The Best WordPress Developer Tools to Use in 2020
A Round-Up of the Best WordPress Development Tools to Try Out in 2020
In this post, we are going to discuss the best WordPress developer tools currently available to everyone involved in building websites on this CMS. By the tools, we mean something broader than just WordPress developer software. We are also going to highlight the technologies and the best WordPress development blogs. In short, we have covered everything that both beginners and professionals could find useful in their everyday work.
We have written about the benefits of WordPress for building websites of all sorts on numerous occasions. This CMS, one of the oldest in the market, is universally acclaimed for its extensibility and ease of use. With the record number of sites based on this platform, it’s not surprising that more and more people consider taking up WordPress development as their career.
There are two additional reasons for this:
- WordPress development has a comparatively gentle learning curve.
- Salaries of WordPress developers are quite hefty. Depending on the specialization and level of expertise, a WordPress developer in the U.S. can expect to receive as much as $3,400 per month.
That said, being a WordPress developer implies a constant need to acquire new knowledge about cutting-edge technologies and WordPress site development tools. The system itself is regularly updated as well, so getting familiar with new core features is also a must.
The bottom line: no matter if you’re a seasoned professional or someone who has just set out on the path toward WordPress development mastery, you should keep up with the latest industry trends.
We’ve decided to facilitate this task for you and prepared a review of the best tools for WordPress development available in 2020. These include not only the best WordPress development IDEs and editors but also modern technologies and the best WordPress development blogs for inspiration. Enjoy!
Libraries and Frameworks You Can Use for WordPress Development
React.js — One of the Best Tools for WordPress Development on the Client Side
A few years ago, the world of WordPress development saw a historic event. REST API was added to the system’s core. As a result, developers got another tool that allowed them to use WordPress as a headless CMS. This means that developers could now build WordPress themes using technologies other than the traditional PHP, but still follow the traditional approach if they find it more convenient.
One of these new technologies is React.js. This is a JavaScript library created and maintained by Facebook. Since the moment it was released, React has won the hearts of many in the WordPress community and is now viewed as one of the best WordPress developing tools for making beautiful, well-performing themes. In addition, React.js was used to create the core content editor Gutenberg, and WordPress in general is now geared toward full site editing.
Vue.js
Here is another modern front-end framework that can be used in conjunction with WordPress. Vue.js was created by Evan You in 2014 and, just like React.js, has earned the love and respect of the web development community in general and WordPress fans in particular.
In a manner similar to React.js, Vue leverages the power of WP REST API to manipulate data in the back-end. Vue’s creator managed to give it all the good features of React and, at the same time, discarded everything React was criticized for.
As a result, we have a well-documented and lightweight JavaScript framework that uses the standard web technologies to build all kinds of projects. Vue and React are vying for the title of the best WordPress development tools when it comes to the front-end. Still, competition is always a good thing, isn’t it?
Bootstrap
Bootstrap is a design framework for building responsive themes. It uses a 12-column grid system based on Flexbox and contains a number of built-in classes for rendering all the standard web elements such as buttons, sliders, dropdown menus, and so forth.
WordPress developers can easily add Bootstrap to their sites and take advantage of all its great features, including:
- Cross-platform compatibility
- Bug-free code
- Simple modification process
- Fast development speed
- No need for plugins
…and others
With Bootstrap 5 released in June 2020, the framework got many great enhancements such as a custom SVG icon library and major JavaScript updates. This is definitely one of the best WordPress developer tools, so give it a try.
The Best WordPress Developer Software: Code Editors
IDEs are applications that enable WordPress developers to perform all the required operations in one location off the shelf: writing, debugging, compiling, and running code. More often than not, IDEs contain many features that programmers rarely or never use.
Code editors, on the other hand, only provide the most essential functionality, but developers can add features to them through extensions or plugins. As a result, code editors start and work very fast and only contain the features developers can’t do without.
