WordPress Developer Roadmap

Phase 1 — Setup & Absolute Basics (3-4 days)

Module 1.1  → What is WordPress & how it works (architecture)
Module 1.2  → WordPress.com vs WordPress.org — the difference
Module 1.3  → Local environment setup — installing LocalWP
Module 1.4  → Installing WordPress locally
Module 1.5  → WordPress file & folder structure — what lives where
Module 1.6  → wp-config.php — what it is & what settings it holds
Module 1.7  → Complete Dashboard tour
Module 1.8  → General Settings — title, tagline, timezone, permalink
Module 1.9  → Posts — create, edit, delete, categories, tags
Module 1.10 → Pages — what they are & how they differ from posts
Module 1.11 → Media Library — uploading & managing images
Module 1.12 → Creating Menus — header & footer
Module 1.13 → Widgets — what they are
Module 1.14 → Comments system
Module 1.15 → Users & Roles — Admin, Editor, Author, Subscriber
Module 1.16 → Installing & activating a theme (free theme)
Module 1.17 → Installing, activating & deleting plugins
Module 1.18 → Updating WordPress safely

★ Mini Project 1: Set up a simple blog with posts, pages & menus

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Phase 2 — Theme Development (1.5 weeks)

Module 2.1  → What is a theme — folder structure
Module 2.2  → style.css — theme header metadata
Module 2.3  → index.php — the entry point
Module 2.4  → Template Hierarchy — WordPress core concept
Module 2.5  → The WordPress Loop — understanding & writing it
Module 2.6  → header.php — creating it & using get_header()
Module 2.7  → footer.php — creating it & using get_footer()
Module 2.8  → sidebar.php — creating it & using get_sidebar()
Module 2.9  → functions.php — the brain of a theme
Module 2.10 → wp_head() and wp_footer() — why they are mandatory
Module 2.11 → Enqueuing CSS & JS — wp_enqueue_style / wp_enqueue_script
Module 2.12 → Template tags — the_title(), the_content(), the_permalink() etc.
Module 2.13 → Conditional tags — is_home(), is_single(), is_page() etc.
Module 2.14 → single.php — single post template
Module 2.15 → page.php — static page template
Module 2.16 → archive.php — category & tag archive
Module 2.17 → search.php — search results page
Module 2.18 → 404.php — not found page
Module 2.19 → get_template_part() — creating reusable partials
Module 2.20 → Registering & displaying navigation menus
Module 2.21 → Featured image / thumbnail support
Module 2.22 → add_theme_support() — what can be enabled
Module 2.23 → Registering widgetized sidebars
Module 2.24 → Child themes — what they are & why to use them
Module 2.25 → Customizer API — live preview settings

★ Mini Project 2: Build a complete Blog Theme from scratch

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Phase 3 — Hooks System (4-5 days)

Module 3.1 → What are hooks — the concept clearly explained
Module 3.2 → Actions — add_action(), do_action()
Module 3.3 → Filters — add_filter(), apply_filters()
Module 3.4 → Priority and accepted_args explained
Module 3.5 → Removing hooks — remove_action(), remove_filter()
Module 3.6 → Creating your own custom hooks
Module 3.7 → Most important built-in WordPress hooks list
Module 3.8 → Understanding hook execution order

★ Mini Project 3: Add features to the blog theme using hooks

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Phase 4 — Custom Content (1 week)

Module 4.1 → What are Custom Post Types (CPT)
Module 4.2 → register_post_type() — all options explained
Module 4.3 → What are Custom Taxonomies
Module 4.4 → register_taxonomy() — hierarchical vs flat
Module 4.5 → Custom Fields — what is post meta
Module 4.6 → get_post_meta(), update_post_meta(), delete_post_meta()
Module 4.7 → Custom Meta Boxes — showing custom fields in admin
Module 4.8 → Nonce verification in meta boxes
Module 4.9 → Advanced Custom Fields plugin — practical usage

★ Mini Project 4: Movie listing website — CPT + Taxonomy + Meta Boxes

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Phase 5 — Database & Querying (5-6 days)

Module 5.1  → WordPress database structure — all tables explained
Module 5.2  → WP_Query — complete deep dive
Module 5.3  → WP_Query parameters — post_type, orderby, order etc.
Module 5.4  → Tax Query — filtering by taxonomy
Module 5.5  → Meta Query — filtering by custom field value
Module 5.6  → Pagination with WP_Query
Module 5.7  → wp_reset_postdata() — why it is necessary
Module 5.8  → get_posts() vs WP_Query vs query_posts() — differences
Module 5.9  → $wpdb class — raw SQL queries
Module 5.10 → Prepared statements — protection against SQL injection

★ Mini Project 5: Genre & rating based filtering + pagination on movie site

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Phase 6 — Forms & User Interaction (4-5 days)

Module 6.1  → How forms are handled in WordPress
Module 6.2  → Building a contact form manually (without a plugin)
Module 6.3  → Handling form submission — admin-post.php
Module 6.4  → Nonces — form security
Module 6.5  → Sanitization & Validation — cleaning user input
Module 6.6  → wp_mail() — sending emails
Module 6.7  → Building a user registration form
Module 6.8  → Building a user login form
Module 6.9  → wp_login_form(), wp_register_form()
Module 6.10 → Password reset flow

