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Introduces the core tools needed to start WordPress development, including Local WP, the key plugin for managing content, VS Code, and Node.js. The speaker explains why these tools matter and how they fit into a beginner workflow.
I am so sick of viewer retention type of filming.So, this video is going to be a bit more slower paced, maybe a bit more informal, fewer edits, but here's the concept.If someone came to me in real life and they were like, "Brad, I want to get started with WordPress development, but I've never written a line of code in my life.How do I get started?"This is the video for you.I'm just going to share my screen and walk through the essential things that you would actually need.So, first of all, step number one, you need a local dev environment.All that means is that you need a place to experiment, you know, so you can spin up as many sites as you want.No one can see it.It's just for your eyes and it doesn't cost you anything.So, it's just hosted on your private computer.
So, the best tool by far, in my opinion, is Local WP, completely free.Download it, install it.It's very intuitive.You can spin up as many different You could have 100 or 200 different WordPress websites.Super easy, super point and click.Next up, the greatest plugin in WordPress history.Let me drink a little bit of coffee and pause for dramatic effect because what was it?A year ago?Maybe a little over a year?I can't Time is flying by so fast.There was a lot of drama surrounding this plugin.I think a lot of that has calmed down now.Um but anyways, you don't even need to worry about that.That's a bit of an inside joke for people who are already very into the WordPress world and ecosystem.But, regardless of your opinion on different news and drama in the WordPress world, I think it's safe to say like most people would agree this is the definitive plugin in all of WordPress.
If you have ever gotten into WordPress before and you're like, let me take a sip.
And you think to yourself, "What is all the hype?This feels like just a glorified page designer, like it's just drag and drop and nothing looks professional or uniform and it's just yellow highlighted background text and pink blinking headlines and it just feels really amateur and baby's firstwebsite page builder."This plugin is the solution to all of that.So, in order for WordPress to feel less like a design tool and more like a content management system, you need this plugin.So, for I'll just give you an example.Let's imagine you were running a hypothetical like pet adoption agency and you're you were going to have like 600 different pets listed on your website.You wouldn't want just a giant page where you are man- like a word processing doc, where you are manually like typing and listing and editing all 600 pets.That's sort of how WordPress would want you to do it out of the box.
With this plugin, you can create a custom post type called pet and then you can say every pet should have these fields: name, weight, fur color, favorite food, birth date, right?You can create and then as a developer, you can come along and say all 600 or a 6,000 pets should be displayed and formatted exactly in this uniform way or we can search through them or filter them.You get the idea.Without this plugin, WordPress is is really just like a word processing doc design tool.I mean, this is what makes WordPress usable for professional developers.So, I'm just going to leave it leave it that.Uh so, this is going to be your favorite tool.Okay, moving on.So, you've got a local dev environment.You've maybe experimented with creating different custom post types.Now, you get it need to get into coding a little bit.
So, the best editor, in my opinion, is VS Code.Even in this agentic AI era, look, a lot of the other popular editors are just forks of VS Code.And VS Code, in the last year, has added in their own agentic AI feature and I have had amazing luck with it.Um just less than maybe a month ago, I uh a friend of mine needed to integrate like a Superbase database with WordPress and I've never worked with Superbase before, but I used the built-in agentic feature and I spinnedup a proof of concept in like literally 10 or 20 minutes.Tested it, it was working.So, you can't argue with those results and you can use other text editors if you like.I've heard people say great things about Cursor and different ones, but VS Code is the classic, it's the standard, it's what a lot of those other editors are based on or forked off of.
So, I like just choosing the most established safe choice and in my opinion, I've had amazing luck with VS Code.Um so, you might need to watch a video or read a guide on how to use VS Code, but this is how you would open up your files and not only, you know, write your code here, but thisarea, the chat the AI chat area and the AI agent area, this is where you can ask it any question you have and tell it to do different things for you and I'll be honest with you, you cansave a lot of time.I'm a huge fan of this new workflow.I was skeptical at first.If you follow my channel, you'll know that I was a very late adopter and very skeptical of that, but I've been having great results.
Covers creating block types, the speaker's opinion on block versus classic themes, and the Underscores starter theme. It also introduces Roots for advanced developers and the Members plugin for roles and permissions.
Next up, you need to have Node.js installed.Uh in order to create custom block types in WordPress, you need Node.There's just no way around it.So, you'll need to get Node installed on your computer.Again, all of these things that we've looked at so far, your dev environment, this plugin, VS Code, Node, all of these are free.So, go ahead and get Node installed on your computer, completely free.Okay, next up.There are so many different aspects to WordPress, right?There are themes, there's plugins.Let's start with a plugin because whether I like it or not, I don't like it, WordPress is going in the direction of blocks and block types.That's a I mean, that's been a heated topic for what?I can't even keep track of how many years now, but I don't like blocks.I like the classic way of doing things.
