WP is awesome in part because it gives me the tools to build websites without bothering with knowledge of what is going on under the hood. If I learn just a bit about the under-the-hood stuff – HTML, CSS, PHP, JavaScript – I can do a lot more.
And if I learn a lot about the under-the-hood stuff – I suspect it would open up the horizons. So, I think I’ll give it a shot. I have gotten dependent on my theme-of-choice – Responsive Mobile from CyberChimps – but it is sure to go out of support sometime. It would be nice to be able to maintain and enhance it myself. I have ideas for a couple of plugins that I’d like to develop. And … if fortune permits – would be nice to earn a few bucks on the side doing something that I enjoy.
So, I think I’ll take the plunge and try learning WP development. I have a decent but rusty background in programming and HTML, but very little in CSS, PHP, or JavaScript. I expect about a year of learning before I can be productive. I think I’ll start with an HTML refresher, then CSS, followed by PHP then JavaScript, and finally WP-specific stuff like coding standards and hooks.
Just starting to explore learning opportunities. Looks like W3Schools and CodeAcadamy have some promising free tutorials – will start there, and see where this goes.
