Learn WordPress Development: The Basic Course

If you want to learn WordPress development the right way, start with the fundamentals. This free WordPress development course gives you a step-by-step introduction to the timeless skills every developer needs: the theme system, the loop, template hierarchy, hooks, and more.

Timeless Skills That Still Matter

Originally launched in 2017, this course has been continually updated to keep all the material that’s still relevant today. The principles you’ll learn — the theme system, the loop, template hierarchy, hooks, and more — form the foundation of WordPress development and remain essential no matter how the platform evolves.

We focus on timeless concepts that haven’t changed through years of updates, so you can follow along with modern code while learning skills you’ll rely on for years to come.

Is This Course for You?

Whether you’re brand new to coding or self-taught but missing some basics, this free beginner course will help you avoid the confusion of learning things out of order. By the end, you’ll have a rock-solid foundation to confidently customize, extend, and build WordPress sites.

If you’re ready to go beyond the classics and learn WordPress development with the latest tools and techniques, including block themes, custom plugins, and the use of AI and automation in your workflow, check out our premium course, Modern WordPress Fast Track.

FAQs

Start Learning: Modules & Lessons

This course is divided into 6 core modules plus a short bonus section on performance, making 7 modules in total. Across 24 lessons, you’ll move from the fundamentals of how WordPress works to building and extending classic themes.

Select a module below to start learning or pick up where you left off.

🧱 Module 1 – Getting Oriented

In this first module, you’ll build a mental model of how WordPress works under the hood. We’ll explore how WordPress handles content, what technologies power it, and how your code fits into the bigger picture. Think of this as the “why” before we get into the “how.”

1. WordPress is a Factory: A Technical Introduction
2. The Four Languages You Must Know to Understand WordPress
3. Understanding “Server-Side” and “Client-Side” in WordPress
4. The Finer Points of “Posts” and “Pages” in a WordPress Context
5. Four Different Meanings of “Template” a WordPress Pro Should Know

Now that you understand the core concepts and architecture behind WordPress, it’s time to start building. Let’s dive into themes—the files that control how your site looks and behaves.

🎨 Module 2 – Themes & Templates

Themes are the heart of WordPress development. This module introduces you to theme structure, how WordPress decides which files to use for a page, and how you can add functionality to your theme using functions.php.

6. WordPress Theme Development: Core Concepts (Full Guide)
7. WordPress Template Hierarchy Explained
8. Understanding functions.php in WordPress Themes

Your theme is now set up—but how does WordPress actually display posts and pages? In the next module, we’ll explore how WordPress loops through your content and how you can customize that behavior.

📄 Module 3 – Displaying Content

This module is all about The Loop—the engine that powers most WordPress pages. You’ll learn how it works, how to customize it using WP_Query, and how to control exactly what shows up on your site and when.

9. Understanding The Loop: WordPress’s Way of Showing Posts
10. Here’s How to Retrieve Any Post You Want With WP_Query
11. Using WP_Query Objects Without the Loop
12. pre_get_posts: What It Is and When to Use It

Now that you know how WordPress pulls content from the database, let’s look at how that content is organized. We’ll cover custom taxonomies and fields, so you can build truly flexible content systems.

📂 Module 4 – Organizing Data

WordPress comes with categories and tags, but sometimes that’s not enough. This module shows you how to organize content using custom taxonomies and custom fields—tools that let you tailor your site’s structure to your specific needs.

13. WordPress Custom Taxonomy: How to Create Custom Taxonomies in WP
14. How to Create and Use WordPress Custom Fields
15. Organizing Your WordPress Data: Understanding Custom Taxonomies vs Custom Fields

So far, you’ve been building with files and functions. But WordPress has a powerful system for running code at the right time: hooks. Let’s explore how they work.

🔁 Module 5 – Hooks & the Event System

Hooks are what make WordPress flexible and extensible. This module teaches you how to use actions and filters to modify WordPress behavior, whether you’re working in themes or plugins.

16. A Complete Introduction to the WordPress Hooks System
17. The WordPress Event System: Understanding Hooks in the Broader Programming Context
18. WordPress Hooks, Actions, and Filters: How They Work
19. How to Use apply_filters() and do_action() in WordPress
20. Off the Hook: Practical Uses of remove_action() and remove_filter()

Now that you’ve structured your content, let’s see how to make it interactive and customizable using widgets.

🧩 Module 6 – Extending with Widgets

Widgets let you add dynamic, reusable blocks of content to your site. In this module, you’ll learn how to create custom widgets and make room for them in your theme with widget areas.

21. A Complete Guide to Making Your First WordPress Widget
22. Creating Dynamic, User-Editable WordPress Widgets
23. Making Widget Areas in WordPress Themes

You’re now fully equipped to build flexible, dynamic WordPress sites. Let’s wrap up with a look at performance—specifically, how to make your site load faster with caching.

🚀 Module 7 – Performance Basics

Caching is a key performance tool for WordPress. In this final module, you’ll learn what caching is, how it works, and how to use it to make your site faster and more efficient.

24. Demystifying WordPress Caching: A Comprehensive Guide

👉 Next Steps

After completing this course, you should have a much clearer sense of the fundamentals of WordPress development. So what are the next steps?

Dive deeper with our other free courses: PHP for WordPress Development and Working with the Command Line and WP-CLI.

If you want to better understand modern WordPress development, have a look at our premium course, Modern WordPress Fast Track. It’s the best current guide to WordPress development out there.

And, of course, WPShout blog has a huge collection of free resources to help you learn about all things WordPress.

If you have any questions about course materials or about how to learn WordPress development, we’d love to hear from you. Reach out via email, or in our Facebook group. Cheers!