While perusing LinkedIn this morning, I came across an intriguing question: “What is a WordPress developer?”
It looked like a simple query at first: a professional who creates WordPress plugins. However, after giving it some thought, I realized there was no definitive answer, and I got intrigued to see what individuals had to say.
What does it mean to be a WordPress developer?
Let's start with basic facts about WordPress and what it means to be WordPress developers before we go into definitions:
“WordPress is a PHP and MySQL-based content management system (CMS) and a free and open-source blogging platform... As of June 2019, WordPress was utilized by more than 32.5 percent of the top 1 million websites. WordPress is the most popular blogging shelf on the Internet, with over 60 million websites using it...” (Sources: Wikipedia and Builtwith.com)
What we can deduce from this is that many individuals can use WordPress without being PHP specialists, and that because it's an open-source CMS, anyone with a basic understanding of the internet may use it to create websites.
That does not, however, qualify them as WordPress developers. Indeed, some WordPress critics claim that WordPress has decreased web development standards, resulting in a scenario where genuine professionals are no longer as essential as they once were.
“...WordPress has persuaded a legion of inexperienced web developers that they are web developers simply because they can set up a WordPress site, upload a theme, and install a few plugins. Yet they have no idea how to code in HTML, let alone CSS, JavaScript, SQL, or any other server-side programming language...”
This is especially true when there are dozens of developers accessible on services like UpWork and Fiverr. You might be able to locate low-cost WordPress developers there, but chances are he or she is unqualified and taking on too many projects at once. Low quality may be effective in the short term, but it will undoubtedly bring issues in the long run.
So, what qualifies someone to work as a WordPress developer?
Here are some more responses I discovered on the internet:
“...A WordPress developer is someone who can create bespoke WordPress plugins and modules. A WordPress designer (a real one) may create a theme for WordPress. A WordPress specialist is someone who can handle it all, but perhaps not as effectively as the specialized listings I previously stated, and can assist you in completing the job by understanding the appropriate plugins and themes...”
“...A WordPress expert is someone who understands WordPress and is knowledgeable with its fundamental functionalities and how it all operates. Yes, a WordPress specialist is also a PHP developer, but not every PHP developer is well-versed in WordPress...”
“...Unfortunately, not everyone who claims to be a WordPress developer is truly deserving of the term. Software development in general necessitates a set of skills and practices that are frequently absent in the sites I've been hired to repair after a WordPress developer built them...”
“...A WordPress Developer, in my perspective, is someone who works for WordPress and is a part of the WordPress project. To put it another way, very few people...”
“...A WordPress Developer isn't someone who can make a WordPress Plugin since anyone who knows PHP can do it. It's more accurate to state, "PHP Developer or PHP Programmer with a focus on WordPress Plugins..."
“...A top-tier WordPress developer also contributes to the codex...”
Our point of view
What it means to be a WordPress plugin developer, in our opinion.
“...WordPress development is a career that is built on the foundation of PHP programming, but it also needs a thorough grasp of the WordPress core, library, and other best practices in order to create outstanding WP-based products.
Developing cutting-edge WP plugins or themes and making them work properly in all environments while overcoming basic conflicts with popular themes and plugins necessitates a large amount of WP knowledge and a good amount of PHP skills, both of which are frequently underestimated by the average WP user.
“We are a group of highly competent and experienced PHP developers at CreativeMinds. Some of us also have PHP-related certifications, such as Zend, and have worked with WordPress for a long time, so I can confidently state that we are WordPress developers...” (CEO David Rashty)
The WordPress developers at CreativeMinds succeed because they handle every element of the process. Gathering client demands, researching the industry, staying current on trends, creating and modifying plugins... The WordPress developers at CreativeMinds complete projects from start to end.
What are your thoughts?
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What Does It Take to Become a WordPress Developer?
Because WordPress is the most widely used content management system, customers will constantly be searching for developers to assist them to improve their webs. You may monetise your work or share it for free as a WordPress developer.
In any case, it's critical to first grasp the fundamentals of the work. So, in this lesson, we'll go over everything you need to know to become a competent WordPress developer.
What Kind of Things Can You Make and Develop?
Writing independent code that communicates with the WordPress core code is required to modify WordPress. You may explore as much as you want without needing to reinstall the WordPress software if you make any mistakes because the fundamental code is unaffected.