★ Mini Project 6: Build custom login & registration pages (no plugin)

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Phase 7 — Plugin Development (2 weeks)

Module 7.1  → What is a plugin & how it differs from a theme
Module 7.2  → Plugin file header — metadata
Module 7.3  → Plugin folder structure
Module 7.4  → OOP based plugin architecture
Module 7.5  → Activation hook — register_activation_hook()
Module 7.6  → Deactivation hook
Module 7.7  → Uninstall hook — cleanup on delete
Module 7.8  → Creating custom database tables
Module 7.9  → dbDelta() — creating & updating tables
Module 7.10 → Admin menu pages — add_menu_page(), add_submenu_page()
Module 7.11 → Settings API — building an options page
Module 7.12 → get_option(), update_option(), delete_option()
Module 7.13 → Shortcodes — building [my_shortcode]
Module 7.14 → AJAX in WordPress — wp_ajax_ hooks
Module 7.15 → AJAX with nonce verification
Module 7.16 → Enqueuing scripts in a plugin
Module 7.17 → wp_localize_script() — passing PHP data to JS
Module 7.18 → User Capabilities & Permissions
Module 7.19 → Internationalization — __(), _e(), _n()

★ Mini Project 7: Watchlist plugin — add/remove movies to watchlist
★ Mini Project 8: Star rating plugin — rate movies from 1 to 5 stars

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Phase 8 — REST API (5-6 days)

Module 8.1  → What is the REST API & why use it
Module 8.2  → Built-in endpoints — /wp/v2/posts, /wp/v2/users etc.
Module 8.3  → Exploring REST API with Postman
Module 8.4  → Authentication — Application Passwords
Module 8.5  → JWT Authentication setup
Module 8.6  → Creating custom endpoints — register_rest_route()
Module 8.7  → Request object — handling parameters & headers
Module 8.8  → Response object — WP_REST_Response
Module 8.9  → Permission callbacks — securing endpoints
Module 8.10 → Connecting TMDB API with WordPress

★ Mini Project 9: Fetch movie data via REST API and display on frontend

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Phase 9 — Advanced WordPress (1 week)

Module 9.1  → Transients API — caching temporary data
Module 9.2  → Options API — storing permanent settings
Module 9.3  → WP-Cron — scheduled background tasks
Module 9.4  → User Roles & Capabilities — creating custom roles
Module 9.5  → WordPress Multisite — what it is
Module 9.6  → Understanding the Gutenberg block editor
Module 9.7  → Building a basic custom Gutenberg block
Module 9.8  → WP_DEBUG and Query Monitor plugin
Module 9.9  → WordPress Coding Standards
Module 9.10 → Security best practices — XSS, CSRF, SQL Injection
Module 9.11 → Performance optimization — caching, lazy load
Module 9.12 → Using Composer in WordPress projects

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Phase 10 — Deployment & DevOps (3-4 days)

Module 10.1  → wp-config.php production configuration
Module 10.2  → Deploying from local to live server (cPanel)
Module 10.3  → Database export/import — phpMyAdmin
Module 10.4  → Search & Replace URLs after migration
Module 10.5  → WP-CLI — managing WordPress from command line
Module 10.6  → Git workflow for WordPress
Module 10.7  → .gitignore for WordPress projects
Module 10.8  → Setting up a staging environment
Module 10.9  → SSL/HTTPS setup
Module 10.10 → Backup strategies — UpdraftPlus

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All Projects Summary

#	Project	Phase	Concepts Covered
1	Simple Blog Setup	Phase 1	Dashboard, Posts, Pages, Menus
2	Blog Theme from Scratch	Phase 2	Template Hierarchy, Loop, Partials
3	Blog Theme with Hooks	Phase 3	Actions, Filters, Custom Hooks
4	Movie Listing Website	Phase 4	CPT, Taxonomy, Meta Boxes
5	Movie Filter + Pagination	Phase 5	WP_Query, Tax/Meta Query
6	Custom Login & Register	Phase 6	Forms, Nonces, wp_mail
7	Watchlist Plugin	Phase 7	Plugin Dev, AJAX, DB Tables
8	Star Rating Plugin	Phase 7	Shortcodes, Options API
9	REST API Movie Frontend	Phase 8	REST API, TMDB Integration
10	StreamVault — Full Project	Phase 9-10	Everything Combined

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StreamVault — Final Project Features

✓ Custom theme from scratch (no page builder)
✓ Movies & Web Series — Custom Post Types
✓ Genre, Language, Year — Custom Taxonomies
✓ TMDB API integration — auto import movies
✓ Advanced search & filtering
✓ Custom Login & Registration (no plugin)
✓ Watchlist feature — custom plugin
✓ Star rating system — custom plugin
✓ REST API endpoints
✓ WP-Cron — auto fetch new movies daily
✓ Fully deployed on live server