Learn WordPress development, fast. 

Presenting Up and Running: the complete WordPress development course.

Are you fed up learning bits and pieces about WordPress development, but never the whole picture?

There are plenty of WordPress development tutorials available, but they start in the middle, take a piecemeal approach to learning, and leave out important concepts entirely. Trying to learn WordPress development with this scattershot approach takes ten times longer, and it also leaves big gaps in your knowledge, making it hard to work with confidence.

Do you wish you could learn everything quickly, in a clear and logical order, from a single expert source? Welcome to Up and Running, the best WordPress plugin and theme development course there is!

Finally, a comprehensive and approachable WordPress development course.

Up and Running systematically teaches you WordPress development in one clear, concise, and critically acclaimed package. This is the only course on WordPress development you’ll ever need.

If you've been looking for a single authority that can give you a holistic picture of how everything works, and the advanced details, this is for you. We won’t waste your time. We explain the nuts and bolts of WordPress in crisp language, elegant infographics, and efficient video tutorials.

We start from core principles, and advance into specific practices, both the basics and the advanced. At every step of the course, we have quizzes to test your knowledge, and succinct chapter summaries so you can see your mastery of key points.

And if you want even more expert support, check out our Pro Bootcamp tier. As a Pro Bootcamp buyer, you'll hone your skills in Coding Challenges that simulate the real work of a professional WordPress developer, and get direct, ongoing development feedback and advice from us, the course authors!

Up and Running is both thorough and searchable. Whether you need general concepts, specific practices, or both, it’s all there, easy to find and with 0% fat.

You’ll learn WordPress development: properly, fully, and quickly.

Learn WordPress development with a full eBook, illustrative diagrams and clear video tutorials.

Up and Running includes hours of in-depth video tutorials.

However you learn best, Up and Running has it all: the full eBook (available on web or as a PDF download) is accompanied with illustrative diagrams and clear video tutorials.

These all come together to give you a holistic understanding of WordPress development: one you can see, hear, and do yourself.

You’ll have the best possible resource to get you “up and running” in WordPress development.

Leverage two decades of WordPress knowledge.

Fred and David are expert WordPress developers and outstanding technology educators.

Your teachers, Fred and David, are expert developers. They run the popular WordPress development tutorial site WPShout, and the boutique web agency Press Up.

Fred and David have helped thousands of people learn WordPress development. They know exactly how to communicate difficult technical concepts to you in an easy-to-read and easy-to-comprehend fashion.

Fred and David are joined by WPShout founder Alex for a selection of video tutorials. Together, your instructors have over two decades of expert WordPress development knowledge to learn from.

This is the course you've been waiting for.

Purchase Up and Running to kickstart your WordPress development skills and career.

Up and Running is regularly updated for the latest in WordPress development. The Third Edition launched in March 2018, adding two new chapters and a roundtable video discussion on the implications of Gutenberg for WordPress developers. Once you've purchased Up and Running, as WordPress grows and changes, you will always get the latest updates for free.

Ready to get going? Start learning WordPress development today.

Start Learning Now!

 

“I think anyone interested in learning WordPress development NEEDS this course.

Before I purchased Up and Running, I had taught myself some WordPress code, but lacked direction. Watching the course’s videos was like a bunch of lights being turned on.

I went from being vaguely familiar with how themes, functions and WordPress itself worked to mastering these. Everything became much clearer.

I very happily recommend this course to anyone willing to listen.

Jason Robie, (now a) WordPress developer
 

What will I learn with Up and Running?

Take the course on desktop, tablet or mobile with our responsive website.

The course employs a carefully designed curriculum which covers everything you need to know to call yourself a WordPress developer.

Over 8 sections and 36 chapters, you'll learn the whole picture: how WordPress is structured, the basics of WordPress development, and the advanced concepts which will let you start building whatever you want.

You'll start with your existing experience, and learn how to take the next steps that will have you expertly navigating the WordPress landscape.

Each chapter has an accompanying video tutorial, which gives you an overview and explains the core concepts and themes explored.