You might already have a favorite code editor or might still be deciding on the best IDE for WordPress development. Here are some of the top code editors.
Atom — One of the Best WordPress Site Development Tools Created by Developers Themselves
One of the most distinctive features of Atom is that it has been created to a large extent by WordPress enthusiasts themselves. This is a free product with its code hosted on GitHub. Therefore, anyone can suggest new features and enhancements to it.
Atom has an impressive array of plugins (packages) numbering several thousand. For example, the atom-beautify package will make code written in multiple languages (PHP, Ruby, JavaScript, and so on) tidy, neat, and easily readable.
With its built-in support for version control, efficient package manager, and excellent configurability, Atom is gaining popularity as one of the best WordPress tools for developers among other open-source alternatives.
Notepad++
We’ve already said that code editors are smaller in size and less CPU-intensive but can be extended with plugins. This way, programmers can have all the features they need without placing a heavy burden on their machines.
This is exactly the case with Notepad++. It’s light as a feather and is extremely fast. In addition, Notepad++ has an intuitive interface and can be customized in any way you want. Among its other notable benefits are the following:
- Built-in FTP client
- Great extensibility
- No fees
…and more.
All this makes Notepad++ probably the best text editor for WordPress development. Newbies will find this tool particularly valuable.
Vim
This is the final code editor for WordPress developers in our short review. Actually, Vim is so packed with various features that it’s closer to being called an IDE than an editor.
Whatever platform you are on, Vim will work smoothly and efficiently. However, it’s Linux users who regard it as one of the tools required for WordPress site development in the first turn. These are a few of Vim’s features that deserve your attention:
- You can work with files located on a faraway server.
- The editor is highly configurable.
While Vim is definitely among the best WordPress developer tools, you may find it a bit challenging to use if you’ve just embarked on your development journey.
The Best WordPress Development Blogs: Time to Learn and Get Inspired
It’s never too late to learn. This saying is true for WordPress development as well. The world of technology evolves rapidly. New plugins, frameworks, and features crop up almost daily. A WordPress developer who doesn’t follow the latest industry trends is destined to lag behind, losing clients and money.
One way to stay up to date is to read the best WordPress development blogs. There’s no shortage of these. Whether you’re a novice or have covered a long distance, you will always find something new and interesting for yourself on the blogs, starting from the best WordPress development tools and ending with solutions to the most common programming problems.
Visit these best WordPress development blogs:
Smashing Magazine
Best practices, reviews of the top plugins, information about the best tools for WordPress development, tutorials — you can expect to find something worthwhile for yourself on Smashing Magazine. A few sample topics:
- Using Composer with WordPress
- Image Optimization in WordPress
- Exploring New Ways to Manage Content in WordPress
WPBeginner
Hi WordPress beginner! We understand you. We’ve all been there. When you’ve just started getting the hang of things in WP development, you may be overwhelmed by the sheer complexity of it all.
WPBeginner was created with people like you in mind. Here, you will find everything from news to reviews to make your life as a developer more comfortable.
Bill Erickson’s Blog
This blog features the best practices, solutions to problems, and reviews of WordPress development tools. The posts are regularly published. We recommend the blog to people already well-versed in programming for WordPress. Three latest post titles:
- InnerBlocks with ACF blocks
- How to remove core WordPress blocks
- Debug code with “pretty printing”
Conclusion
A WordPress developer should always stay up to date with the most recent advancements in the industry. Getting familiar with modern frameworks, libraries, and the best WordPress development tools, as well as following the best WordPress development blogs should be part of a developer’s everyday routine.
We hope that the tools we’ve highlighted in this post will serve as a good starting point for every WordPress developer willing to hone their skills and improve their knowledge.
If you have any questions or requests, the PSD2HTML WordPress team is always at your service. We have successfully completed thousands of projects over 15 years of our history, so we can handle any task, from custom theme and plugin development to security and performance optimization. Get in touch with us. We are committed to providing the best client experience for you.