WordPress is the favorite CMS (Content Management System) for bloggers and companies because it is easy to use. Also, customizing it is a big part of the platform’s appeal.
That is why a large portion of the internet’s websites are built on this system. To properly customize your website, though, learning the most important WordPress functions is essential.
However, to learn how to personalize that part of your WordPress site accurately, you first need to understand what functions are and what they can do to your website.
We will look into the definition of function and talk croatia phone number data about some useful tricks regarding them. Ready to most useful learn? In this guide, you will understand:
- What are WordPress functions?
- How do WordPress functions work?
- 5 WordPress functions you need to learn right now
Find out the answers to your WordPress if you need help prioritizing seo in your blog content functions questions!
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Before we get started on some key WordPress functions, we need to understand how they work and why they are relevant. WordPress is built on PHP, a general-purpose scripting language that meets web development needs.
PHP is especially useful to create content management systems like WordPress because it enables interaction with a database and data fetching, outputting it for the user as HTML.
WordPress’ tags and functions are all built on PHP, and they are what makes this CMS so great.
Anyone knowing just a bit of coding can easily change PHP scripts, which are highly flexible. That allows most useful owners to adjust each burkina faso leads element on their WordPress websites.
Now that you know a little more about PHP and its relationship with WordPress, it is time to understand the functions.php file, which we will customize in this tutorial.
Every WordPress template comes with a pre-written functions.php file. It works like a plugin already installed on your WordPress hosting.
You can modify the functions.php file by using PHP code to add features or change defaults defined by your WordPress theme.
That is why editing this file can affect your WordPress configuration. With simple changes in functions.php, your theme can, for example, receive Google Fonts.
You can also pull all metadata from a blogpost or detect if a visitor is using a computer or a mobile device.
How do WordPress functions work?
To make changes in your functions.php file, you first need to find it. The functions file is always within your WordPress theme. But not all changes made to a WordPress website need to be done in the functions.php file.
Actually, when you want to add most useful functionalities or customize your website, the best way to do so usually is by adding WordPress plugins.
However, if you are not familiar with coding, we strongly recommend you to do so, as changing the functions file might be trickier than it looks.
That is due to the nature of how WordPress and its updates work. Anytime, your theme will receive an update. If you modified your functions.php file, you are going to lose your changes. That means having to do all the work all over again.
Making coding errors in your functions file might lock you out of your website or even create vulnerabilities that hackers can use to access the system.
Changing your WordPress theme is another task that will be harder once you make changes in its PHP files.
After all, new themes come with their own functions.php file pre-loaded. Thus, a change in your theme’s file also means losing all customizations you made by using the functions.php file.