Here’s a breakdown of all of the content:

Section 1: Key Intuitions for WordPress Development

  • WordPress is a Factory: A Technical Introduction
  • What "Post," "Page," and "Webpage" Mean in WordPress
  • When to Use WordPress, When Not to Use WordPress, and Why

Section 2: Details of the WordPress Technical Environment

  • The Four Languages You Must Know To Understand WordPress
  • Understanding "Server-Side" and "Client-Side" in WordPress
  • A WordPress LAMP? An Introduction to WordPress Infrastructure

Section 3: Core Concepts of WordPress Themes and Plugins

  • What WordPress Themes Are For
  • Anatomy of a WordPress Theme
  • Core Concepts of WordPress Themes: 1. The Template Hierarchy
  • Core Concepts of WordPress Themes: 2. Processing Posts with The Loop
  • Core Concepts of WordPress Themes: 3. Adding Functionality with functions.php
  • Introduction to WordPress Plugin Development

Section 4: How Everything Talks to Everything Else

  • WordPress Hooks, Actions, and Filters: What They Do and How They Work
  • Including Custom Scripts and Styles In WordPress
  • Understanding and Using WordPress Child Themes

Section 5: WordPress "Tag" Functions

  • The Magic of the_() and get_the_() Post Template Tags
  • WordPress's Conditional Tags

Section 6: WordPress Building Patterns

  • Understanding and Creating WordPress Custom Page Templates
  • Make Your Themes Better by Getting to Know get_template_part()
  • Understanding and Creating Shortcodes

Section 7: Working with Custom Post Data

  • Why and How to Use Custom Post Types in WordPress
  • Organizing Your WordPress Data: Understanding Custom Taxonomies and Custom Fields
  • How to Create and Use WordPress Custom Taxonomies
  • How to Create and Use WordPress Custom Fields

Section 8: WordPress APIs

  • Mastering the Options API in WordPress
  • Getting to Know the WordPress Transients API
  • Registering and Displaying WordPress Widget Areas
  • Registering and Displaying WordPress Menu Areas
  • The Concepts of Object-Oriented PHP You Need to Understand for WordPress Development
  • A Complete Guide to Making Your First WordPress Widget
  • Getting to Know WP_Query
  • Working with HTTP APIs in WordPress
  • Introduction to the WordPress REST API
  • Writing a Very Simple Web Application with the WordPress REST API
  • How to Register Custom WordPress REST API Routes

Section 9: The Implications of Gutenberg

  • Gutenfuture: How Gutenberg Will Affect Working in WordPress Generally
  • Gutenfuture: How Gutenberg Will Affect the WordPress Code You Write
  • Roundtable Discussion: Gutenberg is Coming (Don't Panic!)

See Pricing!

As a new WordPress developer, I struggled with how to fully implement PHP and use hooks and filters with the themes I was customizing. Once I got my hands on Up and Running, it all seemed to “click” much easier.

The examples are broken down into manageable code chunks with helpful screenshots to confirm that I was in the right area of WordPress. The short quizzes and Summary Limericks are a fun way to summarize the chapters and make the learning memorable.

This is my go-to reference for WordPress development and I highly recommend it everyone from novices to mid-level developers.

JeriBeth Stevens, web developer
 
Take the WordPress development course on the go! Up and Running works on desktop, tablet or mobile.

Amazing Amounts of WP Dev Content

As well as the full written eBook, we’ve got some extra bonuses for all purchasers to enjoy:

  • Key takeaways for each lesson with quizzes to test what you’ve learned and at-a-glance chapter summaries.
  • Downloads: read the full eBook on our purpose built responsive website or download the full eBook in PDF format to read offline at your leisure.
  • Lifetime access: take the course at your own pace and get all future updates free.
  • Video screencasts to accompany each lesson (36 videos). These allow you to get an alternative take on each lesson and reinforce your learning. These video screencasts will be the best way of learning the content in the core Up and Running eBook.
  • Two bonus introductory video series (8 videos): WordPress Crash Course and The Fifteen-Minute Guides to PHP, HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. This set of detailed videos will get you up to speed on the basics of WordPress and the coding languages you need to get the most out of the course.
  • Three bonus video series: an additional 61 videos to help you take the next step with WordPress development.
    • Writing a Plugin (17 videos): a full, step-by-step walkthrough to a working WordPress plugin. Covers plugin registration, widgets, shortcodes, plugin styling, and external API calls.
    • Creating a Child Theme (16 videos): Learn how to create and modify a child theme with this in-depth video series.
    • Creating a Theme from Scratch (28 videos): Create a fully functioning WordPress theme from scratch! This is a thoroughly detailed video series.
  • Thirteen in-depth video interviews with the world's best WordPress developers. Each video contains detailed code walkthroughs, coverage of key programming and development concepts and practical advice from leading experts.

Ready to start learning WordPress development?

