Are you a WordPress developer? In this post, we present a round-up of some useful development tools, technologies, and educational resources to your attention.
A Round-Up of the Best WordPress Development Tools to Try Out in 2024
In this post, we discuss the best WordPress developer tools and resources currently available to everyone involved in building websites on this CMS. By the tools, we mean something broader than just WordPress developer software. We highlight the technologies and the best WordPress development blogs as well. In short, we have covered everything that both beginners and professionals could find useful in their everyday work.
We have written about the benefits of WordPress for building websites of all sorts on numerous occasions. This CMS, one of the oldest on the market, is universally acclaimed for its extensibility and ease of use. With the record number of sites based on this platform, it’s not surprising that more and more people consider taking up WordPress development as their career.
There are two additional reasons for this:
That said, being a WordPress developer implies a constant need to acquire new knowledge about cutting-edge technologies and WordPress site development tools. The system itself is regularly updated as well, so getting familiar with new core features is also a must.
The bottom line: no matter if you’re a seasoned professional or someone who has just set out on the path toward WordPress development mastery, you should keep up with the latest industry trends.
We’ve decided to facilitate this task for you and prepared a review of the best tools for WordPress development available in 2023. These include not only the best WordPress development IDEs and editors but also modern technologies and the best WordPress development blogs for inspiration. Enjoy!
A few years ago, the world of WordPress development saw a historic event. REST API was added to the system’s core. As a result, developers got another tool that allowed them to use WordPress as a headless CMS. This means that developers could now build WordPress themes using technologies other than the traditional PHP, but still follow the traditional approach if they find it more convenient. This transformative shift opened up avenues for headless WordPress development, where the front-end and back-end are decoupled, offering unprecedented flexibility and customization options.
One of these new technologies is React.js. This is a JavaScript library created and maintained by Facebook. Since the moment it was released, React has won the hearts of many in the WordPress community and is now viewed as one of the best WordPress developing tools for making beautiful, well-performing themes. In addition, React.js was used to create the core content editor Gutenberg, and WordPress in general is now geared toward full site editing.
Here is another modern front-end framework that can be used in conjunction with WordPress. Vue.js was created by Evan You in 2014 and, just like React.js, has earned the love and respect of the web development community in general and WordPress fans in particular.
In a manner similar to React.js, Vue leverages the power of WP REST API to manipulate data in the back-end. Vue’s creator managed to give it all the good features of React and, at the same time, discarded everything React was criticized for.
As a result, we have a well-documented and lightweight JavaScript framework that uses the standard web technologies to build all kinds of projects. Vue and React are vying for the title of the best WordPress development tools when it comes to the front-end. Still, competition is always a good thing, isn’t it?
Angular and WordPress are two powerful tools that can be combined to create dynamic and sophisticated websites. Angular, an open-source JavaScript framework, is known for its ability to build and maintain robust web applications.
The integration of Angular into WordPress development can significantly enhance the functionality and user experience of a website. Here’s how they can work together:
1. Creating WordPress-powered Angular websites. By combining WordPress and Angular, developers can leverage the best of both worlds – the ease of content management from WordPress and the interactive features of Angular. This combination allows for the creation of high-performing, SEO-friendly websites that offer a seamless user experience.
2. Hosting an Angular app inside a WordPress site. Angular apps can be hosted within a WordPress site. This involves creating a static page in WordPress, developing the Angular app, and setting the appropriate base href token value. Such an approach allows developers to leverage the advanced features of Angular while maintaining the simplicity and versatility of WordPress.
3. Building headless WordPress sites with angular. In a headless WordPress setup, Angular serves as the front-end, while WordPress acts as a back-end data source. This allows developers to use WordPress for content management while using Angular for presenting and interacting with that content.
4. Developing WordPress themes in Angular. Angular can also be used to develop entire WordPress themes. This allows developers to create dynamic and interactive themes that can significantly enhance the user experience.
5. Using Angular as a WordPress plugin. Angular can also be used as a WordPress plugin, providing developers with a way to add complex, interactive features to their websites. This is particularly useful for larger projects where the use of traditional JavaScript might not be sufficient.
Bootstrap is a design framework for building responsive themes. It uses a 12-column grid system based on Flexbox and contains a number of built-in classes for rendering all the standard web elements such as buttons, sliders, dropdown menus, and so forth.
WordPress developers can easily add Bootstrap to their sites and take advantage of all its great features, including:
…and others
With Bootstrap 5 stable release on May 5, 2021, the framework got many great enhancements such as a custom SVG icon library and major JavaScript updates. This is definitely one of the best WordPress developer tools, so give it a try.
IDEs are applications that enable WordPress developers to perform all the required operations in one location off the shelf: writing, debugging, compiling, and running code. More often than not, IDEs contain many features that programmers rarely or never use.
