Create, manage, and optimize websites in WordPress while learning about themes, plugins, SEO, and site customization.
Learn how to create and manage websites using WordPress without any web design background. This extensive training course covers everything from installing WordPress to customizing themes and creating custom templates, making it an essential skill for web developers as over 40% of websites use WordPress.
Learn how to create and maintain a website using WordPress, even if you have no web design background or coding experience. This comprehensive course will cover everything from installing WordPress to customizing themes and optimizing your site for search engines.
In this certificate program, you will become a well-rounded Web Designer and learn to design webpages, code them with HTML & CSS, and JavaScript, and build websites with WordPress, allowing you to create a diverse portfolio to showcase your skills to potential employers or clients.
WordPress is a content management system (CMS) that aids users in the creation of simple but vibrant web pages. It is an open-source tool built to provide an easy platform for users to create web pages without much coding experience or knowledge. This has made WordPress an incredibly popular service, and as of the time of writing, some amount of WordPress infrastructure is utilized in nearly 40% of commercial web pages. This popularity means that new features and code are being regularly developed for WordPress, which is likely to further entrench the service as the premier CMS on the internet.
The system uses a series of templates and plugins (which WordPress calls “themes”) to give users increased flexibility in the form and functionality of the web pages they are building within the system. While it originated as a blog-hosting platform, WordPress expanded the functionality of its themes to accommodate mailing lists, media galleries, membership functionalities, and online storefronts. This diverse range of features makes WordPress the ideal platform for anyone looking to build a complex webpage without learning to program in HTML and CSS and JavaScript or looking for a robust web hosting platform.
WordPress is so popular because of its ease of use and the ability to create a website quickly, add content, and add extra features if needed (using plugins). Being free and open-source helped it become popular, which means you can get affordable web hosting (a company that provides a webserver to run the website). There are tons of learning resources to help you out and many themes to choose from (which control the look of the site). Since the current suite of features of the platform is so robust, more and more time and attention are being dedicated to expanding these functionalities, which has the cascading effect of making WordPress even more accessible.
If you want to learn how to build web pages without learning to code, there is no better choice on the market than learning to use WordPress’s themes, templates, and plugins. Whether you are looking to set up an online storefront, build a personal portfolio page, or just launch a personal blog, WordPress is the easiest, deepest, and most accessible content management system available. This means that if you are hoping to learn how to build web pages for personal use, it is likely in your best interest to enroll in a class teaching you how to best utilize the WordPress CMS to your advantage.
Learning WordPress can also be useful for students with web development experience and training. Since it is still built on PHP code and plugins, developers can modify and expand the code to create more diverse and interactive features for their web pages. They will be able to streamline the early development process using WordPress’s baseline themes and make necessary alterations to the code to expand functionality. Developers can also use WordPress as a space to share their work with others, helping non-programmers build more complex web pages by building and sharing plugins and templates. Anyone interested in collaborative web development should consider learning how to use WordPress.
Anyone can easily manage a WordPress website's content (text, images, etc.), which is why it’s called a content management system (CMS). No coding knowledge is required to write and edit text, add images, and more. Since the platform originated as a blog-hosting site, this is the most streamlined and robust aspect of WordPress, and anyone looking to build a simple, text-driven webpage will find all the tools they need on WordPress.
However, since its initial release nearly twenty years ago, WordPress has grown into more than a blogging platform. The CMS now boasts a wide range of plugins designed to help add more complex functionality to WordPress pages. WordPress plugins can be installed to add features beyond the core WordPress features. These let you add ecommerce, forums, forms, and so much more to a WordPress site. Using plugins will let you construct robust web pages that include tools and services that would be otherwise unavailable to anyone without a background in computer programming or access to a professional programmer.
Users also have great control over how a WordPress page looks. Themes control the appearance and workings of a WordPress website. Changing themes lets you quickly redesign a WordPress site without losing any of your other content. These ready-to-use templates make creating evocative and memorable web pages a breeze. Web developers (coders) create themes for WordPress. You can download some themes for free, while premium themes are available at a typically affordable price. Students with a programming background can build, share, and potentially sell their own WordPress themes and plugins.
WordPress.org is where you can download the free open-source WordPress software, read documentation, etc. WordPress.com is just one web host run by one of the creators of WordPress, but it's not the only hosting company. With the software from WordPress.org, WordPress can be installed on your own web server. This is made easier by 1-click installers that most web hosts offer. So you can have a WordPress website hosted with just about any hosting company, of which WordPress.com is just one.