Skip to pricing

Choose your Up and Running package: real confidence in WordPress development starts at $197

(you'll get instant access to the course)

 

Deluxe ($197)
 
The full eBook: Up and Running: Third Edition (with videos for each lesson).
• Over 30 chapters of WordPress knowledge: read or watch on any device, or download a PDF
• Watch the video for an overview and then read the lesson to reinforce your learning (36 videos).
• Key takeaways, quizzes, and chapter summaries.
Plus two introductory screencast series: A WordPress Crash Course (4 videos) and The Fifteen-Minute Guides to PHP, HTML, CSS, and JavaScript (4 videos)
Bonus! Four screencast and interview series:
Writing a Plugin (17 videos): A full, step-by-step walkthrough to a working WordPress plugin. Covers plugin registration, widgets, shortcodes, plugin styling, and external API calls.
Creating a Child Theme (16 videos): Learn how to create and modify a child theme.
Creating a Theme from Scratch (28 videos): Create a fully functioning WordPress theme from scratch.
In-depth interviews with thirteen of the world's best WordPress developers: detailed code walkthroughs with sense and hands-on advice for WordPress learners.
For those wanting a comprehensive fully self-directed education in WordPress development.

30-day money-back guarantee. We’re highly confident that like the people who have taken Up and Running before you, you’ll love the course. If, however, you’re not delighted with your purchase then email us within 30 days and we’ll happily issue a full refund, no questions asked.

“I got tired of trying to learn about WordPress in a disjointed way.

Like most people who are comfortable with tech, I’m pretty good at finding things out by Googling them, and, of course, that option doesn’t cost anything (in financial terms, although it can be pretty time-consuming). Eventually, however, I got tired of trying to learn about WordPress in a disjointed way. I wanted to get a clearer picture of how WordPress works from someone who knows what they’re talking about.

WPShout claims that ‘Up and Running systematically teaches you everything you need in one clear, concise and critically acclaimed package.’ When I started to work my way through it, I found it did just that. Other courses I’ve tried nearly always lack clear explanations for why WordPress does things a certain way, or how things work together. Up and Running does all of this, and everything is explained clearly and in easy-to-understand language."

Caroline, WordPress freelancer
 
 

“You guys rock!

I have taken several WordPress theme development courses and read two books on it. By a landslide, yours is better because you have been careful to not talk over people’s heads."

John, freelancer
 
 
 

"I’m quite good at HTML, CSS, JS, and a bit of PHP, but I needed to get a high-level grasp on how WordPress works. Your course did just that."

Ivan, developer
 

Up and Running really brought everything together for me. I already knew of some of the pieces, but the course filled in the gaps and provided a proper understanding of how WordPress really works. I found it easy to follow, delivering just the right depth of knowledge in the right sequence.

Having this understanding has enabled me to tackle more complex projects. Even if you're not a "developer", understanding what's going on behind the scene with this course makes using things like custom fields, custom post types and applying custom code much easier. I'm very happy to recommend Up and Running to WordPress developers just starting out or those who know bits but need the full picture.

Hugues Audouard, freelance web developer

Learn from other experts

Watch video interviews David and Fred conducted with world-leading WordPress developers (13 videos).

This is an incredible opportunity to learn directly from the very best WordPress developers, who are at the cutting-edge of the industry.

Each interview runs for roughly half an hour, with the expert giving you a line-by-line code walkthrough. You can see their best practices, tools used and how they think through complex development problems.

These people are the very best at WordPress development. Get Up and Running now so you don't miss out.

Carrie Dils,
WordPress developer and consultant
Pippin Williamson,
CEO of Sandhills Development, makers of Easy Digital Downloads
Morten Rand-Hendriksen,
Senior Staff Instructor, LinkedIn Learning and Lynda
Helen Hou-Sandí,
WordPress Lead Developer
Curtis McHale,
E-Commerce & Membership Guru
Patrick Rauland,
WooCommerce consultant
Tom McFarlin,
Prolific WordPress Author
Brian Krogsgard,
Founder at Post Status
Mika Epstein,
WP.org Plugin Repo Gatekeeper
Sean Davis,
Theme Builder & EDD Team Member
Daniel Bachhuber,
WP-CLI Maintainer
Jenny Wong,
WordPress developer at Human Made; community cheerleader
Daniel Espinoza,
E-Commerce Wizard

"Up and Running is not written like a textbook. Instead, it’s written like your friend is sitting across from you at the coffee shop teaching you WordPress development.

If you’ve been wanting to learn WordPress development, or if you’ve been hacking your way through WordPress with piecemeal tutorials, I think Up and Running is the perfect way to learn because everything you need is collected in one place.

