WordPress is a widely used content management system that is typically associated with Blogs but can power any kind of setup from a portfolio to an e-commerce site. Whether you’re a Blogger, novice developer or avid web designer, understanding WordPress can greatly benefit your work. Here’s 3 tools to get a grip on WordPress.

Smashing Magazine

I was first turned on to Smashing Magazine by a teacher and have pored through every nook and cranny of the site and its network since. Smashing Magazine, its collection of Blogs and well-written books are a tremendous source of knowledge and inspiration. The tutorials, collection of WordPress themes and books on development and design will help you master WordPress.

Get A Cheat Sheet

In school teachers aggressively discourage cheating. When coding, having a cheat sheet makes life a lot easier. Memorizing syntax and code isn’t an overnight process which is why having a wallpaper plastered with the information you need is extremely helpful. Quickly Code has an awesome wallpaper with all the PHP shortcuts you’ll need when developing a WordPress theme.

Get Down And Dirty!

The simplest way to learn WordPress (and potentially anything) is to get down and dirty with hands on learning. Install WordPress on a server, download a theme you find interesting and tear through the code. I got a better grasp on how WordPress worked by finding snippets of codes, Googling them to find out how it worked and broke my theme in the process. I learned HTML and CSS along the way and am getting a hold on PHP but breaking a theme in half taught me a lot about designing one.