For most WordPress users, no… but it depends on what you'll do with WordPress. HTML code is used to markup/label content (as headings, paragraphs, lists, etc.) and CSS formats the content (setting font, size, color, spacing, etc.). The visual editor of WordPress writes HTML behind the scenes for you but knowing HTML would enable you to go into the code view to see what code it has written, change or fix the code, or add your own code. If you're only editing content, you probably won't need to know code, but if you want to control the look and feel of the site, you might. WordPress themes are coded with HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. Anyone can install and use themes without having to understand the code. The theme can even let you tweak certain aspects of the theme, but if you want to go beyond the settings the theme gives you, you'd need to know code or hire a Web Developer who knows how to code. Since these plugins and themes can be modified, students with programming training can make fine adjustments to their appearance, design, and functionality.
Students looking to learn WordPress skills will want to enroll in a training program that teaches students how to utilize the platform. Given the platform's popularity, students will have no shortage of training options to select from, and they will be able to locate the class that fits their needs. When enrolling in a WordPress class, the most significant question involves determining how much training you think you need and how much of a coding background you have or want. Some classes are designed for students who aren’t looking to learn to code, some classes provide students with coding instruction, and others are designed for students who are already comfortable using HTML and CSS and JavaScript.
Noble Desktop offers an introduction to WordPress for non-coders with their WordPress: Create a website or Blog course. This class will teach students how to create new web pages using WordPress, edit existing pages, and add links, photos, and videos to their websites. Students will receive training in using WordPress plugins to add vital interactive elements to their web designs. By the end of the course, students will become familiar enough with WordPress to build and maintain personal and professional websites using the CMS. Noble also offers a WordPress for Coders course that teaches students with a background in HTML and CSS how to modify and alter the code for WordPress templates and plugins. This is an ideal course for students looking to add more creativity and functionality to their WordPress designs. Knowledge of PHP is recommended but not required (knowledge of HTML and CSS is a prerequisite).
Students looking to learn WordPress as part of a comprehensive web design and development education may want to consider Noble’s Front-end Web Development Certificate. In this class, students will learn how to program the client-facing elements of web pages using HTML and CSS and JavaScript. These programming languages allow developers to add visual and interactive elements to a webpage. Notably, front-end web development projects will need a platform to host the finished product, so this course teaches students how to use WordPress as that platform. In addition, students will learn how to modify the code in a WordPress template or plugin to suit their needs better. WordPress is only one small part of this course. Still, for students seeking a career-focused robust education that will teach them to work with WordPress professionally, there are few better options available.
Many training centers offer dedicated, introductory WordPress courses to familiarize students with the system and its interface. These classes, which include offerings like Ledet Training’s WordPress Intro course and ONLC Training Center’s WordPress Level 1 course, offer students a broad overview of the platform, its functionalities, and what you can do with a WordPress page without needing to learn how to code. Some training services, like Digital Workshop Center’s WordPress Bootcamp, dive deeper into the platform and help students understand how to create more elaborate WordPress pages. No matter what level of training you are looking for, there is a classroom or bootcamp that will provide you with the focused training you are seeking.
Given its popularity, there are far more options available for WordPress training. Students can take advantage of Noble Desktop’s Classes Near Me tool to find and compare in-person and live online WordPress classes in their area.
After a student decides that they want to learn WordPress, they will need to decide whether they want to learn the platform at a dedicated training center or if they want to learn in a private digital classroom. Students will be able to receive high-quality instruction in real time regardless of the delivery method that they choose. Still, each course has its own advantages and disadvantages that students will want to consider when selecting a course.
Many students find that they prefer the advantages offered by an in-person learning program. These courses are taught in dedicated classroom spaces designed to facilitate students’ learning goals and allow students to work face-to-face with their instructors. Plus, since students will be learning alongside a cohort of like-minded classmates, in-person courses offer valuable networking and allow students to collaborate on projects with their peers. The drawback to this delivery method is that because students can only attend the classes that they can physically commute to, their options will be limited to those provided by the training centers near them. For students who aren’t located near a major city, this can significantly restrict their options. In addition, students will have to commute to class, which can be a hassle for those enrolled in very short WordPress classes (no one wants to spend more time commuting than in the classroom).
Students who don’t want to commute or who don’t live near the training center of their liking may want to consider enrolling in a live online class. In these classes, students can still work directly with live instructors and receive personalized real-time feedback and assistance on their work. These classes are held in private Zoom classrooms, and class sizes are kept small to ensure that students can work directly with their peers and instructors. This makes them ideal for students who don’t want to sacrifice the benefits of live instruction while still being able to learn from the comfort of their homes. However, many students find that learning from their homes has the potential to be more distracting, meaning students will need to take additional steps to structure their own learning environment. In addition, students will need to maintain their tech set-up to attend classes, so they will need to ensure that they have a device and an internet connection to handle a digital learning environment.