull content out of the database.

Themes can be:

• Stand alone & static
• Part of a framework - they update!
• Child theme, adopting most styles from a parent theme

Themes contain

• Stylesheet - style.css (+ index.php are bare minimum for a child theme)
• Functions file - functions.php
  • enqueue stylesheets & scripts
  • Add features - widget areas, custom image handling, etc.
  • Set up options for users
• Template Files - PHP source files used to generate the pages requested by visitors, and are output as HTML

Learn more...

• WordPress Theme Development
• Genesis Framework - what I use
• _S (Underscores) - starter theme

Plugins add functionality or modify functionality of WordPress

Some plugins modify the functionality of other plugins.

Plugins live in wp_content/plugins...and don't even have to be in a directory.

Looking at a basic plugin

Enable Contributor Uploads

Learn more...

• Writing a Plugin
• Plugin API
• Plugin Boilerplate
• Plugins Worth Purchasing - talk I gave
• Plugin/teaching notes - from a plugin dev workshop I co-taught
• Get Your Plugin on WordPress.org

From WordPress

• WordPress Codex
• Developer Documentation
• WordPress.tv
• ThemeShaper
• Contribute to WordPress Core

Books

• Professional WordPress: Design and Development
• Professional WordPress Plugin Development
• Building Web Apps with WordPress

Podcasts/Hangouts on Air

• The Matt Report - business
• WP Elevation - business
• Mastermind.fm - business
• Officehours.fm - business
• Apply Filters - development
• WP Watercooler & WPblab - general WordPress news
• WP Tavern/WordPress Weekly - general WordPress news

Other Resources

• WPShout & Up and Running
• Lynda.com
• Treehouse
• Just Google It