1.3. Resources and Learning Tools

What most developers come to appreciate upon digging into the WordPress community is just that—there’s a real, vibrant, intelligent, and helpful development community that is constantly building, improving, refining, translating, and otherwise adding to the conversation that is WordPress. Be it through documentation, forums, local meetups, or chat rooms, you’ll find numerous mediums to give and receive help within the community. Let’s now look at some of the more popular ways to become involved and interact with the community.

1.3.1. The WordPress Codex

Although it’s the least interactive of any of the tools we’ll mention here, the WordPress Codex is by far the most powerful resource that the community has to offer. The Codex is WordPress’s online documentation. It’s a complete resource that is perpetually kept up to date by volunteer contributors within the community, and may well be the most useful tool available for learning how to use WordPress from the ground up. It’s also handy for looking up specific functions and processes. While the Codex is technically a wiki, and as such contains information that is out of date from time to time, the Codex will teach you much more about understanding how to complete tasks than simply memorize specific functions (although the more you know, the easier your life will ultimately be). If you struggle to understand a concept or need clarification on how to use a particular function, the Codex should always be your first stop. It’s your very best friend.