WPLift

FAQs

Will I get future updates free?

Yes! We've offered free updates since Up and Running launched, and will continue to do so. We released major updates in March 2017 and March 2018, and are aiming another update soon, but haven't made enough progress to commit to a timeline. Both these major updates added new content and were free.

Will I always have access to the course?

You’ll always have access to the course. There’s no expiry date or time limit, and you can re-read and re-watch as much as you like at your own pace.

How does this WordPress development course work? Can I go at my own pace?

For the Deluxe tier, the pace is entirely self-directed. For the Pro Bootcamp, we'll do some pacing for you. For both tiers, you’ll immediately have access to the course on our website and as a PDF download. The course is always available and you can go through each lesson at your own pace. If you want to retake any material, it’s always available for your to retake anytime.

Pro Bootcamp buyers will also get the advantage of our expert opinion about how to move through the course. We've set a pace that is manageable and helps you master the material, and lines up with live support calls with us, the course authors.

Is Up and Running the right WordPress development course for me?

Up and Running is the best course out there for anyone who wants to learn WordPress development. If that’s you, then yes!

There are three groups who are especially well-suited to the course:

  1. Beginners who want to learn everything about WordPress development from scratch.
  2. WordPress users, implementers and designers with some knowledge who want to accelerate their way to WordPress developer status.
  3. Developers who work with platforms other than WordPress and want to quickly get up-to-speed.

If you’re in one of those groups, Up and Running is perfect for you.

I don't know PHP. Is Up and Running a good fit for me?

A few parts of our WordPress development course, Up and Running are PHP-free. But the vast majority of the course's WordPress development content includes and builds on the PHP programming language. If you're totally new to programming (never worked in JavaScript, Java, C#, etc), you'll probably want to come to terms with PHP before diving in to Up and Running.

If you've programmed before in other similar languages, the course does contain a quick overview of PHP, and you'll probably be comfortable enough with PHP's similarity to the Java (etc) that you're used to. Up and Running is the course to get you up to speed with WordPress development. As such, we assume you're a little familiar with web development or programming in general.

I don't know JavaScript. Is Up and Running a good fit for me?

If you're familiar with HTML & CSS and PHP, you'll be very comfortable with the content of Up and Running. We consider JavaScript a super-useful but non-essential skill for WordPress development. So if you already know it, you'll be great. If you don't know it, there's almost no content in Up and Running that either talks about or expands into JavaScript. This was an intentional and thoughtful choice we made and stand behind.

I don't know HTML & CSS. Will I be lost?

This WordPress development course takes for granted some familiarity with HTML, and to a lesser extant CSS. If you don't know what these languages are and how they work together, there's a fair chance that parts of the course will confuse you.

If you're truly new to HTML and CSS, we think our crash-course section on the two languages will likely be enough to tide you over and get you through the course itself. They aren't (nor do they aim to be) exhaustive explorations of the (significant) depths of those two topics, but they should get you "up and running" on them well enough to start to play with them in the context of general WordPress development.

How does the Up and Running website work?

We’ve built a fully responsive website dedicated to helping readers get the most out of Up and Running. You can run through each lesson as many times as you like and see videos right next to the text where they’re most helpful. You can also access all your bonuses right from the website or download a PDF of the whole book to read at your leisure.

Below you'll find a short video giving you a brief tour of the website:

Who made this excellent WordPress development course?

Great question! We're Fred, David and Alex are your teachers for the course. Fred and David run WordPress development blog WPShout and make clients happy at boutique web consultancy Press Up. Alex originally founded WPShout in 2009 and is helping to make sure students have the best possible experience.

Do you do bulk or team prices?

Yes! We’ll happily offer a discount for purchases of five or more. Please contact us for details.

Any other questions?

Get in touch! Any queries at all about the course, drop us an email and we’ll happily get back to you. You can email us here.

 

Choose a Package

I consider myself to be a decent WordPress developer, but essentially all of my coding has been self taught by extensive Googling and trying things until it works.

One of the problems starting out is figuring out what you need to start learning in the first place. Up and Running does an excellent job of building up from the basics of WordPress to far more detailed portions…

Whether you want to make edits to a theme on a site you run, build a plugin, or create a theme from scratch Up and Running will get you…up and running 😎.

Jason Yingling, WordPress developer

The clarity of your teaching in the course and the specific path you take me through gives me a solid understanding, step by step, how WordPress works. I’m developing a conceptual grasp as well as learning the specific functional code.

You have a fine product that stands out in the WordPress learning environment.

Ward Holmquist, technologist