How to Build a Website from Start to Finish: Free 5-hour WordPress and PHP Course

Building a website from scratch can be an intimidating prospect, especially for those without a background in web development. However, with the right tools and guidance, anyone can create a professional-grade website without needing to hire a developer or designer.

In this article, we‘ll explore a comprehensive free course that teaches you how to build a website from start to finish using WordPress and PHP. We‘ll dive into the benefits and drawbacks of these technologies, walk through the key steps in the development process, and provide tips and best practices for creating a fast, secure, and user-friendly website.

Why WordPress and PHP?

WordPress is by far the most popular content management system (CMS) in the world, powering over 40% of all websites on the internet. Its user-friendly interface, extensive library of themes and plugins, and active community make it an attractive option for individuals and businesses alike.

Here are some key statistics that illustrate WordPress‘s dominance in the CMS market:

CMS	Market Share
WordPress	64.1%
Shopify	6.1%
Joomla	3.1%
Drupal	2.3%
Wix	2.2%

Source: W3Techs (March 2023)

PHP, on the other hand, is the server-side scripting language that powers WordPress and many other web applications. It‘s been around since 1995 and has evolved into a mature and versatile language with a huge ecosystem of frameworks, libraries, and tools.

According to the Stack Overflow Developer Survey 2022, PHP is the 8th most popular programming language among professional developers, with 21.06% of respondents reporting that they use it regularly.

While there are many other web development technologies out there (such as Ruby on Rails, Django, and MEAN stack), WordPress and PHP offer a unique combination of simplicity, flexibility, and community support that make them ideal for building websites of all kinds.

Setting Up Your Development Environment

Before you can start building your website, you‘ll need to set up a local development environment on your computer. This typically involves installing a web server (such as Apache or Nginx), a database server (such as MySQL or MariaDB), and a PHP runtime.

While you can install these components separately, many developers choose to use an all-in-one solution like XAMPP or MAMP, which bundle everything you need into a single package.

Here‘s a step-by-step guide to setting up XAMPP on Windows:

1. Download the latest version of XAMPP from the official website.
2. Run the installer and follow the prompts to install XAMPP on your computer.
3. Open the XAMPP control panel and start the Apache and MySQL services.
4. Open your web browser and navigate to http://localhost. If you see the XAMPP welcome page, then your local server is up and running!

Once your local server is set up, you can install WordPress by following these steps:

1. Download the latest version of WordPress from the official website.
2. Extract the WordPress files to a new folder in your XAMPP htdocs directory (e.g. C:\xampp\htdocs\mywebsite).
3. Create a new MySQL database for your website using the phpMyAdmin tool in XAMPP.
4. Open your web browser and navigate to http://localhost/mywebsite. You should see the WordPress installation wizard.
5. Follow the prompts to configure your website‘s title, admin username and password, and database settings.

And that‘s it! You now have a fully functional WordPress website running on your local machine.

Building Your WordPress Theme

One of the most powerful features of WordPress is its theming system, which allows you to completely customize the look and feel of your website without modifying the core WordPress files.

A WordPress theme is essentially a collection of PHP template files, CSS stylesheets, and JavaScript files that work together to define the layout, typography, colors, and functionality of your website.

Here‘s a basic example of a WordPress theme file structure:

mywebsite/
├── style.css
├── index.php
├── header.php
├── footer.php
├── functions.php
├── single.php
├── page.php
├── archive.php
└── 404.php

Each of these files serves a specific purpose in the WordPress template hierarchy:

• style.css: Contains the theme‘s metadata and default styles
• index.php: The fallback template file for all pages
• header.php: Contains the site header and opening <body> tag
• footer.php: Contains the site footer and closing </body> and </html> tags
• functions.php: Contains theme-specific functions and configurations
• single.php: The template for displaying a single blog post
• page.php: The template for displaying a static page
• archive.php: The template for displaying archive pages (e.g. categories, tags, date archives)
• 404.php: The template for displaying the 404 "Not Found" page

To create a custom WordPress theme, you‘ll need to create these template files and fill them with your own HTML, CSS, and PHP code. Here‘s a simple example of a header.php file:

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html <?php language_attributes(); ?>>
<head>
  <meta charset="<?php bloginfo(‘charset‘); ?>">
  <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1">
  <link rel="profile" href="https://gmpg.org/xfn/11">
  <?php wp_head(); ?>
</head>
<body <?php body_class(); ?>>
  <header>

    <nav>
      <?php 
        wp_nav_menu(array(
          ‘theme_location‘ => ‘primary‘,
          ‘menu_class‘     => ‘menu‘,
          ‘container‘      => false,
        ));
      ?>
    </nav>
  </header>

This code uses a combination of HTML and PHP to output the site header, including the <head> section, the site title, and the primary navigation menu.

To learn more about WordPress theme development, check out the official WordPress developer documentation.

