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3 handy tips for newbie WordPress developers

Here, we’ll look at three WordPress development quick tips that can give you a leg up.

It’s a pretty good bet that most people in the technology realm know exactly what WordPress is, either because they read blogs on sites built with it or because they are WordPress developers themselves. Being a developer can sound to some like a difficult proposition, but it’s not as bad as all that.

Yes, learning any programming language is not without its challenges, but understanding the language and knowing how to code it is not the end of it. There are tips, tricks, and subtle nuances that can make your coding much easier to handle. It will also help reduce the wear and tear on those typing fingers too. Here, we’ll look at three quick tips that can give you a leg up.

1. A little bit goes a long way

This is such a true statement about so many things, and coding is one of them. For WordPress developers, this means using shortcodes. These handy snippets are the coding world’s equivalent to an abbreviation.

Basically, you hop into functions.php in your WordPress theme and add your custom function. Then, you add in another line of code using add_shortcode (‘shortcode name’, ‘function name’) and you’re all set. From that point on, you can use the shortcode name you chose anywhere on your page. With it, you can execute that function without having to type it all in every time!

2. If, then, or else

The second tip for those who are just beginning their WordPress developer journey is to gain greater mastery of conditional statements. These bits of code may seem small in scope, but they can make a world of difference. Say you want to make a certain box appear on your website but only on one page instead of all of them. How would you accomplish that?

Simply grab a conditional statement and open it with something like “If (is_about()){“. Then include the code for the box or item you want on that page. Finally, close with the “} else {}” statement. Now whatever you added will show on the ‘about’ page and nowhere else.

3. Don’t be a dummy, use them

Our third WordPress web developer tip for the day centres around dummy posts. These are a very handy way of cutting your development time down drastically, sometimes in half. What you do is get a post together with all the pages, categories, etc that you need. Then head to your tools sidebar and click ‘export’.

This saves a copy of the post so that you can just import it back in later. This will save you from having to create it from scratch every time. Also, you can download dummy posts that others have created and give them a try. Either way, you’re sure to save time and stress by working smarter instead of harder.

For more useful tips for new WordPress website developers, check out our blog. We are a full-service digital agency located in Brisbane. We are also experts in WordPress development and can deliver a myriad of advanced web solutions to help you along. You can contact us on +61 7 3844 0577.

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