Introduction…
If you’ve read the WordPress Introduction, you’ll already have a sense of what I’m planning with this feature category. This overview takes it a step further — a topic-by-topic guide of what I’ll be covering, with a brief description (my apologies, if it is over-simplified), and where my own experience fits. There are aspects of WordPress I know very well; others I’m still learning as I go. Either way, it should give you a clear sense of whether it’s relevant, or of interest, to you…
Themes & Child Themes
A WordPress theme controls the visual appearance and layout of your site — everything from typography and colour schemes to how your pages and posts are structured. Most themes are built to work out of the box, with many also offering varying levels of customisation options.
A child theme is essentially an extension of a parent theme that inherits all of its styling and functionality, while allowing you to make your additional custom changes safely. The key advantage is that when the parent theme updates, your customisations aren’t overwritten — which, if you’ve ever doctored your installed (parent) theme, you’ll have certainly learned the hard way.
Child themes are a must for me, as you can guarantee I will always want to add something more than a theme allows, and I’ll being sharing some of the ways in which I use them. Having tried several themes over the years — some exceptional, some not so much — I’ve settled on a couple of favourites that I return to consistently. I never build directly on those parent themes, no exceptions. It’s one of those habits that takes a few minutes to set up (& the better themes often make a child theme download available) and saves considerable pain down the line, especially if you are planning some hefty customisation.
Tagged: Themes, Child Themes
Plugins
Plugins are add-ons that extend what WordPress can do beyond its core functionality. There are tens of thousands available — covering everything from SEO and security to forms, e-commerce, performance, and just about anything else you can think of. The WordPress plugin repository is vast, which is both its greatest strength and one of its biggest pitfalls: the sheer volume of enticing options makes it easy to end up with a bloated site full of plugins that do similar things, conflict with each other, or simply haven’t been properly maintained.
I’ve gone through plenty of trial and error over the years before landing on a toolkit I trust. My approach now is fairly ruthless — if a plugin doesn’t do exactly what I need, is poorly supported, or adds more bloat than value, I simply don’t use it. There is, more often than not, another solution to achieve the required result. My aim is a lean, reliable set of plugins that form the backbone of most of my builds and complement the functional requirement. I’ve written about some of my current favourites, but the detail relating to specific plugins, what I look for — and what to avoid — is worth covering in its own right.
Tagged: Plugins
Page Builders
Page builders are visual editing tools that sit on top of WordPress and allow you to design layouts without writing code. Rather than working with the default block editor (which quite frankly, drives me nuts!), a page builder gives you a drag-and-drop interface with far greater control over design, structure, and responsiveness. The main players include Elementor†, Bricks, and Beaver Builder, among others — each with their own ecosystem of add-ons, templates, and integrations.
My current workflow is primarily built around Elementor, paired with Crocoblock — and if you’ve had a look around this site, you’ll find that combination in action. On most of my sites, Elementor handles the design and layout; Crocoblock adds a layer of dynamic functionality (custom post types, listing templates, query loops, dynamic fields) that takes things considerably further. It’s a powerful combination and one I’ve invested time in properly learning, though I’ll be honest — it’s not without its quirks, and there’s always frustration along the way. I am considering alternative combinations to this setup for future sites, so that may well be an interesting transition to share.
Tagged: Page Builders, Elementor
Performance & Speed
Website performance refers to how quickly and efficiently a site loads and responds for the user. It covers everything from image optimisation and caching to server response times, code efficiency, and the way assets like CSS and JavaScript are delivered. Speed matters for the obvious reason that slow sites frustrate users — but it also has a direct impact on SEO, with Core Web Vitals now forming part of how Google assesses and ranks pages.
This is an area that’s easy to let slip when you’re focused on design and functionality. I learned to take it seriously once I figured out how much of a difference it makes. Getting the basics right — optimised images, a solid caching setup, a clean plugin stack — goes a long way. I tend to use a combination of tools, for site optimisation, and to audit and monitor performance – I’ll cover the specifics in the dedicated articles. It’s one of those topics where small improvements often have a bigger impact than you’d expect.
