This is an introduction to our WordPress Plugin Development Master Series.

A series of tutorials focused on improving your WordPress Plugin development skills.

In this series we take a project based approach where you learn useful skills for building useful WP plugins.

The Plugin Development Master Series is a project focused series where you build a WP LMS (Learning Management Software) plugin. Learning by building projects is my favorite way to learn and I think it will be yours to.

The concepts you learn will give you the freedom to build any WordPress plugin idea!

In this WordPress Plugin Development Master Series you will learn:

  • Part One – Plugin Basics 101
  • Part Two – Using A Plugin Boilerplate
  • Part Three – Enqueuing Styles and Scripts
  • Part Four – Creating Custom Post Types
  • Part Five – Creating Shortcodes
  • Part Six – Pagination
  • Part Seven – Create Admin Menu, Page & Settings
  • Part Eight – Extending the WP Rest API
  • Part Nine – Getting Data from the WP Rest API
  • Bonus – Expand This For Enterprise Usability
  • Bonus – Next Tutorial Series Sneak Peak

This development series assumes that you know basic web development languages like HTML, CSS, JavaScript and PHP.

It also assumes that you have your own WordPress development workflow established, preferably ability to develop on your localhost.

Part One – Plugin Basics 101

The WordPress.org Codex is your best friend when dealing with plugin development. The Codex is where you’ll find in-depth documentation on all WordPress development.

What is a WordPress Plugin?

WordPress Plugins allows you to easily modify, customize, and enhance a WordPress site. Instead of changing the core program code of WordPress, you can add functionality with WordPress Plugins.

WordPress Plugins go in your wp-content/plugins directory.

Creating Your First Plugin

Create a folder called my-first-plugin with a file my-first-plugin.php.

Past the following PHP code in my-first-plugin.php file.

<?php 
/*
Plugin Name: My First Plugin
Plugin URI: https://mydigitalsauce.com
Description: Your First Plugin
Version: 0.1.0
Author: MyDigitalSauce
Author URI: https://mydigitalsauce.com
Text Domain: my-first-plugin
Domain Path: /languages
*/

Now navigate to your list of installed plugins /wp-admin/plugins.php.

Activate your newly created plugin.

Congratulations you’ve created your first WordPress plugin. Although it doesn’t do anything it’s a good start on your WordPress plugin development journey.

Part Two

In Part Two you are gonna learn how to use a Plugin boilerplate for rapid development. Read Part Two here.

Do you have any questions or suggested WordPress Plugin development topics? Comment below.