What does WordPress Developer do?

Read in details here - What is a WordPress Developer?

In general, the main task of WordPress Developer includes:

• Theme development and customization
• Plugin development and customization
• Back-End development
• Performance optimization
• Security optimization
• Ongoing maintenance

Theme Development and Customization

Theme development involves creating the overall design and layout of a WordPress site. A WordPress theme dictates how the site looks, how content is displayed, and how users interact with the site. Developers either build custom themes from scratch or modify existing ones to meet the unique needs of their clients.

Key tasks in theme development:

1. Creating Custom Themes: Writing HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and PHP to build a unique theme. This includes designing page templates, headers, footers, sidebars, and custom elements.
2. Template Hierarchy: Understanding WordPress’s template hierarchy (e.g., single.php, page.php, archive.php) to display different content types correctly.
3. Advanced Custom Fields (ACF): Integrating ACF to add custom fields, enabling users to manage extra data for posts and pages.

Plugin Development and Customization

Plugin development extends WordPress functionality by adding new features such as contact forms, SEO tools, or e-commerce functionality. Developers create custom plugins or customize existing ones to meet specific site needs.

Key tasks in plugin development:

1. Custom Plugin Creation: Writing PHP code to develop a plugin that adds specific features to a site, like a booking system, event calendar, or custom post types.
2. Using the Plugin API: Leveraging WordPress’s Plugin API to interact with core functions, ensuring compatibility with other plugins and updates.
3. Customizing Existing Plugins: Modifying third-party plugins to add new features, hooks, filters, or shortcodes as needed.
4. Integration with Third-Party Services: Integrating external services and APIs (e.g., payment gateways, social media APIs) into the plugin.
5. User Interface: Designing easy-to-use admin interfaces for plugin settings, typically using WordPress’s settings API.

Back-End Development

Back-end development in WordPress focuses on the server-side aspects of a website, ensuring that custom features work correctly, the database is properly managed, and everything runs smoothly.

Key tasks in back-end development:

1. Custom Post Types (CPTs): Creating custom content types (e.g., portfolios, events, products) that differ from standard posts and pages, using register_post_type() and custom taxonomies.
2. Database Queries: Writing custom database queries (using WP_Query or direct SQL) to fetch or manipulate data stored in the WordPress database.
3. Custom Fields & Meta Boxes: Adding custom fields and meta boxes to posts or custom post types, allowing for additional content management in the WordPress admin panel.Ensuring Theme and Plugin
4. Compatibility: Making sure custom code works seamlessly with third-party themes and plugins, and ensuring future updates don’t break functionality.

Performance Optimization

Performance optimization ensures that WordPress sites load quickly, offering a better user experience and improving SEO rankings.

Key tasks in performance optimization:

1. Caching: Implementing server-side or browser caching (using plugins like W3 Total Cache or configuring server-level caching like Varnish or Redis) to reduce page load times.
2. Image Optimization: Compressing and resizing images without sacrificing quality, using tools like Smush, or manually adjusting image sizes.
3. Minifying CSS, JavaScript, and HTML: Reducing file sizes by removing unnecessary spaces, comments, and characters in CSS, JavaScript, and HTML.
4. Database Optimization: Cleaning up the database by removing unnecessary data, such as old post revisions, spam comments, and expired options.
5. Content Delivery Network (CDN): Using CDNs (e.g., Cloudflare, StackPath) to serve static assets (images, JavaScript, CSS) from servers closer to the user for faster load times.

Security Optimization

Security optimization is essential to safeguard WordPress sites against hacks, data breaches, and unauthorized access.

Key tasks in security optimization:

1. Regular Updates: Keeping WordPress core, themes, and plugins updated to patch security vulnerabilities.
2. Firewall and Security Plugins: Installing and configuring security plugins like Wordfence or Sucuri to add firewalls, malware scanning, and login protection.
3. Strong Passwords & Two-Factor Authentication (2FA): Promoting the use of strong passwords and enabling two-factor authentication for additional login security.
4. User Permissions and Roles: Limiting user access and ensuring that only trusted users can access sensitive site areas.
5. Backup Systems: Setting up regular automated backups, ensuring the site can be restored if compromised.
6. File Permissions: Configuring proper file and directory permissions on the server to protect against unauthorized file access.

Ongoing Maintenance

Ongoing maintenance ensures that a WordPress site continues to function optimally, remains secure, and stays up to date after launch.

Key tasks in ongoing maintenance:

1. Regular Updates: Continuously updating WordPress core, themes, and plugins to ensure security, compatibility, and optimal performance.
2. Backup Management: Scheduling regular backups to ensure data can be restored if something goes wrong.
3. Bug Fixes: Identifying and fixing bugs, such as broken links, layout issues, or plugin conflicts.
4. Performance Monitoring: Regularly checking the site’s speed and making improvements, particularly after adding new content or features.
5. Content Updates: Keeping the site’s content fresh and relevant, whether it's blog posts, product descriptions, or any other dynamic content.
6. SEO Monitoring: Reviewing and optimizing SEO settings, metadata, and content to maintain or improve search engine rankings.
7. Security Scanning: Running regular security scans to detect vulnerabilities, malware, or unauthorized access, and taking appropriate actions.

Building websites using bloated Page Builders isn’t WordPress Development

While page builders can help quickly design attractive websites, they don’t align with true WordPress development for several key reasons:

Limited Customization and Control Over Code

WordPress developers write custom code (HTML, CSS, PHP, JavaScript) to create unique themes and plugins. Page builders restrict access to underlying code, limiting the ability to fully customize features or tailor a site’s structure.

Over-Reliance on Pre-built Templates

Page builders offer ready-made templates and widgets, which can make websites look similar across different projects. In contrast, WordPress developers build custom themes from scratch, offering total control over the layout and design for more unique and branded websites.

Performance Concerns

True WordPress development focuses on optimizing site performance—minimizing code, implementing caching, and using CDNs. Page builders tend to generate bloated code that can slow down load times, impacting user experience and SEO rankings.

A WordPress developer ensures a site is secure by updating core files, configuring permissions, and implementing best practices like SSL certificates and firewalls. Page builders don’t manage these critical security aspects, leaving sites vulnerable to attacks.

Scalability and Future-Proofing

WordPress developers build clean, maintainable code, ensuring the site can scale and evolve. Page builders often create code that’s difficult to update or modify as your site grows, especially if the builder is no longer supported.

SEO Limitations

Page builders offer basic SEO features, but WordPress developers take SEO to the next level with custom URL structures, schema markup, and other advanced optimization techniques that improve search engine rankings and site visibility.