But, I mean, there whatever.Let's not get into that.If you want to create your own block type and actually be in control of its features, its code, everything about it, this is an amazing package.So, once you have Node installed on your computer, you are one command away from creating your own new block type.And this command, right, that I'm highlighting right now, you just copy and paste and run this uh in your terminal.In VS Code, if you press control or command J, it will open the terminal at the bottom part of your screen, already pointing towards the current folder you have open.Uh but this command will create a new block plugin.From there, once you have that skeleton and structure, an agentic AI, right, this area over here in your text editor, can help you.You can ask questions, you can tell it to do things for you, but once you have the skeleton structure of the block up and running, it should have enough context just just just give it a try.
I'm telling you, even if you're not that experienced with code at all, just give it a try.Uh okay, moving on.So, that's how you could create a block type.Uh if you want to create a classic theme, which are the only themes worth creating, don't create a block theme.Block themes are great for non-technical users.Like, if you want a non-technical user to be able to customize the look and feel of their site and structure and everything, just like they don't need a developer in the equation at all, sure, use a block theme,but don't create a block theme.If a site needs a bespoke enough experience, like perfect uniform branding and display and identity and visual hierarchy and just perfection, uniformity and it needs a developer, make a classic theme.That's the only way.Anyways, um if you want to get started with classic themes, creating your own themes, I have this video of mine that's more of the, you know, the educational hypothetical, like create each file yourself, so you not because that's
realistic, but because that's how you can understand it, right?So, if you want to spend 20, 30 minutes to really wrap your mind around how to create a classic theme from scratch, this video is great.Otherwise, in the real world, you don't need to start from complete scratch.There's this amazing theme, I believe it's by the official team that creates WordPress itself.I believe it's from the automatic team.Yes, down in the footer, and automatic.Yes.Uh this is called Underscores and it's basically the definitive boilerplate for starting a classic theme.Amazing.Everyone has good things to say about it.Uh I believe the theme on my website is based on this.I built it so many years ago now, I can't even remember, but amazing Bookmark this.Th- This is an amazing reference if you're wanting to get into creating classic themes.You use it as your jumping-off point.
Next up, if you're not new to development, but you're just new to WordPress development, you've got to check out roots.io.Now, before we go any further on this, I want to let you know this is very opinion- Using Roots is very opinionated.It's very like custom.I don't recommend this if you're a beginner, which is the whole point of this video.But, what I'm saying is if you're not new to development, so like maybe if you've worked with Laravel or Ruby on Rails or, you know, you've built a lot of Node Express apps, but you're just new to WordPressand you have strong opinions about how development should work, this is going to be the greatest thing you've ever But, you need to work with WordPress on a certain project, Roots is going to be the greatest thing you'veever found on the internet.I'll just leave it at that.
It it brings a lot of developer best practices into WordPress, but I don't think it's a must-have.So, if you're not already experienced with development and like the basics of WordPress, I would skip this for now, but as you get more advanced, just bookmark this and maybe circle back to it.It It can be amazing.Up next, if you need um custom roles and permissions, uh like maybe you want some people to be able to contribute blog posts, but not edit the pets from your pet adoption agency, or you know, you want someoneto be able to respond to contact form entries, but not post blog post.You get the idea.Like if you want to create multiple different roles and give people capabilities and permissions, it may not be intuitive, but this plugin called Members, you might think, "Oh, that's just for like, you know, if I want members-only content."
I mean, yeah, it can be used for that, but just for basic permissions, roles, capabilities, I've had really good luck with this plugin, and it lets you do some really custom, powerful things that most people would say like,"I didn't even know you could do that with WordPress."So, a very powerful plugin, in my opinion.
Explains the WordPress folder structure inside Local WP, where plugins and themes live, and how to open those folders in VS Code. The speaker also walks through using the editor's AI features and activating plugins and themes in WordPress.
Okay, now next up, before we talk about deployment and how to like actually um have your website go live from your personal computer, let's talk about folder structure.So far, this video has been very rapid-fire, you know, showing you all these different tools.If you're actually new, you've never worked with any of these tools, so let's slow down, let's back up, right?So, these first few steps, when you have Local WP, you know, and then you got VS Code, uh how like where do you actually find these files?So, let's talk about the folder structure.So, when you use Local WP, uh it's really good when you go to a specific site, there should be a button either it's over here, or somewhere over here, but it's towards the top of uh when you're viewingan individual site.There should be like view files or view folder, and that will show you your files for that particular local website.
