I’ve attempted to compile in one location all of the most important books on WordPress Development. I’ve included the chapter titles of each book and also highlighted some of the more interesting (some I have read, some just literally look interesting) sub-sections. If I have missed some please let me know!
Legend
- * indicates the book is available for online reading if you have a Safari Books Subscription.
- ** indicates I own a copy of the book.
Caveats
I’m only including books from 2011 and later. Even 2011 is stretching back quite a ways, but some areas of WP have remained quite stable over time, so the books can still be a helpful reference.
Crème de la Crème
Crème de la Crème is a fancy way of saying “best of the best” (in French).
This list is quite subjective. I haven’t read every book on WP in existence, the way I learn is different from others, what I prioritize as important may not be what you consider important, etc.
If you feel a book that isn’t on this list should be, please let me know so I can evaluate it further. In general my selection will be weighted towards:
- Books that were published more recently, especially those which address Gutenberg.
- Books that have been released in multiple editions, showing commitment from the author(s) to keep the content updated.
- Books that cover topics that aren’t covered in other books.
Building Web Apps with WordPress
- Jason Coleman, Brian Messenlehner. Building Web Apps with WordPress, 2nd Edition. O’Reilly Media Inc., 2019. *
- A rough draft of this book is available through Safari Books Online.
- Until the 2nd edition is fully published, supplement its contents with 1st edition (2014), e.g.,
- A used copy of the 1st Edition (2014) is readily available for under $10.
- TABLE OF CONTENTS:
- 1. Building Web Apps with WordPress.
- 2. WordPress Basics.
- 3. Leveraging WordPress Plugins.
- 4. Themes.
- 5. Custom Post Types, Post Metadata, and Taxonomies.
- 6. Users, Roles, and Capabilities.
- 7. Secure WordPress.
- 8. JavaScript Frameworks and Workflow.
- High-level overview with a focus on jQuery and the Heartbeat API. Touches on Backbone.js and React.
- Unfortunately, as of 11/3/19 the promised chapter on Gutenberg has not been released.
- 9. WordPress REST API.
- 10. WordPress MultiSite Networks.
- 11. Localizing WordPress Apps.
- 12. WordPress Optimization and Scaling.
- 13. Ecommerce.
WordPress 5 Complete
- Karol Krol. WordPress 5 Complete, 7th Edition. O’Reilly Media Inc., 2019.*
- Covers all of WordPress (not just development) but includes sections on developing themes, plugins, widgets, and the REST API.
- A used copy of the 6th Edition (2017) is still pretty expensive, may be able to find older editions at lower prices.
- TABLE OF CONTENTS
- Section 1: WordPress
- Krol’s book addresses numerous aspects of using WordPress in this section but we’ll skip over it here since we are primary concerned with development.
- Section 2: Customizing WordPress
- We’ll skip several chapters from Section 2 for the same reason.
- Securing Your WordPress Website
- Customizing Your Website Appearance/Design
- Developing Your Own Theme
- Developing Plugins, Widgets, and an Introduction to REST API
- Section 3: Non-Blog Websites
- We’ll skip over this section as well, except to note that there is a section addressing Custom Post Types which may be helpful.
Up and Running
- Fred Meyer & David Hayes. Up and Running.
- eBook with ongoing updates, currently on its 3rd edition (2018), updates are included in price ($197).
- The book is 30 chapters long and comes with 36 videos that complement the text.
- Includes a number of other video courses and video interviews of well-known WP developers.
WordPress Web Application Development
- Rakhitha Nimesh Ratnayake. WordPress Web Application Development, 3rd Edition. Packt Publishing, 2017.*
- 2nd Edition (2015) is still pricey.
- TABLE OF CONTENTS:
- Preface
- WordPress as a Web Application Framework
- Implementing Membership Roles, Permissions, and Features
- Planning and Customizing the Core Database
- Building Blocks of Web Applications
- Implementing Application Content Restrictions
- Developing Pluggable Modules
- Customizing the Dashboard for Powerful Backends
- Adjusting Theme for Amazing Frontends
- Enhancing the Power of Open Source Libraries and Plugins
- Listening to Third-Party Applications
- Integrating and Finalizing the Forum Management Application
- Supplementary Modules for Web Development
- Configuration, Tools, and Resources
Digging Into WordPress
- Chris Coyier & Jeff Starr. Digging Into WordPress.
