WordPress Developer 101 provides an introduction to WordPress development. It discusses what WordPress is, why the author uses it, its pros and cons. It also covers key WordPress concepts like themes, plugins, posts and pages. The document teaches WordPress fundamentals and how it works under the hood, including its files, database, and template and plugin development. It aims to educate readers on the basics of the WordPress platform.

1. WordPress
Developer 101
Introduction to WordPress Development

2. by Cindy Cullen
Started programming in 1983
AS in Computer Data Processing, NSTI
1987
BS in Computer Science, APSU 1989
Corporate World – General Electric
Information Services, American Chemical
Society, Iostudio
Freelance since 2003
WordPress Health Insurance Protection –
wpHIP.com

3. What is WordPress?
WordPress is a free and open source
blogging tool and a content management
system (CMS) based on PHP and MySQL.
Features include a plugin architecture and a
template system. WordPress was used by
more than 22% of the top 10 million
websites as of August 2013.

4. Why am I using
WordPress?
If you can’t beat ‘em,
Join ‘em!

5. Pros
O Fast, easy Development
O Designers LOVE it! – Easy theme
development
O Low Cost
O Easy to use for non-programmers
O Many features built-in
O Plugins (expansion, customization, add-ons)
O Community
O Available on most Shared Hosting LAMP
Platforms with easy install

6. Cons
O Open Source – open to hackers –
security
O Bloated? Maybe a little
O Slow and inefficient in some cases
O Requires lots of maintenance

7. Themes

8. Free Themes

9. Free Plugins

10. Content Management

11. Media Management

12. User Management

13. Posts
Posts are entries listed in
reverse chronological order.
Posts have categories and
tags.
Think: Blog

14. Pages
O Static
O Not listed by date
O Don’t have Categories or tags
Think: ‘About Page’

15. WordPress Under
the Hood
How it works

16. WordPress Files

17. wp-content folder

18. WordPress Database

19. Posts Table

20. Theme Development

21. Multiple Themes

22. Templates

23. page.php

24. Child Themes

25. My Theme

26. Changes to my Theme…

27. Won’t get Overwritten with
Theme Updates

28. Installing Premium Themes

29. Hooks: Actions and Filters
Hooks are functions that allow you
to ‘hook’ into the WordPress core.
Actions: Functionality
(add or remove code from core)
Filters: Manipulate existing data
(replaces code from the core)

30. functions.php

31. Plugin Development

32. Functions: Separate Files and
Folders for Actions and Filters

33. ShortCode API

34. ShortCode in a Post

35. Widgets

36. Sidebars

37. Footer Widgets

38. Footer Blocks

39. For More Info:
Cindy Cullen
Cullen Web Services
Cullenwebservices.com
wpHIP.com
cindycullen@gmail.com
615-509-1528