Learning WordPress is easier now than ever before thanks to hundreds of free videos and articles online. You can Google pretty much any topic and find a treasure trove of resources as far as the eye can see.
But if you’re looking for high-quality tutorials then you should stick with the best sites out there. To help with that I’ve curated the absolute best WordPress blogs & resources with top quality coding tutorials.
Whether you’re just getting into basic WP theming or want to dive deep into the WP API, all the information you need is at your fingertips and these sites are guaranteed to help you learn more.
DesignBombs
The DesignBombs Blog is full of guided tutorials mostly aimed at designers and frontend developers. But this blog also offers a deeper look into the WordPress ecosystem where you can learn workflows and best practices.
They update semi-frequently with at least 1-2 posts per week. Sometimes these are news updates for the newest version of WordPress, other times they’re full guides or cool tutorials you can follow to make custom features.
Each guide uses plenty of screenshots to help you along the process.
Many tutorials do rely on plugins since these are easier to use than coding from scratch. But I’ve found a lot of amazing code-based stuff here too so if you come from the design side of WordPress then this blog will offer a lot of handy tutorials.
WPMU Dev
The team at WPMU publish some amazing pieces covering a wide array of WordPress news, tutorials, and guides.
In their tutorials category you can find plenty of code-oriented tuts on topics like callout boxes and more detailed theme customizations. If you don’t know much PHP you can still work through a lot of these guides because the writing is so clear.
And the WPMU Dev blog is a trusted resource by the entire WordPress community. Often their content tries to push boundaries on all fronts including SEO, marketing, content writing, server speeds, and ideas for managed hosting.
There’s also a lot of mini-tutorials explaining technical guides for simple problems. Stuff like 404 errors and PHP errors are discussed with plenty of solutions to help anyone.
While many of these guides are very basic, there are plenty of detailed topics that developers will love. Especially if you’re trying to speed up your WordPress site and improve performance
TutsPlus
Envato first launched in 2006 with a series of blogs called the Tuts+ network. The most popular was a Photoshop blog teaching readers how to design graphics and interfaces from scratch.
Fast forward over a decade and the TutsPlus blog has growth into a behemoth of design, development, and business tutorials. Most articles get into very detailed topics like WordPress with a focus on more obscure/unique tutorials.
This is one thing that TutsPlus does right: unique ideas that offer real value to the Internet.
Their WordPress category alone has over 100 pages full of guides, roundups, and plenty of coding tutorials for all experience levels. You can learn to build your own messaging system and create a few custom admin pages from scratch.
For most of the truly detailed guides authors split content into 3-4 parts to make it easier to digest. These types of tutorials mostly help intermediate-to-advanced developers who want to push their WordPress skills far beyond the limits.
But the great thing about TutsPlus is how they target such a wide audience. You can learn practically anything here and their coding tutorials are some of the best on the web.
If you want to learn more check out their WordPress category on the Code Tuts+ blog and see what you can find. I promise you won’t be disappointed!
WPKube
First launching in 2010, WPKube was one of the first authority WordPress blogs on the web. It started as a how-to site for learning the basics of WordPress and has grown into a massive resource for all skill levels.
Their tutorials category is full of guides for pretty much everything. How to add font awesome icons, troubleshoot error / glitches, and ctr hacks are just some of their more recent posts.
The blog updates once a day during the week but it does cover roundups and guides for actually using WordPress (ie. content writing, marketing, and theme design).
Most of their tutorials are short & sweet getting right to the point and teaching you how to make quick fixes or little tweaks. There are some detailed guides but they’re mixed into a lot of smaller tutorials.
Still this is one of the most up-to-date resources you’ll find on the WordPress platform and it’s also a trusted brand among WP users.
These are some posts from the WPKube that I recommend for beginners:
- How to Install WordPress: The Complete WordPress Installation Guide
- How to Downgrade WordPress Versions, Plugins, and Themes
- 9 WordPress Hacks To Encourage Higher CTRs From Google
Smashing Magazine
Smashing Magazine is perhaps the longest-running web design blog online. They’ve been publishing longform content since late 2006 and have kept up with a consistent schedule for years on end.
In recent years the Smashing Magazine team has branched more into frontend/backend development with a bunch of great coding tutorials. They have an exclusive WordPress category with a ton of handy tips & guides for WP developers.
These guides are all very longform and they usually teach a specific topic. Some are more dev-oriented while others discuss working inside the WordPress ecosystem. For example this post talks about the struggles of maintaining support for a custom WordPress plugin.
If you look at WordPress as a serious part of your career then you’ll absolutely want to dig into these articles. Every single post is a gem and writers contribute to Smashing Mag from all over the world so there’s a huge diversity of writing style and content.
Their WP category is not massive but it has plenty of posts to keep you busy for weeks on end.
SitePoint
SitePoint has been online for almost two decades running one of the oldest legacy design blogs and design/dev forums online.
It’s a tremendously large blog covering design, UX, programming, databases, and frontend development. Naturally they also have a WordPress section full of guided tutorials and how-tos.
All of their code-based guides do have snippets you can copy/paste and rework on your own. Plus the blog uses syntax highlighting so you can read through the code snippets with ease.
Topics range from basic theming/plugin development tips all the way to more advanced topics like custom shortcodes with your own buttons added into the WYSIWYG editor.
WordPress security, optimization, and hosting topics are also mixed into the archive so there’s a lot to learn from SitePoint even if you’re a complete beginner.
Plus their editorial team publishes a lot of content so it’s not crazy to find 1-2 new WordPress posts every day during the week.
FancyThemes
The team at FanyThemes pride themselves on great quality tutorials. Their blog attempts to build a huge archive of handy WordPress tutorials for developers of all skillsets.
Many guides follow code-based tutorials where you’ll edit your theme’s functions.php file to setup new features. But others teach you how to add functionality solely through plugins. For example, this guide talks about how to setup a WordPress blog.
One downside is that FancyThemes doesn’t have as much content compared to other larger blogs. They are a newer entity on the field so you can’t expect to find a ton of content.
But they’re working hard to publish content more frequently and to focus on more complex articles that really stand a chance of answering common user questions.
Onextrapixel
One other classic tech/dev blog is Onextrapixel with this site pushing close to its 10th anniversary. It covers a huge range of topics much like SitePoint where you can learn about web design, programming, IT/servers, and basic technology.
Thankfully the site also has a massive WordPress category full of tutorials, guides, freebies, and code snippets as far as the eye can see.
Onextrapixel is well-known for detailed coding tutorials so more advanced developers will find great stuff here. But it’s primarily a mainstream blog that appeals to everyone so beginners can find a lot here too.
I wouldn’t call Onextrapixel a true “WordPress blog” so it may not offer everything you want to learn. But you’ll find a lot of unique concepts, WP tools, and exclusive deals like the Elegant Themes coupon so it’s worth browsing if you’re a WordPress fanatic.
WPExplorer
The folks at WP Explorer run their own blog targeting beginner-to-intermediate users. Many topics focus on basic theming and admin panel workflows but you can find some handy tutorials as well.
A good portion of their tutorials follow the “ultimate guide” strategy of covering a topic in as much detail as possible.
You may have to dig through their archives to find some of the more detailed tuts because a lot of their guides follow a more basic understanding of WordPress.
But it’s still possible to be a professional developer who has little-to-no experience creating plugins or widgets. So even if you’re an expert theme developer you can still find a lot to learn in the WPExplorer blog.
So if you want an 11th site to add to this list consider browsing our tutorial archives to see what you can find.
