WordPress

roadmap.sh: https://roadmap.sh/wordpress

Suggested path through the WordPress nodes. Each node links to its lesson when written.

Nodes

Prerequisites

• HTML and CSS
• PHP fundamentals
• JavaScript basics
• MySQL / databases
• How the web works (HTTP, DNS)
• Web hosting basics

Getting started

• What is WordPress
• WordPress.com vs WordPress.org
• Installing WordPress
• Local development (Local, XAMPP, wp-env)
• wp-config.php
• WordPress file structure
• The WordPress dashboard
• Updating WordPress

Content management

• Posts and pages
• Categories and tags
• Media library
• Menus
• Widgets
• Comments
• Users and roles
• Permalinks
• Settings

The block editor (Gutenberg)

• Block editor overview
• Core blocks
• Patterns and reusable blocks
• Full Site Editing (FSE)
• Block themes
• theme.json
• Template parts
• Global styles

Themes

• What is a theme
• Theme anatomy and template hierarchy
• The Loop
• Template tags
• functions.php
• Enqueuing scripts and styles
• Child themes
• Custom page templates
• Conditional tags
• Classic vs block themes

Plugins

• What is a plugin
• Installing and managing plugins
• Plugin development basics
• Plugin header and structure
• Activation and deactivation hooks
• Essential plugins (SEO, caching, security, forms)
• Page builders (Elementor, etc.)

Core APIs and development

• Hooks: actions and filters
• Shortcodes API
• Custom post types
• Custom taxonomies
• Custom fields and metadata
• Advanced Custom Fields (ACF)
• WP_Query
• Options API
• Transients API
• Settings API
• Customizer API
• Widgets API
• Cron / WP-Cron
• Internationalization (i18n)

REST API and headless

• WordPress REST API
• Custom REST endpoints
• Authentication (nonces, application passwords, JWT)
• Headless WordPress
• WPGraphQL

Database

• WordPress database schema
• $wpdb and custom queries
• phpMyAdmin
• Database optimization and cleanup

Performance

• Caching (page, object, opcode)
• CDN integration
• Image optimization
• Lazy loading
• Minification
• Hosting and server tuning

Security

• Hardening WordPress
• User permissions and roles
• Sanitization and escaping
• Nonces and CSRF
• SSL/HTTPS
• Backups
• Security plugins and monitoring
• Keeping core/plugins/themes updated

SEO and marketing

• On-page SEO basics
• SEO plugins (Yoast, Rank Math)
• Sitemaps
• Schema / structured data
• Analytics integration

Tooling and deployment

• WP-CLI
• Composer with WordPress
• Staging environments
• Migrations and backups
• Version control with WordPress
• Managed WordPress hosting

eCommerce

• WooCommerce basics
• Products and orders
• Payments and shipping
• Extending WooCommerce

Resources

See resources.md.

Project ideas

• Build a custom block theme with theme.json, Full Site Editing templates, and a few custom Gutenberg blocks.
• Develop a plugin that registers a custom post type, custom taxonomy, and exposes them via custom REST API endpoints.
• Build a headless WordPress site using WPGraphQL as the backend and a Next.js frontend consuming the content.