PHP & JavaScript Basics for WordPress Users

Learn what PHP stands for (hypertext preprocessor) and how it acts as a server-side scripting language that retrieves data from a database and powers WordPress.

Explore how PHP powers WordPress themes, using functions.php, index.php, and template tags to render posts, pages, headers, sidebars, and dynamic content like titles, dates, authors, and categories.

Master PHP coding standards for WordPress, including function prefixing, underscore and dash usage, quotes handling, closing tags, and clear, readable code with proper comments.

Learn to combine PHP and HTML in the same file by wrapping an h1 tag around the template tag the_title to display the post title.

Explore conditional statements in PHP for WordPress, mastering if, else if, and else checks, and learn how to use the has_post_thumbnail tag to display post thumbnails in different sizes.

Explore how to use WordPress and PHP functions, including date functions, pre-built versus custom functions, and conditional checks like is_user_logged_in, to display dynamic content.

Explore WordPress actions and filters, learn how hooks perform tasks versus how filters modify data before display, and see practical examples using add_action, do_action, and apply_filters.

Explore how variables act as containers in PHP, using the dollar sign, types like integers, strings, and booleans, and how arrays map keys to values in WordPress code.

Explore the WordPress loop, a function that iterates posts and outputs title, thumbnail, content, category, and date using template parts. Customize with conditional tags and custom post types like movies.

JavaScript powers dynamic features across web browsers, websites, and web applications, enabling animations, galleries, and event-based interactions like coupons and calculators that respond to user actions.

Differentiate JavaScript libraries and frameworks for WordPress users using practical analogies, and explore popular options like jQuery and React, plus how frameworks enable building sites from the ground up.

Explore PHP and JavaScript in WordPress: PHP runs on the server to handle requests, while JavaScript runs in the browser, offering speed but requiring JavaScript enabled and facing XSS risks.

Discover how JavaScript powers WordPress across themes, plugins, and the back end, including Calypso and the Rest API, with PHP publishing changes after JavaScript-driven edits.

Learn two very simple JavaScript code examples that show variables, objects, properties and methods by displaying an animal's color, like a dog with type, color and breed.

Explore a slightly more advanced JavaScript example that uses constants num one and num two, computes sum, and displays the result with console.log and string concatenation.

Learn two ways to add JavaScript to WordPress: using a plugin like Insert Headers and Footers, or editing via functions.php in a child theme.

Enqueue JavaScript with WordPress using the wp_enqueue_script function to load scripts efficiently and avoid conflicts. Learn how themes organize assets and load scripts via functions.php to ensure clean script execution.

Wrap up this PHP and JavaScript basics for WordPress users course by inviting learners to leave a review and explore a full WordPress developer course, and promise to answer questions.