- eBook with ongoing updates that are included with the cost of the book ($27). Covers theme development but doesn’t appear to cover plugin development.
WordPress Plugin Development Cookbook
- Yannick Lefebvre. WordPress Plugin Development Cookbook, 2nd Edition. Packt Publishing, 2017.*
- 1st Edition from 2012 can be acquired for a few dollars used.
- TABLE OF CONTENTS
- 1. Preparing a Local Development Environment
- 2. Plugin Framework Basics
- 3. User Settings and Administration Pages
- 4. The Power of Custom Post Types
- 5. Customizing Post and Page Editors
- 6. Accepting User Content Submissions
- 8. Customizing User Data
- 9. Creating Custom MySQL Database Tables
- 10. Leveraging JavaScript, jQuery, and AJAX Scripts
- 11. Adding New Widgets to the WordPress Library
- 12. Enabling Plugin Internationalization
- 13. Distributing Your Plugin on WordPress.org
Learning WordPress REST API
- Sufyan bin Uzayr. Learning WordPress REST API. Packt Publishing, 2016.*
Developing an App Using the REST API and WordPress
- Tom Ewer. Developing an App Using the REST API and WordPress. Torque/WP Engine, 2017. 49 pages.
- Available free, sponsored by WP Engine.
- TABLE OF CONTENTS
- 1. Introduction
- 2. Adding and Testing Our Data
- 3. Choosing and Testing a Front End Solution
- Touches on JavaScript, React, Redux.
- 4. Creating Our React-Powered WordPress Site
- 5. Adding Custom Endpoints and Extra Touches
- 6. Exploring the Web with Third-Party APIs
Ultimate Guide to Object Oriented PHP For WordPress Developers
- Josh Pollock. Ultimate Guide to Object Oriented PHP for WordPress Developers. Torque/WP Engine, 2018. 104 pages.
- Available free, sponsored by WP Engine.
- TABLE OF CONTENTS
- Introduction
- PHP 7 – Guest Chapter by Tom Ewer
- PHP Fundamentals
- Object-Oriented PHP
- WP_QUERY: The Object-Oriented PHP
- Visibility in Object-Oriented PHP
- Class Inheritance in Object-Oriented PHP
- How to Use Asynchronous PHP in WordPress
- REST APIs and PHP
- PHP Magic Methods
- Namespaces
- Improving Development Workflow with Composer
- Using a Class Autoloader to Improve WordPress Development
- PHP Design Patterns for WordPress Developers
- It’s Time to Level Up Your PHP Skills
- Conclusion
Professional WordPress: Design and Development
- Hal Stern, David Damstra, Brad Williams. Professional WordPress: Design and Development, 3rd Edition. Wrox, 2015.*
- Available for <$20 used.
- TABLE OF CONTENTS:
- 0. Introduction
- 1. First Post
- 2. Code Overview
- 3. Working with WordPress Locally
- 4. Tour of the Core
- 5. The Loop
- 6. Data Management
- 7. Custom Post Types, Custom Taxonomies, and Metadata
- 8. Plugin Development
- 9. Theme Development
- 10. Multisite
- 11. Migrating to WordPress
- 12. Crafting a User Experience
- 13. Securing WordPress
- 14. Application Framework
- 15. WordPress in the Real World
- 16. WordPress Developer Community
All the Books
- Lisa Sabin-Wilson. WordPress All-In-One for Dummies, 4th Edition. For Dummies, 2019.*
- Covers all of WordPress in eight books, including one addressing theme development and another on plugin development.
- The 3rd edition can be picked up very inexpensively, but is also quite old – 2010.
- Jeff Starr. WordPress Themes in Depth.
- eBook, $50, includes updates.