You're going to want to dig into the app folder, or it might take you here, but either way, just dig into the public folder.Now, these are the core WordPress files, and almost always, the folder that we're interested in is called wp-content.Go in there.Aha.Themes has all of your themes, plugins has all of your plugins, MU plugins, you can create this folder yourself.This is really cool.Any plugin that you put into and it needs to have this exact name, mu-plugins.Any plugin you put in here will be automatically just activated and used.You don't have to activate it, there's no Yeah, it's self-explanatory, right?So, that's that's a good little tip for you.But, let's say you were trying to create a block type plugin.Rem- Remember I showed you this Oh, this command.This one command will create a block type plugin folder for you.
So, you would run this command, but then you need to make sure that the folder that it creates would live in this plugins folder, right?So, in my plugins folder, I have all of these different uh plugins.Some of them I downloaded from, you know, the WordPress plugin repository, and some of them I created myself.But, this is where you would put your plugin.Now, you would drag one of these folders into V- So, like imagine you create a brand new folder.Uh let's call it a b c d e f g, whatever.Then, just drag that onto VS Code, or like go into VS Code and click open folder, and choose this.Like open your brand new empty folder.Okay, so VS Code will look something like this, but the idea is that now you have opened this editing software to that folder.So, now when you press command or control J, your terminal, it might not look exactly like mine, but your terminal down here is pointing towards that folder.
So, now you can run that command that we talked about.And you know, and any folders I create over here, uh you know, whatever you want to name them, or any files I create, uh those will be in that new folder.So, that's how you use VS Code.Even if you've never coded before in your life, I just showed you like where to create the folder, um and really from here, just use the AI Agent feature.So, this icon up here, that can toggle the right-hand sidebar.GitHub Copilot now has a completely free tier, and you can use agentic coding for free.They also have a plan that I think is somewhere around $10 a month, but just get started for free.You don't even need to have a credit card on file, just or maybe you do now.I don't think you do.Don't quote me on that.
Uh but, I've had amazing luck with this.I really recommend it if you've never tried it.This button right here lets you choose like, are you just trying to chat with the AI to like understand something, or if you go into agent mode, you can just tell it to do things.And I have had really good luck with this.Like amazing luck.I do not think Look, when we talk about like the claims that people are making in terms of like jobs and the economy and all that with AI, I think there's a lot of overhype going on.I'm not going to get into my opinions on all that.But, when it comes to just the results that I mean, I don't think the results are overhyped.I've had really good luck using agent mode, especially once you have like a theme or a plugin and all that context that it can pull from, I've had really good luck.
I don't think the results of using agent mode are overhyped.So, if you have not tried it, I encourage you to have open mind and try it.Anyways, so this folder is your plugin.Now, you need to go activate it, right?So, we just created this new folder.You would need to go into the WordPress dashboard, uh into plugins, and activate that new plugin that you created.Now, back to themes.What if you're going to create a classic theme?Same thing.Just in your WP content, you go into the themes folder, create a brand new folder, name it whatever you want.You would open that up in VS Code, and just use the agent mode to say like, "Hey, create a bare-bones WordPress classic theme for me."Or, remember we talked earlier about underscore, um you would just Now, you know where to put that folder that it gives you.
This is going to give you a folder.It would go in this themes folder, and then you would open it up, use your VS Code to edit it, or if you want to watch an educational video.The point is is now you know where to place themes.And again, uh you do need to switch to or activate that theme from the WordPress dashboard.
Describes ways to move a local WordPress site to a live host, from simple export/import plugins to more advanced Git-based workflows. It also explains why Git is essential and encourages beginners to practice it early.
Okay, changing gears a little bit.Now, let's talk about how to deploy your website, or go live with your website.Because remember, you've just been using Local WP, which is not a real website.It only exists on your personal, private computer.So, now how do you go live with that?Well, first of all, you're going to have to choose a hosting company.We can talk about that in just a moment.However, um in terms of Let's assume you already have a web host, you know what that is, and you have one.This is the greatest plugin I've ever used in terms of just quick and dirty move the or copy the website from my local computer to a host, this makes it really easy.You install this plugin on your local site, you export it, it gives you a file, then you just install this plugin on your, you know, fresh, empty canvas copy of WordPress on your host, with this plugin installed, then
you just import your file.It's done.That's literally all you do.So, that's the easy way to move a website.If you want to get more developery and a little bit more advanced, I have this YouTube video.If you just search for this on my channel, um this is my Git approach.This is a bit more educational.It shows you how to create like a bare Git repo on your actual web host itself.So, this way you don't have to push to GitHub, you can use Git to push directly to your server itself.You can learn how to, you know, set up passwordless SSH login, and use your web host, even a really affordable, bare-bones basic, like most affordable plan around, l- lets you do this nowadays, where you can just set upyour web host as the Git host.I've had some really great luck doing this.
