59 brilliant WordPress tutorials

WordPress is the world’s most popular publishing platforms: as of August 2011 it’s been used by 22 per cent of all new websites. It’s highly customisable, very easy to use and, probably the best part, it’s completely free.

Because of its enormous popularity, there’s a wealth of WordPress tutorials online to help you get to grips with the content management system. But with so much choice, things can often get confusing.

So, to save you a lot of wasted time we’ve done the hard work for you and picked 30 brilliant WordPress tutorials from around the web that will boost your skills and introduce you to exciting new techniques.

For beginners

01. WordPress – getting started

This video-based WordPress tutorial will show you everything you need to get started with the content management system, including installation, setting up pages, managing themes and adding plugins.

02. Beginner’s guide to WordPress menus

Follow along as Paul Kaiser explains the menu system basics and how to start using them on your new site in this excellent WordPress tutorial for beginners.

03. How to learn WordPress in one week

This step-by-step guide to WordPress is aimed at beginners who are trying to become competent with the platform in their spare time.

04. Mastering the WordPress visual editor

Author Tom Ewer takes an in-depth look at the Visual Editor in this comprehensive WordPress tutorial for beginners.

Improve your site’s design

05. WordPress for designers

Using a series of easy to understand screencasts, Drew Douglass explains exactly how to design beautiful sites for WordPress.

06. How to make a featured post carousel

It’s becoming more and more common for blogs to feature certain posts at the top of the page. In this intermediate WordPress tutorial, Nettuts+ author James Lao explains how to implement this in WordPress.

07. How to choose a great colour scheme

This helpful WordPress tutorial explains the three main considerations when choosing colours for your website.

Add images to your site

08. How to add author’s images to your blog

Pro designer Joseph Foley explains how adding a few simple lines of code to your site can display author’s images on your site. A very useful intermediate-level WordPress tutorial.

09. How to create additional image sizes in WordPress

If you want a bit of variety with your images, check out this WordPress tutorial which will show you how to add additional image sizes.

10. How to create a photo album gallery in WordPress

In this WordPress tutorial, the guys at wpbeginner.com explain how to create a monthly photo album gallery without a plugin.

11. Better image management with WordPress

Here are a few ways to enrich your blog using some common sense, best practices and the power of WordPress.

12. How to get perfect blog images

Craig Grella talks through the best way to get perfect blog images every time with Auto Scale and Crop in this WordPress tutorial.

Create a WordPress theme

13. How to build a basic portfolio WordPress theme

In this in-depth WordPress tutorial Chris Spooner explains how to take a portfolio site design and convert it into a basic theme.

14. How to create a WordPress theme

In 11 individual lessons, this WordPress tutorial will show you how to create a powerful, up-to-date theme.

15. Designing for WordPress: complete series

Web craftsman Chris Coyier’s three-part Designing for WordPress series covers downloading and installing WordPress on a server all the way to a completed theme.

16. Create a typography based WordPress blog theme

Having gone through the Photoshop, HTML5 and CSS3 coding stage, in this WordPress tutorial Chris Spooner explains the templating stage to finish off a typo design as a fully working theme.

Integrate social media

17. How to add Pinterest ‘Pin it’ button in your blog

If you want to enable your readers to pin images from your website but don’t know how, check out this WordPress tutorial, which will show you exactly what you need to do.

18. How to integrate Facebook, Twitter and Google+ in WordPress

In this WordPress tutorial, Scottish webmaster and blogger Kevin Muldoon explains how to manually integrate the three most popular social media services on your website: Twitter, Facebook and Google+.

19. Beginners guide on how to add Twitter cards in WordPress

Twitter is slowly rolling out this experimental technology called Twitter Cards which makes it possible for you to attach media experiences to your tweets that link to your content. This WordPress tutorial shows you how to use them.

20. How to create email newsletters in WordPress

In this WordPress tutorial, learn how to create a daily and weekly email newsletter using Aweber or MailChimp.

Customise your website

21. Customise the WordPress admin area

In this two-hour WordPress tutorial, web developer Thomas Hardy guides you through how to tailor the Administration screens to match your client’s branding.

22. Create a WordPress custom post type

This quick 20-minute WordPress tutorial will show you exactly what custom post types are, and how to use them in your plugins and themes straight away.

23. Implement Google Custom Search into WordPress

WordPress has a search function which has developers opinions split. In this WordPress tutorial freelance developer Paul Maloney explains how to replace the search function with a super powered Google Custom Search engine.

24. Add Icons to WordPress custom menus without plugins

Adding icons to custom menus is a relatively simple two-step process that doesn’t involve any PHP coding whatsoever. And this WordPress tutorial will show you just how to do it.

Use plugins

25. 5 free essential plugins for your first WordPress blog

There are many useful plugins available for the platform. In this WordPress tutorial the guys at WPMU.org pick five must-have plugins for your first blog.

26. How to display your latest Spotify activity in WordPress

The latest Spotify activity plugin lets you display a stream of the latest songs you’ve listened to right on your website. Check out this WordPress tutorial to find out how to get it working.

27. How to create your very first WordPress plugin

For more control and flexibility over your site, one of the first things you’ll want to know is how to create a plugin. Find out how in this simple walkthrough WordPress tutorial.