There is no shortage of WordPress resources making it easier to get overwhelmed with all the available information on the web. With this post, I hope to make your WordPress journey more enjoyable and less overwhelming.
For your convenience, the post is split into 5 sections. Feel free to skip around to the ones most relevant to you.
Learning or Teaching WordPress
- Visit: https://Learn.WordPress.org
Many people know that there is an official website dedicated to providing information and resources to the WordPress community.
What many don’t know, is that this website is not only for beginners. Let’s briefly go over what both newer and more advanced users can hope to get from time spent on learn.wordpress.org.
Newer users will learn what WordPress has to offer. One of the fastest ways to know your WordPress ABCs is to learn them directly from advanced users. The workshops on the Learn WordPress website allow you to do that for free.
Experienced users will learn how to teach WordPress. Get to know how to share your WordPress knowledge effectively and how to build lessons that provide the most value.
To Become an Active Community Member
The community website is primarily for those interested in organizing a Meetup, KidsCamp, or WordCamp. If that isn’t you, that doesn’t mean you can’t learn a lot by visiting there.
On that site, you’ll get to know about official events, mentorship programs, diversity initiatives, and more.
If attending (and not organizing) is more your speed, then this is the website you’ll want to get cozy with. There you can find all the official events and their details.
To Become an Active Contributor to WordPress
- Visit: https://make.wordpress.org
Perhaps you want to get involved in the making of WordPress but worry that you don’t have enough time, skill, or whatever excuse your brain expertly crafted.
But guess what? That doesn’t change the fact that WordPress needs you! As an open-source project WordPress is entirely dependant on nice folks to work not only on the code but also in areas such as marketing, translation, documentation, and more.
As the official Make WordPress site says:
There are many different ways for you to get involved with WordPress!
So what are you waiting for? Start Contributing.
To Get Help or Support with your WordPress Blog or Website
WordPress support is split into documentation and forums.
If you can’t find an answer to your question in the documentation, you can search the forums, and if you can’t find a question like yours already posted, you can create a new thread.
If you’re not sure about any part of the process described above, then the support URL is where you want to go.
Apart from providing information on getting started, the support site covers everything from accessibility, maintenance, troubleshooting, and more.
The Support Forums are community-based, which means that you get answers and solutions from fellow WP users. But make no mistake, this only makes the assistance you get there more practical and valuable, not less.
Whether you have a simple question or an advanced problem, you can get assistance at no cost but patience on the support forums.
To See What You Can Build With WordPress
- Visit the showcase: https://wordpress.org/showcase/
What can you make with WordPress? Does a website, blog, or app come to mind? All of these apply.
If you’re thinking about what your next or first project should be, a good way to get ideas is by visiting the WordPress Showcase.
Not only does this website inspire creativity, but it also demonstrates that when you build with WordPress, you’re in good company.
Primarily, blogs and websites featured are ones using WordPress in a unique or innovative way, attracting many regular readers, being written by someone famous, or representing a notable organization.
When you visit the showcase, you’ll learn that websites such as the Obama Foundation, Vogue, and Angry Birds use WordPress. Cool right?
So the next time you want to convince someone that WordPress is the way to go, well, you know where to go.
Wrapping Up
There you have it, the WordPress essentials at your fingertips! Now you know where to go to learn about, make, and expand WordPress.
We hope you enjoyed this post and found it informative. We’d also love to hear if you have anything in mind to make these WordPress essentials post more helpful to the WP Africa community.
Let us know your thoughts in the comments or reach out via the contact page.
