I am developing a website on the WordPress platform and this is my first time using WordPress.
WordPress offers an estimate of 20% of the entire project scope, this means I have to write code for the remaining 80%
My question is how do I extend the WordPress platform to provide the functionality I require?
Thanks for your responses in advance
Pls remember am a newbie! will appreciate clear and detailed responses
Thanks
It really depends on what you're attempting to achieve, but a good first port of call would be to immerse yourself the details in plug-ins (specifically the "Writing a Plugin" section) and the Plugin API, as this is the easiest way to extend WordPress using the wide variety of hooks that the API provides.
However, it's also quite likely that at least some of the functionality you require has already be created as a 3rd party plug-in, so I thorough check of the currently available plug-ins would most likely pay dividends.
Wordpress has support for plug-ins. Additionally, it's all PHP scripts, so you can modify the core system as needed; however I would highly recommend that you only use plug-ins to extend functionality, as by changing the core system you won't be able to apply security updates.
For more information on plug-ins, read the Wordpress codex, which also contains detailed documentation on all functions available.
In addition to Plugins, which other users have already mentioned as a way to extend Wordpress functionality, you should read about the concept of Child Themes.
Themes in general make up the appearance and some functionality of your Wordpress site. For making your own theme, which you will be doing, it is a good idea to start off with an existing theme and build upon it. The standard Wordpress theme Twentyten is a great starting point, where many issues have already been taken care of.
The changes you add can be pure CSS restyling or much more complex additions.
