WordPress is created in a programming language called, PHP. Most of the time, most users will not have to worry about PHP. The beauty of WordPress is that it is easy to use once you get used to it!
There may be some cases, however, when you want to tweak something. You might want to adjust something with your theme or even a plugin. If/when that happens, PHP is the answer! I have modified a theme to position some social media icons in a different location or removed a line/link that I did not want.
Changing things with a theme can be dangerous if you mess something up. Simply adding or deleting one character can cause the site to not display correctly (or at all). For this reason, ALWAYS TAKE A BACKUP before you modify the code.
I found great site that provides an into to PHP programming. It is geared to the person that has:
- Basic knowledge of HTML
- Basic knowledge of CSS
There are tutorials to bring you up to speed on these if you need it (although I have not checked them out yet).
On the site, it states:
My tutorial is only a few pages long; you can read it in 20 minutes. It covers basic PHP syntax. It tells you how to assign a value to a variable, how to check that value, and how to set up a PHP
if ... else ...statement. From my experience, that’s all most WordPress users need (and want) to know.
The site is a little ‘dated’ and looks like a site from 2007, it should! This was originally posted in 2007 🙂 However, the content is still very relevant for the beginner!
If you are interested in learning PHP, check out: PHP Tutorial for WordPress Users – PHP 101
Thanks for the resource Paul. I just spent a few minutes scanning through one of the tutorials and it seemed *easy* enough. Although, I’ve found that when it comes to coding, nothing is easy. I know just enough to get myself into trouble 😉
Aint that the truth, Tishia! It is a learning process. And the more you do it, the better you get at it.
Nice find! I’ve asked some programmers I know if they can recommend a training course, but nearly everyone tells me they learned by doing. This looks like a good place to start though. Thanks!
Yup! It starts out nice and basic. By the way, your programming friends are right – you learn by doing it 🙂
Thanks for sharing that, Paul. I’ve often thought that I need to knuckle down and learn some basics so I don’t have to rely on someone else to do the simple stuff.
Just keep in mind, Tracy, that is not necessarily for the faint at heart! But, it is certainly worth a few hours to see if you have the knack for it! (Suddenly, the song, “My Sharona” pops into my head… but you are too young to know that song!)