How to write your own plugin/theme?

Hi Denis,

Seems like just yesterday I was in your shoes, trying to find resources to help me learn how to create and modify my own WordPress themes and plugins. Hard to believe that was actually 15 years ago now! Thankfully, there are many more resources available to you today than when I first started out.

As you know, our focus at WP101 is on the basics—the fundamentals of how to use WordPress. In fact, most of our members don’t want to learn how to code. So, while we don’t offer courses on how to create themes or plugins, there are many other sites that do:

WPSessions offers a number of courses for beginners, including one titled, Your First WordPress Plugin.

Here’s a free, text-based tutorial on How to Create a Custom WordPress Plugin from Scratch.

LinkedIN Learning offers dozens of courses for WordPress development, including this one on WordPress Plugin Development.

If you’re serious about becoming a WordPress developer, you might also take a look at Treehouse, which offers a comprehensive training program that will teach you all the basics of PHP, HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and more. You can even earn a tech degree from their program, if you want. When you’re finished, you’ll have all the skills to create WordPress plugins and themes, or even land a job at a WordPress agency.

Be sure you also check out the courses by Carrie Dils, one of our own WP101 educators!

And, finally, don’t overlook the official WordPress Plugin Developer Handbook on WordPress.org. It’s a gold mine of helpful resources.

I hope these resources prove helpful as you begin your journey of learning how to create WordPress plugins and themes.

Best of luck!