I really like this approach.If you want to have more of a GitHub-centered workflow, maybe the company you work for really likes to use GitHub for, you know, pull requests and feature merging and all that, uh this video of mine shows you howto use GitHub Actions again, so that you can push your files to GitHub, and then it sends the files to your web host.And again, this is compatible with expensive hosts and really affordable hosts.Now, I should stop and pause and say, you're If you're truly new to the industry, you probably don't know what Git is.So, Git is not GitHub.GitHub is, you know, the most popular place to use Git, but Git is much bigger than GitHub.So, you would just need to get Git installed on your computer.Wow, that was a tongue twister.Uh if you have a Mac, it's probably already installed, um but either way, this is a website where you can get it installed, whether you're on uh Windows or Mac.
If you're on Linux, it should either already be installed, or you're just one uh command line away from getting it installed.But, regard- Even if you're not getting into WordPress, doesn't matter what I call Git the universal skill.No matter what type of development you're trying to get into, you need Git.There There's There's no
position or job or career path, in my opinion, that has anything to do with technology where you're not going to use Git in some way.So, uh if you can invest a little bit of time maybe watch a couple tutorials, or ask AI if you, you know, if you're super confused about something, but Git is something that you cannot avoid.And if you've never worked with it, and then you got on, whether it's an internship or a job, it can be stressful to work with their files.And if you've never worked with Git before, and you're running into conflicts, and you're trying to push your changes up, that's not something that you want to have zero experience with.So, trust me.When there's zero stress, and you're not on the clock and there's no there's no pressure, that's when you want to just get a little bit familiar with Git.
Uh you're going to avoid a lot of stress, a lot of panic, a lot of unnecessary strife in your life.Just go ahead and practice some Git.Anyways, the idea there is that Git is what makes advanced developer workflows of deploying, of going live possible.
Wraps up with support options, course bundle details, and hosting recommendations. The speaker closes by emphasizing Local WP, VS Code, and AI tools as the most important starting points for learning WordPress development.
All right, that brings us to the end of this video.If you want to help support this YouTube channel, my website is learnwebcode.com.I have a lot of different courses.It's now seven courses available in my bundle.The WordPress development course alone is over 40 hours.Now honestly, I don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing.It's It's bad if you're worried about time efficiency, but if you want to learn everything there is about WordPress development from someone who's been in the industry a long time, I think it's I think it's a good thing.Um but yeah, let's see what's included.The bundle includes a developer boot camp, which has both front end and back end.It's got Laravel, MySQL, React, WordPress, uh JavaScript, but not just client-side JavaScript, Node and Express, and building your own social network on the back end.
And then finally, AI Indie Hacking Boot Camp.Uh I use AI to both code the app and to create uh like little cartoon animal images.It's a fun follow-along course.So that's the course bundle on my website that you can join.Other ways to support the my YouTube channel would be if you need a web host, like if you're ready to go live with one of those local websites.I have used DreamHost for the last 19 years.I think it's 20 years at this point now.Uh but if you use this link, they will send a bit of financial incentive my way for sending new users to DreamHost.In just a second, I can show you the exact plan I would sign up for.But also this, if you want to donate uh to help support the channel, buy me a coffee.I don't know if I've ever publicly advertised this before, but that's down here.
Now in terms of the exact hosting plan I would use, if So if you use this link, you don't need anything advanced or expensive.So I would just choose this most basic option, web hosting launch.It's going Even though it's the most basic affordable plan, it's going to let you have 25 different websites.And let's be honest, you probably don't right now you don't need 25 websites.So you can always upgrade to get that number larger in the future.But to get started, this is obviously more than enough.Um yes, I have had no drama or trouble with DreamHost in the 19 or 20 years I've been using them.I think this is a tremendous value.Anyways, that's going to bring this video to a close.It all starts with Local WP.What are you waiting for?Go get it installed.It's completely free.This is what allows you to become a mad scientist, experimenting and learning as much about WordPress as you can.
I would say the two ingredients in this whole video that really matters get Local WP installed, get VS Code installed.You know the folders, you know the directories now of where to go.Use the darn AI features.Between asking in agent mode, see what you can build inside of WordPress.I think you're going to have a lot of fun.Hopefully you feel like you learned something.Thank you so much for watching until the very end, and stay tuned for more WordPress and just overall development tutorials.