- Rakhitha Nimesh Ratnayake. WordPress Development Quick Start Guide. Packt Publishing, 2018.*
- Eduonix Learning Solutions. Learn to Create WordPress Themes by Building 5 Projects. Packt Publishing, 2017.*
- Smashing Magazine. Customizing WordPress. Smashing Magazine, 2016.*
- Available for $5 on Kindle.
- Lisa Sabin-Wilson. WordPress Web Design for Dummies, 3rd Edition. For Dummies, 2015.*
- Dejan Markovic. WordPress Response Theme Design. Packt Publishing, 2015.*
- Thord Hedengren. Smashing WordPress: Beyond the Blog, 4th Edition. John Wiley & Sons, 2014.*
- Used available for ~$5.
- Adam Onishi. Pro WordPress Theme Development. Apress, 2013.*
- Stephanie Leary. WordPress for Web Developers: An Introduction for Web Professionals. Apress, 2013.*
- Tessa Blakeley Silver, Rachel McCollin. WordPress Theme Development Beginner’s Guide. Packt Publishing, 2013.*
- Rachel McCollin. WordPress Mobile Web Development Beginner’s Guide. Packt Publishing, 2012.*
- Jesse Friedman. Web Designer’s Guide to WordPress: Plan, Theme, Build, Launch. New Riders, 2012.*
- Available used for ~$5.
- Jean-Baptist Jung, Ric Shreves. WordPress 3 Cookbook. Packt Publishing, 2011.*
- Available used for ~$10.
- Aaron Brazell. WordPress Bible, 2nd Edition. John Wiley & Sons, 2011.*
- Available used for <$10.
- Everett Griffiths, Brian Bondari. WordPress 3 Plugin Development Essentials. Packt Publishing, 2011.*
- Available used for ~$10.
- Justin Tadlock, Brad Williams, Ozh Richard. Professional WordPress Plugin Development. Wrox, 2011.*
- Available used for ~$10.
- Sitepoint Team. 6 Practical WordPress Projects. SitePoint, 2018.
- $8 for eBook or included with SitePoint Premium.
- Sitepoint Team. WordPress: Tools & Skills. SitePoint, 2018.
- Includes sections on Gulp, Font Awesome, Weglot, improving WP native search, and WP-CLI.
- $8 for ebook or incluced with SitePoint Premium.
- Sitepoint Team. Better WordPress Development. SitePoint, 2018.
- Includes sections on maintenance, Ajax, Font Awesome, performance optimization, Gulp, security tips, Pages and the Pages API, and WP-CLI.
- Available with SitePoint Premium.
- Ronald Huereca. WordPress & Ajax 3rd Edition. 2020.
- 1st and 2nd edition are available for free on the official site, 3rd is supposed to be release late 2019/early 2020.
- Tom J. Nowell. WordPress The Right Way. 2017.
- Open source, available free.
- WP Shout. Mastering the Fundamentals of WordPress Themes. 2014.
- Available for free if you sign up for WP Shout newsletter.
- Heart Internet. Get Started with Gutenberg. 2019.
- Free, must give contact details.
- Milestones: The Story of WordPress.
- Open source, tells the history and development of WP, not strictly development but understanding history can be helpful in understanding development decisions.
- Carl Alexander. Discover Object-Oriented Programming with WordPress. 164 pages.
- eBook, $39.
WordPress Handbooks
Each of these WordPress books is hosted on wordpress.org, made the WP community, regularly updated, and available free.
- WordPress Official Coding Standards Handbook.
- WordPress Common APIs Handbook.
- Covers Dashboard Widgets, Database, HTTP, Filesystem, Global Variables, Metadata, Options, Plugins, Quicktags, REST, Rewrite, Settings, Shortcode, Theme, Transients, XML-RPC.
- WordPress REST API Handbook.
- WordPress Core Contributor Handbook.
- WordPress Design Handbook.
- WordPress Accessibility Handbook.
- WordPress Theme Developer Handbook.
- WordPress Plugin Developer Handbook.
- WordPress Block Editor Handbook.