Tagged: Website Performance
Security & Maintenance
WordPress security covers the measures taken to protect a site from unauthorised access, malware, data breaches, and other threats. This includes keeping the core, themes, and plugins up to date, managing user roles and access carefully, using strong authentication, and having a reliable backup strategy in place. Maintenance goes hand in hand with security — a well-maintained site is a more secure one, and neglecting updates or ignoring errors is one of the fastest ways to create problems.
I’ll admit that security is not the most glamorous part of running WordPress sites, and whilst easy forgotten, it’s non-negotiable. Being hacked, infected by a virus or having your sites confidential data compromised is nightmare stuff — and it’s rarely a quick fix when something goes wrong. I’ve been lucky, my approach is mostly preventative: a consistent maintenance routine, automated backups, and a small set of trusted tools that do the monitoring so I don’t have to think about it constantly, and to-date it has worked. I’ll cover what that actually looks like in practice when we get into the dedicated articles.
Tagged: Security
Custom Functionality
Custom functionality in WordPress refers to extending or modifying what the platform does beyond what themes and plugins offer out of the box. This might include adding custom post types, using tools like Advanced Custom Fields (ACF) to create structured data, writing custom PHP to hook into WordPress actions and filters, or adding targeted code snippets to achieve something specific without relying on a full plugin.
This is an area where my self-taught background has its pros and cons — I’m capable and comfortable with developing custom functionality, but I approach it methodically rather than instinctively though not always without its pitfalls. Over time I’ve managed to build up a library of snippets and solutions that I can return to regularly, and I’ve learned to recognise when a custom solution is the right call versus when a well-chosen plugin is the smarter move.
That said, Crocoblock’s Jet Engine plugin† is now a must for any of my site builds. It is an unbelievably powerful tool for adding custom functionality to a site without the headache of coding, so there will be many an article sharing how I have learned to utilise it – and I probably haven’t scratched the surface of its capabilities.
Tagged: Crocoblock, CSS, HTML, Javascript, php
WooCommerce
WooCommerce is the leading e-commerce plugin for WordPress, turning a standard site into a fully functional online store. It handles products, inventory, pricing, payment gateways, shipping, tax, and order management — and through an extensive ecosystem of extensions, it can be adapted to suit everything from a small independent shop to a complex multi-product operation. It’s free to install, though many of the more advanced features and integrations come at a cost.
WooCommerce is a regular feature in my site portfolio and a tool I’ve learned to be comfortable with. I’ve built and managed a range of stores over the years — from straightforward product catalogues to more involved setups with subscriptions, bookings, and custom configurations. It can be demanding when a project pushes into more complex territory, and there are moments where it feels like you’re fighting with, rather than working with it, but knowing it well makes a significant difference. If you need something more than the basics, it’s not something I’d recommend diving into without a decent grounding in WordPress first.
Tagged: eCommerce, WooCommerce
Best Practices
Best practices in a WordPress context refers to the habits, conventions, and workflows that make sites easier to build, manage, and maintain — especially when you’re working across multiple projects. This includes things like using staging environments before pushing changes live, keeping consistent naming conventions, documenting customisations, maintaining a clean media library, and having a clear process for onboarding and handing over sites to clients.
Some of these I learned the structured way; many I learned by doing things wrong first. The further along you get with WordPress, the more you appreciate the value of working consistently — particularly when you’re returning to a site you built months ago and can’t remember why you made certain decisions. It’s not the most exciting topic, but it’s one that separates a competent WordPress user from one who can manage multiple sites without everything becoming a liability. I’ll get into the specifics of my own workflow in the planned articles and I hope I can share more than just demonstrate what should not be done.
Tagged: Best Practice
In Closing…
The feature articles for each of these topics are being published under WordPress. If any of the above has caught your interest, simply bookmark the link and revisit in your own time to check out the latest articles. Alternatively, if you’d prefer regular notification of when new articles are available, you can subscribe and I can send exactly ‘404’ emails to your inbox!
