Are you looking to learn more about WordPress? Or to improve your WordPress skills and take your website or blog to the next level? In this article, we’ve rounded up the best books on WordPress that will help you master this popular content management system.
It’s sometimes more relaxing to read something on paper than browse through articles on the web or watch videos. From beginner guides to advanced tips and tricks, these books cover everything you need to know to create and manage a successful WordPress website.
Whether you’re a blogger, small business owner, or web developer, these resources will give you the knowledge and confidence you need to succeed.
So grab your favorite reading spot and get ready to dive into the world of WordPress!
Beginner books
You don’t have to be an experienced computer user to create a good-looking WordPress blog or website. This is what WordPress expert Dr. Andy Williams believes as he shares his expertise in this comprehensive book that has been making rounds, and we fully agree.
He successfully explains topics such as:
- What WordPress is and how to use is
- The ease of use and versatility of WordPress
- Installing, building, and expanding your website
The book has been created to transform a beginner into an absolute pro at WordPress in not days but hours. The best thing about the book is its extensive step-by-step visual approach, including more than 330 screenshots for all visual learners.
This book caters to WordPress learners, from beginners to intermediate levels. Written by Lisa Sabin Wilson, owner of WebDevStudios, this publication has helped readers with topics such as:
- Build the foundation of your website
- Choose the right hosting
- Customize the look and feel
- Learn about content management
- Understand plugins and Search Engine Optimalisation
It is an 8-book pack, existing of several mini-books, which makes it an easy-to-understand read that offers a reasonable overview of WordPress. As the name suggests, the book has a straightforward, light-hearted approach to the various educational and technical aspects. It provides quite helpful pointers on how to use WordPress correctly in a language everyone can comprehend.
This book is your perfect guide if your requirement is basic WordPress learning without going into its technicalities. Author Darryl Bartlett has really aimed the book toward beginners.
Topics it helps bloggers and web designers with include setting up WordPress, understanding the dashboard, creating site content, choosing themes and plugins, and a few general tricks.
Especially if you’re just getting started and looking for some basic explanations, it’s an excellent book to read.
Matthew McDonald is an author of science and technology books. He is renowned for his books about creating websites, and with over a dozen in his name, The Missing Manual is just another great one. It is a good read with clear and concise instructions for building websites, blogs, and even eCommerce stores.
The book focuses on the specifics of creating a website with WordPress. Some topics that are covered are:
- Setting up WordPress
- Creating a website, blog, or even eCommerce website
- Find and tweak themes
- Add features through plugins
- Attracting and maintaining interest in your website
Advanced books
Building Web Apps with WordPress: WordPress as an Application Framework
By Brian Messenlehner and Jason Coleman
This book is for developers who want to create web applications with WordPress. Whereas most people see WordPress as a user-friendly interface to build websites, it actually uses PHP, HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and databases in the background. Getting an understanding of these languages is key if you are looking into developing functionality exactly the way you want.
You’ll learn about core WordPress functions, APIs, and how to create unique plugins, themes, and services for practically any form of web applications. The book also talks about WordPress Gutenberg blocks development. Moreover, all discussed code is available on GitHub so you can easily use it.
This book is an advanced WordPress book projected toward advanced users and developers who can code or like to learn it, so beginners will find this too difficult. Building Web Apps by Brian Messenlehner and Jason Coleman is meant to push limits to help WordPress users hone their skills to the next level.
Design books
You’re definitely on Design for WP for a reason 😊 We have two great books on designing better experiences for your WordPress website.
Since the first edition of this book was published in 2000 by Steve Krug, it has become one of the most popular books in the industry. This book explains the principles of web design, such as information design and intuitive navigation, as well as usability testing and building user-friendly flows.
This revisited book is an even better version with a couple of rewritten principles and a dedicated chapter on web design for mobile. It is a big recommendation for anyone who wants to look outside the usual ‘create a website with WordPress’ topic and dive deeper into the principles of good websites.
Another gem on the topic of designing better experiences is this book by Susan Weinschenk. She describes 100 interesting things about people that are great to know if you are building a website.
Some of the things described in the book will go beyond website designing, but most are very useful and applicable in one way or the other. For example how much info you should ideally show on webpages to keep visitors engaged, or how you can make information better readable and scannable.