A developer can alter the site's appearance, modify its fundamental functionality, edit the admin panels, or design a whole new user profile page. To put it another way, your only limitations are your knowledge and willingness to study.
A developer's five primary creations are as follows for WordPress:
Themes (#1)
Themes describe the layout and design of a WordPress web blog in a nutshell. It's in charge of the site's overall appearance and "feel." HTML, CSS, PHP, JavaScript, and JQuery are just a few of the parts that make up a WordPress theme.
There's still room to exhibit your invention among the more than 31.000 alternatives available, as it's in high demand. Besides, contributing a free theme to the WordPress repository is a wonderful approach to establish your developer reputation.
The current trend among developers is to create a responsive WordPress theme. WordPress sites with responsive themes will look fantastic on every device, including mobile phones, tablets, desktops, and huge displays, thanks to the fluid workflows of grid systems, image usage, and CSS media queries.
You may make your own themes or use starting themes like OceanWP, Divi, and Astra. They're essentially "blank canvases" or themes with basic layouts and components that you may customize and develop.
2. Add-ons
The WordPress plugin directory currently has over 54,000 plugins. It's by far the most popular and widely utilized WordPress feature. Take advantage of the opportunity to donate to the pool as well.
Plugins allow you to change the way WordPress behaves without affecting the core code. Users may also add a slew of new features to their web blog with little or no programming experience.
When building a plugin, PHP hooks are widely used. It's a method that allows an application to automatically execute a function or class. Hooks are divided into two categories: action and filter. To make a functional plugin, you'll need to master both of them.
While many popular plugins, like as WooCommerce, Yoast SEO, and Google Analytics Dashboard, are built with complex programming and hooks, there are a plethora of basic WordPress plugins, such as Search & Filter and Easy Google Fonts, that are quite useful.
3. Widgets
Widgets are web components that are typically added to webpages in order to provide additional material and functionality. They may be used to quickly access specific pages or portions of a website and give a shortcut to a specific function.
The default widgets in WordPress may be adjusted via the dashboard by going to appearance -> widgets. Third-party widgets can also be obtained by installing plugins such as Simple Page Sidebars or Ninja Forms.
Making WordPress widgets, like building a plugin, necessitates a working understanding of PHP. Start by going to your existing theme's functions.php file, then putting together the widget using the functions supplied by the WP Widget class.
A custom widget is frequently the best way to develop a function that you can't find anyplace else. This is especially true if you want to make a WordPress theme or plugin.
4. WordPress websites in their entirety
Designing and building a complete WordPress site entails combining themes, plugins, widgets, and custom scripts (SASS, CSS, JavaScript, and PHP) to create a one-of-a-kind website tailored to the demands of a customer (or yourself).
Despite the availability of website builders such as Hostinger Website Builder, Wix, and Squarespace, the market need for hiring a WordPress developer to create a customized website remains high.
Building a whole website, on the other hand, takes more than just technical abilities like writing lines of code; you must also be creative, understand the fundamentals of UI/UX design, and rely on trustworthy resources like fast and secure WordPress hosting.
5. Rest API for Web Applications/Tech
A web application is a set of functional, dynamic web pages that can be viewed using a web browser and run on a web server. As long as the browser is compatible, this application works wonderfully on any operating system or device.
A web application, unlike a webpage, serves a more practical purpose. While most websites are static, web applications are interactive. You've probably heard of Gmail, Google Docs, and Facebook, among other famous web applications.
Since 2015, WordPress has merged its core files with an independent REST API, which serves as a "bridge" that links the WordPress core with any functional web server application.
You can develop a functional web application with WordPress if you grasp the core ideas of the REST API.
As a developer WordPress, what do you need to know?
The WordPress core is written in PHP and MYSQL, two common web programming languages. HTML and CSS, JavaScript, jQuery, and AJAX are used to create the front-end presentation.
Let's look at each of them in more detail:
Coding: HTML is a hypertext markup language (preferably HTML5)
A seamless user experience necessitates the deployment of proper Hyper-Text Markup Language (HTML). It guarantees that your pages will display correctly in any web browser. Browsers will misunderstand your code and display portions of your website incorrectly if it is not legitimate.
HTML5 is the most recent iteration of this markup language. It offers a number of important improvements over its predecessor (HTML4), including video and audio capabilities, JavaScript compatibility, and a plethora of additional components such as the footer, header, track, summary, and so on.
Valid HTML is written using the proper syntax, a formula that relates to the overall document structure, HTML element order, nested elements, and formatting characteristics.
