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WordPress

Cathy Villa
Cathy Villa
8,097 Points

Is the WP development track horrible or am I just too stupid for WP

I have completed a couple tracks on Treehouse and I have to say I have been impressed with how much I have learned and well the instructors did at explaining and how easy it was to follow along. Then I hit wordpress and the wordpress development. I am sorry I have no idea of what I am doing or why I am doing it. Even something as simple as loading XAMP. Flipping between files, why I am downloading what. I am about 1/3 of the way through the track and have zero clue. Other things like HTML and CSS and such I would not necessarily understand from word 1 (but not be confused) and follow along then it would click, but it would click usually before the end of the short module, but not with WP. All the tests I am having to take 3 and 4 times, basically guessing at what sounds right or logical because I swear none of the questions where answered in the video. Everything seems outdated, every download has major issues and errors and I'm sorry I do not think the instructor does a good job of explaining anything at all. I am incredibly disappointed because I really do want work with wordpress. I notice almost every video is loaded with more question on a single 2 minute video than would be in entire sections on other tracks. Am I the only who feels like this going through this in this track? Is this an issue other people have or should I just give up on wordpress and walk away, because that is about what I feel like doing right now.

A lot of the wordpress courses here at treehouse are outdated. And they have discontinued their WP-courses too. So for WP-fans there will be better options for learning.

3 Answers

If you're on the wordpress track you should have a working knowledge of HTML, CSS, and PHP to say the least. The wordpress track assumes that you have general knowledge in those categories

Cindy Lea
PLUS
Cindy Lea
Courses Plus Student 6,497 Points

I havent tried Treehouse WP yet, but learned a little WP in other studies...and I was very confused & Im a programmer & I always thought it sucked! It can do great stuff if you do the upgrades, but its just so different. My girlfriend used to hate it, but now she likes it. Maybe just bear with it & read about it online from other sources to see if you understand it better. Sometimes another viewpoint might provide an "aha" moment for you. Good luck.

I would say that using MAMP or XAMP is extremely important to know, regardless of knowing WP. if anything you should take some time learning how to create a local dev environment.

First, If you're taking the time to learn HTML, CSS, JS, PHP, WP, which if you are learning Wordpress it's kinda what your doing, is a lot of work and languages to know all at once. You might be learning 5 languages all at the same time, and its kinda hard. Think of it as learning all the romantic languages at once, Spanish, French, Italian, ect., its a lot to do, keep your head up.

WP powers 25% of the web, that's a lot of web. I would suggest you first learn XAMP (I take it you are on windows), build a local environment first, You don't need WP for XAMP, just a index.php page. Once you have leveled up, start slowly and work your way through WP courses here and on youtube, and use the codex:

WP Codex

WP dev Codex

both of these resources are imperative if you want to learn WP. I use them every day, and I am a developer. No one can remember all of it. My suggestion is this; work on it every day and start slow, if the videos here arn't helpful then find some that are, also you can ask questions here on the forum and people will try to help you out. All the Best!