I often notice people looking for reliable WordPress resources. I’ve answered as much on Quora before, and the newly relaunched Code Poet recently asked people to share resources on Twitter. But I really just need to blog about all of the resources I use most often. I’ve been meaning to make this for a long time, so here I am.

Below is a thorough, though not totally complete, list of resources for support, news, tutorials, resources, etc. It’s basically a breakdown of the WordPress oriented websites I keep up with.

Duh:

The Codex is always the first place for WordPress documentation, and you can often find answers in WP.org forum posts, but there are also other ways.

Other avenues for support:

WordPress Stack Exchange is an excellent resource, especially for advanced developers. I find myself on this site more and more each month.

WPQuestions.com is a good place if you need quick support. It’s a fee model where you set a price you’re willing to pay for an answer, and you choose from the answers people submit.

#wordpress on IRC is quite helpful for beginners, and they could always use a hand answering questions if you’re willing.

Resources:

WordPress on Github. Go straight to the source!

WordPress function reference (worth differentiating from the general codex – a must use resource)

WordPress template tags (same as above – a must use resource)

QueryPosts.com is a new project by Rarst that is an excellent resource. It’s truly a “better WordPress code reference.” It currently boasts a “what’s hot” section and all WP functions. Hooks and classes are on the way, and highly anticipated (by me at least).

This is just a big WordPress functions reference. Handy.

The Adam Brown hooks database is a great resource for advanced developers.

Lorelle’s WordPress Resources can be helpful.

I like to go to the new plugins archive periodically. Pretty fun to see what people are cooking up.

People / blogs on WP

If I listed every blog I read, this list would simply be too long. So here are a couple links to other posts that list all that stuff, and then I’ll share a few of my personal favorites.

WPCandy has a list of people and blogs about WordPress to follow. It’s a big one.

Here’s another list of blogs by WPMU that you can follow if you are super information hungry.

And here are some special shout-outs to my really go-to WordPress oriented blogs. Please don’t be offended if you’re not included in this section. Like I said, it’s not a full list of sites I like:

No single individual is doing more awesome stuff in the plugin sphere than Pippin Williamson. No one. Subscribe to his blog.

Gravity Wiz is meta blogging at its finest. Only Gravity Forms tutorials, and I think that is just plain awesome. And speaking of Gravity Forms, if you haven’t bookmarked this post by Rocket Genius on targeting elements in CSS, then you’re welcome.

Justin Tadlock may only post here and there, but when he does, his posts become the go-to resource on whatever he’s written about.

I don’t even know Paul’s last name, but he posts frequently with nice, quick snippets. And they are always practical. Paulund is a great resource you may not have heard of.

Tom McFarland is a freaking guru. He often posts on wp.Tuts+, and his are about the only articles on that site I’m not critical of. When he posts, he cross posts the links to his personal blog, where he also shares other nuggets. He’s the primary coder of Standard Theme, in case you needed more reason to trust me. Follow him and be smarter.

Not really sure where to put this one, but I build all my custom post types and taxonomies over at Themergency. Try it, it’s great. And you get to own your code when you use it, unlike most WYSIWYG post type builders. Brad made these generators with multi-page gravity forms, and they spit out the raw code for use in your plugins and themes. Neat.

And you should know all of these people, but I’d feel remiss if I didn’t at least mention them, as they’ve each helped me so much over the years. You should without a doubt be keeping up with Yoast, Nacin, Mark, and Otto.

There are also some good blogs for following what’s happening in WordPress development land: WPDevel, Make Themes, Make UI, Make Plugins, Make Accessibility… just Make All The Things.

Get your news from WPCandy, WPTavern, WP Mods, WPForce, the new WPRealm, WPLift, WPMU, and of course WordPress.org. Matt likes to make news too. Obviously, I definitely have a preference for WPCandy. And of course I’m unfairly pigeonholing all of these blogs to “news”, but really each does much more than that, and are all valuable to the community.

I tentatively recommend some tutorial sites. Please take these for what they’re worth: sometimes the tutorials are great, sometimes.. not so much. But I still subscribe to them, and I think they all have good intentions. So check out the WordPress section of Smashing Magazine, DigWP, WPBeginner, and most cautiously, wp.Tuts+. I debated heavily whether to include these, but I think they need to be here. However, please use what you find on these sites with extreme caution.

Forums:

Theme Hybrid is a paid, $25 / year forum. Justin is one of the best, and has a general WordPress section if you don’t use his themes. It’s my go to place to “hang out”, but I also use his framework. This is how I learned pretty much everything I know, and I can’t recommend it enough.

CSS Tricks often has good WP stuff, and there are good opportunities to help people that are more casual WordPress developers.

The WordPress Reddit subgroup (surprisingly good resources pop up here).

The WPTavern forum is good sometimes.

The WPCandy forums are not bad for non-support, but WordPress oriented things.

Code snippets / resource collections I like:

Michael Fields’ code snippets are super handy. I often find myself back here. He’s a great theme and plugin developer with a lot of really beautiful code.

WP Snippets is good sometimes, but as with any pure snippets site, use them with caution.

Bill Erickson’s website. He’s a great dev, and even more helpful if you’re a Genesis fan. He has loads of snippets and little plugins I use all the time.

The new Code Poet is awfully promising for ebooks, resources, and periodic news stuff.

This is the section I know I’m not putting enough resources that I use. So many people are sharing great work that they do. Help me remember what/who I’m forgetting in the comments : )

Company Blogs

There are a few company blogs I particularly like. Check out WooThemes, WPEngine, Page.ly, Sucuri, and StudioPress. But beware that each of these comes laced with product info. They’re still worth subscribing to.

Newsletters worth getting:

Daily Documentation Newsletter – this one is a lot of fun to take a glance at as I start my day.

wpMail.me is an indispensable resource on what’s fresh in WordPress. I really love getting it every week.

Here’s a secret of mine: subscribe to WordPress on Google Alerts. I get it once weekly, and usually find at least one interesting link. There’s a good bit of trash in it too, but it’s worth it for the random good stuff you find.

Misc.

The WordPress Twitter community is quite helpful. There are a lot of people I recommend following. I’m pretty much only following WordPress or web people from my primary Twitter account these days, so you could start following the people I follow, and you may as well start with me : ) Twitter is without a doubt my most active space in the WordPress community, and a great place to learn and find great stuff.

In summary:

This is longer than I thought it would be. Now I’m tired.

I’m missing quite a lot I’m sure, but there are perhaps some new ones in here you will find useful. If there are any resources I haven’t listed that especially compel you, please feel free to list them below. However, try not to spam me with your own website unless you’ve really got the goods to back it up : )