Using Page Builders

While custom theme development gives you complete control over your website‘s design and functionality, it can be a time-consuming process that requires a solid understanding of HTML, CSS, and PHP.

For those who want a more visual and user-friendly way to design their website, page builders like Elementor offer a drag-and-drop interface that allows you to create stunning layouts without writing any code.

Here are some of the key features and benefits of using Elementor:

• Drag-and-drop interface: Elementor‘s visual editor allows you to design pages by adding and arranging widgets (e.g. text, images, buttons, forms) using a simple drag-and-drop interface.
• Responsive design: Elementor automatically creates responsive layouts that look great on desktop, tablet, and mobile devices.
• Template library: Elementor comes with a library of pre-designed templates and blocks that you can use as a starting point for your own designs.
• Custom CSS: If you need more control over your design, Elementor allows you to add custom CSS styles to individual elements or entire pages.
• Theme compatibility: Elementor works with any WordPress theme, so you can use it to create custom layouts without modifying your theme files.

To use Elementor on your WordPress website, simply install and activate the Elementor plugin from the WordPress plugin directory. Once activated, you‘ll see a new "Edit with Elementor" button on your WordPress pages and posts.

Optimizing Your Website

Once your website is built and launched, it‘s important to optimize it for performance, security, and search engine visibility. Here are some tips and best practices to keep in mind:

Performance Optimization

• Minify your code: Use a plugin like Autoptimize or WP Rocket to minify your HTML, CSS, and JavaScript files and reduce page load times.
• Optimize your images: Use a plugin like Smush or ShortPixel to compress your images and reduce their file sizes without sacrificing quality.
• Use a caching plugin: A caching plugin like WP Super Cache or W3 Total Cache can dramatically improve your website‘s loading speed by serving static versions of your pages instead of dynamically generating them on each request.
• Choose a fast web host: Your website‘s performance depends largely on the quality and speed of your web hosting provider. Look for a host that offers fast servers, solid-state drives (SSDs), and a content delivery network (CDN) to ensure fast loading times for visitors around the world.

Security Optimization

• Keep WordPress and plugins up to date: WordPress and its plugins are regularly updated with security patches and bug fixes. Make sure to keep everything up to date to avoid vulnerabilities and hacks.
• Use strong passwords: Use a strong, unique password for your WordPress admin account and encourage your users to do the same. Consider using a password manager like LastPass or 1Password to generate and store complex passwords securely.
• Limit login attempts: Install a plugin like Limit Login Attempts Reloaded or Jetpack to prevent brute-force attacks on your login page.
• Enable two-factor authentication: Two-factor authentication adds an extra layer of security to your login process by requiring a second form of verification (such as a code sent to your phone) in addition to your password. You can enable two-factor authentication using a plugin like Two Factor Authentication or Google Authenticator.
• Use SSL/HTTPS: SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) encrypts the data sent between your website and your visitors‘ browsers, protecting sensitive information like passwords and credit card numbers from interception. You can enable SSL on your website by purchasing an SSL certificate from your web host or a third-party provider like Let‘s Encrypt.

SEO Optimization

• Use a SEO plugin: A plugin like Yoast SEO or All in One SEO Pack can help you optimize your website‘s metadata, sitemap, and social sharing settings for better search engine visibility.
• Do keyword research: Use a tool like Google Keyword Planner or Ahrefs to research the keywords and phrases that your target audience is searching for, and optimize your content around those keywords.
• Create high-quality content: Search engines prioritize websites that offer valuable, informative, and engaging content. Focus on creating content that answers your audience‘s questions and solves their problems, and update your content regularly to keep it fresh and relevant.
• Build quality backlinks: Backlinks from other reputable websites can help improve your website‘s search engine rankings. Focus on building natural, high-quality backlinks by creating valuable content that other websites will want to link to, and by reaching out to other websites in your niche to request links.

By following these optimization tips and best practices, you can ensure that your WordPress website is fast, secure, and visible to search engines and visitors alike.

Conclusion

Building a website from scratch can be a daunting task, but with the right tools and guidance, anyone can create a professional-grade website using WordPress and PHP.

By following along with the free 5-hour course outlined in this article, you‘ll gain a comprehensive understanding of the web development process, from setting up your local environment to launching and optimizing your website for performance and visibility.

Whether you‘re a beginner looking to learn web development or an experienced developer looking to expand your skill set, WordPress and PHP offer a powerful and flexible platform for building websites of all kinds.

So what are you waiting for? Start your website development journey today and see where it takes you!

Here are some additional resources to help you along the way:

• WordPress Codex: The official documentation for WordPress developers
• PHP Manual: The official documentation for PHP
• Stack Overflow: A community-driven Q&A site for WordPress developers
• WordPress.org Forums: The official forums for WordPress users and developers
• WPBeginner: A comprehensive resource for WordPress beginners and intermediates
• Smashing Magazine: A leading online publication for web designers and developers, with a dedicated WordPress section

Happy coding!