Development
Modern WordPress Development
Build fast, accessible, production-ready WordPress themes and plugins from first principles, no page builders, no shortcuts.
Alex Morgan
Senior WordPress Engineer
What you'll learn
- Structure a WordPress theme the way core and WPCS expect
- Build custom Gutenberg blocks and block patterns
- Write secure, escaped, capability-checked PHP
- Optimize for Core Web Vitals and Lighthouse
- Work with the REST API and custom endpoints
- Package and ship a theme for distribution
About this course
This course walks through building a real, distributable WordPress theme from an empty folder to a release-ready package. Instead of relying on a page builder, you learn the platform itself: template hierarchy, hooks and filters, theme.json, Gutenberg block support, enqueueing, i18n, and the WordPress Coding Standards.
Every section ends with a hands-on build step, so by the end you'll have shipped a complete theme foundation you can reuse on future projects.
Course content
42 lessons across 18h 30m
1. Foundations & Setup
4 lessons · 1h 45m
- Course overview and local environment 12:04
- Theme anatomy and the template hierarchy 18:22
- style.css, functions.php and theme.json 21:10
- Setting up WPCS and PHPCS 15:33
2. Templates & Template Parts
5 lessons · 2h 20m
- Header, footer and the main loop 19:40
- Building reusable template parts 24:15
- Custom page templates 17:52
- Menus and wp_nav_menu() walkers 26:08
- Building an accessible mobile nav 20:19
3. Gutenberg & theme.json
4 lessons · 1h 55m
- Color, typography and spacing tokens 22:31
- Custom blocks vs. block patterns 28:44
- Editor styles that match the front end 16:02
- Wide and full alignment 17:15
+ 26 more lessons once you enroll
Requirements
- Comfortable with basic HTML and CSS
- Some exposure to PHP is helpful but not required
- A local WordPress install (covered in lesson 1)
Your instructor
Alex Morgan
Senior WordPress Engineer
12 years building WordPress products for agencies and startups. Previously led theme engineering at a WooCommerce agency; now teaches full-time.
Keep Learning
Browse all courses →