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WordPress WordPress Templates

Miscellaneous Lecture Topics and Exercises: Content Management Systems

These are a sampling of demos, exercises, and tests I’ve used in classes at Langara College and Emily Carr University of Art & Design.

All (or most) exercises also have an accompanying Loom video solution series.

Local Development Server Setup

WordPress Basics Intro

Gutenberg Blocks / Moving Sites

Classic Theme / Plugins Configuration Exercises

Site Deployment

  • WordPress Deployment Via Plesk (Note: this video series shows how to deploy a locally-build (ie in MAMP) WordPress website to a server with a Plesk-style control panel setup.

    It also uses a server that was used in my Langara classes, so some of the information will be quite specific to that setup. However, a lot of the information will also be completely relevant to deployments made to a CPanel style server account setup. This includes preparing your site, exporting it with All-In-One WP Migration, security, and other aspects of deployment.

Midterm Test Preparation

Practice Exams. These are good exercises for assessing how comfortable you are with classic themes. In my classes, there were usually three hours allotted to each of these exercises.

Full Site Editing

The new way of configuring WordPress sites: goodbye Customizer, goodbye wildly theme-dependent and inconsistent interfaces.

Custom Post Types, Custom Fields, Custom Taxonomies

  • Custom Post Types, Custom Fields, Taxonomies: Distortron Exercise

    (Note: easy output of Custom Fields in a Block Theme at this point requires paid solutions. In these videos, I use the Kadence Blocks Pro plugin, which we had an academic license to use in my Langara classes. Obviously, I cannot share that license more generally, so to get the full functionality, I would encourage you to purchase that excellent plugin.

    The important of Custom Fields to sophisticated WordPress site-making can hardly be overestimated, so this minimal investment is, in my mind, a bargain in light of the additional functionality and understanding of the WordPress environment it will bring you.

Advanced Full Site Editing,CPTs, CFs, and Taxonomies

  • Faceplace Exercise Solution (Loom Video Series)
    Instructions for this exercise are presented in class.

    This video series also uses the Kadence Pro plugin (described above). If you do not elect to license Kadence Pro, there’s still lots of excellent material in this series, however.

PHP For Developers

Legacy content, for building classic themes. Mainly of interest only to developers.

A decent introduction to the main aspects involved in creating classic themes in PHP. This includes Custom Post Types. As well, the output of custom fields is covered — it does not require a paid solution to output custom fields in a classic theme.