There are thousands of posts online that can teach you anything you need to know about WordPress development and maintenance. A few stand out as must-reads (or bookmark!) for anyone learning about and using this fantastic platform. Whether you like to learn by text or video, check out these options or see this link for a downloadable pdf to get you started.
1. First of all—check your hosting platform’s website.
Most offer good (and sometimes specific to their service) tips and tricks to unpack your WordPress experience.
- DreamHost: WordPress Basics page
- WPEngine: Resources
- GoDaddy: Getting Started with WordPress
- Namecheap: Learn the WordPress dashboard
- Bluehost: 12 components every WordPress blog must have for success
2. WordPress Codex
WordPress Codex is a free knowledge repository, hosted by WordPress.org, that offers extensive documentation on anything related to WordPress. Think of it as the WordPress user’s manual—it covers all of the basics you’ll need to know to build your own website.
The Codex is conveniently divided into sections that cater to the specific needs of WordPress beginners, web designers, theme developers, and webmasters. And if you want to learn more about what makes WordPress tick, you can search the Code Reference database to get info on all of WordPress’ functions, classes, methods, and hooks.
3. WordPress TV
WordPress TV offers in-depth video tutorials for both beginners and more experienced users alike. The videos are easily digestible and cover subjects ranging anywhere from basic SEO implementation to advanced web design.
4. WPBeginner
WPBeginner is an all-encompassing resource for beginner-level WordPress users and enthusiasts with a blog, in-depth tutorials and guides, and free video courses. The video courses are completely free and are made available after completing a simple email signup form.
These courses are a great way to learn the basics of WordPress, and they cover a wide range of subjects including how to properly create a blog, dealing with web errors, adjusting language and accessibility settings for your website, and how to make your site multi-media friendly.
Don’t want to sign up? Check out the site’s YouTube channel: WPBeginner – WordPress Tutorials. Aside from some premium WordPress themes and plugins on offer, all the content from WPBeginner is free.
5. Lynda.com
Lynda.com is a website that offers thousands of online courses in web development, design, business, software, marketing, photography, and so much more. One of their online courses is, you guessed it, WordPress training!
Students can learn WordPress basics like creating and maintaining a blog. The courses are well designed and make it easy for you to learn WordPress at your own pace.
Every video tutorial has closed-captioning for hearing impaired users, and written course files are also available for users who prefer reading text over watching videos. There’s an initial 30-day free trial. After that, Lynda subscriptions start at $19.99 per month.
6. WP101
WP101 is an educational video subscription service that makes it easy for beginners to learn how to use WordPress, whether you’re building a blog or an e-commerce site. With more than 100 videos and counting in their tutorial library, users can choose from WordPress courses on platform basics, Yoast SEO, and more.
The lessons can be watched on any device, and new videos are constantly released to keep the courses up to date with the latest WordPress release. You can watch the first three videos for free, but if you want access to the full courses, they’re available for purchase, starting at $19.
7. WP Apprentice
Similar to WP101, WP Apprentice is a video subscription service that covers WordPress basics for beginners. Their professional promise: anyone who watched their videos will have a solid understanding of WordPress in one hour. WP Apprentice’s site boasts an extensive library of training and tutorial videos, so you can pick and choose what you want to learn about. The site also offers up basic step-by-step courses for people who want a walkthrough.
These courses offer simple, detailed explanations of how to build and customize a basic site with WordPress quickly. For a one-time fee, starting at $47, you can get access to upwards of 200 WordPress tutorials.
8. The Tao of WordPress
The Tao of WordPress is a 300-page, comprehensive ebook about the WordPress platform. It covers a wide range of topics, such as web hosting, customizing your WordPress site, plugins, site performance and analytics, security, SEO, third-party software, and much more.
Each section is easy to read, and the ebook’s tutorials are concise and simple to follow. You can download this epic tome as a PDF for $38.
9. WPSquare
Don’t let their website’s minimalist design fool you, WPSquare is a solid resource for learning WordPress. This site offers detailed instructions for performing basic tasks in WordPress, such as changing fonts, formatting content, adding custom backgrounds, creating banners, adding menus, displaying social icons, and a lot more. All of the instructional content on WPSquare is free.
10. Udemy
Udemy is an online learning portal with hundreds of professionally crafted courses on WordPress and many other topics. Courses range in difficulty from beginner to advanced, and each one includes study aids and quizzes to test your knowledge.
Once you subscribe to a course, all of those learning materials are permanently yours to be referenced whenever you want. This is a great tool for users who want a more structured way to learn the ins and outs of WordPress. While many of the WP courses offered on Udemy cost money — some start as low as $10 — there are a number of courses available for free.
11. Smashing Magazine
Smashing Magazine is an online publication that focuses on coding, web design, mobile development, and graphic design. They also have an extended section of articles devoted to all things WordPress. These articles cover the WP essentials — from installation to basic blog development and website creation — along with more advanced topics like design techniques, theme and plugin development, content optimization, third-party software, and more.
There are also in-depth tutorials that provide helpful walkthroughs for both beginners and intermediate-level users. The content on Smashing Magazine’s site is free to use. They also offer ebooks at various price points.
12. Creative Bloq
Creative Bloq has a great list of resources here