Around 16% of top websites use WordPress, and nearly 80% of all websites that have back-end code use PHP as the server-side programming language.

PHP has a huge market share so it can be helpful to understand these technologies.

We published a 5-hour course on the freeCodeCamp.org YouTube channel that will show you how to build a completely custom website using WordPress, PHP, HTML, and CSS.

Eric Oliver, from The Dev Drawer YouTube channel, created this comprehensive course. Eric has over 20 years of experience working with software and teaching programming skills.

This course teaches everything you need to know to create a website from start to finish. You will learn how set up your local server, create the design, and build a custom WordPress theme that works with Elementor.

The course is very practical. You can follow along with the course using your own website design or you can use the example site design shown in the course.

There is a time lapse showing how Eric designed the example site using Illustrator. Eric explains the thought process behind his design decisions so that you can take the principles and apply them to your own website design.

Once you have learned how to build out your website, you will learn how to get it from your local server to a production server. You will also learn how to setup SEO, security, and caching.

It can be helpful to have some experience with PHP beforehand but it is not required. The course explains everything you need to know.

Here are the topics covered in this course:

  • Designing Your Website
  • Setting Up Your Local Server
  • Create Your WordPress Database
  • Download WordPress
  • Installing WordPress
  • Install Elementor and Theme Plugins
  • Creating Your Theme Files
  • Using functions.php to Set Up Your Theme Defaults
  • Creating Default Theme Pages
  • Install Your Theme
  • General Setup
  • Creating Header and Footer Blocks
  • Creating Your Home Page
  • Create Custom Post Type and Meta Boxes
  • Creating Shortcodes Using Your CPTs
  • Modifying Columns for Your CPTs
  • Create Your Menus
  • Creating Additional Pages
  • Create Single Pages for Your CPTs
  • Create A Form
  • Create Elementor Section Templates
  • Create Another CPT
  • Validate and Modify Mobile
  • Export Your Website for Production
  • Recommend Security, SEO, and Caching Plugins
  • Setup Security
  • Setup Caching
  • Setup SEO

Watch the complete course on the freeCodeCamp.org YouTube channel (5-hour watch).