A DOCTYPE declaration, opening tags, a head section providing document metadata, such as the title of each page or a body section, and a closing tag should always come first.
Flow, information, and phrasing are the three main components of HTML. What is permitted inside each of them is governed by distinct application model rules.
Paragraph tags, for example, can include phrasing material (inline) such as (bold), (italics), (links), and so forth. It is not, however, permitted to include flow components (blocks) like as,
Guide Alternatively,
It might be intimidating to learn how to utilize the correct HTML elements, structures, and syntax at first. Fortunately, you may obtain an HTML cheat sheet to assist you in creating a flawless line of code, which you can then test using the W3C HTML Validator.
CSS (Cascading Style Sheets (Preferably CSS3)
The look of your page and its content is controlled by Cascading Style Sheets (CSS). It controls how HTML components are displayed on a screen. You may easily make substantial style changes to your entire site using this CSS language.
Media Queries are a feature of CSS that allows you to specify how each component of a website behaves depending on the screen size. One of the most significant features of a responsive website is that it adapts to the device used by the user.
CSS has its own syntax, much as other languages. Only two items make up the syntax: the selector and the declaration block. The selector block is used to choose which parts of HTML to style, whereas the declaration block specifies which style to use for each component chosen.
CSS3 is the most recent version of the Cascading Style Sheet. CSS3 replaces CSS2.1 and adds a slew of new features, including new layouts, a more flexible grid, additional text effects, and multiple-column layouts.
It might be intimidating to create custom CSS for the first time. Fortunately, we have a CSS Cheat Sheet that you may use as a guide.
You may also learn CSS principles on BitDegree to have a better knowledge of the language.
PHP
PHP (Hypertext Preprocessor) is a sophisticated web development programming language. It works by having the server do tasks and then returning requests in the form of HTML. In other words, PHP handles the backend, while HTML is utilized to display the script's results once the duties are finished.
PHP and MySQL are used to create the WordPress core. PHP is a highly versatile language to utilize since it works with virtually all servers and operates on practically all operating systems.
It comes with a plethora of functions. The following are the most frequent ones:
• Variables — used to store data such as text strings or integers.
• Arrays – gather data that has been allocated to a variable.
• Functions: they finish tasks and provide outcomes that can be utilized later. The outcome can be saved as a variable.
• Conditionals – specify that the runtime will do an action if 1 == 1 is true, and a different answer if 1 == 1 is false.
• Comparison operators – compare two or more values. There is a distinction to be made between =, ==, and ===. They have an impact on the outcome of conditional assertions.
PHP classes are necessary if you want to use PHP to create Object-Oriented Programming (OOP). The classes enable you to cleanly arrange variables and functions that are linked to one another in a single location.
The WordPress codex page about Class Reference/WP Object Cache contains information on PHP classes.
MySQL
MySQL is a database that stores all of the data for a WordPress website. PHP is used to dynamically get information from the database. Every page and post on a WordPress website's real content is saved here.
WordPress comes with a collection of PHP functions that allow you to safely connect with the WordPress database and run it via the necessary functions. Some functions make use of normal SQL statements, while others make use of data arrays.
Talking to the Database: The wpdb Class is a Developer WordPress Codex page that explains the SQL functions.
JavaScript
JavaScript is a website development programming language. It lets you to control and change the behavior of content on a website. When you want to show a running text only when a user hits a button, for example, you may use JavaScript.
This language can convert a static HTML page into a dynamic web page. The script may be included in the HTML file of a page, and it will run automatically when the page is viewed. It also works flawlessly with CSS files.
The functions of JavaScript are performed by the web browser. It can't operate outside of a browser unless you use Node.js, a software created specifically to expand the language's capabilities, such as database administration, mobile app development, and robotics programming.
For every developer of WordPress, learning JavaScript is a necessity. Check out the Using Javascript WordPress codex page for additional details.
jQuery
jQuery is a popular JavaScript library. This application makes it easier to manipulate or change a web page using JavaScript by allowing you to link several methods together. The code will be "cleaner" and more readable.
When you need to develop a large JavaScript code, learning about jQuery will save you a lot of time. The package includes capabilities like concealing a certain section of HTML components, creating animation, modifying CSS, and producing a sliding effect on HTML to make the process easier.
Fortunately, jQuery offers an official developer learning center. This platform enables you to learn how to utilize jQuery's fundamental functionalities as well as its practical applications, such as assisting you in the design of UI/UX or developing mobile applications.