Code editors, on the other hand, only provide the most essential functionality, but developers can add features to them through extensions or plugins. As a result, code editors start and work very fast and only contain the features developers can’t do without.
You might already have a favorite code editor or might still be deciding on the best IDE for WordPress development. Here are some of the top code editors.
Sublime Text is remarkably lightweight and boasts impressive speed. Moreover, it has a user-friendly interface that can be tailored to your liking. Some of its key benefits include:
All these features position Sublime Text as an excellent text editor for WordPress development. Beginners will find this software incredibly useful, thanks to its intuitive design and flexibility.
Sublime Text offers a free evaluation period, after which a license must be purchased for continued use. But considering the benefits it brings to the table, it’s a worthwhile investment for any serious developer.
This code editor is also extensible with a robust package ecosystem. This means you can augment the editor with additional features and functionalities according to your development needs. Whether you’re working on a large project or a small one, Sublime Text adapts to your needs and delivers a seamless coding experience.
We’ve already said that code editors are smaller in size and less CPU-intensive but can be extended with plugins. This way, programmers can have all the features they need without placing a heavy burden on their machines.
This is exactly the case with Notepad++. It’s light as a feather and is extremely fast. In addition, Notepad++ has an intuitive interface and can be customized in any way you want. Among its other notable benefits are the following:
…and more.
All this makes Notepad++ probably the best text editor for WordPress development. Newbies will find this tool particularly valuable.
Espresso is an all-in-one web development tool that can significantly enhance your WordPress development process. It’s tailored for Mac users and is equipped with a variety of features that make designing, coding, building, and publishing websites a breeze.
By offering these features, Espresso provides a comprehensive toolset that can streamline the WordPress development process, making it easier and more efficient.
It’s never too late to learn. This saying is true for WordPress development as well. The world of technology evolves rapidly. New plugins, frameworks, and features crop up almost daily. A WordPress developer who doesn’t follow the latest industry trends is destined to lag behind, losing clients and money.
One way to stay up to date is to read the best WordPress development blogs. There’s no shortage of these. Whether you’re a novice or have covered a long distance, you will always find something new and interesting for yourself on the blogs, starting from the best WordPress development tools and ending with solutions to the most common programming problems.
Visit these best WordPress development blogs:
Best practices, reviews of the top plugins, information about the best tools for WordPress development, tutorials — you can expect to find something worthwhile for yourself on Smashing Magazine. A few sample topics:
Hi WordPress beginner! We understand you. We’ve all been there. When you’ve just started getting the hang of things in WP development, you may be overwhelmed by the sheer complexity of it all.
WPBeginner was created with people like you in mind. Here, you will find everything from news to reviews to make your life as a developer more comfortable.
At WP Mayor, you will discover a vast collection of resources tailored to WordPress development, offering everything from product reviews to in-depth tutorials.
Whether you’re wondering how to get started with WordPress, create a website, start an online course, or pick a WordPress host, WP Mayor has got you covered. The blog provides detailed tutorials that guide you every step of the way, making your life as a developer much easier.
In addition, WP Mayor offers comparisons and best picks in various categories such as WooCommerce extensions, SEO plugins & tools, translation plugins, booking plugins, LMS plugins, eLearning themes, free themes, shared hosting, managed hosting, WordPress agencies, and page builders. These resources are designed to help you make informed decisions about the tools and services you choose to use in your WordPress development journey.
But it’s not just about tutorials and comparisons. WP Mayor covers a wide range of topics including Hosting, WooCommerce, eLearning, Marketing, and more, providing you with a holistic view of the WordPress ecosystem.
WP Mayor is more than just a one-way information channel. It values its community, offering various touchpoints for questions, sales calls, and community engagement. You can stay connected through their newsletter, ensuring you never miss out on the latest WordPress tools and tutorials.
A WordPress developer should always stay up to date with the most recent advancements in the industry. Getting familiar with modern frameworks, libraries, and the best WordPress development tools, as well as following the best WordPress development blogs should be part of a developer’s everyday routine.
If you have any questions or requests regarding WordPress, the GetDevDone WordPress development team is always at your service. We have successfully completed thousands of various projects over nearly two decades of our history, including white label WordPress development projects for digital and marketing agencies from across the globe.
We can handle any WordPress-related task, from custom theme or plugin development and WooCommerce store development to security and performance optimization. You can outsource WordPress development projects of any scope or complexity to us and always get back a high-quality result when you need it.
Get in touch with us and enjoy the best client service you’ve ever experienced!
Searching for a good hosting to put your WordPress website live on the Internet? Read this post to learn about the basic hosting types and their essential characteristics. We also present an overview of the best hosting solutions available on the market at the moment.
Read this post to learn how to back up a WordPress site by just using the terminal and why this method is better than installing backup plugins.
In this post, we discuss one of our WordPress and front-end development projects that we have done for an agency.