AJAX
Ajax (Asynchronous JavaScript and XML) is a mechanism for sending and receiving data without having to completely reload a website. This implies you can alter the page's content without having to reload it.
If you want to build a live search where the results show below the search box, for example, you may use AJAX to send the search data to the search script, return the result, and display it without refreshing the entire page.
The WordPress admin control panel makes use of AJAX. When users publish posts, for example, the WordPress system uses AJAX to store drafts without your knowledge. The danger of data loss during the writing process can be greatly reduced in this manner.
To implement AJAX, a developer can use either JavaScript or jQuery. However, because jQuery is more basic and easy, it is suggested.
To implement AJAX, a developer can use either JavaScript or jQuery. However, because jQuery is more basic and easy, it is suggested.
Ajax is useful for making a website more dynamic and responsive. You might want to check out the WordPress codex page on AJAX to learn more about this method.
Using WordPress Repositories to Share Your Work for Free
WordPress repositories allow you to share your theme or plugin. It's important to remember that your work must be distributed under a GPL (General Public License) compliant license, which gives people specific rights to download and use your work.
WordPress now recommends that developers adopt version 3 or later of the GNU General Public License. This license applies to all files in your work, including any third-party libraries you utilize. If third-party libraries are included, you must have the permission to distribute them.
In general, GNU assures that you keep all of the original work's copyrights. It allows people to remix and share your work in whole or in part. They must retain the original copyright notices and provide a copy of the license you selected.
Users must make it clear that the program comes with no warranty. If the user alters the program and subsequently distributes it, it must be obvious that they are not distributing the original work.
Visit the developer's handbook page for a complete list of regulations governing the WordPress.org repositories.
Finding Clients to Help You Make Money
WordPress is a well regarded web development platform. Many individuals and small company owners are seeking for web developers that can create bespoke websites with specific features.
Having said that, nothing beats hands-on experience when it comes to selling yourself. The more impressive your portfolio, the more likely you will get hired. As a novice developer, you'll be glad to know that there are plenty of web developer portfolios to look at.
You should also be aware of the expectations that your prospective clients may have, as well as the skill set that you need to acquire to be a successful professional. As a result, it's a good idea to look into the kind of WordPress developers that customers are looking for.
Looking for freelancing requests is one of the finest methods to find job. You may utilize Upwork, Freelancer.com, and PeoplePerHour.com, among other freelance sites.
Contracts and Invoices: How to Handle Them, guide
It is essential to have a formal contract with a client. The compensation rate and scope of work must be explicitly stated in the contract.
It should also state if you are charging a flat price or an hourly rate, as well as a deadline or time period that has been agreed upon.
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Freelancers Union, Empire Contract Generator, and Do Contract are just a few of the online shelf that can help you create excellent digital contracts right now.
When a project is finished, give the client an invoice detailing your work, the date it was delivered, and the final amount, among other things. Invoice generators like Cashboard, Zoho, and Invoices may help you produce one.
Calculating Taxes and Earnings
Each country has its own set of regulations regarding taxes and revenue. It is, nonetheless, critical to comprehend your tax obligations.
In the United Kingdom, for example, if your self-employment income exceeds $2782 a year, you must pay taxes on it. If your annual income is more than $94,592, you must additionally pay VAT. Failure to understand the law might result in a slew of legal issues.
Conclusion
Let's go over all you need to know about being a developer of WordPress once again.
First and foremost, what can you do as a developer of WordPress? While it may create anything connected to the shelf, the five most common inventions are themes, plugins, widgets, a complete WordPress site, and web apps.
Second, you'll need to master HTML5, CSS3, PHP, MySQL, JavaScript, jQuery, and Ajax from a technical viewpoint. Because you must mix two or more of these pieces to create a plugin/theme/app, they are all equally vital.
Finally, you must understand how to distribute and sell your work. You should start by sharing your work for free via the WordPress repository, as getting clients with higher-paying rates typically necessitates a sparkling portfolio. Alternatively, freelancing services such as Upwork and PeoplePerHour might help you find a freelance job.
In addition, you must deal with non-technical issues such as producing invoices and professional contracts. Entire Contract Generator and Cashboard, for example, are two applications that may assist you in creating digital invoices and contracts.
Hopefully, you found this instruction useful. Please share your views and ideas on the subject in the comments area below!
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